Trees and turf are not best friends

Trees and turf are like oil and water, they don't mix together. Trees always win the battle for water over turf especially during times of heat stress.

The photo above is the left side of #13 fairway about 100 yards from the green. The turf in this area is full of roots from the adjacent Douglas Fir trees on the other side of the cart path. It looked good prior to fairway aeration. The temperature got up to 90 degrees the day we aerated and highs of 85 degrees the following two days. During normal weather the turf and tree roots get along just fine. But add the additional heat stress and the trees win the battle for available moisture in the soil. The result is burnt turf.

The two photos above are both of the right side of #14. The large Fir trees have roots that extend about twenty feet out into the fairway turf. The irrigation heads do a fairly good job of keeping the fairway turf healthy, but the turf in the rough does not get watered as well as the fairway so the trees win again.

Another example of tree roots extending out into the fairway and the turf getting cooked during heat stress. This shows the left side of #15 about 50 yards from the green. During most of the year the turf here is in good condition. When it gets hot usually during August, the turf can't keep up with the tree roots any longer and the turf  gets thin.

We do the best we can to keep these areas alive during the heat of August, but the trees usually cause some damage before the summer is over. The turf will re-establish itself once fall brings extended periods of rain and cooler temperatures.

Kelsey Creek restoration project nears completion

The creek restoration project that started the first week of June is nearly complete. The haul roads on the 7th, 8th, and 9th holes have been seeded and the new grass is coming up and looks good. The last stage of the project is to plant native shrubs in designated planting areas. The photo below was taken on the equipment bridge on #11 looking south down the stream.

The next photo was taken off the bridge just in front of the 16th tee looking north upstream.

All of the shrubs are varieties that are not supposed to get over three feet tall. In time we'll trim them as needed to keep them from interfering with tee shots from the 16th tee. The contractor will replace any plants that don't make it through the first year.The City of Bellevue is required to monitor the project for three years to make sure the in stream design is working as planned. Any areas that get washed out by big storm events will be changed and restored as needed next summer.

16 Fairway wet spots due to plugged drain lines

This is a continuation of the last blog discussing possible reasons for wet spots on fairways. We did some digging the past two days along the 16th fairway where I showed photos in the last post of the two wet areas. We found a drain line going through the middle of one wet spot, and followed it to the creek.  It stopped three feet short of the waters edge and was buried two feet deep in sand. The stream channel has moved three feet since that drain line was installed less than ten years ago.

You can see in this photo where Josh and Frank dug up the line and followed it to the stream. The line was plugged solid with mud and rocks.

 If you look close you can see the end of the line near the top of the photo, now three feet away from the stream.

The creek is there, it's covered with blackberry stickers and knotweed. There are several more drain lines to the left of #16 fairway that we will find in the upcoming week. We'll flush them out so they are clear of debris and can carry water again. We are also going to take a piece of painted angle iron and pound them into ground where the drain lines discharge into the stream. In the future we'll be able to easily locate the line. Why didn't we think of that 10 years ago?
Steve Kealy
Golf Course Sup't

Plugged drain lines = fairway wet spots

Every fall when it starts raining many wet spots around the course re-appear after not being seen during the dry summer months. All of the drain lines on the course either directly discharge into one of the two creeks at Glendale, or connect to another line that empties into a creek. Over time the creek beds change, gravel gets moved from one area to another during big storms and some of our drain lines get buried. Wet areas appear that were not wet before and we have to go digging to find them.

 This wet area is on the left side of #16 fairway about 150 yards from the green. You  can see that there is a low spot from the center of the mud hole extending all the way to the creek. I took a quick look in the stream and could not find the end of the drain line. It's obviously buried and will have to be dug up and cleaned out.

 

This is another wet spot twenty yards away from the other spot shown above. Another buried drain line that will need to be located. The photo below is on the right side of #17 fairway looking down to the area above. It looks like the same drain line continuing all the way to the stream.

  It looks like this area may be caused by tree roots that have gotten into the drain line and plugged it up. It will have to be dug up and repaired also. There are spots all over the course like these where we will be working in the next month. It's a never ending process.........................

Steve Kealy

Golf Course Superintendent