Weekly Topdressing

Every week we lightly topdress our greens. This week we accomplished it on Thursday morning.

We spread the sand then drag it in. This helps maintain a smooth putting surface and helps maintain airflow through the thatch layer. 

number 10 Pond

As many may have noticed we have had several fish die in our pond on 10 over the weekend. We will be cleaning these up first thing Tuesday. All personnel were busy today with other work best done on Mondays when we are closed.

 The reason behind the fish dying is most likely a natural occurrence common this time of year.

Pond Turn Over triggered by the low water levels and cold rain this weekend. Here is a pretty good description of pond turnover by the Virginia Game Fish Department.

Turnover

During summer, the heat and relatively calm weather causes pond water to stratify into layers (Figure 5). There is a less dense, warm, upper layer that is exposed to the sun and atmospheric oxygen (epilimnion), a very thin layer where temperature and density changes rapidly (metalimnion), and a cold, denser, lower layer that receives little sunlight and does not mix with the upper layers (hypolimnion). Because it does not mix, the hypolimnion has no incoming oxygen to replace what is used by bacteria that are decomposing dead animals and plants on the bottom of the pond. As the summer progresses, the hypolimnion usually loses its oxygen. If a storm carrying cold rains causes the pond to turn over (mix suddenly), the de-oxygenated water in the hypolimnion can reduce the oxygen level of the pond enough to cause a fish kill. Ponds with the proper maximum depth (6-12 feet) are less likely to have this kind of kill because they have a smaller hypolimnion.

Another less likely factor is disease brought on by over crowding due to low water levels. Either way the fish kill is a natural occurrence and happens to many ponds each year. We will do our best to have it cleaned up quickly.

Maintenance on The Course

Late last week we were addressing the rhin weak areas on our greens wiht a mixture of topdressing sand peat moss and organic fertilizer. This will help the areas maintain moisture, slowly feed nutrients and allow the areas to fill in. We aerify the area first by pokeing holes about 3 -4 inches deep with a pitch fork than lightly spreading the mixture. We will repeat process through out the growing season.

Today we are performing our biweekly verticut. 

We do this every two weeks to control thatch and grain. 

This is what the turf looks like after the verticutter goes over it twice. We then mow the green. Normally There is very little if any disruption to playing surface.

Recent Activities

Over the last 10 days or so we have accomplished quite a bit !  On Monday and Tuesday, August 3rd and 4th, we Aggressively verticutt , top-dressed and aerified our greens. This time during aerification we simply poked holes rather than the more invasive pulling of cores. I decided with the extreme heat and lack of rain that it would be better not to disrupt the putting surface as severely to ensure rapid recovery.

The following Monday, August 10th, we completed our follow up verticut. This time it was not quite as aggressive, but still very important in the overall playability of the greens. We perform this second verticut because of the fertility we add to the greens during aerification combined with the aerification it self, create a flush of growth. If we do not perform the follow up verticutt the grain and the thatch build up could re plentish rapidly.

Verticutting is a type of mowing. The blades are vertical and slice downward into the thatch layer of the turf. this helps to thin the thatch preventing a build up of decomposing matter that creates a spongy feel to the greens and prevents air and water from moving as freely into the soil.Verticutting is also one of our tools to help manage the grain on the putting surface. 

Here is Jose Verticutting a green

Here is what it looks like while cutting, the left side of green is cut, the right has not been.

We we verticutt the greens at varying degrees of aggressiveness every two weeks during the growing season.  

We topdress the greens every week. Topdressing is another tool to improve the putting surface.

The sand is drug in creating a smoother surface and standing up the leaf blade. This helps control grain and reduces friction, which allows the ball to roll further or "faster".

Here is an example of a weekly topdressing and the sand being drug into the turf.