Around the Grounds-Winter

 

Winter projects are in full swing on the Grounds Department. One such project is winter equipment maintenance. It is an annual occurrence that takes place after the mowing has ceased for the season. All the mowers have to be torn down and rebuilt to achieve good mowing results for next season. There is a different degree of maintenance required for different units depending upon their usage. Some of this maintenance includes:

• The grinding/sharpening of all the walking and riding reel mowers
• Rebuilding the bearings and seals of all the reel mowers.
• Grinding of bednives to aid in the reel-to-bednife relationship to achieve optimal mowing results
• Pressure washing of all the grounds equipment
• Greasing the mowers
• Oil changes on the riding equipment

All of this winter mechanical maintenance takes the majority of the winter months to accomplish and is a crucial part in maintaining a quality golf course.

Walking greens mower on the Accu-Pro grinding machine

Another off-season project is drainage work. We are replacing clogged drain tile in some bunkers that have had issues with holding water. Drain tile is being added to other wet areas around the course as well.

New drain tile in #2 bunker

Cleaning off old drain tile

Adding drain tile behind #13 alternate tee

Landscape timbers have replaced the metal edging that framed the #13 bathroom area. The old edging was falling apart and the new timbers will be a nice replacement.

 With the abundant amount of trees that grow in the WHCC urban forest, winter tree work is always a big project. In October, a tree evaluation was accomplished and there are many dead/diseased trees that are going to be cut down. The majority of these trees are the blue spruce trees that have succumbed to rhizosphaera needle cast disease. Other trees are being cut down because of damage from the emerald ash borer, diplodia tip blight, amarilla root rot, pythium root rot, and other biotic stressors. There are a few trees, and many limbs, being eradicated because of their negative impact on play.

Blue spruce trees removed

Silver maple hanging over in between the tee and fairway on #2

Dead sugar maple removed #17 area

The Ohio champion overcup oak tree adjacent to the beginning of #1 fairway is getting some needed attention this season. In late fall, Gregory Forrest Lester Inc, applied fertilizer- both a liquid root feeding of macro-nutrients and a trunk injection of micro-nutrients- helping to give the tree some supplemental food that it normally doesn't receive. They even made a video, taken here at WHCC while doing this procedure. (click here for the link to the video). Other procedures for the tree will include removal of limbs encroaching into the canopy from the neighboring pin oak and silver maple and cutting out dead wood.

Micro-nutrients injected into the overcup oak

In mid-January Wherekamp Enterprises root pruned many fairway areas that were lined with pin oak trees. An Imats root pruner was used on the back of a tractor to sever roots up to 7" deep. Most feeder roots, which are the tree roots that take in the most moisture and nutrients, are in the top 6" of the soil profile so doing this procedure should help the bentgrass fairways receive more water during the hot summer months.

As we enter the winter season I think it is important to touch upon winter closures and course conditions. There are five main reasons why the course may be closed or delayed during winter months.  They are snow, frost, frozen ground, thawing ground, and very wet conditions. The first is fairly obvious, finding a white, or even colored golf ball, after a snow storm is virtually impossible and trying to putt would be comical. Snow does provide insulation from low temperatures and winter winds; however melting snow can refreeze and cause crown hydration injury. Frost and frozen ground can cause significant damage to the turf when walked or driven on. Thawing ground can cause root damage from foot traffic when the top layer of soil is thawed and the lower layer is still frozen. Any traffic during this scenario will break/shear the roots in between the two layers and footprints will be visible for months before they heal. Wet ground is also very common this time of year from the freezing, thawing, heavy rainfall, low evapotranspiration rates, and the dormancy of the turf (prohibiting any water uptake). Walking on highly saturated soil will cause deep footprints that will create craters and unevenness especially prevalent on putting greens. The golf course will have to be closed at times during the winter to prevent negative turfgrass damage. For more information on winter play closures click on this informative article by the USGA.  or this USGA video or this USGA video on root shearing.

As the winter progresses the Grounds Department will continue to work on tree work along with designing new landscape beds located on the golf course, increasing horticulture and turfgrass knowledge by attending online seminars, next season staff recruitment, and the painting and maintenance of some golf course accessories.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent