Course Etiquette

Course etiquette is a very touchy subject for myself and many other superintendents. Poor etiquette is something that is going to happen, I understand. Some people just have no respect for others and normally they are the first to complain about things.

I don't think there is anything that makes me more mad than the picture above! Not only is there a divot, it is right next to an unfixed ball mark!!! Also, Chad sent me the picture of this bunker last weekend. He mentioned that if we had just one more rake in this bunker the golfer probably would have raked his way out. Not sure if you can see it or not, but there are three rakes within arms length of the area that he or she apparently used an excavator to hit this shot! I do realize that the green rakes are difficult to see up against the dormant Zoysia grass, but come on!!

In case you didn't pick up on it, there is some sarcasm in this post. These are just a few things that bother the staff and myself here at Westham Golf Club. Please do your part and clean up after yourself.



Spring Preperations

I think I have been slacking a little recently. It's been a while since I have posted. For the last week I was in Florida for our annual meeting. I was lucky enough to play a couple of rounds of golf on the way down. The weather was beautiful and I was not excited to get home to a cold rain!

Spring is almost here! Right now we are in the process of spraying out any winter weeds that have popped up in the dormant bermudagrass. We should be done with this process within the next week or so. That is if we aren't under a foot of snow after the storm that is supposed to hit us Wednesday. We are also applying a pre-emergent herbicide to control any new weeds from germinating.

Once we are done spraying out weeds, it will almost be time to aerify. I know this is a touchy subject, but we are going to do everything we can to help this process heal as quick as possible. By the time they heal we will be watching The Masters and not even thinking about what went on two weeks earlier.

I look forward to seeing everyone out on the course!

Audubon International

Audubon International is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to improving the environment. Westham Golf Club is currently a member and we are in the process of becoming a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. The certification process starts with a Site Assessment and an Environmental Planning Form. Once we have a plan in place we then start working on these categories:

Environmental Planning

Wildlife and Habitat Management

Chemical Use Reduction and Safety

Water Conservation

Water Quality Management

Outreach and Education

We also have to do a Case Study. This study gets you to find a way to not only help the environment, but in most cases it helps the golf course financially as well. With our case study we decided to convert our bentgrass approaches to bermudagrass. In doing this, we have saved on fertilizer, chemicals, water and labor. This winter we will kill off what is left of the bentgrass and the bermuda will finish filling in this spring. Here is a picture of the approach on number one.

Here are some pictures taken by Kim Hatala of some of the things that we are working to protect.

Winter playing conditions

This is always a hot topic this time of year. We always hear "the greens are bumpy, the greens are slow." During the winter months, the bermudagrass is obviously dormant. The bentgrass greens basically go dormant as well. This time of year is almost as hard on greens as the summer. The big difference is, Chad, Luis and I are not dragging a hose around at 5:00 in the afternoon!

During the winter, all of the grass on the course basically stops growing. We may go out and mow greens once or twice a week, but all this is really doing is cleaning up the green. There isn't a tremendous amount of grass cut off of them this time of year.

So far this year the ground has been frozen more than thawed. When they do thaw and we have golf played on them, it doesn't take long for them to start foot printing. The thawing process makes them very soft and footprints form easily.

The biggest winter issue is there is very little or no healing taking place. Any thin area, any ballmark or any divot taken does not heal! I ask that everyone please be careful and be patient with any inconsistent conditions. The Masters is almost here! Azaleas, butterflies and prefect conditions will be here soon enough!

For some my more technical followers here is a link from the USGA. They go in a little more depth than me. Actually a lot more detail. http://www.usga.org/course_care/articles/other/winter_play/Politics-Religion-and-Winter-Play-on-Greens/

Virginia Turf Conference

Last week Chad and I were lucky enough to spend most of the week at the Virginia Turfgrass Conference. This is an annual event held in Fredericksburg, VA. There were three days of classes. We attended classes from budgeting and communication to fungicides for bentgrass and environmental golf design.

Everyone at the conference always enjoys the USGA Year in Review as well. This session tells a story of how golf courses faired throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. It also lets us know about the USGA tournaments are coming up this year. The US Open is going to be held just a short drive up 95 at Merion Golf Club.

We also attended the trade show which is a great place to see all of the latest chemicals, fertilizers and anything else that we will use in the coming year. This is also a great place for us to network and hopefully "borrow" some new ideas to bring back to use at Westham.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Winter Work


One thing that we are always asked is, "What we do in the winter?" There is always something to keep us busy. This winter one of the things that we are working on is thinning out some trees and clearing out the underbrush around the greens. This will help us with air movement and keep the greens healthier throughout the hot summer months.

Another thing that is necessary every winter is servicing all of the equipment. This includes changing all of the fluids and filters, grinding reels and bedknives and making sure that everything is greased. When the warm weather finally gets here and the grass starts growing we will be ready to go.

I am not sure about anyone else, but I am tired of this winter already! Groundhog Day is almost here lets hope it's cloudy!

First snow!

We had our first snow last night! Not quite the snowpocalipse that we thought it was going to be, but snow is snow in Richmond!
We definitely didn't need any more moisture after this week. We had about 4" of rain before the snow came down. Looks like this stuff isn't sticking around long though. We may be open for play Sunday morning with as fast as everything is melting.
I hope everyone had fun in the snow today. Looking forward to the next one!