WINTER GOLF

Traffic control & winter spikes

As we head into winter the excessive local rainfall is now taking its toll, to counteract this we have installed traffic management in the form of white lines around all aprons and localized wet damageable areas.

Please do not cross white lines with trolleys or riding buggys.

Spikes

It is my firm belief that soft spikes are totally inappropriate for winter use, to see an excellent article on this subject by a colleague please click here the author is Mr Andy Boyce  a fellow groundsman with whom I traveled to the GCSAA show in Orlando a couple of years ago, it says it all really namely soft spikes are damaging to turf surfaces during the winter as a result of the build up of snow/frost/grass and mud around the cleats it is his belief that metal spikes are safer as well during the winter. Should you require a set of "winter" metal spike's our Professionals Mick and Julie have them in stock.

Greens during winter

The Greens are hopefully going to be in play during the winter more than previous years, to facilitate this I need your cooperation by voluntarily wearing winter spikes thus minimizing turf damage and surface disruption, It is my aim to play on frosty greens and yes this can be controversial but for the last 15 years I have never had any temporary greens and I have never seen damage by frost done to the greens surface except by soft spikes, I am however wise enough to accept that each golf course/location is different and as mentioned in an earlier post the "bio types" are different so what can I do to monitor the greens health.

• Establish a frostometer i.e. mild-moderate-hoar  possibly by ambient air temperature/humidity  
• Examine for scorch 
• Look for sward composition change
• Look for surface disruption
• Increase in disease

The amount of footfall will also have an impact for example if on Friday the number of golfers are quite low and we have a moderate frost, more than likely no damage will occur. However if its the first Saturday of the month and there are 60-100 players and we have a moderate frost it may be necessary to place some or all greens on temps, it could be just the first 3 are on temps because 2nd and 3rd are in a frost pocket. You get the picture its a suck it and see scenario until we can establish parameters.  

We will be aerating during the winter as much as possible because we need to "catch up" in this area and it will help dry up the greens and allow them to "breath" this process will ultimately set the scene for the 2014 season with regards the the greens performance.  

I will also increase the potassium levels of the soil over the coming months I have already applied a granular product and I will follow this up with a liquid solution when conditions allow, this will make the grasses a little tougher against abrasion (spikes) and disease attacks. There will however be times where temporary greens will be needed, you will notice that the temps are closer to the front of the greens because it is mainly around the hole cup that 90% of foot traffic causes damage as the photo shows.

Typical wear around hole cup

Drainage

As you are aware the 11th open drainage dyke has been completed, however due to surface conditions the other work has slowed down somewhat. Next week there is a cold snap forecast which usually brings drier conditions and hopefully work can continue.

Winter Golf......Enjoy

As you will be aware the winter course was set up on Tuesday 29th Oct, The ultimate aim is to play the greens all winter, however there will be times where this is not possible due to agronomic pressure. The ground staff and the committee want to you play on greens and grass tees where ever possible and to facilitate this we will be verti-draining the greens on a regular basis throughout the winter that is whenever conditions allow, we are going to set into some tees (par 3's) the artificial grass tees mats this will give maximum length and minimize damage in times of deteriorating conditions.

You can phone the information line for course condition and restrictions ect from now on, please allow time for the course to be inspected before the line is updated we are starting work during the winter at 7:00 am to maximize on daylight hours. 

We continue to shuffle our workload between leaf collection and general maintenance prioritizing certain areas of the course, but please be aware that we have a lot of trees of mixed species that shed their leaves at different times and the grass is still growing!

Wet conditions have temporally halted construction on the 11th area, be assured we will continue work ASAP and we view this as a priority. The few drain lines that we have installed are working very well as is the open dyke. 

Plea:

1. Please repair your pitch marks
2. Please observe traffic management
3. Please give way to Ground staff
4. If anyone knows where the dyke at the back of the 14th Tee comes out in Brinsworth please let me know, you can Email me at phoenixheadgroundsman@gmail.com 

Thank you 

Graham

11th Drainage & Tee Project

  Drainage

The project is well under way as you probably have seen when you are playing golf, if you haven't seen the progress yet click on the link below to see a range of photos.

click here to see photos of the 11th project

The trenches are to be left open, by that I mean the trenches are to have gravel up to the top and no soil/rootzone. By doing this it allows the surface water to enter the drain more quickly and they will eventually grow over, because the 11th suffers from surface water and not a high water table this is the desired design. The 11th area has natural or otherwise springs surfacing in several locations and looking at the photos you will see that there is only about 30cm of topsoil below this is heavy clay, suffice to say about 1.25mm of rain will water log this area which is compounded by the springs.

The conditions are proving to be challenging due to being very wet already however the team are very determined to complete ASAP

Before

11th Tee

The 11th tee is being completely rebuilt, it will benefit from new auto irrigation which we will install ourselves. The Tee will be elevated a further 30 cm or one foot and be 15m x 15m a total of 225 m2 much bigger than the old tee and further to the left by about 5 m the spoil from the drainage is being used to elevate the tee and construct gentle banks to the front and sides, these will be much easier to maintain.

The stone wall from the front of the old tee is to be recycled into a bridge in front of the yellow/social tee.

I would like to give thanks to the groundsmen for their continued efforts and support during the project and to the committee and members for their support and understanding. 

Surveying

Autumn Renovations

Apologies

Please accept my apologies for not keeping this blog up to date, however the Grounds team have been very busy with the autumn renovations.

So far...... verti-draining was completed last week and this week hollow coring was also completed, top dressing is currently work in progress due to the adverse weather but I expect to Finnish it Friday 4th October, and as I have mentioned before this is a crucial process for the Greens Improvement plan.

Leaves

Phoenix has an abundant amount of trees and unfortunately most of them shed leaves from mid September until at least December. The leaf collector has been busy since Wednesday 18th October and shall remain so for the foreseeable. 

Projects

The Executive committee have OK'd the 11th drainage project and the reconstruction of the 11th medal tee (more details to follow)

17th Green at sunrise

General update

Topdressing/aeration

The topdressing/aeration was completed on Tuesday 20th August and went to plan, we applied a little more than previous applications with the intention of catching up due to the pond drain down. At this point I would like to mention the lads, we had a difficult week because of holiday entitlements and topdressing however the team gave a valiant effort and completed all the maintenance tasks on time ready for the weekend, well done team.

Rabbits

We have a gentleman that is controlling the vermin, to date he has dispatched around 200+ rabbits

Phoenix has epidemic proportions of rabbits mainly due to It being a Green Island in a sea of industry, this is good for wildlife and biodiversity, not so good for the bunkers and greens though. When the foliage has dropped in the Autumn he will be able to clear the burrows, hopefully this will control the adults and lower spring breeding for 2014 

Winter planning

I have started putting together the Autumn/Winter program, this includes all the usual stuff and a couple of Major improvements. Once the program has been agreed and clarified I will post the details here on the blog. 

Tonight my wife and I are looking forward to the joint Captains bash and race night, I hope the golf went well and the rain held off, it didn't here in Pontefract!

The roundabout at Brinsworth

Top dressing

Top dressing is planned for Monday the 19th August weather permitting of course, the irrigation ponds have now been re-filled and are available for irrigation water if the summer make a return.

We have a disease on several greens that is not usually seen in the UK not to worry I have had the offending pathogen identified by Dr Kate Entwistle of the turf disease centre and now we can deal with it in the correct manner.

fungus Bipolaris, most likely B. sorokiniana

This disease lives within the thatch layer which we are aiming to reduce by aeration and top dressing. Bipolaris leaf spot is caused by high daytime temperatures above 20c which is what we have just experienced now the temps have come down and the general weather forecast is dry the disease should "grow out" without any detrimental effects, but rest assured we are keeping an eye on things.

8th viewing area

 

Dry patch and Wetting agents

What is dry patch? 

This an area of turf normally on the Green which is showing sings of drought stress.

Causes

Dry patch can be Biotic or Abiotic, that is to say caused by living organisms or non living causes such as poor construction.

Biotic causes

Fauna and flora can both have a dramatic effect, insects that eat grass roots such as leather jackets (tipula paludosa) or daddy long legs. 

Another Biotic cause is fungal activity or thatch fungus and fairy rings, these fungi live in the thatch that is produced by the growing turf which is a normal process, however it needs to be controlled and our verti-cutting and topdressing program will over time reduce the thatch levels. 

Fungi produce a waxy substance that coats the sand particles and causes a hydrophobic environment that gives the visual appearance of dry patch.

Abiotic causes

 Poor construction, bad irrigation practices and inappropriate irrigation installation can and will have a major effect on the moisture levels within the rootzone.

Remedies 

Biotic  

Many insects live their life within the soil and only emerge as flying critters to find a mate and breed, daddy long legs lay their eggs in late summer and hatch in early Autumn, at this point we apply an insecticide to the turf which should severely diminish populations and minimize damage.

As mentioned earlier thatch is being reduced and also thatch fungus, as the thatch reduces so will the dry patch associated with it.

Abiotic

With regards to irrigation I have been replacing some of our old sprinklers with new low pressure Rainbird sprinklers, these give a much better quality/even application of water, I have also been repairing/servicing some of the old ones. With regards to construction, not much can be done except to identify the problem and act accordingly.  

Wetting agents

In the meantime we need to apply a product that will facilitate the re-wetting of the hydrophobic turf.
We use a product call Breaker advance by Rigby Taylor which is a general wetter, however next year at the beginning of spring we will apply Breaker Curative to strip off the waxy coating and then follow up with Breaker Advance.

Typical dry patch

3rd Green showing fungal activity

Drought Stress

Just a reminder that top dressing is planned for Monday the 8th July 13, worth its weight in gold!

Some member's may be aware that at the end of July the irrigation ponds are being drained for two weeks, not to worry we are planning for it.

So what are we doing? 

Today 4th July 13 we have started our pre-stress conditioning, that is to say the greens are being prepared for severe drought.

There is every chance that it may rain, but we have to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Here's the plan; today Steve has applied a growth regulator to the greens along with amino acid and a sniff of fertilizer, the growth regulator will slow down vertical growth but encourage tillering and root development all in all good for the greens and minimizes water demand, the amino-acid is a stress buster for turf and the fertilizer will encourage tillering (thickening)

One week before the drain off, we will be applying a wetting agent at full strength, this makes the rootzone "hold" water and minimizes evaporation, at the same time I will be watering to "field capacity" or as much water as the greens can hold without causing detrimental damage by over watering.

During the drain off period we will be hiring a "bowser" that will irrigate the greens during the day, hopefully the stress busting and "bowsering" will suffice. 

Aeration and top dressing will cease until after the drain off, it may be necessary however to heighten the cut somewhat and roll instead of cutting I will try my best to provide a putting surface throughout the drain off. 

Fingers crossed!

lawnmower hints & tips

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURES SAFETY PROCEDURES 

  

Many years ago I had a small business called Barnsdale Mowers, it is/was an enterprise that I started from scratch and is still running in one form or another. During my time there is was accredited by Briggs & Stratton, Techumseh, Flymo ect as their warranty/service center, there are many repeating breakdowns that can easily be rectified and save you money!

Me and one of the Grand kids (trainee Greenkeeper)
in my garden

• Always remove spark plug before any work on petrol machines
• Always unplug electric machines before doing any work
• Balance the blade and keep it sharp! this prolongs flymos by years!! or even any mower
• Over winter store petrol machines on the compression stroke, 
• Empty and dispose of old petrol that has been unused and still in the petrol tank, common spring problem
• WD 40 cables and anything that twists or slides
• If you have to tip up a petrol machine up for maintenance ensure the carb is nearest the floor this will stop flooding and stop the valve chest filling with oil.
• Check oil level regularly

Top dressing

Today we completed or first summer topdressing. The video below shows the sequence of events, all the processes are carried out by our own staff and our own equipment. Thank you for you patience whilst the process is completed it will be worth it in the long run.

Update on dressing

Friday 14th June greens now cut at 3mm again and no visible signs of sand anywhere! this process really is the key to improving greens quality in terms of putting trueness and consistency from green to green not to mention the myriad of agronomic benefits. 

Footnote

Despite having football renovations (turfing) and top dressing all in the same week, the golf course was well presented on Friday 14th June.............. we done lads your efforts are paying dividends.

Well done lads, like a swiss watch

As the weather settles down to summer temps and warm evenings continue our turf begins to flourish, along with the growth comes improved surfaces. We can help things along by light aeration, top dressing with sand and vertical cutting, all these processes are crucial to continual greens improvement.
Top dressing is planned weather permitting Wednesday 12th June.
The irrigation system is working flat out at the moment, I am however working on it to make it more efficient, this may mean I have to dig up one or two greens sprinklers to reset them and change one or two nozzles ect I will keep disruption to a minimum.
The height of cut to the greens is currently 3.0 mm this might have to be changed with the prevailing weather conditions, for example if the hot dry spell continues this will exert environmental stress to the turf and I may have to raise the cut a little or even replace cutting with vibe rolling on select occasions this will not effect the greens quality.

Bobble

The erratic weather continues to stunt persistent growth and the immediate outlook isn't very bright. The pictures below illustrate the different growth rates by different species of grasses, the picture was taken on the 17th green today (23rd May) you can clearly see the different grasses by the texture of the leafs, the one showing the courser leafs is the Rye grass and the finer leafs are the Poa Annua (meadow grass) these two pictures are very clearly showing the problem of bobbley greens. The Rye photo shows grasses between 3-4 mm which can be expected as I have set the mower to 3.8mm the other photo shows the problem of meadow grass at below 2mm!!! many of the grasses haven't even been touched by the mower despite cutting 7 days a week! the good news is we have a good coverage of grass on the greens and I dont think we will be discussing this for to much longer (hopefully)

Rye grass

Meadow Grass

Enemy within

Root muncher

This little critter and his mate were munching on our new juicy roots!! do you know what it is?
The critter was on the 17th green but all the greens were covered in them, possibly thousands in total. No panic though as there is no visible signs of damage but the situation is being dealt with, its the pupae of the daddy-long-leg or crane fly Tipula Paludosa commonly called "leather jackets" they make a short appearance in the morning before the greens mower hoovers them up!

Tipula Paludosa

Roots

The aeration program is paying dividends, this morning (Sat 11th May) Mark was changing the holes and as he inspected the soil profile he noticed some roots extending out of the bottom of the changer!! this is a very positive sign that the program is working. The "crack" that is visible on the core is most probably the solid tine of the verti-drain, a process that we completed three weeks ago.
Very encouraging!

Deeper root benefits

1. drought resistance
2. disease resistance
3. resiliency
4. desirable species encouragement   

courtesy of Mark Smith Phoenix Groundsman

Bumpy Greens

Bumpy greens!!!???

There have been several burning questions buzzing around recently namely “the greens are dry and why are they bumpy”

The simple answer is we have Poa Annua dominated greens and it hasn’t started growing yet, this raises a couple of questions i.e. what is Poa Annua and why isn’t it growing?

Poa Annua

Annual meadow grass by its common name is widely regarded as a weed turf species, colonisation is usually facilitated by incorrect turf management usually too much water and over fertilizing but the truth is most courses if not all courses have meadow grass greens to some degree or another and have to learn to manage it.

The accepted turf composition for a golf green is 80% bent & 20% fescue, unfortunately this composition is difficult to achieve even when the seed/turf is made up of these percentages during construction, because of the drive to have soft lush greens this negates the requirements of the desirable species. Phoenix greens composition is made up of Poa Annua bio types (more on this later) Rye grass, bent grass, and if I look hard enough I may be able to find a leaf or two of fescue but I’m not holding my breath! (hates too much water)

So now we realise that we have possibly four types of turf, right? Wrong try 100’s or 1000’s this is where the Poa bio types come in.  Cast you mind back to early March and the greens had a purple patchy appearance and the patches varied in colour saturation, these differences are the different bio types and the green bits were the “other” grasses. All these patches grow at different rates and some are still dormant or just coming out of dormancy, the Rye component grows at low temperatures that is why winter sports pitches use it so as to aid recovery. Imagine Rye growing actively, all the Poa bio types growing at different rate and the “other” grasses trying to catch up the result is bumpy greens until the air/soil temps rise to a reasonable number and they are all growing into the mower clipping zone on a daily basis.

But they are dry!

It’s difficult to warm something up and wet it at the same time! As we have mentioned we desperately need the air/soil temps to rise to facilitate growth but at the same time turf does need water and if it’s not forthcoming from the sky we need to irrigate for short bursts that give the turf water but doesn’t saturate the green and lower soil temps.

Whats the optimum temperature for growth?

Cool season grasses (uk) have an optimum growth potential of 20c (air) and 18c (soil) above and below this the turf growth slows, as an example 1c and 30c could have similar grow potential! A little exaggerated but you get the idea.

Then we have “growth degree days” this indicates the days that turf has entered the growth zone and this April is 50% lower than average!! Look at the diagram for illustration.

What can be done?

As of the 9^th May take a close look at the greens and you will notice small dark green circles, these are the remnants of the aeration work we did earlier and the roots are in a better environment and are extending gathering nutrient and because they are longer they are protected from the fluctuations in soil temperature’s, I measured the soil temp today on the 17^th green at 50mm deep and recorded 8c you can deduct that about 10% growth potential is produced, not enough to kick start the greens.  

I hope this explains things but as with all nature driven processes there are millions of variables and no simple answers, please feel free to ask me anything about the Royals Greens if you see me around the course.

The black column is this April 

We should have 75% GP but have about 10% thats why the greens are bumpy!

8th backdrop project

The 8th and the 9th tee area which is also home to the halfway house it a lovely area that was a little let down by the 8th green backdrop, with the blessing of the greens chairman and secretary we have been given the go ahead to improve the area. Whilst working on the project many members have spoken to us and are pleased with the work being done, some have given us historic information that has proved useful. We are planning a rear screen of laurel shrubs and possibly other colourful shrubs. If any member would like to have input into this project or if you have and plants ect please contact me or any of the grounds staff.

looking better all the time

Area seeded awaiting further developments 

After clearing

Before 

Summertime??

Growth

It will come honest, summer I mean. As you the golfer get eager to play on smooth and true greens, we the groundsmen of Phoenix are keen to provide such surfaces however mother nature is showing who's the boss.

At phoenix our turfgrass species are a mixed bag namely Poa Annua (annual meadow grass) Lolium Perenne   

(rye grass) over time I would like to gradually change these species to a more sustainable mix with a high Agrostis (bent grass) percentage, but this will take time and resources so for the immediate future we need to continue the improvement program on our greens and the quality and playing characteristics will improve.

Cool season grasses (uk) optimum growth temperature is around 20c as this falls so does growth until the soil temps reach 5c and growth virtually stops. Applied nutrient i.e fertilizer has to be converted into a form that plants can assimilate and its the soil bacteria that does this process called the "nitrogen cycle" below 5c this bacteria is virtually dormant as the temperature rises and the soil fauna kicks into action so does our grasses, meadow grass is very slow on the uptake at cold temperatures to add insult to injury the season is approximately two weeks behind however this situation can change rapidly.

Just look at the winter wheat in the fields, it is said that during march the wheat should be able to hide a hare, as it is now a mouse would have trouble hiding! 

Without soil bacteria plants could not exist, an acre good soil has the same weight as an adult cow in bacteria!!

11th Drainage Poject

11^th area project

The area around the 10^th 11^th and 12^th tee area has severe drainage problems which are becoming worse as the season progresses, the source of this water is from precipitation and possible underground springs that are being hydraulically pressurised by the extremely wet summer of 2012 and the wet winter of 2012/13

On examination of the existing backfilled trenches it was found that the infill materials were of inferior quality which resulted in clay/silt ingress into the slotted pipe, also several old schemes were on top of each other implying continual failed attempts.

The quality of the backfill material is crucial to the success of the new scheme and I recommend a gravel of 2-5mm clean washed material which is none calcareous.

The diagram above is schematic only i.e. there will be eighteen laterals to the left of the open drain.

Key; Green open dyke, Red laterals   

Greens renovations completed

We have completed the spring renovations and it all went very well, all we need now is some consistently warm temperatures to sustain growth. Next week I will be applying fertilizer to the greens, aprons and tee's this will also help with growth and recovery. Mick and Oz are working their way through the semi rough which is smartening things up and Adi is cross hatching the fairways adding that finishing touch. Mark has been cutting and collecting the tees and working the height of cut down bit by bit and Steve is putting the cherry on the cake by tidying up around the tee's and banking's, well done lads its coming together.

Greens Renovations update

A nice even application of sand after coring and V cutting

Hopefully tomorrow Monday 8^th April 13, we are starting the greens renovations. Mick, Julie or Kimberly

in the pro shop will be updated on a regular basis as to our progression; I will endeavour to have as many Greens fully open as possible some may be closed and some may be on temps which have been cut in preparation. I cannot be more specific because I am not familiar with the outputs of Phoenix equipment and some machines are being used as never before such as the verti-drain which has been adapted to micro-core. If you are playing during renovations and need a chat about what is going on please don’t hesitate to ask I will be happy to explain further.

Photos to be posted as we progress

Sequence of events

1. Core greens
2. Clean up cores
3. V mow if possible
4. Apply top dressing (sand)
5. Vibro roll/brush sand into the holes and turf surface
6. Open green

Aeration/top dressing

Q what is aeration

A aeration is the mechanical means of increasing soil/air ratio

Q why aerate?

A roots grow in the air spaces between soil particles, the ideal ratio of air to soil is 4:1 or 25% air.

Q why do you need to do it again?

A compaction is the Greenkeepers enemy, in order the fight compaction we need to aerate and top dress on a regular basis. The result is a better turf surface that is resilient to drought and water logging, disease/pest attack it will be quicker to drain after rainfall and the turf surface will be thicker and stronger which will produce a firm truer surface and a joy to putt on.

Types of mechanical aeration

Aeration can be categorised into;

• Deep (verti-draining, slitting, mole ploughing)
• Shallow (micro-coring, micro-tinning, sarrel rolling)
• Temporary (slitting, micro-tinning, sarrel rolling)
• Semi-permanent (verti-draining ,micro-coring, mole ploughing)

Aeration timing

• Verti-draining; Autumn through Spring
• Slitting; Autumn through Spring
• Mole ploughing; Autumn
• Micro-coring; Spring through Autumn

·       

STUMP GRINDING & VERTI-DRAINING

On Thursday the 4th April we have a stump grinder coming for a couple of days to deal with the 100+ stumps that we have dotted around the course. The debris will be cleaned up and the resulting holes filled in and seeded ASAP.

Also this week I am hoping to verti-drain the greens with 8 mm tines, please allow the greenkeeper time to remove himself from the green before playing your approach shots, he will move ASAP.

STUMP GRINDING COMPLETED 06/04/13
VERTI-DRAINING ONGOING

NEW BEGINNINGS

My name is Graham Pickin and I have been appointed as head groundsman of the Phoenix complex on the 4th March 2013 I have inherited a staff of five, I am fortunate to have a broad skill pool within the staff whom are all eager to return Phoenix golf club back to former glory and beyond.It is our personal mission to present the Golf Course and other sporting facilities to the highest standards possible. Although we are all keen to get off the starting block our unseasonal weather just keeps on testing our ability to produce a golf course.
I am personally excited at the potential that Phoenix has, it is a beautiful golf course and has a testing nature. We are now cracking on with the tail end of the winter program and I am already planning for next winter.

Back to the Spring/Summer 

I intend to implement an intense aeration/renovation program to the greens but don't worry my methods are very gentle and don't cause much disruption to your enjoyment or the game of golf. The tees and aprons are to be cut at 10mm or thereabouts and the clippings removed, this will enhance the presentation of the tees and aprons. Because I intend to box off the clippings a fertilizer program has been agreed for the areas mentioned.

The dreaded aeration program

As all seasoned golfers will attest aeration is very important to the quality of turf, particularly on the greens. With this in mind I have posted a video that explains the reasons for aeration.

Ok so now we know what coring is all about the question is when? we have scheduled in coring for approximately 3 days from the 8th April, this is however weather dependent and I will try to only have 3 greens closed at a time.