Final Round

Winding Down

Leaves on the ground out number what's left on the trees these days and the crew's thinning out which means it's a good time to look back over the season to see how we got here.

Cool nights+no rain = perfect conditions

Weather-wise, 2019 was an average year for temperatures but well over normal for rainfall during the first half of the season.  That meant some good and bad for the course.  On the bad side: playing conditions tend to be plush and thick. Too much water (from rain or irrigation) gets grass pumped up like a bouncy house which looks fantastic but tends to be difficult to play from.  Greens slow and often are too soft and might be mowed one day and skipped the next. Speeds become variable and what rolled well enough in the morning never lasts late enough for league or afternoon play. 

Red skies at morning, sailors take warning 

 If there's anything to remember about this year, it's that more moisture equals greater variability.  Another downside of too much rain is more intense disease pressure. Saturated conditions can create a flush of nutrient release which exacerbates the problem. We are living through a historically wetter and warmer period for our region that brings a more frequent and wide array of weather extremes.   This results in employing more defensive strategies to try to maintain a consistent surface.  Whatever your feelings on global warming, what looks like a trend means more drainage projects in our near future.

Too much rain too fast is a resource burner

Hot nights+heavy rains = disease pressure

The upside of above normal rainfall is the rough never went dormant and I know how our members love our rough.  We also will save on the water bill which can be exorbitant on dry years.  


Tournament Conditions
Sometimes 'tournament conditions' is a term thrown around a little too readily in the business or gets understood  as 'tricking the course up' which is understandably frustrating for the daily player. All it really means to the Superintendent is firming the course up (if possible)  and timing your cultural practices so that their effect has maximum value.  It's more a 'period of time' when all the planets and stars align rather than something you can whip out of your back pocket. 
Backhanded compliments like "why can't the course be this nice all the time" demonstrates the misconception about what's really happening and why it's often unsustainable (and hard to afford) for daily play. So here's a quick primer on tournament preparation, consequences of it, and how it differs from preparing for daily play.

Perfectly edged and raked bunkers take time and experienced operators

 Jenny Chuasiriporn at the 1998 US Women's Open. Number of employees for 18 holes that week = 60 

Firmness
From a conditioning standpoint a common goal is to have the firmest surface possible. 'Tournament ready' greens are hard under foot. This stems from witholding water and excessive rolling (compaction) and it's undesirable at certain times of the year. Firm surfaces allow mowers to cut at their most accurate which makes consistency and playability from tee, fairway and green the best it can be. It also demands a specific shot type and player ability. It's a hedge for rain as well, as you can always slow greens down with water, but it's hard to get speeds back up once a rain has gone through. 

• Drier is a liability for recovery from cart and foot traffic.
• Average shots bounce off greens
• Ballmarks are hard to see and fix
• Plants lack moisture to cool themselves  
• Margin for error in care is exponentially higher.

Cultural practices like aerifying slow greens down but are necessary throughout the season

Cultural practices
When a tournament date is two weeks away, cultural practices cease and the focus is on maintaining quality of cut.  Any aerifying, venting, topdressing, or fertilizing needs to have happened already  so surface disruption and growth is minimized. Execution of daily duties is scrutinized and tuned. Extra care is taken around every procedure as there's less time to fix things close to the tournament date. The best operators are put on the jobs they're specialized in doing to ensure the job is consistent.  Anything that could disrupt uniformity is avoided. 

Make mistakes early - not the week of the tournament and use your best operators for the most crucial jobs

• Operators change through the seasons to meet different demands. The best person for the job isn't always available. 
• Cultural practices that impact play must be performed during the season or quality declines - disruption is necessary.
• Postponing cultural practices risks a precedent that leads to practices being abandoned altogether -- "we didn't aerify last year and things were fine, can we skip it this year?" 

"So how come the course can't be like this all year?"  
Many facilities mistakenly market themselves as being in 'tournament condition' all year because being in 'tournament condition' is subjective and hard to prove otherwise.  It sounds good, but ultimately means nothing and is a hollow brag.

Fall golf is best golf

When greens are growing slowly and getting ready to go dormant is when they're at their easiest to manipulate. Late summer to early fall golf, in other words, is the most common time to have the best conditions.   Having the Mid-Am state championship here in late September with cool temperatures, postponing aerification and no rain for a month allowed the greens to be pushed harder for longer. The course played amazing for weeks.  It allowed us to use stronger growth regulators that effectively shut the plants down. Those cool nights matter and allowed for a lot of sin to go unnoticed.  Trying that in mid July when you need the recovery from the heat and stress of the day would be walking a tightrope with nothing to show for it except weak turf.  The return doesn't outweigh the risk at that time of year. 
Hot and steamy conditions generally wreak havoc.  They're conditions that set Superintendents teeth on edge because so much control is lost when turf is 'juicy'.  Downpours followed with humid nights makes the likelihood of firm and fast surfaces a fantasy.  At that point, in the middle of summer we're happy to just have plants that are alive and growing after some of the heat and wet experienced through the summer.  Turning the screws down on greens to get 'tournament conditions' during those times is reserved for major events.  What constitutes a major event is up to the Board of Directors with a cautionary appeal that if every event is deemed 'major' then none are.  
In the end, we aim for the highest level of quality we can afford and sustain it for as long as possible.

Projects
A few projects were open over the winter and we're happy to see their completion.    

8 Tee

Roughing it in

Half way

In play

1 tee

Sparrow rookery 

Native rocks

Just planted

Fall colors - size will come

7 Tee

Fighting weather

Finally!

Moving On

Projects are so much easier with a great crew and our especially able Assistant Superintendent Justin Chunco. Justin is continuing his career and moved on to the head Superintendent's position for The Pompey Club. He'll do great things there.  We wish him luck and welcome our newest addition to the grounds department, Scott Winkleman.  Scott is a Skaneateles native and will join us in January.  He currently manages the Wells College Golf Course in Aurora.  

Last Call for Summer

Greens Tees and Fairways
As leaves start to turn and the high school and college help  are back at school,  it's a good time to review the season. 2019 showed us a little bit of everything in terms of weather.  And in any analysis of a golf season, if you're not talking about weather you're missing most of the picture.  Temperatures for the season were around average while rainfall was above average from May through August.  


 how ballmarks, or 'pitchmarks' should be fixed. This is review for many, but for new members or anyone needing confirmation, click this to view the video.

In my time with Tuscarora I've received hundreds of inquiries from concerned members by phone, email, and in person about what 'I' am going to do about the ballmark problem at Tuscarora and after twenty years of that refrain, a better question isn't what 'I' can do about the ballmark problem, but what can the members do about it? 
This is a condition that's created by the people that are asking for it to stop. The goal of 'no ballmarks' resides in a diligent, concerned membership. It also resides in having the humility to learn how to fix them correctly instead of assuming you're doing it correctly. Please watch the video and please fix your ballmark + 1. 
Or don't...they're  your greens. 

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Fairways got a new cutting height this year to make them more forgiving to hit from and help hide the worm casts that pop up from time to time.  The reception has been positive. Our fairways contain a variety grasses that look and play better when mowed higher. We tried to mow them low (as if we had bentgrass) but it never looked or played great. It was a popular, and therefor easy decision. 

Tees 7 and 8 have gotten their legs under them after construction. 7 tee thickened up as weather allowed for more aerifying and topdressing.   As the summer heat and sun come to us, the tee filled in nicely. 

7 tee

8 tee is up and ready for play. The nice weather allowed us to complete the project on time.  As it matures it will thicken and completely fill in.  

Some Housekeeping and updates

There are other minor projects that have took second chair to the tee work and wet weather we've had all spring. As it dried up we were able to complete them. 

Old hedge at 9 tee

The hedge at 9 tee was replaced with plantings of  ornamental grasses that will give some depth perception and beauty between the green and tee. The shade being cast from the hedge onto the back of 8 green was the prime reason for this project. 

12 fwy drainage

Underground springs and abandon drain pipe on 11 and 12 fairway continued to create wet spots. This years crop were dug up and repaired. Thanks for your patience as these areas are grown back in.

14 green expansion

14 green and 6 green were expanded last fall. In reclaiming the lost green surface, we will begin lowering the collar height late this fall to reclaim some lost green surface.  

Hard Case

As 'kind' as we were to all the greens, 2 green specifically, got special treatment.  It responded well through the summer into early August.  It was thicker and although noticeably slower, it had grass everywhere which is a success based on past years.  In the end, it wasn't enough. After a second week in the 90's in late July and after some verticutting the usual decline began again.  Heat is always the killing blow as spots on the green fight for any way to cool themselves. Soil structure problems beneath the surface stemming from re-using old sod from the previous rebuild are creating an anaerobic layer that suffocates the plants. The old sod layer is the root of problem and removal of it will be a topic for future discussion for the Green Committee.

A black layer means a build of sulfur due to anaerobic conditions which is a sign of deeper issues. 

All Geared Up

Winter Went
At the moment it seems like winter has loosened its grip on Central New York. The smaller lakes have lost their ice and the last of the northern courses are coming to grips with what may prove to be a hard spring.  At Tuscarora, we've been fortunate with our turf and climate. Nothing out of the ordinary presented itself over the colder months, and for the most part, we were able to keep busy with our winter projects. 

PG temporarily under ice. 

Between Two Trees (ferns)
The most noticeable change players will see this season is more room beneath, and between the trees. It was short of clear cutting, but the sheer amount of lumber to hit the ground sometimes made us wonder. The results for the golfer are a more open feel to the course and more options when playing a shot from out of the rough. The results for the turf are better air flow, more resilient turf and more consistent conditions. 

A small pile of hardwood limbs waiting for a home

Green Stuff

Nice pic highlighting the many varieties of grasses within our greens. 

The course is beginning its spring growth surge that happens every year.  As greens, in particular, go from dormant and fast, to lush and slow, it's good to remember that it's a physiological response to warmth and day length that we have little control over. We try to mitigate this change with growth regulators and controlling fertility but for May and early June most places are happy to just keep up with mowing.  The trick has always been balancing enough growth to keep up with daily wear from golfers and mowing equipment without sacrificing reasonable ball roll.  Every course has unique needs and conditions and some are easier to bring through this time than others.  As the grass evens out with the onset of hotter weather, greens get more predictable and manageable.

Brain Drain

New drain pipe going in across 11 fairway to alleviate a plugged line that was creating the sogginess in the landing area. We'll also be installing drainage into the fairway bunkers on 11 later this fall as a part II to this project. Thanks for your patience as we dry this area up.

Wrapped Up and Reviewed

2018 Review

As 2019 begins and winter projects are under way, I wanted to take a quick look back at 2018 to review the season and happenings.

Old Friend

Bittersweet loss of our long-lived 'course dog' this summer. The board generously allowed her onto the property when she was 8 weeks old in 2003. The understanding was she'd keep the geese on the run and anything else she could catch and lived up to her end of the bargain until she couldn't make it in anymore. A great companion and gentle sweetheart that adored the members and was never happier than when in the middle of the action at Tuscarora.  She'll be missed. Her passing was oddly welcome as she rapidly declined over a few weeks in June before the hot weather hit.

Gracie: 2003-2018

New Green Surrounds

The beginning of the season saw two projects completed in 13 greenside bunker and 16 collar collection area resulting in better drainage, aesthetics, and shot options. 

1st tee and Driving Range changes

The arborvitae hedge behind 1 tee has been removed in favor of a small wall and perennial plantings that will tie in with the look of the clubhouse landcscape. A similar treatment is going on  between the 18th tee and the driving range tee with the idea to create more space for the grass range tee while replacing a outgrown hedge that the deer were destroying. The retaining wall at the range is complete and we're waiting for better conditions to start the 1st tee wall.

Before shot of 1 tee

After removal

We'll likely use our natural locally-sourced limestone boulders at the range tee and 1 tee. It's the most cost-effective and aesthetically attractive solution.

Range tee wall under way

The Battle of Unrepaired Ballmarks

The fight goes on. Noticeable progress was made this year thanks to a concerted effort by (almost) all the membership to be diligent and care for their greens.  Everyone looks forward to the day a ball mark left on the green is treated with the same outrage as seeing steel spiked shoes on a green. 
Until then, keep up the good work and remember  what Smokey says: 

Summer Summary
There were long stretches of heat and humidity and a heavy snow event in the early spring.  Other than these, it was a year where there was a lot of golf played which is always indicative of pretty decent weather. Very few days were lost to poor course conditions and it was a good year for any cost-per-round concerns - people got their money's worth. Some rain notwithstanding, carts were out daily more than they were in.  Spring and early summer were as expected with greens snapping into summer mode around Memorial day as the poa seeds wained and the effect of  topdressing and rolling started to accumulate. We experimented with some new growth regulator combinations on greens and fairways and although we had no issues, we'll continue looking for that perfect combination for green speed, growth reduction, and wear recovery that's so elusive on our mixed poa-bent greens.  More to come on that front for 2019.  
Bunkers were requested to be raked more deeply and we complied.  This softened them and lessened complaints. Drainage is still a concern in many, however, and we'll be addressing that problem this winter.  

Winter Work

New 8 tee roughed in and ready for top mix and sod

New 8 tee looking to the green

Dropping the last of the big rocks for the driving range wall

Range hedge before

Driving range wall under way

Wet 7 bunker

7 Bunker dug to bedrock, water disappeared in 30 minutes

Flattening/enlarging 7 tee

Course-wide 'limbing-up' and raising of lower canopy

Snow came early this November curtailing leaf clean-up.  We got  back to the worst areas while we had a reprieve between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Besides the range and 1st tee, projects through the winter are a flattening/enlarging #7 tee, building an additional tee on #8, and tree pruning. The goal is to remove the lower canopy/branches of all trees that need it.  This opens up the holes visually and allows better shot options.  A major side effect is more air flow, more sunlight, faster drying, better grass, and of course, happier golfers!  See you in April.