Cold weather measures for greens

When it gets cold for a prolonged period, we cover four of our greens with a lightweight textile cover that insulates the turf (# 5, #10, #11, and #13) because they had freeze damage in past years. The covers help retain heat and magnify the suns rays to keep the ground underneath from freezing. These are newer sand greens that got "freezer burn" two years ago when it got down into the teens for five days in a row. During that stretch it was very dry and it got windy the last day which burned the turf. We also cover the rest of our newer sand greens with a layer of sand to insulate the turf from the cold and wind. #1, #2, #15, #16, and #17 all were sanded heavily last week as insurance against the cold. When conditions warm up, the sand is scooped up and the rest blown off the green surface. The photo below shows Genaro and Mario spreading sand on #5 green.

#17 green tree removals

The golf course has been frozen for the past week and closed for play. With no golfers on the course, it's been the perfect time to remove trees that have been causing shade problems around several of our greens. We hired Arborcom last year to do a shade analysis on #3, #8, and #17 greens. The past week our turf crew has been busy working with a tree contractor removing the "Arborcom trees" around those greens.
Shown below is a before and after view of #17 green from the center of the fairway 110 yards out from the green. Not much change from this viewing point.

Two dead trees were removed to the left of the green, and also two large Fir trees in the same area that were shading the green. There was an extra large Fir tree with four Cedar trees growing around it that was removed just off and to the left of #18tee. The before and after photos below were taken from the bridge on #11, looking across at #17 green.

This green will now get the sunlight it needs to grow healthy turf. The photos below show the extra large Fir tree that was adjacent to #18 tee.

  This last photo below shows Frank and Kyle transporting part of the tree from #18 tee out to the staging area at #4 tee where the logs are stored until they get picked up and taken to a mill.

 

 

Slight fade OK, slice no way!

Day one of tree removals for 2013 took us to the 14th tee area to open up the "narrow hallway" between the tee and fairway. There are two Fir trees on the left side in the rough about 60 yards off the tee that extended out into the line of play. The Green Committee and the Board decided to remove the Fir on the right of the two in question. If you slice your tee shot ball like John Birds, you have no chance to get to the fairway unless you play it down the 13th hole and bring it back around the trees. When I showed the loggers which tree to remove, they said "let's take 'em both down while we're at it." NO!!!!!!!!! We're only taking down those that have been approved by the Green Committee and the Board as directed by Arborcom and our golf course architect.

The tee shot is opened up a little bit, but not much. If we set the markers on the left half of the tee, you still  have to hit it straight or with a slight draw (right handed player) to land the ball on the fairway with an open shot to the green. Sorry John B, you still have to play it down 13!

Long grass or fast dirt; winter height of cut on greens.

Winter is here and when it gets cold, growth on the greens comes to a screeching halt. When there is no new growth, there is no recovery to any damage done to the greens or other turf on the course. The shorter grass shows more damage from ball marks, foot prints from aggressive winter golf cleats around the hole, foot traffic and pull carts through wet areas around greens, and carts that can't seem to stay on the paths.

Check out the spike pattern on these two pair of shoes. The bottom shoe has spikes that are common to most shoes on the market today. The top shoe has cleats that are more suited for football, not golf. When the greens are soft due to wet weather, the area around each hole gets very "tracked up."
Since the grass isn't growing and can't recover from traffic very well, we raise the height of cut on greens during winter months. During the playing season, we mow the greens at .095 ( 95 one thousandths of an inch, or real close to 3/32 of an inch.) About ten years ago .125 ( 1/8 ( or 4/32) of an inch) was the industry standard for summer greens height of cut. Due to advances in mower technology, we can now cut .030 lower ( even up to .050 lower !) during the playing season producing faster green speeds. But we have to be very careful with cutting too low for prolonged periods especially during hot weather when the turf is stressed, or we'll wind up with no grass, just fast dirt! OK, back to winter cutting heights. We raise the cutting height to .150 ( 5/32 of an inch) which is .055 inches higher during winter to help the turf deal with stress. Foot traffic, soggy soil conditions, and cold temperatures are all examples of  winter stress. The longer the grass, the better it can handle stress. The photos below will help you understand the difference between our summer and winter cutting heights.

 This photo shows a micrometer reading of .095, (24 sheets of printer paper thick) our summer cutting height.

Here is our winter cutting height of .150 (the thickness of 36 sheets of printer paper) and the difference between the two heights of cut. The difference is not much, an additional .050 is the thickness of 12 pieces of printer paper shown below.

We raise the height of cut just enough to keep the grass plants healthy to make it through the winter. Once spring arrives and the grass starts growing again, we'll drop the height of cut in steps to get back down to our summer cutting height. But for winter just remember one thing; slow grass is better than fast dirt!