Proof That Dryject Works

 

The picture is a profile of our green following our aeration and Dryject application.  The dark sand is the mix the green was built with and the white lines you see are dryject sand lines that were injected during the process.  The long one to the right is the most recent one from this week and the line from the left is from another application over the last few years.  You can see how the organic matter accumulates on top of the dryject channel on the left.  That channel now is not as beneficial as the one on the right due to the organic matter cover it.  To remove it we need to aerate and pull cores which is why we need to do it several times per season to prevent all our greens from having organic matter take over.

Aeration Almost In The Books for 2022

 

This past week we did our 2nd aeration of the season.  Our normal aeration is a deep tine followed by regular tining and finished up with a Dryject application on top to close up holes and inject more sand into the holes.  This application we put approximately 125 tons of sand into our greens and approaches.   Normally this is done in mid August which ensures the quickest recovery time, however with the US Am around this date and members having no access to the course for 5 days we decided to push this off to October 31.  This process does take a considerable amount of labor, so trying to push this off any later, we would have had less staff and less daylight to do so.  The first week of November is usually cooler and grass stops growing but right now we will be in the mid 70s for the next few days, so some recovery may occur.  Unfortunately most of the holes will be visible until next spring, especially once temps start dropping.  We will push recovery along as much as possible, but once temps cool down, fertilizers will not do much.

Next spring our cultivation program will be Drill and Fill in March, followed by Verticutting and a 1/2" core aeration on greens.  This will change up what we are doing a bit but will be vital to a successful 2023 season.  We will also be incorporating poa aeration plugs into the 2 practice greens and 11 twice in April.

More Poa Plugs

 

Today marked the 3rd time we applied poa plugs to our 11th green since September.  We have seen an increase in poa since beginning this last year, but only the past few months have we gotten very aggressive with this practice.  In order to get the majority of the green to poa vs bent, we will need to do this when the weather is conducive to poa growth.  Fall and spring are ideal and we will continue to do this at least twice in April of 2023.  We are also going to cover the green this winter to keep temperatures a little warmer to encourage poa growth as well.   Will keep you updated with pictures after the green heals from this application.

Finally

 

We purchased this brush this past spring and planned on using it to tighten up our fairways throughout the season.  With the hot and dry weather we had not been able to use it until now.  You can see how much it stands up the bentgrass and after mowing it returns it to the tight surface it was before.  We did get a decent amount of grass the first time doing this and will possibly do it one more time before winter depending on weather and turf conditions.  This will be a great tool to work topdressing into the canopies this November as well on fairways and approaches.

Time For Some Wear and Tear

 

The putting course was built for enjoyment and for an emergency turf nursery.  We spread the plugs from our greens when we built it and seeded a little bentgrass in as a nurse grass to help it along.  2 years later and the majority of the area is bentgrass with little poa.  This will not be a viable option at this time to sod a green or do a green expansion until we can get more poa into it.  Best way to do this is introduce wear and treat it like all our poa greens.  We will start rolling this or a portion of it when we roll greens, apply more sand and water and make more frequent growth regulator and fungicide sprays.  By allowing this to wilt and for pests to take over, probably removed most of the poa.  

Irrigation Showing Its Age

 

Lucky for us this pipe broke right at 6:15 while the fairways were still running and Andrew was able to spot it in time.  Had this happened in the middle of the night it would have been a complete mess today.  Victor was able to get it fixed pretty quick and the fairway will be operational by the end of today.  

Ready for Divots!

 

We know having 156 of the best amateurs in the world each day using our range, the tee is going to get beat up for 4+ days.  We have been thinking of the best way to clean up the tee each evening to allow us to get it done more efficiently and it looks like we will repurpose our turf sweeper to help with this chore.  If all goes as planned, we can now get the range cleaned with probably half the men and half the time.  This will allow us to use men to help do other important tasks during evening preps.