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