Sept 11, 2012 Aerification 3/8 core

Aerification is a necessary evil when it comes to maintaining quality putting greens. We time our major core aerification in spring and fall because our Bentgrass greens are the healthiest at that time. Removal of cores is essential in maintaining a healthy root system through the stresses of summer.  Core removal allows for the removal of built up organic matter in the soil caused by the normal life cycle of the grass plants, and provides channels for air and water to infiltrate the root zone while also reducing compaction. The USGA recommends that 15%-20% of the surface area should be affected each season during a normal maintenance program.

Sept 11 2012 Aerification 3/8  with 648 Toro

3/8 Side eject tine

We hosed Down the Remaining Sand Before Rolling.

Creek Club 2012 Pictures

Thatch removal on Zorro Zoysia Fairways 7/18/2012

Dethaching fwys with Sisis 



The SISIS Veemo is a tractor mounted heavy duty scarifier and de-thatcher for removal and control of thatch.




Blowing beside  Sisis Verticutter help with Clean up!





Blowing Fairways the second time after mowing them..

summer stess

In order to overcome these stresses, we tailor our maintenance programs to offset these stresses. Critical maintenance practices such as aerification, sand topdressing, and a balanced nutrition program for the turf, preventative application of plant protectants, sub-air drainage installation, and irrigation system maintenance highlight some of the inputs required to keep a course in top condition throughout the stressful summer months.  This time of year, our practices are evaluated on a daily basis to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to care for the turf. By tweaking of mowing heights, roll greens and skip mowing the putting surfaces assist in caring for the turf. As we are about start into the hotter summer months July and August, the golf course maintenance staff has intensified its preventative maintenance measures. A few examples are highlighted below.

This article has provides a few basics of summer crisis management for Bentgrass Greens. You may not know that we do to survive the Heat here in Georgia.

Rescue 911

By Chris Hartwiger and Patrick O’Brien, USGA Green Section SE Region Agronomists

July heat has arrived.  Unwanted rain pours every afternoon.  The Bentgrass putting greens are heading south.  The root system is nowhere to be found and the member/guest looms in four weeks.  All of a sudden, one day at a time takes on new meaning.  This scenario is about as bad as it gets for a golf course superintendent.  This article will offer the best crisis management tips we have accumulated over the years.  These tips are not intended as a replacement for sound agronomic practices and good construction nor are they guaranteed.  They are designed to give the putting greens the best chance to make it to the end of the summer with as much turf as possible. 

Venting

Rapid root dieback during the summer months can seal off Bentgrass putting greens.  To make this bad news even worse, oxygen demand in the root zone is high.  The process of plant respiration takes stored carbohydrate reserves and converts them to energy for plant growth.  Oxygen is a crucial element in this process and the root system is the main site for oxygen uptake.  If the macropores in the putting greens are clogged with swollen, decaying roots, soil oxygen levels are going to decrease.  Rapid root dieback creates a scenario where oxygen demand is at its highest, but supply is limited. 
The most rapid and cost effective method to increase soil oxygen levels is to use either solid aeration tines or the small knife tine to vent the putting greens with thousands and thousands of tiny holes to increase the flow of oxygen into the root zone.  This is a golfer friendly practice that causes little disruption to the putting surface.  Dr. Bob Carrow of the University of Georgia has confirmed the value of this practice through his research.  The standard recommendation is to perform this practice every 21 days beginning eight weeks after spring core aeration. 

Water Management

Link    GCM July 1996 - Syringing 

Summer heat is not kind to the root system of creeping Bentgrass.  A significant root loss is expected and a catastrophic root loss is a real possibility when any combination of high temperatures, excess rainfall, high organic matter, and poor internal drainage are combined.  Irrigation practices must be altered as a root system dies back.  A four inch root system has a soil moisture reservoir four inches deep.  A three quarter inch root system can only access moisture three quarters of an inch deep. 
Evaluate your root system and adjust irrigation practices accordingly.  Deep and infrequent can take on a whole new meaning with a shallow root system.   Many golf course superintendents with Bentgrass putting greens in the southeast have success with daily watering in the summer months. 
If your root system is gone and they can not go more than one day without water, set your overhead irrigation system up based upon the wettest portion of the putting green.  Because no watering system has one hundred percent uniformity, there will be areas that need supplemental hand watering which will need to be done in the morning before the grass goes under any drought stress.  A sign that the proper amount of water has been applied on the greens is that they have just the right amount of moisture when checking them in mid to late afternoon the day following irrigation. 

Mowing Practices

Mowing is an essential part of turfgrass management.  It also mechanically injures the turf and creates points of entry for pathogens.  Sharp reels are an advantage any time of year, but are even more important in times of stress.  Would you like a surgeon cutting you open with a scalpel or a rusty nail? 
Mowing height is another variable that can impact summer survival.  Keep in mind that as heat increases, the rate of photosynthesis decreases (food production) in creeping Bentgrass and the rate of respiration (food consumption) increases.  No plant can continue forever if respiration occurs faster than photosynthesis.  Research by Dr. Bingru Huang of Rutgers University has shown that by raising the mowing height, more leaf surface area remains, and photosynthesis levels are higher.  If your greens are in trouble, an immediate increase in mowing height of 10 – 20 percent is a good start. 
Mowing frequency is another variable that can be adjusted to promote better summer survival.  Dr. Thom Nikolai of Michigan State University has found that when greens are under heavy stress, substituting one or two mowing with rolling will not impact green speed, but will improve turfgrass quality. 

Fertility

Plants have relied on their root system for millions of years to supply nutrients.  What happens when 90 percent or more of the root system is dead?  Answer:  The plant has less capacity to take up nutrients and the soil reservoir of plant available nutrients is much smaller.  When the root system dies back, continue spoon feeding all nutrients frequently and in small quantities. 

Fungicides

There are a wide variety of fungicides available for disease control with different modes of action.  When the plant is sick, understanding the mode of action and the best method of application can mean the difference between wasting money and buying another week of survival for the Bentgrass.  For example, if rain is forecast shortly after fungicide application, contacts and localized penetrants will not be as effective if they do not have time to completely dry.  A systemic fungicide may be a better choice.  When selecting a fungicide, understand the mode of action and take note accordingly. 
Another variable with fungicides is the amount of spray volume recommended and nozzle type.  Read the label carefully.  A specific volume of solution will be provided.  Nozzle manufactures such as Tee Jet have charts that recommend nozzle types based upon whether the fungicide is a contact or systemic.  Droplet size can make a huge difference in coverage and ultimately, disease control.  One size does not fit all in the nozzle department.

Air Movement

The fans around our Bentgrass putting greens operate 24 7 all summer. The Fans significantly lowers soil temperatures of the greens and increases the length and mass of creeping Bentgrass roots. More information can be found in the link below. 
http://www2.gcsaa.org/GCM/2006/may/pdfs/CoolBentgrass.pdf

An Even Bigger Easy: The Creek Club

An Even Bigger Easy: The Creek Club

by Jeff Wallach

Next Stop: Crazyville. Photo by Joann Dost.

In an era when golf course architects seem to take great pride in their ability to make our game ever more difficult (thanks, Jack!), and to punish us in increasingly cruel and inventive ways for even slightly mis-hit shots, architect Jim Engh has taken the opposite tact.  And golfers should love him for it.  I’d give him a hug right now if he was in front of me.
Engh has figured out what nobody else in golf seems to understand: that scoring well– and even going unreprimanded for less than perfect shots– just makes golf more fun.  Engh’s brilliant Creek Club at Reynolds Plantation leaves no mediocre shot unrewarded and even truly terrible golfers can climb up to the clubhouse from the eighteenth green (or at least from one of them– Engh designed three final greens that are used on alternate days) feeling great about their round.  And I just can’t think of a single thing wrong with that.  There’s also nothing wrong with a really good player shooting a 68 or a 69.
When the Golf Road Warriors show up at this private club that persistent golfers can usually still find a way to get on (although you have to play in the company of a member), the starter tells us a bit about the course awaiting us: that no hazards lurk behind the greens, for example, and that we’ll find this layout just a little different from most courses we’ve ever played.  He says this with a kind of smirk, and in fact everyone we’ve met all week who plays here– including many members– says the course is “different” in the same way they’d describe a distant uncle who’s just not quite right in the head.  I can only say in response that not only don’t they have anything to apologize for, but they should be bragging haughtily about this rare jewel that they have almost entirely to themselves.  In closing, the starter also tells us not the pin position but the green position on number eighteen– it’s the middle one today.
In inventing a clever layout that tends to bump balls back toward fairways and nudge them away from hazards and kicks them in slow circles toward the pins up around the greens, Engh also created golf holes of intense visual beauty.  From the first look at the course and its Zoysia fairways from the first tee Creek Club impresses with a downhill shot across a creek and past two sentry trees that lend definition.  After a solid drive I hit two very mediocre shots (the first lands high and off line but rolls down another forty yards toward the hole, the next barely makes it back across the creek and touches down way short  and left of the green but kicks and rolls up toward the pin) on the 578-yard par five first hole, and yet find myself with a 15-foot birdie putt, and I am liking this already.  Looking up at the pin sheet on the approach I note that you don’t often see pin positions of minus 25 and minus 28 feet.

To Jim Engh: We LOVE you, man! Photo by Joann Dost.

After the second hole I’m still rusty but find that not having hit a good shot yet I’m still at even par for the starting pair– it’s just a great idea that’s so counter-intuitive to every overly difficult course I’ve ever played.  I revel in this balancing of golf karma that finally rewards bad shots whereas so many other courses tend to punish even good ones.  In a way Engh’s work here reminds me of David Kidd’s designs at The Castle Course in St. Andrews and Tetherow in Central Oregon, except in an opposite way– whereas Kidd’s earthworks tend to move the ball mostly away from your target unless you choose exactly the right hump or curl and hit in the precise way the design demands, Engh seems to have pre-figured virtually every off-line shot a golfer could hit and created features that usher such shots back into the most playable position possible.
Peter Kessler and I are playing the course in the company of golf professional Mike Davenport, who makes two birdies in the first four holes and must be starting to feel confident, as he actually hits his drive on number five onto the middle of a narrow bridge and we watch it bounce toward an alternate fairway– a brilliant maneuver that most pros wouldn’t even attempt.
By number six I recognize that not only are many of the greens bowl-shaped, but they contain multiple bowls that gather shots and circle them back toward the various cupping areas.  One of these is so steep and fast that Kessler– to our great amusement– is forced to chase after his cigar as it rolls down a hill.  It’s the quickest I’ve ever seen him move.
One shot demand that Engh does require is a high loft to many of the greens, which sit uphill behind various crazy humps and bumps.  But these are crafted so beautifully that each hole is an individual artwork of design elements– or several artworks, actually, as tee shots are framed beautifully by trees and creeks, and green complexes are photographic compositions of hummocks and bunkers (that mostly don’t even come into play) and rolling, curvy lines.
Number twelve is one of my favorites all day– a risk-reward shot where the risk is much less than the reward.  Golfers can choose between two fairways, but the more difficult one only requires a 210-yard carry to reach.  Streams, lakes, and pot bunkers converge in the center of the hole and the two fairways S-curve gracefully through and over and around them.  Possibly the craziest hole on the routing comes at thirteen– it’s a par three over water with a green that wraps 60 yards in the perfect shape of a croissant, where the pin could be hidden completely out of site at the back behind steep mounds.  Everything drains down from raised hills toward the green like in a watershed collecting rain from miles around.

Finishing Hole, Green #1. Photo by Joann Dost.

On sixteen– a short par four with the green perched way up above gumdrop mounding– I hit my best shot of the day, though Mike Davenport tells me I’m a bit long.  But when we get up to the green and I’m looking for my ball he points silently toward the hole.  We’ve been told that the Creek Club awards a surprising number of birdies, eagles, and holes-in-ones, and as promised, my own personal eagle has landed here.
An un-exemplary display of golf nets me an 81 for the day and a long-awaited victory over Kessler, who is nowhere near as lucky as I am.  He’s forced to hand over twenty dollars at the lunch table– it’s the first time we’ve played for money because I told him I needed greater motivation than simply a running tally of lifelong wins and losses to be at my most competitive.  It works as I knew it would, except Kessler borrows back ten bucks at the airport later in the day to tip the skycaps.

Posted in Courses and Travel, Featured Article, Front Page Article, GRW Reynolds Plantation, Reynolds Plantation, The Creek Club

Thinking Back to When the Creek Club Opened and Jim Engh Heard Some Chirping

Thinking Back to When the Creek Club Opened and Jim Engh Heard Some Chirping

by David Gould

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 To begin with, Jim Engh’s design of The Creek Club at Reynolds Plantation can only be understood in light of the fact that Reynolds had a bunch of other golf courses sprinkled about the acreage, pleasing members and earning accolades, when Engh arrived to work his corner of the property. Just as the Winged Foot members of a century ago told  A.W. Tillinghast, “Build us a man-sized course,” the leadership at Reynolds asked Engh for something new, novel, stimulating and even stunning.

Engh had some license, in other words. The situation is comparable to that of Landmark Land Company decades ago, wherein Landmark CEO Gerald Barton told Pete Dye to build a super-intimidating PGA West because, as Barton nonchalantly said, “It would attract national attention for being a brutally hard course, and after our guests took their beating from it, we could set them up with tee times the next day on any of our many playable and easily
enjoyable courses.”
What we experienced on the final day of Golf Road Warriors trip was Jim Engh’s Old World-New Age response to the tumbling, pine-topped parcel they gave him. It’s a hair-raising spectacle of split fairways, multiple greens and astonishing little villages of bunkers and mounding. People shook their heads at first, self-styled purists, especially. This five-year-old stem-winder of a golf course is widely admired now, funky bounces and all. The assignment was to break free of convention, and not every course designer has the chops or the cajones to do that.
Engh shaped and shimmied this golf course to a high level of artistry. He sent it flying through the woodland and whipping around corners in a series of stirring surprises. There is more a chutes-and-ladders look to the fairway contours than your ball will actually experience. Up at the greensites, in many cases,  C.B. MacDonald’s imported concept of the Punchbowl  is explored in vivid and even dizzying detail. Even if you don’t talk to your ball while it’s in the air, you can deliver entire speeches to it as it skips and rolls along the 3D complexity of sideslopes, hollows, bays and bumps.
And all through the rhythm of the routing are the pretty creeks—natural, unaltered, never piped and covered, just where Engh found them. The entire effect is rousing, inspiring and gratifying.

Posted in Golf Road Warriors, GRW Reynolds Plantation, The Creek Club, Venues

GCM Syringing bentgrass Greens

It is Masters Week and the greens look great!  However with 4th hottest spring on record the soil temps are close to what we see in May. The summer temps and humidity are right around the corner.   Soon the staff will be out hand watering and syringing in order to keep bentgrass greens healthy throughout summer. Below is a good link about syringing and why we do it so often when battling the summer heat.

 GCM July 1996 - Syringing

Repairing ball marks

The Golf Fix: Breeds Basics-ball marks

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Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Ball marks, those indentations caused when a ball lands sharply on a soft green, have been ruining good putts since the days of Old Tom Morris. Unrepaired ball marks take two to three weeks to properly heal, leaving behind unsightly, uneven putting surfaces. On the other hand, a repaired ball mark only takes half that time to heal.
Beginner or pro, it is your responsibility as a golfer to fix your own marks. If you're truly a steward of the game, you'll fix any others you see while your partners are putting. There's really not much to it, but there are a few guidelines you should follow when making these repairs.
The right way to fix a ball mark

The right way to fix a ball mark

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Step 1:
Use a pronged ball mark
repair tool, knife,
key or tee.

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Step 2:
Insert the repair tool at the
edges of the mark; not the
middle of the depression.

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Step 3:
Bring the edges together
with a gentle twisting motion,
but don't lift the center. Try not to
tear the grass.

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Step 4:
Smooth the surface with
a club or your foot. Repeat
steps until the surface is one
you would want to putt over.

Painted Target Greens



The Zoysia target greens were painted to provide a contrast to the surrounding

brown dormant T-10 Bermuda grass. We use a special paint and water-insoluble pigment

that is not toxic to the turf and have more natural colors.  This year’s color is very close

to our Bentgrass cool-season greens which stay green year-round.

Painting rather than overseeding is much heather for the Zoysia turf since it doesn’t have

any competition from overseeded rye grass.

Eric's Bush hogging

Eric's Bush hogging before and after pictures.