Report Prepared for Glen Oak Country Club September 2016 Turfgrass Disease Solutions, LLC Steven McDonald, M.S. On Saturday September 3 rd, I visited Glen Oak Country Club to discuss agronomics. The 2016 growing season has been one of the most challenging years, besides winter kill issues, in the last 20 years throughout the region. The warm weather started in mid-july and continued through the 14 th of September. The warm temperatures, and heavy isolated rainfall in late July and then a very dry, hot August placed significant stress on cool season grasses. Cool season grasses are slow to recover from stress and can show the signs for 30-45 days. Overall, the putting greens were fantastic condition considering the summer of 2016, growing environments and budget at Glen Oak CC. There was a few thin areas that had already been repaired and greens were in full recovery mode. The purpose of my visit was to assess the golf course and provide agronomic suggestions to improve it in the long and short term. Present on the visit: Gino Marchetti, Golf Course Superintendent J.P. Sweeney Mack Saunders John Bulger The major topics we discussed on the visit included: 1.) Growing environments around greens including 10, 12 and 14 2.) Approaches- evening out the growth and improve playability 3.) Fairway suggestions. Five fairways was the most damaged area by wet wilt. 4.) Pros and Cons of Sand Topdressing of Fairways 1
The major obstacle holding the entire golf course back from better performance and healthier turf is poor growing environments and these were highlighted on a tour around the golf course. Greens Suggestions: We discussed green speed for the greens at Glen Oak CC and based on the budget, and on the undulations (greens like 7) found throughout the golf course and size of the greens a suggested daily target of 10-11.5. Green speed in excess of that should not be expected on a normal basis, especially with the growing environments and budget. Also, I would like to point out that there was a lot of ball marks on greens and it is a golfers responsibility to repair golf ball marks. Unpaired ball marks disrupt ball roll, and increase the labor to maintain greens. There are a number of tough growing environments at Glen Oak Country Club. Sunlight is needed for plants to photosynthesize. Without adequate photosynthesis, turfgrass plants cannot survive stressful periods, low mowing and rolling. Another important consideration is that modern day mowing heights are lower than ever and the mower technology actually removes more leaf tissue. While these factors have made greens smoother, the plants need more sunlight than ever. This is why many of the top 100 golf course in the United States have embarked on tree management plans. I enjoy trees as much as anyone, however, when a tree or group of trees impacts a growing environment negatively, they should be considered for removal. An additional consideration is tree growth over time. As a tree ages, its growth will change and a tree that may not have been a problem 15 years ago could be a current problem. Another aspect of growing environment is drainage and air movement. Air movement is likely as important as sunlight but is different ways. Air movement (from fans or natural) cools the turf plant during summer months, allowing it to transpire (move) water. The best growing environments at any golf course have good to excellent sunlight, air movement and drainage. Without this recipe, a green is a risk for turf loss, especially during stressful periods or when pushing them mechanically for speed. Before discussing the concerning growing environments at Glen Oak CC, it s important to point out one of the best we visited, 15. I wanted to point out that this green does not have any thin areas or sod pieces on it like 10, 12 and 14. It also, has healthy growing bentgrass in the approach. Bentgrass requires significantly more sunlight than perennial ryegrass and Poa annua no matter the mowing height. The entire tenth hole is lined by a dense row of spruce trees. Although it s obvious that some tree removal has occurred, I would suggest more trees to the south and east are removed. The front right area is the currently the 2
weakest part of that green which is shaded the most, due to trees to the direct south. Winter time shade on greens from trees to the south impacts summer time health. In the photo below, I would suggest removal of the trees pointed to by arrows. Additionally, you could remove every other tree in this grove of trees to increase sunlight and air movement without negatively impacting the feel of the hole. 3
On 12, there is two concerns. The first is the tree to the front left of the green. This tree should be considered for removal. Architecturally, the bunker to the left side of the green will protect the green from errant shots to the left. It would be considered a double hazard That tree shades the front half (especially left side). The second issue is a swale to the left side where water will collect following heavy rain. It would be best to strip this area in winter time and regrade it so water has positive drainage off of the green. Additional sub surface drainage may be needed as well. The 14 th green is one of the most difficult growing environments on the course and is a challenge to amend. I would suggest that you investigate where the property line is behind the green 4
The cluster of trees at 14 green are toward the east where the sun is rising and should be removed. This will improve the tee box as well. The trees directly behind the green are due south and impacting winter time sunlight onto the green. I understand the difficultly with removal of these but would suggest you consider cutting some sun breaks into this dense grove of trees or topping the trees (i.e. cutting the top 10-15 feet out) to allow more sun onto this green. It appeared that this green had winter kill last year as well. Then to the back right of the greens complex, consider some thinning of underbrush and tree removal to allow more air movement onto the green. I would also advice that Glen Oak CC consider purchasing a portable fan for this green. If trees cannot be removed on 14 green, the next best thing to do is purchase a fan or install a hard wired fan to increase air movement during summer months. A fan, however does nothing to prevent winter kill in the shade. A portable fan costs approximately $15,000. I can provide you with a list of courses in Philadelphia area that are seeing the benefits of fans in tough growing environments. The approaches were sodded to mostly bentgrass as part of a renovation. While bentgrass is considered by some as the optimal grass, bentgrass is not the best suited grass for the approaches and even collar areas at 5
Glen Oak CC. Perennial ryegrass is a much better option and many of your best approaches and collars have significant populations of perennial ryegrass. The healthy dark green grass in the collars is perennial ryegrass. In the above photo, the sod pieces that are green and healthy on 5 green are mostly perennial ryegrass. Although its dark in color and may look greener from the distance, I would suggest an aggressive over-seeding program with perennial ryegrass into all thin areas of approaches and collars this autumn. Use multiple seedings to incorporate the ryegrass. For example, shallow core aerification using ¼ or 3/8 inch tines and then broadcast 4-6 lbs of perennial ryegrass seed per 1000 sq ft. We discussed a few cultivars that have worked well for this purpose. The ryegrass will take 2-3 weeks to establish and any thin areas at that point should be over-seeded again. 6
Throughout the region, many golf course fairways were impacted by heavy rainfall during late July. The heavy rainfall and the intense heat that followed caused wet wilt. This is a physical issue in which the saturated soils heat up and basically heat the turf plant to a point where it wilts and eventually dies. The fifth fairway was the most impacted area and this area would be the best area to start a fairway drainage project. Although aerification was conducted in the middle of August, there was some drying issues associated and stress with that process but the major decline was in the low areas and was wet wilt from a few weeks prior to aerification. These areas were already over-seeded and will continue to recover in the next two weeks. Long term suggestions for the fairways would be to push aerification back until the middle of September. Throughout my travels, I continue to see issues with August aerification of stressed turf. Many times it is only a small percentage of the golf course that is damaged, but the risk is high if the weather is hot and dry, especially with large acreage of turf like fairway. We discussed earthworm castings on fairways and their impact on ball lie. Although earthworms are disruptive to ball lie, especially during wetter periods, they are a sign of soil health. I would suggest that you allow the earthworms to live and not select products that kill or injure them as it is illegal and no products are labeled for this use. We had an in-depth conversation on sand topdressing for fairways. Below is a table comparison of the pros and cons of sand topdressing fairways. At Glen Oak CC, I would not suggest that this practice is started unless there is a significant increase in golf course budget (>$75,000 per year) and that the increase will be perpetual. Sand topdressing is expensive and I believe that the fairways would benefit from drainage installation before any sand is started on fairways. Fairways like 5 which have low lying areas could be improved immediately by putting in 2 inch perforated pipe and a sand/soil/peat mixture similar to the system installed in a few of the greens at Glen Oak CC. 7
The Pros and Cons of Sand Topdressing Fairway Height Turfgrass. Benefits of Sand Top Dressing Fairways Firmer surface during periods of wet weather, especially spring and autumn when roots are actively growing into native soil. Ability to get carts on fairways that typically would not handle cart traffic following rainfall event Reduction of earth worm castings (not consistent enough to confirm this observation) Disadvantages of sand Top Dressing Fairways Cost ($40,000-60,000 or more per year) in sand and labor Increase need for watering and syringing during summer due to wilt potential. Roots generally will grow into the sand when soil temperatures are high Increased need for surfactant use on fairways Reduced tolerance to traffic from carts/traffic at high temperatures during summer Increase stress disease pressure (anthracnose) and potentially nematode issues in sand system Increase fertilizer needs do to sand having a low exchange capacity Increase equipment needs (heavy spreader) Wear on equipment (i.e. reels and bedknifes) Creates a perched water table unless combined with aggressive coring and incorporation. This is difficult. Irrigation heads will need to be leveled and raised after about 2 inches of sand applied What are the long term effects of the sand layer if the budget does not allow the continuance? Divots will generally break apart easily and die completely due to no moisture retention. Divots may need to be filled in with a seed mixture During dry periods, the firmness has been inconsistent at best and many times the native soil is actually firmer when dry. 8