Spring has sprung

Tiptoe through the...

As this is being written, it's Masters week.  It's one of the handful of times during the year that the excitement around golf is exuberant and positive for golfers and maintenance departments alike.  For year-around northerners it's time for spring cleaning or dusting off the clubs and getting those grips looked at (because that's surely the problem). It's time to get out there, finally, and play golf.  

As for the golf course, things went largely to plan over the winter. Fall clean-up benefited from our seemingly new normal of a delayed winter which lets the crew get after all the nooks and crannies where leaves like to hide.  Our annual winter project of tree harvesting retired 37 specimens to their creator. Unfortunately our usual ordering window for spring tulips fell victim to supply chain woes and selection was non-existent, so the early spring color at the club entrance and pro shop will be missed this year. 

Winter Injury 

While I can't say it's the worst winter injury the course has seen, the past winter did give some of the greens a black eye.  For a more in depth explainer of why winter injury occurs, there's an addendum here. For the purposes of keeping this blog entry concise it's enough to understand that while some of the greens were injured, most weren't and I expect better than 90% recovery by Mother's Day.

Bunker Renovations

In December the crew removed the sand on holes 11 and 18 and installed drainage.  The next step in this process will be installation of a 'pervious' concrete liner and new sand. The reason we're going through this process is to test the product 'CapCon' as well as to demonstrate the ability to use sump pits to drain our rocky soils as we pursue better bunkers. If successful, and the bunkers meet player expectation, we'll work with the green committee to schedule the rest of the course bunkers for renovation. Bunkers at Tuscarora are one of the two weak spots on the property due to their age, lack of drainage, and no liners to keep dirt from contaminating the sand.  This is our first step in improving them. 

Fairway quality

3 Fairway unmowed in April

Another perennial challenge we deal with is on fairways.  Reasons they remain a challenge are grass composition and an increasing worm problem. Grass type is a mish-mash of  rye grass, bentgrass, poa, kentucky bluegrass, and fescue - good for the rough, but terrible at fairway height.  These grasses are difficult to cut cleanly in the spring and fall due to wetness, and are prone to heavy worm casts that damage the mowers and smother the turf. The variation in grass types further add to the inconsistency in  growth rates and reacting to growth regulators in unpredictable ways.  

Options to improve them exist.  The most effective option is to change the grass to one species. It's a fix that would dramatically improve aesthetics and playability.  However, it's also a fix that would require the most in cost, disruption, and future maintenance commitment to keep the bentgrass pure and poa free. For best results it also would require a planting time in the middle of August which would affect golf, albeit temporarily (approximately 1 month). Courses nearby that have majority bentgrass fairways are Corning CC, Turning Stone, Bellevue CC, Cortland CC, Timber Banks, Saratoga National, and Lakeshore YCC among others. 

A second option is to mow the existing fairways when they're dry and free of dew or wet worm casts.  'Dry mowing' is a technique we use when we need the fairways to have a perfect cut. It's possible when we have access to the course in the late mornings and afternoons. Currently those times are only allowed during special events such as Member Guest or NYSGA and CNYPGA events when we can block play or otherwise allow us to get the mowers on the course without disrupting play. It works and there is no associated cost to it. 

What we'll be attempting this spring is a trial of this method through creative scheduling and by adding a third fairway mower to the lineup so the mowing crew can move faster. The goal will be to wait for fairways to dry out before mowing.  Nothing permanent is being implemented. We'd like to look at all options for making fairways better, if they exist, without moving to a conversion to bentgrass which is a much more serious discussion and commitment.   

To that end, we'll be receiving a visit this week with the regional USGA agronomist John Daniels to further discuss the fairways and talk about any options and recommendations he may have. 

New practice mats

Due to property constraints the practice tee is too small for the size and rate of use it gets. 

A high quality practice mat has been purchased to use for members and outside events when the grass needs a break or when there is no grass left.  Mats will be installed in mid-May while the concrete pad they sit on will be poured in April. 

Winter Injury Addendum

An ideal winter sees the greens remaining frozen through the soil profile, mostly ice-free and either covered with an ice free snow pack, or no snow at all. No thaw and refreeze takes place.  In the pictures below we like to see no ice layer at the surface and crunchy white snow: 

Older courses, like Tuscarora, have greens composed of a few different grasses.  Within that composition are species that are sensitive to ice cover and mid-winter thaw.  When we experience winter injury, damage is suffered on the Poa species in the green. Greens at Tuscarora are 30 to 70%  Poa. Newer Courses (60 years and younger) and courses that tend to be wet, have higher populations of creeping bentgrass which fares better through challenging winters. Bentgrass normally see zero injury.  Another factor that favors injury susceptibility is how intensive maintenance is. Courses that keep mowing heights low and restrict fertility through the fall to meet golfer demand for fast greens often suffer the worst when the winter is harsh. 

Poor drainage = injured turf

Greens comprised of Poa annua suffered the heaviest winter damage in drain swales and shaded areas. Predicting damage or preventing it has more to do with Mother Nature and luck unfortunately. University research on cold weather hardiness and freeze/thaw cycles is ongoing and although we know the mechanics behind the injury, avoiding it is more elusive.  If you enjoy data, the science of climate change is fascinating. Whether guided by prehistorical records, earth axis tilt/wobble, or more modern theories of  human civilization affecting warming, what's likely is over the next 100 years, northeastern winters will be warmer and wetter. This in turn, will mean Poa greens will likely suffer this damage more regularly.    

Where we go from here isn't far.  As you can see in the video, there is still life deeper down in the canopy.  From past experience we know that the majority of Poa that gets injured will regenerate from seed that's naturally always in the soil as well as from any vegetative part left intact from the winter damage.  

With regard to covers, in this instance, greens covers wouldn't have defended against either ice damage or freeze thaw cycles.  Greens covers mainly function to protect greens from wind desiccation and to speed up soil warming on courses that suffer from windy open winters.  Helpful for recovery, not so much as a freeze/thaw/ice preventative measure.

The hard part will be the waiting. We'll deploy black shade cloth to warm the worst spots when needed as well as apply fertilizers that target the recovery process.  Expect slow bumpy greens through April up to around Mothers Day.  By late May I expect to see a return to seasonally normal green speed and a full recovery by Memorial Day.  It definitely could've been worse, so we can be thankful that for whatever reason the conditions didn't damage more greens.  Whether this is a symptom of regional changes in climate, or just bad luck, try to find comfort in the fact that this isn't the first time, or the last, that Poa greens in the northeast will see winter injury.