Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes

Transcription

1 Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes Meeting Date Chris Ward Donald Fitzgerald Mo Dutterer Buck Hartley Ben Clements Beth Leaman 06/17/2014 7pm Attendance Joan Lovelace Nick Mooneyhan Don Van Deusen Daniel Wildeman Topic Review and Approval of Agenda Review & Approval of 05/20/14 Minutes Director s Report: Hobbit s Glen Fairway Hills Agenda approved Minutes from 05/20/2014, not distributed pending Hobbit s Glen (report attached): Gave Wade the evening off Conditions continue to improve, Expanded zoysia areas on # 2 and # 14 fairways Springs rains and winter snow have created a high water table will expand drainage in the future Pipes on # 15 are 45 years old Aggressive with growth regulator on greens for green speeds and to discourage annual bluegrass Poa cure coming in next year eliminate annual bluegrass Solid tine aeration of greens begins tomorrow Goal is to poke a hole every 45 days for root growth, relieve compaction and overall health Sewer line on hole #10 is complete Temporary stabilization Rock hound, grading and sod scheduled #15 flood damage mostly repaired Cart path on # 15 laid today Walker/pedestrian bridge to be replaced later this year Fairway Hills: #12 river bank eroded by flood waters Bridge is safe but stabilization of stream bank will be neede Stabilization of streams and river is needed throughout property

2 Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes Topic Columbia Association: Hobbit s Glen Clubhouse Update General Manager/Club Professional Reports: Hobbit s Glen Fairway Hills Fairways recovering from winter injury as temperatures increase damaged areas will be seeded to ryegrass for temporary turf coveraged, sodded to bermuda grass or zoysia grass depending on the growing environment ed USGA Course Evaluation report: Positive and insightful comments Clubhouse Update: Big trucks making deliveries Turnhouse can t open until utilities charged from clubhouse Need to name clubhouse/turnhouse Still have same target date This year 230 members. Have added Would like a total of 340. Cattails membership is probably around 320. Hobbit s Glen (Joan): Operations smoothing out New club champion is Mike O and ladies is Member/guest is June Annual member night is June 28 Ladies and men s groups going strong Fairway Hills (Don) - report attached: Green speed is a concern at FH Will slowly try to lower heights fall Course has been managed for health of greens More aggressive roller will help There s a lot of young blood at FH Classes going on More lax on dress code Lend clubs New mats coming Good balls Other Business Paul new Assistant Pro Fairway Hills previously worked at Timbers, working on PGA certifications Question regarding new by-laws allowing more new members to committee Possibly send alternate when can t make meeting May S&F Advisory Committee adopted new

3 Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes Topic Adjournment standards and look at charters. Want consistency throughout. Next meeting 07/15/2014, 7pm.

4 From: Wade Shaw, Superintendent Fairway Hills Re: Bermuda Grass Fairways 5/28/2014 The fairways at Fairway Hills have resumed growth with warm temperatures over the past weeks. Unfortunately several factors including: sub-zero temperatures for prolonged periods, very wet conditions, ice and a cold spring have attributed to the loss of some of the Bermuda grass. This past winter was the hardest on the Bermuda since its establishment in The areas vary in size and location, interspersed throughout the fairways. Less than 3 acres of turf have been injured, however, the problem can be seen to some extent on most fairways. Before the decision was made to convert to Bermuda it was understood and communicated that winterkill has been observed in the mid-atlantic once every 10 years historically. A contingency plan for this event was agreed upon in case of winter kill or winter injury. Pre-emergent herbicide applications to the fairways are delayed until the bermuda grass has broken dormancy. This allows us to evaluate the health of the turf and to over-seed with ryegrass to fill in the thin or bare areas. Ryegrass will germinate within 5 to 7 days and will quickly fill in to produce an acceptable playing surface for the short term. Only larger sections will be seeded with rye. It s our prediction that as the ryegrass fills in these areas the existing Bermuda grass will intermingle and once again establish by the summer. Another approach will be to fertilize fairways at a slightly heavier rate. This will give the Bermuda the energy it needs to creep into thin areas and increase density. Sprigging is another approach and will be implemented on areas that tend to remain wet, to give the sprigs adequate moisture. Finally sodding with zoysia grass while expensive and labor intensive may take place in areas that shade is a factor. We have seen good results with zoysia in areas where tree lines produce shade. While this past winter has caused some trouble to our fairways we must bear in mind that while Bermuda grass is at its weakest during the winter. It is at its peak in the summer when rounds are highest. In the past the fairways here were a mixture of cool season rye, bent and poa. They didn t perform well on this property. By mid to late summer as much if not more turf was lost to weather every year with cool season turf. Our plan from this point forward is to proceed with our contingency plan and have the fairways back in shape over the next month. Spots that were hit with winterkill will be mapped and evaluated to help prepare for difficult winters in the future. Drainage, topdressing, tree management and cultural practices will undoubtedly help the fairways for years to come. Thanks for your patience and support. Contact me any time with questions or concerns. Wade

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6 Superintendent s Report Hobbit s Glen Golf Club June 16, 2014 Course Conditions: Course conditions have continued to improve since my last update. The course has dried out somewhat, but we will need several more weeks for the water table to drop so that the springs on # 13, 15 and 18 will dry out. We will be installing additional drainage on 13 and 18 once the ground has dried enough to allow equipment access. The drainage will improve our situation in these areas yearly but certainly during excessively wet springs. The recent hot temperatures are speeding up the bermuda grass growth. The fairways are recovering from the winter injury nicely and will only improve each and every day from here on. We are expanding the zoysia areas on # 2 and # 14 fairways. These areas have been mowed down recently. The sod does not come at fairway height unfortunately and rather train the height down over several weeks, I elect to scalp the sod down to ½. The sod will green up within a week. We will continue to verticut, fertilize and top-dress areas of fairways to continue the healing process. The greens are in great shape going into the summer heat. It has been difficult to achieve our desired green speeds this year due to the excessive rains. There has been a noticeable difference this week as the greens have finally dried out a little. I have run only one irrigation cycle this year to put it in perspective. The combination of hot temperatures and growth regulators has also injured the annual bluegrass on the greens. I notice more and more bentgrass plants encroaching into the annual bluegrass patches. This will continue throughout the summer. Additional herbicides may be available within the year to help combat encroachment. We will need to manage the greens carefully as temperatures increase. Alternating rolling or mowing each day has been a great technique to provide modest green speeds while elevating stress to the greens. Rolling is generally less abrasive to the turf than mowing. Greens will continue to be rolled and mowed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as long as temperatures stay 90 degrees or below and turf conditions do not suffer. The rough has slowed down as temperatures have moved slightly outside peak growing conditions for cool season turf. We will apply a light rate of slow release nitrogen this week to help improve density and vigor over the summer months. Additional nitrogen will be applied to traffic and weak areas using an organic biosolid source as needed. Organic nitrogen sources have a lower chance of burning the turf and also help to improve soil structure. Agronomic Plan: Greens will be aerated using a ¼ solid tined beginning on Wednesday 6/18. The small tines do not result disruption to the putting surface, but allow for all important gas exchange. Greens were top-dressed on Monday June 9. The light topdressing may have been evident if you played Monday morning but it quickly watered into the canopy. The sand helped to dry out the surface to prevent algae. The sand is also an important practice to dilute thatch build up over the growing season. This in turn helps to firm the greens up. The goal for my light topdressing

7 program is 1130lbs to 1740lbs per acre per month. The next scheduled topdressing sand application will be Monday June 30. Over 70 tons of sand is applied to the greens annually if you include the sand applied during core aeration. # 10 Turnhouse Sewer Line: The sewer line installation has been completed. The rough on the left side of # 10 fairway was completely sodded to tall fescue after grading and rock removal. The fairway was slightly expanded as well. I think we were able to turn the disruption into a real improvement for the hole. The disrupted section from the tees to the fairway has been strawed and seeded. Additional work to this area will take place in the fall to improve conditions. Storm Damage to # 15: Replacement and repairs to the drainage pipe at # 15 is underway. The project will take about a week to complete.