Dry September

 Dry January gets all the hype at the beginning of the season for people abstaining from alcohol after a long and festive holiday season. However, another annual occurrence for the tri-state area is drought conditions after the end of the summer season. September is the driest month of the year, for Cincinnati, and this year is turning out to be even drier than previous years-with very little rainfall in the last three weeks, and even less expected in the next month. Many experts are predicting this year’s drought will be the worst to impact the state of Ohio in 36 years.

The summer months were a roller coaster; with a dry and hot end of June; a wet and humid end of July; and a hot and dry end of August. The WHCC weather station, so far, has had 17 days of 90℉+. The hottest day of the year was on August 30th with a high temperature of  97.3℉. With very little rain in the immediate forecast the temperature extremes will probably continue. A popular saying is "drought begets drought", because with very little moisture to draw from the atmosphere continues to stay dry until a drought buster, such as a tropical system, finally breaks its hold. Moreover, dry air and dry soil heat up and cool down much quicker than wet/humid conditions making for extreme temperature swings- cool mornings and very hot September afternoons. 

The cool season turf is reflecting the hot summer with brown patches beginning to show up, especially under the tree canopies. We have begun to slit seed many brown/dead rough patches, but keeping enough moisture in the ground for the seed to begin germination is a challenge. The tees, fairways, and greens are fairing a bit better but we could still have many more weeks of these conditions.

Click here for a video link of the current drought conditions from the OSU Buckeye Turf team. 

Watering in topdressing sand.

A good picture showing the effectiveness of  the summer time spray applications. One pass is sprayed around the fairways with fungicides and fertilizers and it is noticeable in this picture. Outside of the spray the turf is in worse shape. 

Cart damage during the early August conditions. This warranted a change to rough day.

Lydia slit seeding an area left of #4 green.

The Cost of Trees

I tend to agree with most superintendents who believe dry conditions are better than wet environments because we can control the amount of water being applied. However, the difference between WHCC and many other golf courses is the size and amount of trees that dot the property. The 75'+ foot tall pin oak trees have an extensive root system and in the late summer and early fall they tend to win the moisture battle with the cool season turf. This results in more moisture needing to be applied to keep the cool season turf healthy and alive during dry spells. Also, WHCC has to pay for water, instead of pulling from a lake or reservoir, and city water isn't cheap.

Last year, I put together some numbers to quantify how much water these large trees are using up during the summer season. Using a formula based on tree canopy width, it is estimated that around 30% of the water from irrigation or rainfall is being utilized by tree roots. The champion overcup oak alone uses around 600 gallons a day. This equates to about an inch of water needed per week to maintain its health and vigor. The large number of pin oaks located throughout the grounds, with their root systems stretching under the turf around the entire golf course, brings into focus the enormous amount of water needed for both to survive. 

When the cost of watering, pruning, storm cleanup, fall leaf cleanup, tree removals, daily blowing off debris on playing surfaces, increased inputs for stressed turf, and over seeding under tree canopies comes together it represents a hefty part of the grounds budget-in the range of 35% to 40%. Having this many trees on the property comes with a significant cost and reduced turf quality. Hopefully, everyone understands the cost of trees on the golf course and we will continue to work with the green committee to either reduce the number of trees or continue to allocate this much time and resources for a heavily tree lined property.

In addition, the lightning stuck tree by #2 red tee was removed. Another tree (on #16) turned into a lightning rod in late August and we will monitor the health of this tree, but it will probably need to be removed this winter.

If you look closely, notice the dew is gone parallel to the tree line. This is indicating the presence of tree roots fighting for moisture. The little bit of moisture the dew is providing is quickly taken up by the thirsty trees leaving little left for the bentgrass fairway turf. Supplemental irrigation was needed in addition to the nightly watering schedule to keep this area alive. This is one example of many locations where tree roots are impacting turf quality.

The same picture as above with the tree root area that is impacting the fairways outlined in blue.

Shade, at 11:00 am from a pin oak tree right of #13 green. This amount of shade on the green for the entire morning encourages the establishment of poa annua and decreases turf quality on the putting surface.

Removing the pin oak struck by lightning by #2 red tee.

The newest victim of lightning, left of #16 fairway.

A picture I took a couple years ago of the Pete Dye Course at French Lick in Indiana. One of the top rated courses in the country. Not many trees to contend with here!

Aeration

September is the beginning of aeration season and the greens aerification was completed on September 3rd. We have received some questions as to why aeration holes are different sizes. In order to complete the core aeration process we needed to use all of the aerators in the fleet. Two of the walk behind aerators are old Jacobson aerators that pull plugs at a tighter spacing but require the use of smaller tines. The John Deere aerator goes much faster and uses bigger tines. Consequently, the Jacobson units used 1/4" tines (the biggest they can handle) and the John Deere aerator used 1/2" tines (the smallest recommended for this unit). The John Deere unit was utilized on the soil based greens and the Jacobson aerators were used on the sand based greens. All three were utilized in order to aerate the greens in one day. 

Also, another common question was why the holes were not filled completely with sand. Again the time constraint was an issue. We simply do not have enough time in one day to completely fill in the holes. The typical greens aeration procedure starts with pulling the cups, then marking heads, aerating the greens, blowing the core plugs onto the collars, picking up the cores, topdressing with sand, dragging the sand in with a broom mat, watering, fertilizing, and rolling. This is a long process and to get the holes completely filled with sand we need more workers and time to either blow or push the sand into the aeration holes. In addition, the smallest tine size that can be completely filled in with sand is a 1/2". As previously stated only one of the aerator units is equipped to aerate with this size of a tine. Ultimately, core aerating with 1/2" tines and filling them with sand is better for the turf agronomically and will help to heal the putting surfaces quicker leading to better post aeration playing condition. The green committee has approved the purchase of a new aerator, that will lead to more uniform aeration, but with the current supply chain environment we may not receive it until the end of 2025.

Next up will be the aeration of tees. This will take place during the week working around play. The rest of the playing surfaces will be punched as follows:

• Fairways: Deep solid tine aeration, Thursday October 3rd (course closed)
• Play rough: October, when time and weather conditions allow
• Practice tees: After closing in the late fall.

A quick shout-out and thank you to Mr. Graff and the rapid run LaRosa's team for providing the grounds crew with pizza during the greens aerification. I can attest that it didn't last long and was much appreciated!

Topdressing #7 green.

Blowing off core plugs #5 green.

#1 green after a heavy topdressing. Next step was to drag in the sand with a matt, then water it in.

Practice Tees

The good news is that the new WHCC practice facility is being used- a lot. The bad news is the increased usage is taking a toll on the practice facilities. The number of rounds played on the golf course continues to increase, therefore also increasing the usage of the practice facilities. Another aspect, that is not tracked and may be harder to quantify, is the amount of golfers that are coming only to use the practice tees and chipping green. A typical 18 hole private club needs at least 1 acre and preferably 2 (or more) acres of turf on the teeing area. Clubs that have 1 acre or less of teeing space have to limit usage, suffer more wear, and need more aggressive turf management programs. The WHCC practice tees (North and South tees) equal 40,800 square feet, just under an acre (43,560 square feet in an acre).

The architect did a great job utilizing the limited amount of space that was available for expansion of the practice tees during the recent renovation. However, the space is still undersized for the amount of usage it is receiving.

In addition, the late July hot, wet and humid conditions didn't help the situation. During the last week of July we received a good amount of rainfall and experienced very hot conditions. This caused the death of some turf, especially poa annua, in the front right corner of the south tee, where the surface drainage flows to. To combat this we switched to the north tees just before the August member/guest to give the area a chance to heal. After one week on the back north tee the area was completely pulverized forcing us to move back to the south tee sooner than expected. All of this explanation is a longer way of saying it has been a rough year on the WHCC practice tees. Currently, we are utilizing the artificial turf an extra day a week to encourage some recovery. Also, we have vented the tees, increased fertilization, and continue to fill in divots when time allows. We are seeing some much needed recovery, starting to take place. We ask for patience as we continue to combat Mother Nature's curveballs and the increased usage. We will continue to work with the golf professionals and the green committee to reduce wear and still allow golfers to practice tee shots off of healthy turf.

For more information on practice tee management and size click here for an article from the USGA

Example of a bad divot pattern. This will take over a month to heal.

Example of a good linear divot pattern.

The same area 3 weeks later. This pattern heals much quicker.

Filling in divots on a Monday morning on the south driving range tee.

An early morning venting of the south tee.

On the horizon, in addition to aeration, is tee leveling, switching out the summer annuals for fall flowers, fall fertilization, and possibly more landscape projects. I will continue to update as the summer season, mercifully, comes to a close. And if anyone knows a good rain dance, now may be the time to start chanting!

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent

Feast or Famine- A Summertime Grounds Update

 So far this summer the weather conditions have either been feast or famine. In late June we experienced one of the hottest heat waves in many years and had little to no rain events. In fact, the country club only received a total of .11"of rain for a 20 day stretch in mid to late June. This coincided with the longest days of the year resulting in high evapotranspiration rates and an irrigation system that was running for 6 to 8 hours every night to keep turf alive. Then, on June 26th, mother nature decided to open up the spigot and we experienced almost a month long period of wet conditions with our weather station picking up 4.6" of rain. 

The extreme dry and wet summertime conditions increased the stress on some cool season turf areas. The dry period led to many localized dry spots and thirsty turf, especially close to the tree lined perimeters of the fairways. Running irrigation heads, and hand watering made up a good portion of the work day. Once the monsoons began, the mowing and spraying operations became commonplace. This back and forth, along with the very hot temperatures, produced some dead patches in rough and fairway locations.

The most stress on the cool season turf is actually during the very wet, humid, and hot conditions. Two common maladies that we experience every year are wet wilt and sunscald. Wet wilt occurs when very high soil temperatures and low oxygen levels (because of the wet soil) cause the impairment of root function. This causes the roots of the turf (especially poa annua) to slow down water intake decreasing the transpirational cooling that the plant needs to survive. Thus, on hot days with high evaporation rates the turf begins to overheat, wilt and die, despite having adequate moisture in the ground. Sun scald usually happens in the same type of wet conditions and is essentially the water surrounding the turf becoming extremely hot and literally cooking the grass. It is more pronounced in areas that hold onto water longer and have higher thatch levels. The short rough around the fairways is a prime example where these conditions regularly occur. The low cut of the fairways increases the surface drainage onto the perimeter rough. While the medium cut rough slows down the drainage, holding water longer before draining into the higher cut rough. Consequently, wet wilt and sun scald occur and we are seeing dead patches starting to appear is some of the short rough areas.

Of course along with the drainage issues, tree roots, thick thatch, and summer time diseases are also a factor. Over the last couple years cultural practices have been implemented in the fairways to decrease the high organic matter that was becoming problematic. A similar approach needs to be implemented to combat the current conditions in the short rough. As always, time and money are the biggest roadblocks to improving these environments, but we will start to implement thatch reducing procedures this fall. In the meantime, we will continue to keep up with spray applications and begin to reseed areas that have succumb to the summer time stresses.

Dead turf in the short rough right side of #8 fairway. This area holds water during rain events and it is one of the factors for turf decline. We have slit seeded and raised the short rough mowing height to help with recovery. Notice the fairway is still healthy. The cultural practices recently implemented in the fairway program have resulted in healthier and more resilient turf.

Low area between #6 green and #6 fairway that experienced sun scald.

Tree roots at the right of #13 fairway competing for moisture with the rough. Since the short rough is mowed at a much lower height the stress from the tree roots is more impactful.

Soil probe of the dead patches right of #8 fairway. The thick thatch layer broke off when the plug was pulled. This is indicating the shallow root depth in this area. Also, the thick thatch will hold onto moisture-keeping it in the top portion of the plant for a longer period of time. Verticutting and deep tine aeration need to be implemented to decrease the organic matter.

Wet area in #7 fairway by the lake. The golf cart marks indicate the reason why cart path days are implemented during wet weather.

Slit seeding the hillside on #3. Some of this area dried out during the heat wave despite nightly watering.

Thunderstorms

The barrage of storms that have recently ripped through the area are accumulating a steady amount of debris that needs to be cleaned off the golf course regularly. Many large pin oak branches have fallen over the last month and this has given the new Vermeer chipper a good workout. Also, the pin oak tree that was struck by lightning to the left of #2 red tee is rapidly declining and needs to be removed. We are in the process of scheduling the removal and it will be taken out in the next couple weeks.

Large pin oak branches

Chipping up debris. Since we purchased the Vermeer chipper we have over doubled the unit's operational hours.

Dying pin oak that was struck by lightning in May.

Green Speed

July is typically a month when we receive many questions about green speed. When the heat and humidity tick up, the distance the ball travels decreases (Here is a link to an article from the USGA that explains the variations in green speed throughout the season). We are within the WHCC standard range for green speed; however, current and past stimpmeter readings have shown that the greens are usually at the lower end of the range during the heat of the summer and higher during the cooler months. During the summer, humid conditions cause the turfgrass plant to literally swell with moisture, increasing resistance when the golf ball rolls. In addition, the hot soil temperatures increase microbial activity, thereby increasing turfgrass growth and slowing down speeds. We spray PGRs to combat the growth, based on clipping yield measurements, but it is definitely a challenge to get the sprays down during the busy golf calendar. 

Balancing the speeds with trying to keep healthy turf is another added challenge. The environmental conditions dictate how aggressive we can be with height of cut, decreasing irrigation, increasing rolling frequency, and PGR applications (Click here for a previous blog post on factors influencing green speed-The Need For Speed). Ultimately, we have to keep the turf alive and healthy to perform well throughout the long golf season. Pushing to increase speeds for daily play during stressful environmental conditions is not recommended for quality putting surfaces. Knowing when to pump the brakes for aggressive practices is a necessary skill that involves data, science, and experience. For tournaments, we will push the limits on the turf to achieve faster speeds; however, once the tournaments conclude, the turf needs time to recover. Overall, I believe the WHCC greens are performing very well. Continuing to implement weekly cultural practices, such as verticutting, PGR applications, venting, and topdressing will continue to improve turfgrass health. Healthier turf will allow for more aggressive practices that will eventually lead to faster greens. Hopefully, everyone understands that speeds will fluctuate, especially during the summer, in order to keep the greens healthy.

Measuring green speed on #5 green.

Bees in Bunkers

Over the last couple of years small wasps have begun to buzz around some sand bunkers. They are smaller than the usual suspect, the cicada killer wasp, but tend to look almost identical. These are sand wasps (Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus). Joe Boggs, Ohio State Extension entomologist, wrote an article about these wasps a couple years ago when he found them at White Oak Garden Center (click here for the article). They feed off of brown marmorated stink bugs and are also named stink bug hunters. Like cicada killers, they are solitary wasps that are not aggressive and rarely sting. They dig burrows into sandy soils, making bunkers a perfect environment. Chemical control is difficult because the wasps are scattered out into many different burrow colonies. Daily raking of the bunkers helps to keep the populations down, but the wasps are extremely difficult to fully eliminate. We have made some pesticide applications; however, they eventually resurface. Sand wasps are technically a beneficial insect, and are not a threat to stinging humans. We will continue to frequently rake the sand traps, and if this year is similar to the past, they will eventually move on.

Annual Flowers

The flowers around the club are continuing to grow. The new landscape beds parallel to the parking lot and by the pool entrance have increased the beautification of the front entrance. As we head into the the late summer months, the flowers will continue to fill in. Hopefully, the membership is enjoying the increased summertime displays.

The fountain side of the new parking lot landscape bed. The feather reed grass is the divider between the pink vincas/petunias and the orange/yellow lantana.

Tiny tidbit hydrangeas in bloom. The white blooms will begin to fad to a solid red color as the summer progresses. The 'Edith Bogue' southern magnolia is the center piece of this newly landscaped area.

Front part of the new parking lot bed with pink vincas.

Persian shield and margarite sweet potato vine around the clock. 

Supertunia vista bubblegum

Cana 'Australia', pink cleome, and zinnias 'zahara' yellow by the baby pool.

Hot and humid summer weather is a recipe for cool season turf decline, especially on older courses with a high percentage of poa annua. I have been blessed to be a part of the grounds crew for over 20 years and I fail to remember any summers that did not include at least some dying turf. Honestly, considering the extreme conditions that we have experienced in the last two months, I believe the golf course is in good shape-I have witnessed much worse. With over a month left of a Cincinnati summer, the conditions could very well deteriorate, but we will continue to use sound agronomic practices to keep the stressed turf in a healthy condition.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent

Around the Grounds-A Busy June

The Heat is On

 Based on our own observations and talking with other Green Industry professionals, the tri-state area is around 2 to 3 weeks ahead of the seasonal schedule. After the cold snap in mid-January, the temperatures have been consistently above normal. The turf disease pressure is currently the same as we usually see in mid summer with  dollar spot, brown patch, and anthracnose all making early appearances. This has caused our preventative fungicide applications to start up much earlier than in previous seasons. The current forecast is calling for an extended dry period with above normal temperatures. This will put the cool season turf under a tremendous amount of stress. We will continue with preventative fungicide applications but the weather pattern will have the final say and dictate how the turf will respond. Mowing heights may have to increase, with mowing frequency possibly having to decrease to keep the stress on the turf to a minimum. Even with proper agronomy practices, with an extended heat wave, some cool season turf will be lost.

Spraying #10 fairway

Monday Maintenance

Last season the green committee approved extending Monday course closures to 2:00 pm instead of noon. This has been a big benefit to the golf course. With this extended time we have been able to topdress and spray greens weekly; aerate and topdress the new leveled tees; regularly flymow steep green banks with a hover mower; replace divots on the in-use driving range tees; mow the driving range, target greens, and practice tees; spray the practice tees and chipping green approaches; topdress approaches; trim bunker edges; catch up on mowing; and the list could go on and on. To keep up with the current expectations and standards this extra time is imperative. Hopefully everyone understands the importance of Monday maintenance and will continue to allot time in the busy golf calendar to accomplish these tasks, assuring the playability of your golf course continues to be in good condition.

Pictures of some of this year's Monday maintenance.

Flymowing, with a hover mower, #6 green bank.

Solid tine aerating the chipping green

Core aerating the target greens

Filling in the south tee divots

Verticutting the greens

Topdressing the greens

Up close of the vertcutting slits

Deep tine aeration of the greens

Mechanical Work

An often overlooked part of the grounds department is the mechanical work. This is essential to accomplishing the daily tasks that keep the golf course playable. With the WHCC aging equipment fleet, there is always something breaking down or preventative maintenance to preform. I thought it may be beneficial to document a random half-day of mechanical work.

The random weekday started out as most other days on the golf course, with a breakdown. The new articulator WZ800 articulator broke a belt and needed replacement. Just as soon as Corey Cook (head mechanic) got this mower operational, the pump on the 1250 toro sprayer unit decided to quit working in the middle of a spray application. After some diagnostic help from our former mechanic, Jim Hessel, the electric clutch was identified as needing to be replaced and the unit was out of commission until the part was delivered. While working on the spray rig, a call came in that the cushman hauler cart was not moving. A worn out hub was to blame and after pulling it back in with another cart we again were at the mercy of a part delivery. Right after the cushman incident, a 2653B John Deere mower appeared in the shop with a busted roller bracket and that breakdown got us to around lunchtime. These breakdowns were in addition to the regular mechanical work for the day which was as follows:

• filing bedknives and adjusting the height of cut on greens mowers
• greasing rough mowers
• adjusting fairway mower heights
• grinding reels
• keeping up to date records on all equipment maintenance done for the day.

This may have been a bit too much detail, but I think it is important to sometimes peal back the curtain to help people understand some of the behind the scenes work that goes into maintaining the WHCC grounds. This was just a "normal" random day, but is a good representation of what the mechanic and crew deal with on a regular basis to deliver good playing conditions for the WHCC golf course. Since they work very early morning hours, sometimes their work is unnoticed, but without their long hours the WHCC golf course and grounds would cease to exist.

Fixing a Lastec articulator mower belt

Transferring the broken down spray tank mixture to the functioning sprayer. The plant protectants that are sprayed are expensive and once the chemicals are mixed they must be utilized. 

Electric clutch replacement

 

Corey Cook replacing the worn out hub on the cushman cart

Tree Work/Horticulture

The crew has been busy cutting back the fence lines on #11, #12, and #16 and trimming some of the numerous low limbs located throughout the golf course. In addition, some of the spring time storms left a decent amount of debris that we cleaned up over the last couple weeks. All this tree debris has started to accumulate at the dump and the chipper was utilized for a couple of days to keep the debris pile down.

The summer annuals are planted and have been fertilized. Increased watering and fertilizing will occur until the annuals become rooted in. The weeds are never ending and we hired two new horticulture workers to try and decrease the amount of weeds around the grounds. The horticulture team will continue to maintain the annuals and they should increase in size throughout the summer.

Vermeer 1000XL chipping up debris at the dump

Planting the window boxes at the new cart barn.

Lydia and Guadalupe trimming bushes and pulling weeds around the pool

Lake Maintenance

The two lakes located on the course have been stocked this year for the first time in many years. Fathead minnows were added to increase the amount of feeder fish for the bass. Also, grass carp were added for a natural control of aquatic weeds. Moreover, in  #13 pond, bass were added to keep the frog, insect larvae, and bluegill populations in check.  The aquatic spray program has begun and just like the turf spray program we are seeing mid summer issues, like euglena, becoming noticeable earlier than normal.

Fathead minnows installed in #7 lake.

Stocking #7 lake with grass carp

euglena starting to form on #7 lake

#7 Lake after treatments

Lightning

Two lighting strikes that occurred in May fried-out the irrigation surge protection board along with many fuses located in satellite boxes around the course. Luckily, the board did its job and protected the FIU unit and computer from damage. However, the board is expensive to replace, and the frequency of issues is concerning. We contacted Century Equipment and they informed us that the grounding for the irrigation system was improperly installed. We were given a solution and we will try and implement the recommendation in the next couple months.

SPU board replacement after a storm on Kentucky Derby day.

We are transitioning from operating mowers to carrying hoses for the summer. This predicted heat wave is worrisome so we are asking for everyone's patience and understanding as we embark on another hot Cincinnati summer.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent