Bunkers

The bunkers begin to deteriorate at five years +/-. Drainage, definition and contamination are all part of the failure of sand bunkers. The recommended life span of a bunker is around  five years before renovation is needed.

Luckily Indian Summer has a good sandy loam sub-soil.  Little to no rocks are present for contamination. The problem I have observed is the lack of drainage.  With a little more investigation, I found that the depth of sand is quite a bit more than USGA's recomendation of 4" on the bottom and 2" on the sides.

Most bunkers do have dry wells installed to allow the water to drain out of the bunkers.  Over time, consistent rain has brought fines to the surface and has basically reduced drainage of the sand dramatically.  A thick layer of sand before it can get to an area that drains is also impeding the movement of water.



Another project that we are looking at this winter is to re-distribute the sand throughout the bunker to get closer to the USGA recommendations.  Some bunkers have more than enough sand while others might be shallow.  We can make use of the extra sand and spread that around to bunkers in need as we make our way through the course.

If you have any questions about the bunkers or any comments about the course please contact me,

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Black Sand Experiment

We are trying an application of black sand to #5 and #10 greens. I listened to a presentation from a club that was using black sand to help the greens go through a snow covered winter.  Their main idea was that the sand would heat up quicker in the spring and help the green up process in the spring.

Root Rot Pythium Spores in the Root of the Turf Plant.

I wanted to see if we could get results from the black sand on our greens that have shade issues.  My hopes are that any light that these greens get, the black sand will help utilize that light to the fullest and give those greens just a fraction more heat at the surface to make the turf healthy enough to combat root rot pythium. This disease has become a reoccurring problem over the past couple years.

Results of the Sapling Removal.

Now with the saplings removed to the left side of the green, we are hoping that we can get this green through the winter a little more easily.

If you have any questions about the Pythium or anything regarding the course maintenance please contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

My Name is...

Curtains are drawn to avoid me. If you spend to much time with me, you turn red. If you look at me, I hurt your eyes.  People gather to see me go away and wake up when I come back.  I can make good iced tea, or dry your clothes for you.  I can make it hard for you to see or light up your whole town.  Who am i?

In the Northwest we seem to be lacking much needed sunlight.  Throughout the winter months cloud cover resides most of the time.  The days become shorter and the sun angle is lower.  Sunlight for turf becomes a finite commodity.

#10 and #5 greens are the most hungry for sun out of any of the other greens.  Morning sun is the most ideal sunlight for healthy turf.  Don't get me wrong, any sunlight is better than nothing.  Shorter days and increased cloud cover make for some difficult micro-climates.

Here is a project that we have just started to help #10 get some more sunlight.  We opened up a slot for about and hour or so of sunlight.



If you have any questions or comments about sunlight and the necessity for healthy turf please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Fall Aerification Video

I wanted to share this video.  This was our process this fall with the 1/2" I.D. quadtines.  The process was successful and the greens recovered quickly.

If you have any questions please contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Frost on the Pumpkin

www.killdeerfarm.com

I worked at a club a few years back in Sun City and the Pro, Tom would call me up in the mornings when it would actually get to freezing and say, "There's a little frost on the pumpkin, huh."  I always think of that saying as the weather begins to get a little colder.

During the times of cold winter weather we will need to delay traffic on the turf until frost is melted. We want to avoid frost damage, because recovery is very slow this time of year. Damage from a cart or a walker can take weeks to recover. The damage will start out purple in color and turn to a straw brown as the leaves begin to dry.

www.villagelinksofglenellyngrounds.blogspot.com

I like to use the analogy of a piece of glass shattering, when I explain frost damage. When the leaf blade of the plant is frozen and becomes crushed by a tire or a shoe it is basically like a piece of glass shattering into many pieces. Microscopically when the leaf blade sustains the damage the cells shatters into pieces. The pieces move through the plant destroying cells in its path. Once the plant begins to thaw the plant fluid leaks out and the leaf blade and will look water soaked and purple. This is the grass basically bleeding out.  The leaf blade is now dead and will turn brown. Rarely does this damage affect the crown of the plant so the plant itself is not dead. The problem is that growth is slowed during cold weather, which makes for a slow and painstaking recovery.

With that being said with my turf nerdy twang, we ask that walkers and cart traffic avoid turf while it is frozen to protect the grass. If there are any questions about frost and how we make the decision to delay golf please contact me.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Fall Aerification 2011 recap

Fall aerification on the greens is now behind us.  Here is some pictures of the process.

If you have any questions or comments about our process or aerification in general please contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@indiansummergolf.com







We had to install a new magnetic clutch on our Procore.






We used a lot of the extra plugs to fill in any sink holes or low areas on the course.


Our Toro Workman blew a head gasket after the last pass on #12 green. 



6 days after aerification.



9 days after aerification.