First frost

Last week, for three days in a row, we had a very heavy frost.  Definitely the heaviest first frost that I have seen in a long time.  Normally, we are worked into dormancy pretty easy.  This year, the bermudagrass was hit hard with the first cold night and it's not taking it too well.  There is a lot of "zebra striping" in the rough.  The lower cut turf will hang around for a little while longer before it goes dormant.

Last week we also started moving along on our Turf Care Facility.  Curb and gutter has gone in, along with all of the storm drains.  The pad for the building has been staked and the foundation is ready to be started.  Hopefully, we will be in the building early this spring!

  

Aerification

We successfully wrapped up aerification on Wednesday afternoon.  Greens have all been topdressed with sand to fill the holes.  Nutrients and soil amendments have also been applied to aid in the healing process.  The new greens will heal a little quicker because there wasn't a need to pull any material out of them.  With these greens being less than a year old, there hasn't been much build-up of organic material to remove.  We did use 1/2" solid tines on them to allow for proper gas exchange and to introduce nutrients into the profile.  We received just over 1/2" of rain last night and the temperatures seem to be cooling off.  The weather looks great coming up so the greens should be back to normal in a couple of weeks.  

5/8" hollow tines after 60 hours

1/2" solid tines after 48 hours

While we were closed we were also able to make a lime application to the entire golf course.  We make an annual lime application of about one ton per acre.  Soil samples are taken annually to tell us what applications are necessary for the upcoming year.  These tests let us know where we stand with nutrients in the soil and the pH of the soil.  Because we are located in Chesterfield County, we have a lot of work ahead to correct the soils.    

Course update

After a month, our driving range has re-opened from our renovation.  The sprigs have had a couple of fertilizer applications and have really taken off.  You may see some water running from time to time.  This is just to ensure that the young sprigs keep moving.  By the end of the summer the range will be 100% bermudagrass.  

For the last two weeks we have been adding sand to the bunkers on the original nine holes.  The addition of the new sand is allowing us to machine rake these bunkers.  All of the new bunkers were constructed in a way that this could be done, now we are just working on the old ones.  We spend a tremendous amount of time hand raking and repairing bunkers.  Using a mechanical rake will save us time that we can devote to other items.

We have also started deep tine aerifying and topdressing fairways.  The front nine will be finished this week and we will continue on the back nine after club championship.  Our soils become similar to concrete this time of year and the aerification will help alleviate some of the compaction and help get water into the root zone and not just wash into a drain.

The course is in great shape heading into the second half of the summer.  Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate for the rest of the year and we can finish strong.  

Range sprigging

The range closed on Tuesday so we could sprig the landing area.  We finished the sprigging process Wednesday and it will be closed for about another month.  We are having great bermuda growing weather right now and this should make for a pretty quick renovation.  Because construction took a little longer than expected last summer, we weren't able to sprig then.  We seeded it with rye grass and it looked great over the fall, winter and this spring.  In the southern transition zone, rye is not a realistic option.  There are far too many necessary inputs (water, fertilizer, pesticides, ect.).

The rest of the course is looking great.  The new holes are now almost completely grown in and being maintained just like the older holes.  There are a couple of areas that we are going to have to continue pushing this summer, but overall, I am happy with where we are right now.

 #2 tee

 #4 approach

 #5 approach

 #7 approach

#9 tee

We have had to spend a tremendous amount of time over the last 10-14 days on bunker repairs.  The heavy rains that have come through have wreaked havoc on them.  Most of the new bunkers held up pretty well, but I can't say the same for the older bunkers.  We have also found a couple of clogged drains that we are in the process of repairing.

As always, let us know if you have any questions or concerns.  See you on the course!

Grand Opening!!!

Last Friday we had a very successful grand opening at Magnolia Green.  It was an all around fun event.  We had an exhibition by "Chuck the Hitman", the food was great and the course was in great shape.  We even made the CBS broadcast!

 Getting ready for the event!

 Unfortunately, I didn't win the Harley

The Magnolia Green turf care team has worked extremely hard over the last two months and this event wouldn't have been the success that it was without them!  Thank you to all of the guys on my team!

Winter damage

Many areas in the Mid-Atlantic have been hit pretty hard with winter kill on bemudagrass playing surfaces.  Damage has been seen in Virginia and the Carolina's.  We did not escape winter damage on our newly sprigged areas on the front nine.  The existing ten holes look pretty good, with no major issues.  The areas on the front nine that we sodded last fall look good as well. The areas that were hit the hardest were areas that had prolonged shade and saturated soils.

Last year's mild summer, this year's extremely cold winter, and another cold spring were not a good recipe for a newly established golf course.  In an effort to get the course open quickly, our ownership has decided to invest in sodding the areas that have been damaged.  Sod has been ordered and it will be installed as soon as possible.  

Thanks for your continued patience and support.  

Aerification was a success!

Aerification was a success!! We had a couple of minor equipment issues, but the results were great.  A couple of members have let us know that the greens are rolling great, especially, this soon after the aerification.  This is a frustrating, but necessary process.  Aerification helps to remove unwanted organic material and allows us to create new channels of sand for water, oxygen and nutrients.  This helps us get through the season with consistent, healthy putting surfaces.  

On another note, both happy and sad, Chad Karr will be leaving us at the end of next week.  He has accepted the Superintendent position Hermitage Country Club and will be overseeing the Manakin course during his tenure.  Chad has been with us for the last three years and we wouldn't be the course we are now without him.  I truly appreciate everything that he has done and his absence will not go unnoticed.  If you see Chad this weekend or next week, make sure to wish him luck on his next adventure.  I know that he will make a great Superintendent.

Spring is here! Maybe...

It looks like we have finally seen the beginning of Spring.  Other than the wet conditions, this has been a great week.  Hopefully, we will continue to have these warm temperatures and see some green up in the bermudagrass.

We were able to mow greens twice this week, already.  The greens look better and are rolling great. This winter, the greens went almost completely dormant.  I can't remember a winter when greens got as brown as ours, except for when I was maintaining bermudagrass greens.  Once we start mowing on a regular basis, the wind burned, dormant leaf will be mowed off and we will begin to see more green grass.

Very little green in this green

While we are waiting for our green up, we have a long list of project work to be completed this Spring.  We are in the process of cleaning up and beautifying our tee beds.  We also have a lot to do on the new nine holes in preparation of the grand opening!  We will keep everyone updated on the progress we make throughout the Spring.  Have a great weekend and we hope to see everyone on the course!

We are going away from the pavers to a more natural looking stone

Magnolia Green Golf Club

Bunker project

Over the last couple of weeks we have been busy repairing some of the bunkers on the existing holes. The construction on most of these bunkers were not up to our standards.  Since we have opened, some of the bunkers have had the gravel that is used in drainage ditches begin to float to the top of the sand.  This gravel is then hit out of the bunkers and onto the greens.  Obviously, that's not ideal for the greens or the golfers.  

We have taken the worst bunkers and started repairing them.  Below are some pictures of the process.

First step is getting the sand out of them.

Once the sand is out, we've had to repair and replace the drainage.  Liner is added next, followed by new sand.

This bunker has had about 2" of sand that has built up on the face over the last 4.5 years.

Once we are finished with these bunkers, they will be pretty soft for about six months.  We will continue tamping them to get them to firm up as quickly as possible.

Winter rules

During the winter, we are often questioned about a couple of winter rules.  The first item is frost delays.  Frost delays happen at any golf course and they are as difficult for us as they are for you.  Even though it may be good for coffee sales, we would prefer you on the course, not in the pro shop.  Because of our geographic location, our delays tend to last a little longer than other courses in the area.  For some reason it is normally a little colder in Moseley.

Frost Delays

Frost delays are used to protect the turf, especially our greens.  When frost is present on the plant, the majority of the time, this means that the plant is frozen.  When the plant freezes, the plants become rigid and cannot handle traffic.  Traffic that is put on frozen plants, crushes the plant cells and the turf can die.

This picture illustrates the damage that can be done by one foursome

This is what the damage actually looks like

Cart Path Only 

The other winter rule that we are asked about is our winter cart rule.  At the beginning of December, we go cart path only for the winter and stay that way until the March or April, depending on the weather.  As some of you may remember, in 2011, the bermudagrass at Westham was not in great shape coming out of dormancy.  After that spring, we decided, as a management team, that we would try being cart path only for the next winter to see if this would help the bermudagrass.  In 2012, we looked great. 

During the growing season, the turf is able to recover from injury, whether it is from traffic, drought, etc.  When the turf is dormant, it is not able to “grow out” of these stresses.  Dormant bermudagrass is especially susceptible to cart traffic injury.  When the bermudagrass is dormant, the leaf tissue becomes very brittle.  When a cart is driven over the turf, the leaves break off and left with only the crown of the plant.  Not only does this leave the plants open to other issues, it can also look really bad after an entire winter of carts driving on the fairways. 

Thank you for coming out and playing at Westham!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

Liquid overseed

This week we started painting the new sprigs and our tees and fairways on the existing ten holes.  Over the last few years, we have been experimenting with turf paints on our dormant bermudagrass.  We have found that the paint has really helped us with the green-up process in the spring.  The painted bermudgrass has come out of dormancy about a month earlier than the areas that have not been painted.  We have done a few different tests.  The first year we split a fairway right down the middle.  The next year we painted just tees and the last year we painted one of the last fairways to green up.  In all cases, the bermudagrass came out of dormancy much quicker when painted. 

This year we are painting all tees and fairways on the existing ten holes and all of the newly sprigged areas.  The existing ten holes are being painted to help green up earlier, but it also looks pretty cool.  In our testing, we have figured out how to get the paint job to look pretty good.  Painting the sprigged areas will give us a huge advantage in the spring.  The earlier we can get the new side to come out of dormancy, the quicker the can start fertilizing to finish the grow-in. 

We are looking forward to an exciting new year at Westham!

#2 after painting

Construction and grow in update

What a summer! The past month and a half the turf care crew has been going non-stop.  We have made huge strides with the grow-in.  With the exception of the driving range, construction is complete!!!  The driving range should be wrapped up by the end of next week.

I have attached some pictures showing the progress of the grow-in of the golf course.  We have mowed all of the bermudagrass at least once and greens are being mowed on a daily basis.  

2 tee

 3 tee

 4 approach

 5 approach

 6 approach

 7 tee

 8 tee

9 tee

The chipping and pitching greens still need to be seeded and that will be done this week.  The entire short game area has been sodded and looks great!  When the driving range is complete, we will have one of the best practice facilities in the state!

Green grass and army worms

Very exciting times the last couple of weeks!  We have one hole left to sprig and that should be complete next week.  We have bentgrass germination on 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 greens!  Six and seven greens will be mowed for the first time on Monday. 

6 green. Almost ready for its first cut!

Close up of 6 green

Our bermudagrass sprigs are doing pretty well.  All of them took and then we had a minor setback.  There has been a pretty significant army worm infestation.  Fall army worms have shown up on all of the new holes, but they have really enjoyed eating the sod on #7.  These worms can do a significant amount of damage in a very short period of time.  They go through an area and eat all of the leaf material off of the grass.  They especially like newly establishing sod, so we have been a never-ending buffet for them.  Within three hours, almost the entire green surround on #7 had been damaged.  It's certainly a scary site.  The good thing is, they don't normally kill bermudagrass.  Everything that they have damaged, is starting to recover.  We were able to act quickly and make a pesticide application. 

This little worm works very quickly!

 





You can see the damage on the left.

More army worm damage

Luis is making our insecticide application

 

 







Sprigs!!!

Big week for our construction!  The first sprigs have hit the ground!  Six and seven have been sprigged, hydro-seeded and the greens have been seeded.  Now we get to make grass grow!!!  Next week we should have 4, 5 and maybe 3 sprigged and greens seeded. 

Video taken from the sprigging machine

 

Hydro seeding #7

A view of the sprig installer

Lots of water once the sprigs hit the ground

 

Luis is using the knobby tires on the bunker rake to dimple the green after we seed

 

 

To get sprigs, the machine that installs them, takes a roll of sod and shreds it into very fine pieces.  Once it hits the ground the installer has a set of discs on it that cuts the sprigs into the gound.  As soon as the installer is done with an area, we take over and water, water, water.  In a couple of weeks, we will see green grass and it quickly takes over the the entire hole.  We plan on finishing the sprigging process by the end of the month. 



Course update

Last Thursday the course received 3" of rain and another .25" on Sunday.  With all of the exposed dirt from construction, I was expecting really bad things.  To my surprise, I was able to ride the entire course Friday morning and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.  There is some repair work that is taking place, but I think it could have been much worse. 

 

This bunker was completely filled with water

 



Before the rains, we were able to get final approval on 5, 6 and 7 greens.  We are still on track to start sprigging this week and we will also start seeding greens and "native areas".  Irrigation is almost done on the course and we will move right into the driving range and short game area. 

Final touches on #6 green



Last week we were able to vent all greens.  Venting greens helps relieve some compaction and helps get oxygen into the root zone.  These ventings are one of the most important agronomic practices that we will do all year.  Our greens, just like you and me, need to breathe.  Opening them up with these solid tine aerifications really allow our greens to breathe.

We also had a little fun last week.  Our friends at the Timmons Group came out with one of their quad copter drones. We were able to get some footage of the existing course and some of the new construction.  We should have everything edited this week.  As soon as it's ready, I will post the video for everyone to see. 

The Timmons drone taking flight!