Wintery Wonderland

In an event that most are telling me hasn't happened in nearly 10 years, Empire Ranch received around an inch of snow during the early morning of Dec. 7, 2009. Not much commentary needed for the pictures below, except that while the snow melted on the course by around 11am, the hills surrounding us were still covered with white all afternoon and a few dire hard golfers were out on the links the minute the snow cleared.

Tree Root Removal

As mentioned in a previous post, despite many of their positive attributes, trees can also present some serious problems to the maintenance of a golf course.

Behind #4 green there was a cottonwood growing on the property line that created multiple problems. As you can hopefully see in the pictures below, many of the trees roots had grown quite large near the surface of the turf, which is where most of the water resides since we don't often irrigate incredibly deep, only down to the depth of the turf roots. These tree roots have become more numerous and pronounced to the point where they affect the lie and play of the ball should it end up in this area, as well as damaging mower blades when we attempt to cut the grass. What's worse, one particular root had made its way into the green and started to upheave the turf, while also robbing the bentgrass of the water it needs(it may be difficult to tell, but it's between and below the two lines in the first picture).

Since the tree doesn't really provide any benefit other than aesthetics (no real shade or factor in playability of the hole), it has been removed, and all the roots you see in the pictures painted in white have been cut out and removed as well. Once new seed grows back in these areas, the turf will be better off.

However, the work on this hole may not be done. The last two years in a row we have lost the turf on the back left edge of the green in the exact same spot. I'm fearing we have a similar problem of roots robbing the grass of necessary water. But these roots may be deeper and may belong to the very beautiful, majestic, old oak siding the green, which is a critical component of the hole. We definetely WILL NOT remove this tree, but we may try to come back in the future and try to prevent any more roots from entering the green and causing more turf problems, while keeping disturbance to the oak at a minimum. We don't dislike all trees but, as you can see, the balance between maintaining a golf course and letting Mother Nature take its course can sometime be a difficult thing to manage.

Flood Control on #6

As many who frequent this golf course in the winter know, the conditioning of area to the right of the path on #6 varies wildly depending on the weather. The problem with this area is two fold: (1) due to unfortunate design, the best shot line on #6 is right along the cart path, which means balls ending up in this bad area to the right are only slightly offline and shouldn't really be penalized with a bad lie or by being in a hazard, as is the case right now and (2) anytime it rains, the natural flow of the runoff is from #7 through this area on #6 toward #5, but the area on #6 is depressed and holds alot of water for a long time.

As such, we're trying to at the very least make the mowed rough portion of this area playable as actual rough and to be able to move the hazard stakes right to the tree line. The only way to accomplish this is to prevent the rain from flooding this area. So over the course of the winter, you will see us moving soil and digging canals in order to try and contain and guide the flow of the runoff farther to the right of the grass area and to get it all to drain faster into the natural area by #5. It may all sound confusing, but a trip out this hole after each rain should be able to show you the progress we hope to make and by next summer, we hope to have the grass in good enough condition to no longer have to mark it as a hazard.

The River Otters are Back!

Though I haven't posted about them before, many may know that Empire Ranch seems to host a family (or maybe just a group) of river otters from time to time. I noticed them everyday for several weeks straight last year swimming, eating and playing in the lake near the clubhouse. There were three then and although I only saw two most recently, they seem to have made an appearance yet again as our lakes filled to capacity after the last big storm about a month ago.

We believe they actually find their way between the lakes on the property through the larger drain pipes that weave underground through the course and exit into the lakes, although I suppose it's possible they make a dash for it above ground sometime at night when there's no golfers to worry about. They've never caused any harm and are fun to watch, so keep an eye out either at the irrigation lakes near the entrance/driving range or at the lake near the clubhouse to see them diving and swimming and occasionally climbing ashore to bask on a sunny day.

The Tree Dilemma

When it rains, it pours! In last Tuesday's hard-blowing storm, we got around 2.25" of rain in about a 24 hour period. Coupled with strong winds, the storm left quite the mess in its wake. A regular question I've been fielding over the last couple of days is: did you guys lose any trees? And the truth is, yes we did. But if you want my opinion, I'm not too broken up about it. And here are the reasons why:

Don't get me wrong. I like trees. I'm a nature-lover in general. Trees are beautiful, majestic and serve many useful purposes on many golf courses, like providing shade and increasing the difficulty of the layout, which are the main two reasons trees were planted here at Empire Ranch. And yet while these reasons remain valid and important, there are just as many (if not more) important reasons to keep trees away from a golf course that never had them in the first place. Or at the very least, plant trees only in specific location that will not effect maintenance and health of the turf. After all, we play golf on grass, not trees, right?

Trees pose a number of challanges for a superintendent and the maintenance crew, many of which may go largely unnoticed by golfers. Many trees drop leaves, twigs and other debris. This all takes time and manpower to clean up. Manpower that could be spent elsewhere improving more important aspects of the golf course. Trees create immense amounts of shade; good for the hot, sweating golfer on a 100+ degree day, bad for growing healthy turfgrass. Almost all grass types (specifically those suitable for surfaces on which to play golf) need full sun all day in order to take part in enough photosynthesis to stay happy and healthy while being trampled and driven on all day long. Trees present a wide variety of issues with their root systems. All trees roots suck up moisture to keep the tree alive. This directly competes with the moisture needed by the turfgrass. Deep rooting tress can also clog up drainlines installed throughout the course to keep playing conditions fast and firm and render the drain useless, causing wet boggy areas even where a drain is known to have been installed. Trees that have many roots near the surface can heave up cart paths and invade into key playing areas like tees, greens and bunkers. These surface roots can also cause great damage to the mowers that have to try and mow around or over them while cutting grass.

So I'm not a tree-hater, but I guess when it comes to my job, I'm not a full-on tree hugger either. I love playing the mountain courses that wind through the forest. I love playing older, local country clubs with huge majestic oaks. But I think it deserves to be recognized that trees and, more importantly, how and where they are planted can largely impact both the game of golf and those of us who do our best to maintain pristine grounds on which to play on. So when we have big storms like we just had, my rule is: survival of the fittest. We'll always do our best to preserve specimen trees (think the oaks on #15 and #17) and key trees strategic to the design of the hole, but if one tree goes down in a group or line due to it being unhealthy or poorly rooted, I don't think too many golfers will notice it, or miss it. And as a superintendent, I won't either.

Future posts this winter will expand on the ongoing issues created by the trees that have already been planted here at Empire Ranch. Many chores on our winter list of "to-do's" have to do with correcting these problem areas. But if you're on the course and want to check it out for yourself, remember these key areas: the roots invading near the back of #4 green, the roots invading the back bunker on #8, and the roots heaving up the cart path on #17.

Rainy Day Chores

I know it's not ideal for golfers, but I'm more than happy to be in the midst of our first major rain storm of the '09 fall/winter season. Though we lose a day of golf for you fanatics, the good news is that the course should come out of this storm in alot better shape than it did coming in. The rain will flush out the greens, and cause a healthy spurt of growth as we get a few warm days. The driest areas around the course will get a long sought-after drink as the rain makes up for the inefficiencies of the irrigation system. And everything dry and dusty will get a nice rinse of clean, pure water. I always love the first rains of the season.

Many may wonder what a golf maintenance crew does when it rains, as it's obviously hard to try and mow grass and dig trenches (though we sometimes still will plug away through the wet mud when there's no other option!). The rain gives us a nice break from routine maintenance and a good excuse to catch up on some "housekeeping" chorse, like cleaning shop, clearing course drain basins to ensure quick drainage following the storm, and other tasks that just aren't high enough priority to do on a nice, sunny day.

Like these guys painting wooden stakes to use to restake all the hazards on the golf course. The recycled plastic stakes are nice-looking and last quite a while, but are pretty expensive and it seems we lose them to dogs playing fetch or frusterated golfers who toss them in the lake in no less than one month after I replace them all. At least these painted stakes will be a cheap alternative replacement and still serve their purpose:

And our mechanic/assistant here, Filemon, who always has equipment to repair and maintain, but gets a little extra help on these rainy days to pull of some bigger projects, like rebuilding the cutting units for our fairway mowers which, after 7 years of mowing fairways 2-3x per week, have finally worn down to the point that they don't really cut anymore:

Fall Aeration

I apologize for the lack in recent posting, but it's not without cause. We've been very busy here trying wrap up the active growing and heavy play season and have had to put most projects worth posting about on hold.

But as you can see in the picture above, our fall greens aeration is complete. Everything went as smooth as possible and the picture above shows the greens 3 days healed. There is very little extra sand left on the surface, as it has all mostly settled in, and we should be able to start mowing again over the weekend. Within another week, it should be hard to tell we did much at all.

I always get asked alot of questions around this time of year about aeration; why and how and how big the holes are and if homeowners should do it to their lawns. So here's a few quick answers about commonly asked aeration questions:

- We currently perform two major aerations annually, in the spring and the fall. Aeration serves mulitple purposes. It relieves compaction of the soil. It removes thatch from the surface. It allows better entry of oxygen and water into the soil profile, which invigorates microbes and nutrient uptake. It allows us to replace compacted soil with clean, porous new sand for improved drainage. The sand topdressing also allows us to dilute the thatch and protect the crown of the grass plant.

- We use 1/2" tines to punch holes. Some courses use only 3/8", most use 5/8". As hard as it may be to believe, the aeration we do only disrupts 3.93% of the playing surface. So even though it seems like there are alot of holes to mess up your putt, this stat falls in the same category as "trees are 90% air," yet your ball never seems to make it through one without hitting something. 3/8" tines affect a mere 1.41% and 5/8" affect 5.65%. I like to keep it in the middle, to find the balance between removing thatch and improving as much of the green as possible, while still trying to keep the disruption to play at a minimum.

- Aeration of home lawns is also a very good idea, and if you are looking to be a top-notch turf manager at home, once a year is plenty. Keep in mind the main reasons we aerate more often here at the golf course is not only for improved turf health, but also to relieve compaction and improve the playing surface. If your lawn received traffic from 55,000 people over the course of a year, I'd tell you to aerate more than once a year as well. But in all honestly, for most lawns, annually or biannually is plenty.

Feel free to e-mail or call me with any more questions you may have about aeration, or just come out and see it for yourself. The golf course is in great shape, and this is the best golfing weather of the year!