Greens Maintenance Week (1)
It’s been a busy period over the last few weeks for the greenstaff, trying to keep the course as presentable as possible during all the recent competitions. The weather has been fairly settled until the storm on Monday, which caused some localised flooding, as well as leaving tree debris all over the course. We only had 44mm of rain over 12 days in the whole of July, with 15mm falling over 24 hours of this Sunday/Monday.
The greens have been struggling a wee bit over the last few weeks, stressing out a touch due to the environmental factors they have faced i.e. increased play, dry, hot spells, compaction etc. That has resulted with some fungal diseases continuing to create blemished surfaces over this period. We have been reviewing our maintenance tasks to try and come up with the best solutions for this should it happen in the future during similar periods. Like many courses this year we have had anthracnose, Waitea patch, fusarium, superficial fairy ring and take all patch!!
Figure 1: Picture of Anthracnose disease currently in some greens.
(Sharpie for scale!)
Greenkeeping is a constant battle and there is always chance to reflect on what we do or have done. We ask ourselves questions such as, should we feed more? Should we aerate more? Should we raise or lower the height of cut? Should we spray more chemicals to control diseases? Should we topdress more often? All of these whilst trying to create the firm and fast surfaces you want to enjoy every day. The answers to these questions are not simple and all influence what kind of surfaces we can produce.
During the downpours on Monday we applied a granular feed, the feed we normally put down straight after the renovations. Once broken down it does give the greens a quick boost. We thought that by feeding them before the renovations this time, the greens would be growing strongly during the actual work, meaning recovery should be slightly faster. The feed has already started to take effect, although it can mean the greens can be a bit slower during this time. An increase in rolling will help with that regard.
Figure 2: GKB V Strong scarifier
Talking of renovations, we do intend to commence the work on the greens on Monday morning, where we will start with a deep scarification, to target the build-up of any unwanted organic matter which accumulates during the summer. This will be targeted in the top 12-15mm of the profile and will impact on around 5% of the surface. We will then deep verticut the greens with our own units, which will remove a further 7% of the unwanted organic matter.
We then replace this with free draining topdressing compatible with the USGA profiles we have. When we are dressing the greens, we will also be solid spiking them with a 12mm tine, which will help relieve compaction, as well as incorporating the dressing into the profile. This will be dragged into the holes to help firm the surfaces.
Figure 3: Vredo Seeder
On Thursday next week we will also overseeding the greens via a contractor. They will be using a Vredo disk seeder, which is pulled by a tractor. It opens up a slit in the greens just below the surface, drops the seed in, and rolls behind, giving us maximum germination possibility.
We will also be spiking tees and approaches, verticutting and dressing them also, as well as scarifying and spiking some fairways. There is a lot of work to do, so please allow us maximum time on the greens especially to be as efficient as possible. Please move to the next hole if the green is occupied, if playing.
The annual visit from Gary from the STRI took place on Thursday, attended by myself, Dan Whiston and several members of the greens committee, and the four greens were performance tested as usual (8th, 11th, 14th & 18th). They test for smoothness and trueness, speed, ball impact response and moisture levels. We also looked at the profile of the greens below the surface, and also quality of cut and disease management. The follow up report should be with the club shortly for you all to view. The results were very positive, and we talked through scenarios for future improvements, including other areas of the course, such as the 2nd fairway and the 18th tee.
