May Curves

In baseball, nothing throws a batter off more than expecting a fastball and instead getting thrown a curve. It’s unexpected and usually throws the batter's timing off, causing a swing to miss. Believing that sports can be a metaphor for life, life's curves can be just as as unpredictable. Lately many surprising situations have been thrown at the Grounds Department. The Covid-19 situation is an obvious one that everybody is currently dealing with and the agronomy team is no exception, but mother nature also seems to be following suit. Frost and freeze delays are common in March and early April. It becomes unexpected and disruptive when they occur in May- a time when tee times get earlier and earlier. Frost delays really throw us off our game. Greens mowing, rolling, changing cups, moving tee markers, and raking bunkers are all jobs done ahead of play. Normally to combat the morning tee times we begin work earlier, but with frosty mornings that is not possible. We know that everyone is excited to get out and golf, but the daily course maintenance takes time to accomplish, and during these curve-ball days we just ask for patience and time so we can accomplish our maintenance without disrupting play. 

The new way to limit cup exposure during the Covid-19 era.Thanks to Mr. Kelley for the new golf ball lifters. Use your putter head to lift the lever on the flag stick and your ball will lift out of the cup.

The aeration that took place on May 4th went well. The day turned out to be perfect for deep-tine aeration (8" deep), and topdressing (for more information on the importance of aeration click here for an informative article by the USGA). We did have an unexpected situation occur on #4 green and on a couple green collars (#2 and #11). The pull-behind tractor aerator that was used happened to find a couple of our old irrigation heads (from the 1986 installed hydraulic system) that were still in the ground. The aerator tines punctured the old head and it stuck on leaving some bigger holes a quarter of the way down #4 green. We filled in the holes with sand and put small bentgrass plugs in them. This should heal up in the next month or so. 

Big holes on #4 green after old irrigation head got stuck in one of the tines

Holes filled in with sand and small bentgrass plugs

Small flag showing the 8" depth of the aeration holes

The city water flows into our irrigation system in the irrigation pit. This is where the water is turned off for the blowout of the system, and on for the spring start up. Periodically we check down there to make sure there are no leaks or other surprises. Well we were greeted with an unexpected surprise when we opened the lid to the pit and found it half way filled up with water. The sump pump had broken and we needed to pump out the pit and replace it with a new one. The amount of water in the area made this task challenging but it did get accomplished and hopefully the new pump will buy us many more years before it needs replacing again.

Pumping out the irrigation pit to fix the sump pump

Lastly, while changing the cart restriction sign in the rain, a small red puddle was noticed by #1 cart path.  The smell revealed that we had a diesel fuel leak and upon further investigation it was discovered that our 20 year old diesel fuel tank had sprung a leak. With the help of our handy assistant mechanic and Wardway fuels we siphoned out the remaining fuel and put a temporary tank in front of the grounds building wall by the mulch pile. Since we caught the leak early very little fuel was lost. Hopefully the grass along #1 cart path will be spared but only time will tell.

The leaky diesel tank

Temporary diesel tank

Now that I am done with my therapeutic venting, there are other tasks being accomplished by the crew. May is an extremely busy month for the Grounds Department. The May temperatures combined with the spring fertilization cause the grass to explode with new growth. Of  course, all the new growth must be cut, and during weekdays we have every mower in the shop out to accomplish this.  On the horticulture side all the tulips from April have been removed to make way for the summer annuals.  A new landscape bed has been created at the corner of Neeb road and Cleves-Warsaw. It is replacing the overgrown prague viburnums and consists of emerald green arborvitaes, pink and red drift roses, and moonbeam coreopsis. This bed will improve aesthetics and visibility to a very busy Delhi intersection.

New landscaping. Mulch to follow

Julio fly mowing around #6 green. We are trying to fly mow more often around steep green banks to decrease ruts left by mowers.

As we get deeper into May, hopefully mother nature cooperates and warmer temperatures are not far away. In the next couple weeks the summer annuals will be planted, outdoor dining will begin, and it will look more like summer.  Meanwhile, the agronomy team is waiting on the next pitch-hope it’s a fastball!

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent

Around the Grounds in Spring

Spring-time maintenance is on schedule for the Grounds Department. In early April the greens were verticut and topdressed (click here for more information). The following week a spray application was performed with a plant growth regulator added to suppress the poa annua seed head growth.  The greens at WHCC are composed of both bentgrass and poa annua (annual bluegrass). When annual bluegrass begins growth after dormancy it puts on a flush of seed heads, and this tends to slow down green speed dramatically for about a month. This year with the early PGR application we were able to suppress some of the seed head growth and, consequently, the green speeds have been improved. In 2019 for the month of April we averaged a green speed of 9.85. So far this year the April stimpmeter has averaged 10.64. The recent colder temperatures are a contributing factor, but we are very pleased with the early green speed results and will continue to monitor moving forward. Also, we have fertilized with a 10-2-10 granular fertilizer to give the greens a good shot of nitrogen before the summer stress sets in.  An important date on the horizon is May 4th. This is when the greens, if the weather cooperates, are scheduled for deep tine aerification.

Verticutting on the putting green 

Poa annua seed heads showing up in an approach

#17 green topdressed

#7 green after a low of 23 degrees

#3 green a week later after granular fertilization and warmer temperatures. The greens are greening up!

 The spring fertilization/pre-emergent crabgrass application is nearing completion. 14,000 pounds of fertilizer with dimension have been applied to the rough areas. This will thicken and green up the rough in the near future and should keep crabgrass from germinating for at least 3 months. In addition, the fertilizer and crabgrass control has been applied to the tees and fairways.

Michael Westendorf applying a 13-0-0 fertilizer with dimension in the rough

The Grounds Department, in conjunction with the golf professionals, continue to fine tune how to best limit a golfer's potential exposure to the coronavirus pathogen. We started out with raised cups on all the greens; however, after many golfers began signing up for their PGA tour card because of significantly lower scores, we decided to use cut off pool noodles instead. This will allow the golf ball to fall into the hole and be accessible for picking up without touching the inside of the cup or flagstick. This is making golf more realistic than before.

Pool noodle in putting green cup

 The Landscape Department (lead by our new Horticulturist Kyle Brater) is hard at work edging, cleaning out and mulching all the landscape beds around the clubhouse and on the golf course. A native wildflower/perennial garden has been created by #13 tee. All the plants in this bed are herbaceous perennials-meaning they die down to the ground every winter. They are small right now but will continue to grow as the temperature warms. The excavated sod from this area was used throughout the course to fill in ruts and bare areas adjacent to some cart paths.

New perennial garden #13 tee and behind #12 green


#3 landscape bed before edging, cleanup and mulching

After

Azalea flowers giving an Augusta like feel in landscape bed behind #3 green

Pine straw added to the bed behind #14 tee and #17 green

 Mother Nature helped the spring flower show this year. Early April was well above normal pushing the tulips and tree flowers into blooming. Then the temperature began to drop and the last three weeks have been well below normal. This caused the flower times to be extended for many of the plants. The tulips normally bloom for about 2 weeks, but this year we enjoyed their show for almost a month's time. Now it’s time to remove the tulips to make room for the summer annuals. If anyone wants some of these bulbs we will place them by the grounds building. Take as many as you want, we have 5,000 tulips available!

Tulips

Service berry and daffodils blooming in #11 landscape bed

Daffodils in full bloom

Appalachian red redbud tree in full bloom

Finally there have been some recent windstorms that blew through the course. In particular the storm that hit on April 8th blew over 3 trees that had to be removed and much debris picked up. All three trees were evergreens and after the cleanup their stumps had to be ground up and filled with topsoil and seed.

White pine blown into another white pine.

Norway spruce blown over

 As the temperature continues to warm, daily maintenance will take over the majority of our time; however, there is still more projects on the horizon. We will update membership as they occur and in the meantime we hope everyone stays safe and healthy!

Brad Piecuch
Grounds Superintendent

Marching Forward!

Saucer Magnolia in full bloom

We have entered the end of March and spring has definitely sprung. The tulips are growing bigger by the day, the daffodils have begun to bloom, the first flowering trees are showing beauty, and the spring time thunderstorm monsoons have once again graced our presence. Yes it is looking like a normal spring on the WHCC grounds, except for one tiny little thing.........can't put my finger on it.......oh yeah, we are in the midst of the biggest pandemic to hit this country in over a century! I have to steal a quote that our General Manager used the other day to describe the current situation. In the words of Ron Burgundy, "Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand fast." Well that about sums it up. As I'm sure everyone can relate to right now our situation changes by the day. Currently we are continuing to accomplish grounds maintenance but we are spending more of our day sanitizing doorknobs, eating areas, equipment, carts, and computers. Luckily working outdoors makes it easier to practice physical distancing, but we are all getting accustomed to having hand sanitizer close by. Also, we are working closely with the golf professionals to lower the exposure risk for every golfer on the course. First we are raising the cups about an inch above the surface so when the ball hits the cup it is considered a sunk put and can be picked up. This will limit the possible virus exposure a golfer would have with the flag stick and inside the cup.

Raised cup on #18 green

Other measures that are being utilized to reduce potential exposure are removing all the bunker rakes, the sand buckets located throughout the course, par 3 tee boxes, and all ball washers. Golf remains one of the best sports to play in these conditions especially if one walks and maintains a 6 foot distance from others. 

Another way to beat the quarantine blues is to, simply, get outside. Take a walk and enjoy mother natures' spring-time beauty or work out in the garden. In the coming weeks the Country Club will be coming alive with blooms. Also, this may be a great time to start a home vegetable garden. Cool-season vegetables such as pees, broccoli, and lettuce can be planted now.  Summer vegetables can be started from seed indoors and will be ready to plant outside by early May.

Being a plant enthusiast and thinking about the precautions that are being taken to combat Covid-19 disease, I am reminded of the disease triangle model that shows interactions between the environment, the host, and an infectious agent in both plants and humans. Take away one of these entities and the disease will not survive. As plant pathologists we are constantly referencing this triangle to maintain healthy turf, shrubs, trees and flowers. For example, rose black spot disease has to have a susceptible rose, the black spot bacteria, and a warm humid environment to cause infection. By planting a resistant variety, one of these items (the host) is taken away and the disease is suppressed. Similarly, the grounds department (and everyone else) is combating Covid-19 by killing the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the infectious agent) by sanitizing and hand washing, and practicing physical distancing (taking away the host) to limit the spread. Hopefully, a hot summer environment may also help in destroying this virulent pathogen. For more information about the plant disease triangle click here for an interesting article from Ohio State University.

Outside fighting the current pestilence the grounds department has been getting projects and maintenance accomplished. The gravel cart path that existed in between #11 green and #10 tee has been removed and replaced with new fescue sod. Also, sod was laid in other bare areas located throughout the course. The winter tree work has been completed. The stump grindings are being removed and replaced with soil and sod or seed. In addition, we put down over 1,000 lbs of fescue seed scattered throughout many rough areas and it is starting to germinate.

Excavation of #11 gravel path

New sod installed on #11

Sod added to the bare area by #4 tee

Stump grinding hole sodded

Fescue seed starting to germinate in between #15 and #16

The irrigation system has been turned on for the season. We were lucky that most of the digging that was done to replace the main water line for the clubhouse caused minimal damage to the course irrigation system. Other issues that needed to be addressed such as replacing the defective vertical distribution board in the #7 satellite box, fixing broken sprinkler heads, and updating the Lynx irrigation system to the newer program have been accomplished.

Replacing the vertical distribution board

Starting up the irrigation system

The mowing operation has begun. Greens, tees, and fairways have been mowed multiple times and the mowing frequency is increasing. Soon we will be mowing greens daily. The far practice tee will open on April 1st and we have been mowing and fertilizing so it will be ready for play.

The landscape department has started the process of cleaning out beds, cutting down perennials and mulching. The daffodils and tulips are beginning to bloom.

Tulips blooming by the front of the clubhouse.

Freshly mulched bed behind #11 green with daffodils beginning to bloom.

The daffodils blooming a week later

Cornelian cherry dogwood blooming

A tree that is very easy to spot this time of year is the callery pear tree. They are native to Asia and were originally brought over because of their resistance to fireblight disease. They quickly gained popularity because of their gorgeous spring white blooms, beautiful fall color,  and their ability to grow in tough environments. Originally considered sterile trees, over time, small fruits started to form and soon birds deposited the seeds throughout the landscape. Now callery pears are invasive and can be seen growing in woods and fields all over the tri-state- an example of a good tree gone bad! (for more information read this article by Ohio State University)

A callery pear in bloom by the driving range.

As the grass grows so does the spring time weeds. Lesser celandine is an invasive early spring weed that is becoming much more common in the tri-state area. In the next couple of weeks the agronomy team will begin to apply herbicides to limit its spread.

Lesser celandine

Lesser celandine taking over the forest floor by #4 tee area

The Grounds Department will continue to march forward with springtime jobs as long as the current situation allows. Our hopes and prayers are that this pandemic is resolved soon. In the meantime listen to your mother-eat your vegetables, say your prayers, and wash your hands!

Brad Piecuch
Grounds Superintendent