Roller Coaster Ride

This winter has been a roller coaster ride for temperatures. After the 4th warmest December on record for this area, January ushered in below normal temperatures. Snowfall was scarce and the ground, especially greens, froze 6"+ deep. The turf went from a late March emerald green color in December, to a brown, frozen tundra by the beginning of February. Then we had a 3" ice/sleet storm that hit the grounds on February 3rd. This storm was a challenge to plow, since 3" of sleet is much heavier than the same amount of snow. We had to plow the lot 7 times to stay up with the precipitation so our bobcat could keep up with pushing the sleet. After working long hours for two days we were able to have the parking lot ready for members as soon as the roads were passable. 

#5 green looking like an ice-skating rink

Plowing during the ice storm

 The cold January temperatures allowed us to get much of the winter tree work accomplished. All of the limbs that the Green Committee suggested for removal have been eliminated. This will be noticed by many golfers this spring. It definitely opens up these holes for more aggressive shots. Most of the trees recommended for removal are taken down, and now we are beginning the process of grinding up the stumps, removing the grindings, filling up the holes with topsoil, and overseeding.

#9 tee area after limb removals

The grounds maintenance building is getting some much-needed upgrades. The lighting and heaters were installed in the mid 1980s and were malfunctioning. The 16 fluorescent lights in the back area were replaced with new flat panel LED fixtures. 12 fluorescent lights located in the mechanic shop, hallways, and break room were also replaced with flat panel LEDs. The old 200,000 BTU heater, that when turned on sounded like a bomb exploding, was replaced with a more efficient 250,000 BTU unit. This heater is much more effective and should save money on propane usage. In addition, the garage doors, and some other doors will be replaced. The drop ceiling will be lifted up in the back corner of the garage to accommodate a new lift that will be used to work underneath many of our heavy carts, mowers, and tractors. This will be installed once the new golf cart building is completed, and we have access to the existing cart wing for storage.

New flat panel LEDs on the right and the old fluorescent bulbs on the left. The old heater in the back.

New LED fixtures in hallways. I never knew that door was white!

New 250,000 BTU heater

The railroad ties on #16 tee are being replaced with left over stone used for the pro shop retaining wall. We have had issues with golfers slipping on the railroad ties and this should eliminate that problem. Also, another retaining wall was built next to the walkway by the men's grill to keep mulch from clogging up the drain by the door after rainstorms.

Replacing railroad ties on #16 tee

New retaining wall by walkway to men's grill

So far, the month of February has had below normal temperatures, but long-range forecasts suggest the latter half will be warm. Once the temperatures rebound, we will begin cleaning up the course and starting to prep for regular play. Dormant seeding will take place at the end of the month in all rough areas. Verticutting of fairways will, hopefully, start in mid-March but that is heavily weather dependent. The projects are currently on hold and the floor of the driving range needs to be completed as soon as mother nature cooperates and tentatively will begin sometime in March. Staff recruitment is underway, as we try to navigate the rough waters of this limited labor market. In the meantime, springtime temperatures are closing in, and the staff is ready for whatever roller coaster lies ahead!

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent

Grounds Update- Infectious Diseases

 One thing working in this industry for the last 20 years has taught me is humbleness. Every time you think all things are under control, nature throws another curve ball. Spraying in late December and early January is typically not something that needs to be accomplished. Usually, temperature and humidity in winter are low enough to keep most diseases away. However, this year was the exception. The last week of December turned out to be the warmest I have ever seen for that time period. Christmas day we reached a record high of 69 and the week that followed had highs in the high 50s and low 60s with lows only a couple degrees lower than the daytime high. Also, it was extremely moist with heavy rain events and cloudy days that let the moisture and dew sit on the turf for the entire day. It was during this time that a disease popped up on the newly seeded areas. Greasy, circular patches with a white mycelium became evident and once noticed we quickly sprayed with different fungicides to contain it.

 I am not a plant pathologist, but superintendents have to play one every day they come to work. I speculated it was one of three diseases, take-all path, pink snow mold, or another outbreak of the damping off disease which we battled earlier in the season. We sent samples and pictures out to Mr. Todd Hicks, Program Director for the Turf Pathology Program at Ohio State. After looking at the sample he was unable to get the mycelium to act up, which is a good thing since it shows that the plant protectants that were used worked in stopping the attack. Based on the pictures I sent and a conversation we had on the phone about the conditions leading up to the outbreak he concluded that it was probably Pink Snow Mold.

The crazy thing about Pink Snow Mold is that it can occur even without snowfall. In fact, there are two forms of the disease, Pink Snow Mold and Microdochium Patch. The former is a true snow mold that occurs under snow cover while the latter happens in cool, wet rainy weather. Both phases of this disease are common on newly seeded greens and fairways. Pink Snow Mold is something that we preventively deal with every season and this year was no exception. Once we stop mowing for the season, a preventative snow mold granular fungicide is applied to all the greens. This usually occurs in mid-December; however, this season we were mowing greens all the way until Christmas and could not put down the preventative application until later in the month. The fungicide was put down on the putting greens and newly seeded areas the week after Christmas. Unfortunately, the product takes a while to get into the grass and the unusually warm (for this time of year) and extremely wet conditions were a hot bed for this outbreak. The good news is I think we have the disease under control, and the only affected areas were the newly seeded chipping green and putting green expansion. All other greens were unaffected. The fungicides combined with the return of normal winter temperatures have stopped the disease as of this writing. Also, the recent removal of the three pin oak trees above the chipping green will help immensely to decrease the amount of time the turf plant blades are moist. We have taken plugs from our nursery to help heal affected areas and will monitor as winter progresses.

Picture of disease on new putting green area

Pink snow mold on chipping green with new plugs from the nursery added to the center. The plugs will eventually grow into the unhealthy area.

Close up of disease

Same area one week later after the disease, hopefully, is contained.

Many of you may have noticed the white tarp that we have over the transition area between the old putting green and new expansion area. When we seeded this location in early October many rain events followed that continued to wash out this area, causing us to constantly reseed. As we got later into November the turf really slowed down growth and germination came to a halt. The good thing about the warm December is it did help to increase some germination. Moving forward the plan is, with the help of the permeable cover (which helps to raise the temperature of the blanketed soil), to have good coverage by spring.

Grow cover for putting green transition area

A view of the transition area in November. Notice the bare areas that were victims to wash outs.

Same area in late December from the opposite angle. The area has filled in nicely because of warm December temperatures and the use of this cover. Hopefully it continues to grow in the rest of the winter.

Tree work is underway. A tree inventory was done in late October and some problem trees were detected. Many of the diseased oak trees have fungal infections that affect the structural integrity of the trees. When the fungal infection is noticed to be severe, we recommend them to be removed. This year three trees were noticed to have different fungal diseases observed by conks, mushrooms, and other fungi growing in the trunk areas. Removing them is imperative as the following pictures will help to show. These trees could have fallen in the next year and possibly caused someone harm, or in the very least fell on a fairway or cart path leaving a ton of debris to clean up and massive ruts to fix during the busy season.

Trunk area of a red oak tree that we noticed had a significant ganoderma infection. The tree would have eventually fell due to the remarkable amount of decay caused by the infection.

Black locust tree with significant deterioration from shelf fungus disease. This tree was going to fall at some point in the near future if not removed.

Problem limbs are also being removed. The Green Commitee has a list of bothersome limbs that we are going to tackle as weather and the budget allows. Some of those areas include limbs left of #4 fairway, limbs #6 valley, pin oaks left of #8 fairway, pin oaks by #9 tee, ash trees valley of #9, red maples right of #10 fairway, right of #15 fairway, left of #16 green bunker, and pin oak left of #17 closer to the green. One thing we never run out of at WHCC is tree work! We will try and get as much as we can done during these colder winter days.

Pruning cuts on red maples left of #10 fairway

Job completed. Limbs overhanging the fairway were trimmed back.

Pin Oaks trimmed up on the left of #9 tee.

The project work has slowed down this winter. The concrete at the mat area has been poured, and the bids that have come in for the asphalt have been received. Unfortunately, the asphalt for the parking area and cart path on the driving range will not be accomplished until spring because of the lack of availability of the asphalt product during the winter months. The floor of the driving range will be completed in the spring. Also, phase 2 of the driving range renovation will start in February or March with trees being cleared for the new cart path on the north driving range tee. The construction of the cart building is underway, and the grounds crew is hauling away dirt as needed. Some of this extra topsoil will be used in the coming months to fill in stump holes. In addition, we are getting prices together for some much-needed upgrades to the grounds building once the new cart building is completed.

Raymond working the bobcat to remove a large pile of dirt produced by the construction of the new cart building

Other winter work will include equipment maintenance, staff recruitment for the 2022 season, staff educational seminars, parking lot snow and ice removal, adding soil to high cart path areas, fixing crushed limestone cart path areas, removing and filling in stump grinding holes, and hardscape work. Finally, after avoiding the pestilence for the last 2 years, the Grounds Crew has fell victim to the omicron variant and we currently have 4 employees out. We are lucky it has hit in January and not in the middle of the golf season. We will get as much work done during the winter as the variant and mother nature allows and are hopeful for a disease-free turf, trees, and crew for the upcoming 2022 season!

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent

December update

 We have moved into the detail phase of the driving range project. The cart path and parking areas have been shaped and 4" of crushed limestone has been smoothed over the top. The driving range mat areas are framed and in the process of having the concrete base poured. In addition, the chipping green and practice tee bunkers are being edged and filling in with sand.

The three pin oak trees at the top of the chipping green area are casting a significant amount of shade over the bentgrass green and need to be removed. This has already caused a poor growing environment for the newly seeded area. We have been battling some disease pressure because of the lack of sunlight to evaporate the morning moisture causing prolonged leaf wetness on grass blades. The increased moisture presence is a catalyst for many turf diseases and one in particular that has already occurred is damping off disease. Also, the trees are causing a tremendous amount of late fall and winter shade. Shade in the fall and winter hinders the grass to recover from the long, hot summer. This causes the grass to be weak in the spring and it may not have enough time to recover before summer heat occurs once again. In addition, the winter shade causes the green to freeze for longer periods of time, consequently, causing it to be closed more often. When growing in a green we need to optimize the amount of time it receives sunlight so it can become thick, healthy and ready for play as soon as possible. Once these three pin oaks are removed mounding will take its place and viburnum shrubs will be planted to block any errant golf balls coming from hole 6. For more information on shade and turf click here or click here for a previous post on trees and turf.

sand added to practice tee bunker

form for driving range mats

crushed limestone cart path in new chipping area

3 pin oaks set to be removed

pin oaks casting shade on new chipping green for the majority of the day

Damping off disease on new chipping green

Phase two of the driving range project is already on deck. This will begin during the winter months with removing of trees above the north range tee. Also, the dump area will be cleaned out and the cart path reworked. I will continue to update as this phase begins.

Holes #4 and #8 are healing in since the golf preservation project. They do have some scalping that occurred, and we have been watering them daily, however, the growing season has quickly come to a close and we may have to wait until the spring for these areas to fully recover. 

Hole #13 is just starting to root in. We have rolled and mowed the green using the walking greens mowers, but the sod has to become more rooted and stable before we can begin to get our bigger roller and topdresser on the green.  Also, we are mowing the green at .200" and we are mowing the other greens at .130" during the growing season. They recommend lowering the height by .005" every week until the desired height is reached. So once the turf begins growing in the spring it will take 14 weeks before the turf is at the same height as the other greens. In addition, right now the green is extremely bumpy and will need a significant amount of topdressing before it will be smooth enough for play. Obviously, because of all these factors it may be until mid-summer before this green is rolling like the others. This green will be closed until mid spring- mid April or early May.

The crew has been busy getting the course ready for winter. The fertilization is almost complete, and the irrigation system has been blown out for the season. Leaf removal is ongoing, and it will take some time before the oak trees are done unloading their leaves. 

The winter tree and limb removal list has been created. Many of the trees that are being removed are dead or diseased trees. Again, we are having issues with oak trees, in particular, becoming infected with ganoderma root rot. Also, some of the black locust trees have some fungal growth issues and need to be cut down. Some pin oak trees under cart paths have significant dead limbs that need removed and some limbs blocking fairway shots will be addressed. In house tree work will address many of the smaller dead trees that have to be removed.

pin oak root removed from #11 farway

area of exposed pin oak roots in #11 fairway

The landscaping team, headed by Kyle Brater, is in the process of making a garden wall next to the new paver area by #1 tee. The verdin clock plaque has been installed on the pro shop wall, with landscape lighting to illuminate it at night. The landscaping around this area has been removed and we will be replacing it with new trees and shrubs that are the right size and add color interest to this busy intersection.

Garden wall installation. The New landscaping will follow.

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 snowstorm 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.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent

 

Rounding Third and Heading for Home....

It has been a busy end of the season for the agronomy team. The majority of this year's projects are heading toward completion. The most recent renovation was accomplished by Golf Preservations. They have completed drainage work on #4 and #8 greens and the leveling work on #13 green. The new drainage will help dry out and firm up #4 and #8 soil based greens. These greens should be ready for play by Thanksgiving.

On #13 green, the company lifted up the bottom right side around 6" and brought the lower area to a 2% slope instead of a 5% slope. This will open that area up for putting and more cup locations. In addition, the back half of #13 green was leveled, drainage added to the entire putting surface, and the whole green softened to try and ease the slope toward the lake. I believe it is a big improvement and will help with approach shots and putting on this scenic green. Moving forward, #13 green will be closed until the beginning of next season to allow the sod to root in. In these colder, late fall and winter months this process will take much longer. It may be a week or two before we can begin to get equipment on this green for maintenance. Also, the bentgrass sod will need to knit back in and fill in the cracks left from cutting. We will raise the mowing height for the first couple of mows and slowly lower as we get closer to spring. Right now it is very patchy and bumpy and we ask that everyone stays off the playing surface until it is ready to be opened next spring. 

Drainage #4 green

Sod removed from #13 green. Flags delineate the outline of the putting green.

Sod removed on #13 green

Drainage installed #13

Drainage in #13 approach

Sod being placed back on after leveling

Finished project. Bottom of #13 green now at a 2% slope from left to right.

The driving range project is ongoing. Most of the earth moving for phase 1 has been completed. Drainage for the floor of the range is finished and target greens and surrounds have been seeded. It is hard to distinguish where the location of the target greens are at this point because they are being grown in at the same time as the surrounds. Once the grass matures enough to begin mowing at lower heights the greens will be mowed lowered and become noticeable. Right now the target greens are seeded with perennial rye; however, in June they will be sodded with innovation zoysia, which is a more durable summer time grass, that is more disease resistant and drought hardy than the current perennial ryegrass. The zoysia grass was scheduled to be installed this fall, but was pushed to the spring because of weather events that delayed the installation past the optimal time for warm season grass to become established before winter weather occurs.

The chipping green, approaches, and driving range tee were seeded in late September and are coming in very well. We have mowed all of these surfaces at least once and will probably mow them a couple more times before dormancy. The putting green expansion was seeded in early October and is growing at a much slower pace due to less daylight, colder temperatures, and a couple of heavy rainstorms that washed out the seed before germination. Nonetheless, we will be mowing the majority of this area in the next couple days. Hopefully, the grass continues to grow before winter.

Sod is being installed around the putting green surrounds and this area will start to take on its completed look. Much topsoil has been added to raise the bottom portion of this area to level it out so the tent that is used for events can be installed. Again it will take many months before the expanded portion of this green will be ready for putting.

Landscaping was added to the right side of #5 tee for safety reasons. These trees and shrubs will eventually become big and tall enough to shield errant golf shots from landing on the chipping and driving range complexes. The plants used were white pines, Allegany viburnums, and smoke bushes. In addition 6 repointe maples were added. Three were placed in the wooded area between 4 green and the driving range to replace some of the dying trees in that location. The three others were installed to the right of #4 valley to help block long drives from the range from going into #4 playing area.

Cart path installation will begin in the next week with a 2" base of crushed limestone being installed on the driving range parking and cart path areas. Some sod will be added to areas that have been consistently washing out and catch basins will be uncovered after recent rainstroms. Other detail work will continue to happen as we move toward winter.  

Redpointe maples planted to the right on #4 green

Planting landscaping for #5 tee

Growing in bentgrass for chipping green complex

Chris Wheeler mowing the new chipping green

Bentgrass growing in on the driving range tee

Target greens starting to germinate

A view of the project area

New sod installed on putting green surrounds

Fall maintenance is behind schedule. We have put in over 900 hours during the last couple of months on project work, forcing us to play catch up. Aeration of the fairways was completed in late October. The original aeration date was postponed because of rain and we were unable to find a suitable time to complete the core aeration process. However, we were able to squeeze in enough time for Whuerkamp enterprises to solid, deep-tine aerate. This had not been done before on the fairway surfaces and should help to open up the thatch layer and aid in deeper root development. We are currently in the process of core aerating the play rough areas and will be able to complete them in the next week. We were hoping to begin verticutting the fairways in early November but have not been able to start this process yet. We may only be able to verticut a couple fairways this fall, but time and weather will dictate how much of this process gets accomplished.

Fall ferritization of all playing surfaces is currently taking place. Fertilizer has been applied to the rough and tees. Next up will be fairways and green surrounds. Intermediate ryegrass has been innerseeded into some of the bermuda grass areas throughout the course. We were a month behind on seeding and hopefully we will still get good germination to cover up the unsightly winter dormancy bermuda grass look. 

Tulip bulbs have arrived and the horticulture team is working hard to get the summer annuals removed and begin planting the 5,000 tulip bulbs that adorn the property in the spring. The small crabapple tree located under the red oak by the fountain has been removed. The tree was planted too close to the red oak, and it was hit hard this season with apple scab disease. This will free up room for more annuals to be planted.

Removing crabapple tree

Aerating the play rough

Deep-tine aeration of the fairways

Intermediate ryegrass slit seeded into a bermuda grass patch on #15 fairway

Leaf drop and cleanup is starting to pick up pace as the colder temperatures begin to descend upon the area. We are working to try and get as much of the fall maintenance accomplished as possible but we may have to skip some practices. Frost is starting to become an issue and is taking away some much needed turf work during the morning hours. Overall, the agronomy team is excited about the changes that happened on the golf course during this last season. We will continue to maintain the course and driving range area so they are ready for play next season. Tree work is on the horizon and in the next month we will be working to get a tree and limb removal list together to be accomplished in the winter months. Also, a new building is going to be taking shape over to the right of #18 parking lot and this will give us more space in the grounds building for much needed storage next season. The majority of this work will be accomplished by outside contractors with seeding and landscaping of said area being done in house. I speak for the rest of the crew in saying we are ready for the project season to wind down a bit and look forward to a more normal late fall routine.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent