Holes N More Holes

It's been another busy and very productive week.  We again had a list of goals set for this week.  Cultural practices are beginning to set in, mostly aerification, soon to follow up with verticutting.  Along with cultural work we have begun detail tasks, increased mowing frequencies, and wrapping up on some native seeding projects.  Again, we are finishing up the week very pleased with how things sit for this time of year.

Fairway aerification is always a big task to tackle.  Numerous implements are used requiring extensive labor and overtime to get finished in a week.  This was our first time to utilize some of our

Fairway following aerifcation.  Holes hardly noticeable.

latest equipment purchases too.  Over the years we've worked at building our fleet to address aerificaiton.  This year we added our last few pieces that have worked out great and will show great results.  All fairways are being aerified with 3 different machines which aerifiy with 3 different methods.  One machine is designed to go deep and fracture soil; one is designed to go shallow and poke a clean hole, the other is designed to slice and fracture.  All these methods will aid in root growth, drainage, and plant health.  Along with aerification is topdressing.  All fairways are have a layer of sand spread and dragged into them.  Filling these avenues created through aerification with sand helps maintain pore space; reducing compaction, mitigating thatch, increasing drainage, and increasing root growth and structure.  In total we will be adding about 768,000 pounds of sand.

Grass has become slightly more active, at least the rough.  Other playing surfaces like; greens, approaches, tees, and fairways are growing but not aggressively.  Mowing frequencies have been increased, almost to peak season rate.  This is mostly due to use continuing to lower heights of cut, necessitating the need to mow more frequently.  We are not to mid season heights yet but working our way there.  Heavy frost last week really stunted some turf but looking at the extended forecast, things should wake up over the weekend and next week.  Efforts have been made to try and wake the greens up.  We are trying to recover a few greens after a negative reaction from our fall fertilizer application.  We are unsure exactly why we saw results we did, we've made this same application for 5 years now and have nothing of the affect.  We believe it could be due to; contaminated material, moisture getting in the bag and letting product release early, or timing of watering cycle and not getting water on product soon enough due to irrigation system out put.  Bottom line it will recover, just need some warmer temperatures to get the bentgrass growing.

Lastly we are about to finish our seeding of native areas.  Couldn't ask for better timing either as next

Native between 13 and 16 prepped and seeded

week shows some rain that will help aid in germination.  Areas between 2 and 7, 13 and 16, as well as left of 14 fairway and right of 16 tee will be seeded by the end of the week.  These will be seeded at a light rate of fescue blends to make thin to allow finding a ball but yet hard to play out of.  Areas will take a few years to get establish, so please don't expect perfection right away.  This goes for all the native seeding we've done this spring.  It take a good 3 years or so for areas to get establish and for our programs to help keep out unwanted plants.

New Week, New Goals

As we start off a new week here, we focus on new goals.  Last week we had high goals and are very happy with what we achieved.  It's always nice and much easier to do when weather cooperates with your plans.  It was great to see so many out on Friday playing some golf.  Hard to complain on a day where the high is 78, light breeze, and abundant sunshine.  As you played I'm sure you seen a great amount of work being done.

Hydroseeding berm along 5.  Lower areas are seed with a
blend while top and back are seeded with taller native grasses.

First, I'd like to take a minute to reflect back on last week and what we achieved.  Seeding of multiple projects were completed.  Such projects include; berm along the 5th hole, berm between 3 tee and 6 fwy, native area surrounding new nursery, and lastly tree'd area right of 7 and left of 12 green.  Couldn't have asked for things to turn out better as we had a gentle, soaking rain last night.

Berm between 3 and 6 prior to seeding.  This area is seeded
a fescue blend to make playable yet penalizing.

Along with seeding, we laid a great amount of sod.  Bentgrass sod was harvested from oversized tees to complete the rolloff project at 6 green.  We chose to do this as it was economical, rather than buying all new sod for the runoff and, we downsized the tees to the exact width of our spraying helping save valuable time spraying.  In the fall we will continue to work on downsizing and squaring the remainder of the tees.

Nursery area seeded.  Big Blue Stem along with fescue
grasses will make up this area.  Trees/shrubs added in fall.

Rolloff area to the left of 6 green.  Will make for some
interesting shots, and a tough back left pin.

This week we continue to work on projects but need to ramp up our mowing frequencies.  The warmer weather at the end of last week and a little rain really got turf active.  Don't think we'll see much growth this week with cooler temps but we'll take advantage by turning on groomers and really work at standing turf up.  Verticutting of greens will take place this week.  This is a method to lightly address organic matter and increase density.  You may have noticed some speckling or pock marks in some greens, the verticutting will help fill those in.  These marks are from fertilizer used in late fall, still not sure exactly why we had this result on only a few areas.  Possibly some contamination in the bag or humidity/moisture made it's way in and activated the material.  All areas will heal; topdressing and verticutting will help aid in recovery.

Drainage work being done to lower part of 10 fairway.

Goals this week are to continue to work on and wrap up any unfinished projects.  We still have a few areas to seed, weather permitting we'll try and address behind 3 and 6 green.  Now that the tee work and rolloff work are complete we are moving on to wrapping up drainage work.  Areas needing some finish work are to the left of 4 fairway, left of 6 approach, and roughs to left and right of 7.  4 and 6 will be prepped and
sodded, while 7 will be prepped and seeded.  A few new drainage projects are on our task list for the week; lower part of 10 fairway is getting some added drainage along with the rough in front of 18 tee.  We will continue to address certain areas throughout spring, as we continue to see very positive results from all drainage we've done to date.
It's great to be back in the swing of things.  This spring has actually been great to get projects completed and start preparing the golf course.  We are looking to be sitting steady once we get to Memorial Day, projects completed and on to maintaining the golf course.  There are a few important dates to remember over the next 3-4 weeks:

1. Fairway aerification is taking place April 27 - May 1.  Course will remain open but please excuse our mess.  We have the target of completing roughly 3-4 holes a day to be finished by the end of the week.
2. GREENS/APPROACH AERIFICATION, will be taking place Monday, May 11th.  This spring we will be utilizing DryJect; http://www.dryject.com/ a great method of getting sand deeper into the subsurface, as well as utilizing our new deeptine to get even deeper.  We are hoping to finish in a day, but may have a few to wrap up with on Tuesday morning.
3. Tee Aerification is being carried out on Monday, May 4th.

All these events are weather permitting.  If we experience rain/wet conditions some may be put on hold.  We hope that everyone that has played is enjoying the course.  We greatly look forward to constantly improving conditions to make things more enjoyable for yourself and your guests.

Masters Week, Kickoff to the Season

Each year Masters Week seems to be the kick off to the golf season.  Fortunately this year, we've now been open for a few weeks and this past weekend happened to be the best.  If you think back to last year, we opened the Thursday the Masters began.  So, from in my mind we are a few weeks ahead and by judging turf conditions that seems to be the case.  With this being said I feel we are now in the full swing of the 2015 season.

Cart damage in rough

As I've said, conditions are shaping up.  As conditions do progress we still need to be very cautious with our procedures and use of the course.  Each spring we field the questions regarding cart use on the course.  I'm sure the thought process is often, if the course is open then golf carts should be allowed.  I wish that were the case, would make my job much easier.  Unfortunately, here at Briarwood there is no continuous cart path and we are a flatter property.  As of now the course is not conditioned for carts.  Turf needs to become more dense and we need more development of roots to keep the turf held together.  Some may argue about why maintenance vehicles are allowed on the course then.  There are a few angles with this; with the jobs we have at hand they are needed to carry them out, and our guys are educated on proper driving techniques along with knowing proper areas to drive.  Not to say there aren't a few mishaps, but it's very limited due to their knowledge of cart use.  We did have an instance this weekend that only proved we aren't ready for carts.  A cart was needed and the operator thought an area looked dry so proceeded through, only to realize too late it wasn't.  I think we can all agree that we'd rather not have our course with these tracks all over.  So please be patient and understand the decision is made for the protection and the enjoyment of the golf course.

All playing surfaces are progressing nicely.  We've dropped the greens mowers slightly but it's very important in the spring to let the turf get growing and established.  Root growth is very important at this time of year and if we begin cutting too short we will inhibit that process.  Roots are what gives the turf strength during stressful times.  It may be drought, heat, traffic, etc... roots are what make the plant survive.  If you have bad roots you have bad grass.  But, for April 13th I think we should all be very satisfied with where our putting surfaces along with other playing surfaces are.  As I've told some; if the weather continues we will be in phenomenal shape come early May.

Projects are progressing, although last weeks 2.5" of rain slowed things down.  This week will be huge for us in getting things to a point of seeding.  We have set a goal of seeding by Friday to the berm along the 3rd tee and the native area around the nursery.  If weather stays dry we will hopefully see our contractor on property to prep and seed the berm along with 5th hole as well.  So, we are very happy to be where we are with these types of tasks.  Sooner we can get these accomplished the sooner we can focus on maintaining the golf course.

Lastly, Masters week.  I was fortunate to take a trip south and attend The Masters this week with some other area Superintendents.  The property is amazing.  This has been my second trip and I must say it's just as breath taking each time.  Weather was ideal and it was a great Masters to see in person for a few days and finish up watching on TV.  With that being said, welcome to the 2015 season and we look very forward to seeing everyone out on the course and a successful and busy season.

The famous 13th with the Dogwoods and Azaleas in bloom

The 14th, undulations in this green are amazing.

Amen corner, the 12th.

Ben Crenshaw, Jordan Spieth, and Tiger Woods during Wednesday practice

Par 3 contest.  Such an amazing event.

Pushing On

We continue to push on with cleanup and preparing the golf course for opening.  We had high hopes of opening this Friday but due to conditions following the early week snow and rain we are postponing.  The anticipated date, is now next Friday, April 3rd.  This is again tentative based upon weather cooperating and conditions being favorable.

The latest weather brought a stop to some spring tasks but has allowed us to move forward with others.  Earlier in the week when the course was covered in snow we took time to go through maintenance facilities; organizing and cleaning things up.  The weather also presented a great time to go through policy manuals with employees.  Having firm policies in place helps keep everyone on the same page with expectations and procedures for different practices.  Over the last few day we have returned to the course and continue spring tasks. We had started to cleanup and rehab bunkers last week, and have now continued that task.  The guys are doing a great job of cleaning out any debris and getting sides raked up and smooth for now.  In a few weeks once we have checked all depths, we will use a tiller to loosen up sand.  Over the last few years sand has firmed up a lot and believe we are seeing a negative impact on bunker drainage.  We are anticipating being wrapped up with bunkers this week, allowing us to focus on mowing and a few other things next week before opening.

Small projects are always nice to tackle this time of year as well.  With the recent melt of snow and accumulation of rainfall, we're seeing some negative impacting drainage in front of the first tee.  Today, Moe and Antonio Vargas used our drainage camera along with root rodder to make sure lines are clean.

Nathan installing goose device in pond on 10/18

 When the area dries we'll be adding more drainage to help the area dry faster following rain events.  Goose control has been a great focus of ours this spring.  They are starting to migrate back north so we are doing our best to make them feel uncomfortable when they land at Briarwood.  That's the key, don't let them get established, once they get to that point it's tough to get rid of them.  Today we installed a tool to help disrupt the geese, it's called the Gander Disbander.  Details of the unit can be seen here: http://www.ganderdisbander.com/ we hope that this along with the dog and other methods help keep geese from staying on property.  We can't guarantee 100% effectiveness but we are hoping to be very close.

We'll continue to stay very busy with cleaning up on the course and working to open soon.  Looks like next week will be a busy week for mowing and wrapping up a few projects from fall.  We have a handful of stuff that needs to be completed.  We're hoping that April is a pleasant month weather wise, allowing us to go into May and be completely focused on maintaining the golf course.

Spring Progress

The last 5 days have been very beneficial to the golf course.  Day time hi's staying in the upper 50's and actually reaching 70 degrees yesterday.  These temperatures along with night time temperatures staying above 40 have really made an impact on the snow cover.  Going into the weekend I estimated that 85% of the snow was gone, now I'd say we're about 97%.  Areas that remain are piles throughout the course that were created while we created paths for the tree crew to navigate through the snow.  This progress is encouraging.  It's still early in spring and I hate saying it but, we are yet free and clear from the snow, my gut tells me we aren't done yet.  I hope my gut is wrong.

Yesterday, we hired back some of our seasonal employees.  Weather has dictated the need to bring them back and get a start on course cleanup.  Each year we like to have a few weeks for house cleaning prior to opening the golf course.  Staff has started to cleanup debris in the rough which is always a brute of a task.  Yet, not as bad as it used to be as our annual tree maintenance with pruning and removing poor condition trees has really reduceed the amount of dead branches to fall from trees.  All rope barricades that were put around greens and tees for winter were removed yesterday too.  Along with removing the barricades we blew off all greens, approaches, and tees in anticipation of possibly rolling greens here mid to late week.  Weather permitting we may do some mowing.

The big question at this time of year is always; "When does the course open?"  Remaining optimistically cautious at this time of year is very beneficial to the course.  We continue to monitor the weather and let that help dictate the opening.  As we look at the weather, the following is what we're leaning towards;

• Friday, March 20th; Putting Green, Short Game Area, and Practice Range (off mats) open
• Putting Green and Short Game can change dependent on weather
• Friday, March 27th; Golf Course opens
• This is tentative, weather may dictate differently but this is what we're thinking now.
• NO CARTS WILL BE PERMITTED, WALKING ONLY

Any damage create this early in the season can be noticeable throughout spring.  Recovery methods can't take place as environmental conditions aren't adequate so, this is why we remain very cautious.  We'd hate to swing open the gates and have conditions in the prime of the season sacrificed due to damage in the spring.

The season is here and we're excited.  The winter was long as November was a bitter month, wrapping up with a very bitter and snowy February.  The golf course looks to have come out of winter in great shape, always beneficial not having to go through and fix a bunch of winter damage.  In the next week and half we will continue cleaning up the golf course.  We are working on some drainage blockages to help with drying out.  Bunkers will be a focus here towards the end of the week so hopefully a 27th opening will be a golf course in great shape and ready to host its members.

Spring Thaw

Monday top, Wednesday middle, Thursday bottom

As we close down this second week in March, we are happy with the progress made. Temperatures have been fairly moderate, reaching into the 50's the last few days.  These temperatures have been a huge help in getting the large amount of snow pack thawed.  As of today I'd say we are about 65-70% cleared of snow.  Areas of shade are where we are seeing majority of our snow remain.  9 greens still have snow present, again due to shade not allowing the sun to get temperatures to climb.
Temperatures look to stay moderate so my hope is that we'll be at the 90% clear mark come middle of next week.

Snow melt is one spring event, the other is the frost layer.  This year frost crept pretty deep.  A cold November got it started and with minimal snow cover till February, the bare ground allowed the frost to really develop.  Right now the upper 2" is thawed.  I'm estimating we have frost down 12"+.  As the frost thaws, the ground will heave making conditions on the course soft.  Traffic throughout the course needs to be very cautious at this time as rut's and damage can easily be created and will last for some time.
With all this being said, we're still a ways off from opening.  I'm yet to make any predictions as to an opening date but conditions and weather will determine that.  Until we are comfortable with rolling and mowing greens the course will remain closed.  If we can keep these moderate temperatures going, it only benefits the course and gets us closer to opening.  All surfaces look excellent coming out of winter.  The greens that we can see look the best coming out of winter in the 7 springs I've been here at Briarwood.  The programs and the care that we put to our surfaces are showing success by producing the results we want.  We will continue to keep you updated as the spring progresses and we can get closer to opening.

9 Green about 85% clear of snow. This green receives a
large amount of sun throughout the day

3 Green about 5% clear of snow.  This green receives minimal
sun this time of year due to suns angle.  Morning sun is blocked
by Willows and trees along short game area and afternoon
blocked by trees and buckthorn to the south and southwest.