Review of Last Winters Disease Control

Now that we are through the May long weekend it is the unofficial beginning of summer golf and the supposed end of turf recuperative operations. As a result, I thought I would touch on how we fared this past winter. Its seems sorta a mute point being that we are well into golf season but there may be some things people aren't aware of.

Weather

If you've talked to me anytime this spring about how the course over wintered you've heard me comment on how the weather conditions last fall and winter had a big impact on spring conditions. Last fall was huge with respect to the turf achieving proper dormancy: dry, gradual but consistent temperature drop, and lots of light. A lot of the problems in the spring of 2010 related to the early and extremely cold temperatures in the fall of 2009 when the turf wasn't ready for it. Another plus was the fact that the snow pack this year was dry and deep. We rode out the one rain/thaw event in January with no ice. Even if any water reached the green surfaces I doubt it would have caused problems since for most of season the ground was unfrozen and water would have been able to soak in. Sometimes unfrozen ground, especially when it is wet and the grass is too lush, can exacerbate snow mould occurrences; however, this time out that was not the case. The more I think about it the more I think the soil temperature and soil moisture had an impact on spring conditions.

Fall Fungicide Applications

Treated Area in the Picture Foreground

Untreated Area Between White and Red Markers

This was the last year we were able to use quintozene (see kimberleygolfclub.blogspot.com/search?q=pmra for back ground) for winter disease control. We've messed around with different products on the greens over the past two years and I am comfortable with what we now use to treat the greens. Treating fairways for snow mould is our biggest cost when it comes to disease control. The alternative products available for 2011 are no where near as cost effective as quintozene. For the winter of 2010 we compared the efficacy of two different sprays against quintozene and, at least for this winter, we had good results.

Kimberley "Snow Mould Trials"

Far from scientific but hopefully some sort of indicator. You may have to double click on the picture to get a better view but this picture shows a fairway split longitudinally into three sections. In the centre of the picture between the rows of yellow pin flags is the quintozene spray. On either side is the two sprays we compared to quintozene. We did this comparisons at select spots on different fairways throughout the golf course with similar results. What that means for the future is had to say since, as previously mentioned, the weather had such a positive impact on spring conditions. The one comment that can be said with a large degree on confidence is the fact that the two alternative sprays we compared to quintozene were twice the price so if we want to continue some level of snow mould control the cost will go up. This winter we'll mess around some more but I think it will take a few winters before I'll have the same level of confidence with the quintozene alternatives.

River Update

I'm always amazed at the how the St. Mary river level can change from day to day. I stuck this video in here in an effort to show how fast and deep the river is but the impact is minimal unless you're familiar with the golf course intake. Obviously, water is not a problem but what a big and dirty run off can do is plug the intake with silt and clay making is harder to get necessary volumes later on despite there being lots of water in the river. As usual, it is a wait and see thing.

Lynx (or Bobcat?) sighting

Lynx?

Earlier this week one morning some staff saw a lynx cruising the back nine. One staff member had a camera on his phone and took a picture. Just like a Loch Ness Monster or Sasquatch "sighting" the picture is sort of left open for interpretation but this sight was corroborated by two sane and sober (possibly) people so I am taking it to be a real event.

Most of this week was taken up with tree maintenance. We purchased 8 trees to replace some damaged and weak trees we've planted over past couple years. You have to know where to look to see where we've placed them so, in other words, the new trees are nothing too terribly exiciting.

One spot you will see, however, is the hole on the left of 5 fairway about 120 or so yards from the green. While digging out the trees we were replacing we also did some root pruning.

Digging out Roots

Roots had crept into the fairway and were becoming a problem when we mowed. The tree is large and, generally, if you are careful not to remove too much root mass there should be no serious harm to the tree.

Ponderosa Pine and Root
Excavation

One great picture that shows the benefits of root pruning goes back to when we added extra irrigation around 6 green a few years ago. I took the following picture late in fall long after the irrigation had been blown out. The picture clearly shows the dividing line of where we dug a trench for the new irrigation.

Visual Benefits of
Root Pruning Trees

During excavation we dug through numerous tree roots that were reaching out into 6 fairway. Once the tree roots were cut the turf no longer had to compete for water with the tree and grew to become a decent stand of grass. From the above picture you can obviously see that the turf on tree side of the trench still had the added stress of competing with the tree roots and, as a result, it entered dormancy sooner than the turf on the "root free" side of the trench. Every time I mow #2 or #6 fairways I always think about implementing a irrigation/root pruning program for those fairways since the roots are so prevalent on those holes.

Quick Word About Bunkers

While most bunkers have been edged and readied for the season some have been left untouched and are marked with a "G.U.R." sign. Those particular bunkers (13 Fwy, 13 G & 14 Fwy on left) all require some additional sand to get them playable. They are not the only ones but they are definitely the worst. We are on the list for a delivery of sand but I am not sure when we are expecting it. We are restricted for bulk storage and since we always need a quantity of top dressing sand on hand for the top dressing program the greens are on we can only receive one load (approx. 40 yards) of bunker sand due to those limitations.

What I am trying to say is plan for getting those bunkers back into play is going to be a herkey-jerky sort of process with a mad flurry of activity followed by a waiting period and then another mad flurry followed by waiting, etc., etc. Actually, we only budgeted for a few loads and there isn't that many bunkers so the process shouldn't last all season but expect some of those bunkers to be out of play for most of the spring.

With respect to the long skinny bunker on the back of 1 green we have started to fill it in and will end up creating some mounding and long grass to capture balls. The motivation for this project mostly relates to the amount of labour and materials that go into maintaining the bunker during the season. It required more sand this season and since it is surrounded by quack grass we were having to spray Round-up monthly in an effort to keep the weedy grass species from taking over the bunker. For me, the image of a bunker filled with grass creeping through out is unappealing. Further, we had a pile of fill from an irrigation project two years ago that was cluttering up the left of 2 rough and it needed to get cleaned up. The initial plan was to use that material for fill during the rebuild of 3 tee but that project is constantly getting shelved for one reason or another. All these factors combined have lead to the removal of the skinny bunker on 1 green.

Visage System for Golf Carts

If you've taken out a cart this year you may have noticed how periodically a notice pops up on the screen which normally displays yardage from the GPS. This batch of carts has the option of directing traffic throughout the golf course. This type of notification is particularly helpful for new players who may be unfamiliar with the course layout; however, it also might be a bit of a bummer for some of the regulars.
I've been reviewing cart traffic since we opened and have created boundaries based on traffic patterns up to this point. The way the system is suppose to work is as a cart nears an area that has been "electronically fenced" a noise is emitted and a notice appears providing driving instructions with respect to where the cart should be: "Please Use Cart Path", or "Back Up", or something like that. Generally, the way I've tired to set up the system is through a series of notifications that slow the cart from its regular speed of 12 Km to 10 Km then down to 7 Km then to 2Km with a notice indicating to "Keep Carts Back From Green". Finally, before reaching the green surface, the last control option stops the cart and the only way out is to back up.

Screen Shot From Visage Control Centre
Showing the Various Layers of Control

We can also prevent carts from leaving the property by using a type of control that shuts down the carts completely once it enters particular areas (no more taken the golf carts to the Marysville Pub, G.B.!) Other areas where notifications pop up include slopes that may be slippery or steep. This system allows us to manage the cart fleet and lessen the opportunity for damage from malicious individuals. Also, people operating the carts are protected from getting into situations where they may be hurt (think of the rolled cart incident that occurred on right side of #14). My hope was to "de-clutter" the golf course with less paint (no more white lines in front of the greens), less stakes and ropes, and less directional signage since too much of that stuff detracts from the golf course and its surroundings, IMO. As with all things it will take some tweaking and getting use to for everybody. I also hope not to be too much of a fascist control freak so if you disagree with some of the notifications for reasons other than "Because that's the way I've always done it!" let me know and I will try to find a common ground.

Week of May 1st

First week of May and it seems like we are in full swing with routine maintenance. We are still mowing at early season H.O.C. but have been working steadily on improving the playing conditions on the greens. The holes from the deep tine aeration from last fall have mostly healed but the heaving of the green surface from that aeration is still present and the rutting that results from the mowing equipment is our biggest battle now. We have been vibratory rolling and topdressing at a moderate rate since the opening and I hope to have the greens firmed up and smooth before too long.

Spreading Sand with
Top dresser

Last spring we purchased the top dresser pictured and it has taken the job of top dressing and made it so much quicker and easier. This style of top dresser instead of just dropping the sand onto the surface incorporates spinning discs that throw the sand into the turf canopy. Depending on the rate, we can sometimes get away without having to drag the sand and disrupt the surface. All that is needed is a overnight irrigation. The other great thing is the distance this top dresser throws the sand. Again, depending on the rate, sand can be thrown up to 30 feet. To appreciate how this speeds the whole process it now only takes 2 passes with the twin spinner top dresser to cover our narrowest green versus 11 passes with our other drop style of top dresser.