The temporary greens on the front nine West were sown down this week with a mixture of Bentgrass and Poa Trivialis which is the variety of grass that is used to oversow Couchgrass greens during winter, a practice carried out by a few clubs in SE Queensland.

Planting 4W temp.

A start was made this week on some tree trimming around the courses.  Dead, diseased, dangerous and low branches have been trimmed and some branches that were interfering with lines of play were also removed.  There will be several more days of this work over the coming weeks.  The material is left stockpiled and is then picked up as soon as possible and relief can be taken if your ball lands in the piles.  A program of removing dead trees will also take place in the next month or so as will some more tree root pruning which was a great success last year.  

A comment was made on the Blog last week regarding the firmness of the new TifEagle greens.  As with all new greens they are firmer and this firmness will ease as the greens mature and a thatch layer builds up.  Care however needs to be taken to not allow too much thatch to build up as this is detrimental to the health of the turf and the resultant playing surface.  As an explanation thatch is basically the layer of living and dead plant matter that can exist between the soil surface and the leaf blades of the turf.  Too much thatch on a putting green is most undesirable and we employ a machine that has "de-thatching" heads fitted to prevent and reduce thatch build up.  It is probably the most common cultural practice carried out on Couchgrass putting greens.

There is not too much thatch on the new West greens at the moment which is because the greens were stolonised.  By comparison the River greens, which are now nearly 20 years old, were solid turfed and this introduced a one inch deep thatch layer from the day they were turfed and they have been much softer since due to this layer that is all but impossible to fully remove without actually taking the surface off.

As Bentgrass greens the West were heavily watered due to our climatic conditions and a lot of the surrounds of the greens were very soft due to the excessive (and necessary) irrigation levels.  As part of the greens replacement program several of the front approaches to the greens were excavated and replaced with a better draining material to allow for a firmer surface for more "bump and run" type shots to be played with the expectation that the greens would be much firmer.

17 West green is now 2.5 years old and is now quite a bit softer than it was in its first 12 months which is a result of the thatch building up as the green now holds significantly more moisture.  With putting greens there are three actual measurements that can be taken of the playing surface in addition to soil nutrient and leaf tissue testing.  Firstly green speed is measured using a device called a Stimpmeter.  The primary intention of the Stimpmeter was to help Superintendents to achieve a consistent speed across their greens which was a difficult thing to achieve when Edward Stimpson developed the instrument back in the 1930's.  The Stimpmeter wasn't really widely used until the 1970's when the USGA deemed that a fast putting green was 9 feet for normal member play!!  Unfortunately it has now become a chest beating exercise to see who has the fastest greens.

Another measurement that can be taken is surface firmness.  The instrument for this is used specifically at tournament courses in an attempt to have all the greens the same firmness.  It is a very time consuming process and one that is not practiced on a regular basis on golf courses due to the time taken.

The last measurement available is soil moisture content which has a direct influence on the putting surface firmness and trueness.  I have mentioned on the Blog before that we have such a sensor and it is used regularly.  During the first 12 months of 17 West green's life it was sitting at about 10 - 15% soil moisture content which is on the dry side of the ledger.  This was despite quite high irrigation levels, particularly through its first summer of 2015 / 16.  This past summer the green has had moisture content readings of between 25 and 35% quite consistently.  As a point of reference if a reading of 20% or less was taken on one of the Bentgrass greens at lunchtime in summer the green would not make it through the day.

So back to the question of greens firmness, yes the greens will become more receptive to properly executed golf shots.  I included the above discussion to demonstrate that there is not really many ways to quantify golf greens which makes it difficult to assess them.  A lot of the time it is left to the subjective view of the player.

A disappointing end weather wise to my first week back after some glorious winter weather earlier in the week although it was nice to return to some cooler temperatures.  I was expecting Florida to be hot on my trip to the USA but the north eastern States caught me by surprise.  As we flew in to land in Washington I sighted a golf course obviously set up for a PGA tournament and that course turned out to be the site of last week's PGA Tour event - TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.  I did some research and found that the course had been completely remodeled and the entire golf course, apart from roughs, was Bentgrass.  The 3 days spent in Washington consisted of 35+ degree days with extreme humidity and that continued up to and during the event.  Not the sort of recipe you want for a tournament with wall to wall Bentgrass, but the course stood up well and although the greens looked a little baked they putted great.  A great effort by the crew under trying conditions to produce great turf.

One of my contacts in the USA was volunteering for this week Greenbrier Classic on the PGA Tour and I had forgotten about last years washout at the same venue.  A similar weather event to our April clash with ex Cyclone Debbie occurred and the golf course was nearly washed away just two weeks out from the tournament in 2016.  That tournament was duly cancelled and what has occurred in 12 months since is simply amazing and a credit to all those involved and it was great to see the course maintenance staff acknowledged during the tournament.    

Greenbrier 2016

Greenbrier 2016

No 14 in May 2017

No 14 just before tourney week

 

Staff recognition

Continued...

Preparations at CTH for the front 9 West greens conversion to TifEagle have commenced in earnest with orders being placed for irrigation components, sand and amendments and turf.  The temporary greens will be sown down next week and there will be a little more Couchgrass left in them this year as we may need to occasionally use them once the new greens are in play.  Being the front 9 doesn't give us the chance to carry out some of the necessary maintenance practices in front of play that are required when the greens are developing so there may be times the temporaries are still used.  

The trip to Florida to see some courses with TifEagle was certainly an eye opener but also confirmed a lot of what is already being done here at Cool Tweed.  All the courses were under renovation which was just what I wanted to see but they have the luxury of closing for 2 weeks to renovate.  Yes that's right - 2 weeks!!  That is in addition to being closed every Monday year round and then closing periodically throughout the summer as well.  So they are able to go a lot harder with their renovation and the player numbers drop considerably through summer allowing for a lot more work to be done.

I visited 8 courses all up with TifEagle greens ranging from 12 months to 18 years old with one club replacing their old greens with TifEagle utilising a very similar method to that employed at Cool tweed as shown in the photo below.

Green being rebuilt in same method as CTH

 

Encroachment of foreign grasses in to the greens is a major issue and is a battle that can't be won as it will eventually get in to the greens according to every Super I spoke to.  Most clubs were edging continuously and virtually all were replacing the contaminated collars at least every two years which is a lot easier to do when the course is closed to play and there are few if any golfers throughout summer.  Indeed one course lifts all mowing heights up across the course except for the greens because no one plays the course in summer.  The greens are still fully maintained but all else is let go.

This course controls encroachment by doing this every year.

  

Well not the greatest forecast for the long week end and the rain is starting to fall as I write this.  We have had quite a dry spell though which is normal for this time of year but then again the opposite can be said as over the years as the Ladies Champs have endured some pretty ordinary weather over the years.

A bit more preparation on the temporary greens this week with more to come over the coming weeks in readiness for seed sowing in July.  The goal is to have a little more couchgrass to come through than last year as the greens were starting to stress towards the end.  For several months there are 50 putting greens under care so the less stress the better.

I start leave today and am heading to the US of A and first port of call is Florida where I will be visiting golf courses to look at their TifEagle management techniques, much to Michelle's horror!!   It is renovation time over there as summer has just started and that is just what I want to see.  I will be visiting the Naples area and West Palm Beach and speaking of weather, they have had between 8 and 14 inches of rain this week so hopefully it will all be gone by the time I get there.  Both areas have a very similar climate to ours and TifEagle is the dominant choice of grass on greens there.  One course I will visit replaced their 14 year old TifEagle greens this time last year with TifEagle again and another course has greens that are 18 years old.  I am most interested in the one year old greens to see how they are performing compared to Coolie Tweed's.

The courses are left in the very capable hands of assistant Simon who has been in that role for 16 years so knows the courses exceptionally well.

Some glorious late autumn weather this past week but winter certainly arrived on Thursday June 1 with a biting cold breeze.  It still got to 20 degrees so compared to the southern States we can't complain.

The dews early in the week were very heavy and with no wind around stayed on the ground all day.  The amount of water in the dew is almost enough to irrigate the turf. 

1W fairway still dewy @ 4.30pm!

 

Preparation of the front nine West course temporary greens started this week with the first lower mowing and scarifying.  A couple more mowings and a core and they will be ready for planting in early July.  

And so it begins.....

 

The new TifEagle greens are very well poised to enter their first winter season.  All hybrid Couchgrasses that are used for putting greens are susceptible to disease during the winter but with a good preventative application and some judicious fertiliser application the greens are ready for it.  This can be evidenced by the strong root growth at the moment which sees the roots out the bottom of the hole changer which means there is 8 - 10 inches of roots on them which is exceptional.

Roots on 18W green!!

The courses have been subject to a huge amount of play recently particularly with the beautiful weather and the turf in good health leading in to winter, but it still doesn't mean that course care by players can be forgotten.  I think I might start a campaign as mentioned the other week of "leave the course as you would like to find it"!!  Here are a couple of bad examples from this past week;

 

Pitch marks 3W green

Divots in mid 3W tee

You certainly couldn't say we weren't warned about the rain to finish the week off.  After a run of superb windless autumn days it was a reality check to get such a miserable Friday.  The best part of 50mm has so far fallen on the courses and they are very wet despite the lightish nature of the rain.

Conditions such as these really highlight the softness of the Bentgrass greens in comparison to the TifEagle in particular.  The pitch marks are still terrible on the Bents and the lack of respect by the players is disappointing but it is certainly nothing new.  I mentioned last week with a photo of a very poorly filled divot that players should "leave the course as you would like to find it".  With golf shoes like the ones below that would be pretty hard to do on soft greens.  They look more like a weapon!! 

You could cause some serious damage with these!!

The windless conditions this week presented the perfect opportunity for us to follow up the trimming of tree bases with an application of weedkiller around the trees to stop regrowth.  It's amazing how much tidier it makes the courses look with the trees trimmed.  As I mentioned the other week it is a huge undertaking and is difficult to get done when the grass is still growing.

As mentioned the casual employees hours have been reduced and we will be having a BBQ breakfast to finish the season off on Tuesday morning.

And just to finish off someone might be in trouble with this tee sign at last weeks Portugal Open!!

 

Which one is right!!

Not very much to report this week as things are really starting to slow down around the courses.  A major irrigation break on a 150mm pipeline at the rear of 1 west green was probably the biggest thing to happen for the week.  Fortunately our mini excavator operator Gus dropped everything to come in and dig the hole for us which was quite large and helped expedite the repair.

As I mentioned last week the greens at Sawgrass this week for the Players Championship are TifEagle and are one year old and from the look of the first round were putting great.  Here at Cool Tweed the new TifEagle's have really slowed down and have lost a lot of their colour which is normal for this time of year and is the same as 17 West two years ago.  Yes it's two and a half years since 17 was done!!  Most grasses respond colour wise to an application of iron sulphate but not so much with the TifEagle so don't get to concerned with the lighter colour of the greens.

And on the topic of Sawgrass and the famous par 3 17th, I played it in 1988 with then Superintendent Fred Klauk and couldn't hit the green and was cursing designer Pete Dye all the way to 18 tee.  Funnily enough Pete Dye is probably best remembered for the island green and  it has stuck ever since with this quote from Pete himself;  "People have the idea I’m in love with island greens. Well, I’ve designed two in 50 years. Once you’re stereotyped, it’s almost impossible to lose it"!!

The American Superintendents Association are conducting a campaign at the moment to "Thank a Super" which has already been mentioned on the Players telecast.  I particularly can relate to the following summary of the start of a day at the course;
Open the office: Tick
Quick check of course: Tick
Put schedule together: Tick
Sprinklers on: Tick
Greens mowed: Tick     
Eat breakfast: Tick 

And as things slow down on the courses it is more important than ever to leave the course as you would like to find it.  That refers to sanding divots, repairing pitchmarks and raking bunkers.  Divots on fairways take a lot longer to recover at this time of year so filling them with sand and smoothing them is most important.  Unlike the attempt below although at least an attempt was made! 

Not the best thing for the fairway mowers.

A fairly quiet week on the courses but certainly not play wise.  As always the Queensland public holiday on Monday saw both courses absolutely jam packed all day and then the rain on Thursday only put off a few ladies with a couple of big social groups out there.  The week was finally capped off by the Men of League annual golf day.  

There has been quite a bit of reporting in the media lately about mental health and its effects on former sportsmen in particular which is one of the areas that the Men of League organisation do a lot of great work.  I attended a workshop last week that was conducted by the Australian Superintendents Association in conjunction with the PGA on mental health in the workplace and it was very informative and alarming.  Member expectations of their course and pro shop never seem to diminish and yet there always seems to be less resources to get the job done.  April / May is a tough time as well with golfers wanting to know why their course and club can't be like Augusta National.  A simple answer is 100 volunteers on top of the existing 55 staff working on the course and an unlimited budget which were a couple of the reasons I posted a few weeks back.  Mental health problems are becoming more and more prevalent in the course maintenance area with Superintendents trying to match the members expectations by doing "more with less".  A brutal summer along the east coast of Australia and particularly in Sydney has had Superintendents stress levels at an all time high this past year and unfortunately a number of long term Supers gave the game away to be able to live and work a "normal" life.

Back to the course and this week we were able to get a few jobs done that are normally way down the priority list with the available staffing resources.  One of these jobs is trimming around the tree bases which with the number of trees we have is a huge undertaking from the staff and time point of view and we were able to make a start with casual employee crew still employed at this stage and the grass growth slowing quite dramatically.  The casuals hours are reduced over the winter months and our staff numbers drop right back.  I well remember my first day in June 1999 when there were 19 crew available to work on my first day in the middle of winter and the club didn't actually own fairway or rough mowers as that was contracted out at the time.  My average crew over this past summer was 14 and it's a testament to their attitude and work ethic that they can achieve what they do particularly with the grow in of the new greens added to the workload.

The new TifEagle West greens continue to improve and settle in.  Next week's Players Championship on the US PGA Tour will be played at TPC Sawgrass where the greens were changed over to TifEagle immediately following last years tournament.  In fact it will be the 5th time this year a US PGA Tour tournament has been played on TifEagle greens.  Weather permitting preparation of the temporary greens will commence next week in readiness for the conversion of the front nine west greens that is due to start on October 3.