The Range

The current range netting is almost five years old. It has been a great sturdy net. However since the installation, the west poles have begun to move. This week we have Judge Netting back to Vail to adjust the poles and return them to their original position for a strong and safe net. There is not much room around the practice areas for bracing the poles so we are having to get creative. We reclaimed a telephone pole to use to brace the southwest pole. As you can see in the first picture that pole had a severe lean. We are forced to install the brace on the other side cart path, but there is plenty of clearance for the guide wires. The northwest pole will be addressed today.

Be A Follower

We are now on Twitter. Get your latest feeds from the golf course on your smart phone. Click on the follow button on the right side of the page to get the latest on the golf course.

USGA: Beauty In Eye Of Beholder

USGA: Beauty In Eye Of Beholder
I just found this article, it is very good and talks more about poa greens.

Who Are You?

Any guesses? Please comment if you know who this is and most of all where this picture was taken, be specific.

Alright, I'll give you one clue: 1995

Pebble

Recently, I have been getting questions about the greens at Pebble Beach during the US Open. I am getting the questions because Pebble Beach and Vail have the same turfgrass on their greens, poa annua.

The USGA's makes decisions on most golf course maintenance decisions for their championships, especially the greens. The USGA demands that Superintendents perform different practices than normal during and prior to the tournament to meet their goals. Usually the watering is reduced, mowing heights adjusted and color has almost no meaning to officials. One common non-practice with poa annua (annual bluegrass) greens they request from Superintendents is to prohibit the use of plant growth regulators (PGR's). Growth regulators help provide a more consistent putting surface and reduce mowing frequency throughout the day. We use them in Vail to keep the greens as consistent as possible throughout the day. The downside with them and the reason the USGA does not allow them is because they prevent the ability to change green speeds if conditions warrant them to change. In a nutshell, PGR's lock you into a certain height of cut and ultimately one speed.

Historically the USGA would like to see the winner of their Open Championship to shoot par over 4 days of golf. So frequently they may need to change the speed of the greens to reach their goal.

Understanding poa annua can be difficult, to some this plant is a weed, to others it provides a great putting surface. It is considered a weed because it is very invasive and is extremely difficult to keep out of a bentgrass or bermudagrass green in some environments. Poa is labeled as a winter annual, and does very well in cool climates such as Monterey Bay or Vail. There are hundreds if not thousands of varieties of poa and they all react differently to their environment. Some of these differences are color and growth. This what we saw so well on TV last week.

Turfgrasses are among the fastest growing plants on the planet. During the daytime, light photosynthesis occurs and the plant responds with growth, especially when temperatures are right. Last week at Pebble there were some cool, long days which are perfect conditions for the poa plants to grow. The new growth can disrupt a smooth surface. All that traffic doesn't help either.

Television is another factor to consider. Anytime, any network can view golf as close to prime time as possible, they are going to do so. I think the last tee time was around 3.30pm on the West Coast. That is prime growth time for poa.

(The picture is from golf architect Kevin Atkinson, who attended Pebble Beach before the tournament this year for the US Open Challenge charity event)

We Have an App For That

Today, prior to our 1 pm shotgun tournament we were able to apply our second fertilizer application for the season. This granular application will continue our healthy look into mid July. The product applies a sufficient amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and iron to the plants to help them along the stressful parts of the golf season. The fertilizer is applied to only maintained turf areas on the course with the exception of the putting surfaces. The greens fertilizer is applied in mostly a liquid form through a boom sprayer.

Also, today we took advantage of the slow morning and applied our only fungicide application for the season. The greens here in Vail have a widely-known mycelium in the soil commonly known as fairy ring. This particular strain is rare and nothing I have ever seen before. It was diagnosed by a Colorado State University pathologist 3 seasons ago. Normally fairy ring looks like a ring. The mycelium gives off an excessive amount of nitrogen in the soil and sometimes produces mushrooms. Typically the ring has a deep green color, which makes it stand out. The ring is not aesthetically pleasing, but can be harmless. Unfortunately in Vail we have been experiencing some turf loss. The mycelium gives off more nitrogen than the plant can handle. Instead of a ring, it is more like a patch, about the size of a golf hole and it kills off the turf.

For the past three years we have been applying a product that does a wonderful job disbursing this mycelium before it becomes a problem on the surface.

Mixed with the fungicide is our first wetting agent application on greens this season. The wetting agent makes the fungicide more effective as well as keeping some of the moisture in the soil more available for the turf plants. The wetting agent allows us to irrigate less frequent and create a firmer putting surface.

The greens application is watered into the soil immediately after being applied. Like all of our fungicides we use, it has a very low toxicity rate. However it is always good practice to wash your hands after playing a round of golf.

Verticutting And Topdressing

We were about a week behind our topdressing schedule because of last week's events. Thursday we played catch up by really attacking some of the grooming on the greens. First we used vertical mower blades to help smooth out the surface and remove some organic mater in the turf. We followed this by a light sand topdressing application. After dragging in the sand with a mat we finished with a slow release granular fertilizer 18-9-18 that consists of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Now that we have arrived at summer these nutrients are critical to help handle the stresses of the season.

Neighbors

One neighbor came for a visit yesterday. He was unsuccessful with lunch but he got in a few good chest rubs! It's that time of year to see bears around the property. If you encounter a black bear, have no fear, they are only aggressive when they have something to be concerned about. Usually ignoring them and staying out of their way is the best medicine.

New Tees Update

The covers for the new tees holes 4 & 8 were removed today for the first time. They are looking great so far. A little thin with turf, but that is to be expected. Repetitive fertilization and irrigation applications will help these really get into playing shape. There is a little finish work that is required such as picking small rocks and sand topdressing. Within 10-14 days they will be ready for daily play.

Back on Track

The 7th and 8th holes are back in play as of tomorrow morning. Today the staff removed a lot of silt and debris around both holes. Conditions are still wet in areas but playable.

When conditions dry out enough we will brush these areas again to remove more silt. There is only so much we can get out at a time. Any damage that will occur may take weeks or months to surface. The silt can cover the crown of the plant and begin a slow death. Numerous attempts will be made to remove as much silt as possible. We have been fighting growth and wet soils to remove the material.

We will be keeping an eye on these areas as the season progresses. Aerification may be necessary in areas to penetrate the soil profile for new growth.

Clean Up

Clean up will begin Tuesday as the dry weather returns to the valley. We have a lot of mowing, raking, washing and removing other debris up and down the 7th and 8th holes. With the help of some volunteers and the staff we should be able to move quickly.
Most of the standing water has subsided, yet the surface is still water logged and makes it difficult for play.
I will have more to report on the results from the end of the day's work.

Wet Conditions

With almost two inches of rainfall over the last three days equals damp conditions at the golf course. The weather is looking great and fortunately things will clear up shortly. The next blog will focus on the flood clean up. This blog will discuss the funky stuff you may notice on some of the greens.

After almost 5 years of maintaining these greens and having numerous superintendents, consultants and plant pathologists view them we have come to the conclusion that they can resemble disease stricken after a rainy stretch.

Well, we have determined that it is not a disease at all, they just become anaerobic and the turf begins to wilt. The only practice we have determined that can fix these spots are opening the soil profile with a spike or an aerification hole. Creating a dry environment will allow the plants to breathe properly and bounce back quickly.

This usually happens once a year around this time when we get a stretch of wet weather over a period of a few days.

Today we spiked the greens with a new piece of equipment called the greens slicer. We can penetrate up to 2 inches and achieve good gas exchange in the soil profile. The surface can get a little bumpy, but we will follow this with sand and a roller to smooth out any imperfections.

Re-Opening the Front

Saturday the front nine will re-open with some slight changes. The 7th hole will remain closed and the 8th will play as a par 3. Please follow signs to temporary tee.
We will allow those flooded areas the weekend to dry and clean up will begin on Monday. We have a lot of silt and debris to remove from the surface. Heavy silt build up can be lethal to the turfgrass.
If weather moves into the valley please call the golf shop at 970-479-2260 if conditions change.

Erosion

The river has settled down a bit and some cooler weather has entered the valley. The creek peaked closer to 1200 cfs last night which seems like things are getting back to normal. These pictures are of eroding hillsides along 11 green and 14 tee box.

Plans are being made to stabilize these areas in the coming weeks and months to prevent this from happening again.

The front nine is expected to be open by Saturday with some slight temporary changes if the weather cooperates. Clean up efforts have begun and will continue into next week.

Survival

These are some of my favorite pictures from this week so far. The view from the frontage road is certainly a scary one. It seems that the creek has finally reached its peak, I hope. We have many areas cited that have come over the banks of the creek. The worst areas of destruction are the erosion to the creek side. These will need attention as soon as possible. The areas affected are along holes 7, 11, 17 and 14.

Imagine if we had a large snow year! What is amazing is how fast the snow is melting that is creating a monster out Gore Creek. I have put together a slide show of all the flood affected areas on the golf course and Aspen Lane near the 14th tee that you can view on the right side of the blog.

Fighting The Good Fight

Today, a new set of challenges. The Gore has been running so hard, it is amazing to see the power of water. This picture was taken by our field manager Mark Jero from what we call the "5K bridge"(A Nordic Term). This bridge is just upstream from the 14th tee at Aspen Lane. What a sight!
So today, with the help of many of the golf service guys, it was sandbag day and lots of them. Approximately 500 sand bags were put out today. The bags were put at #11 and #15 bridges to prevent under cutting the abutments. We have also experienced a lot of erosion at the 7th tee area. A wall was constructed there to prevent more erosion.
We have four trash pumps running, thanks to Ben Krueger (Former Superintendent and Designer of Vail GC) keeping them up all day long.
Many thanks to Head Professional Jeanne Sutherland and much of the golf staff and help from the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District and the Town of Vail. The GCM staff busted all day long to keep this place together.
We'll be back at it again tomorrow with 1,000 more sand bags.
Some say the river has already peaked or it will tonight, hope for the best!

Flooding

An interesting weekend to say the least. These pictures do not do any justice to the situation, but it has been getting bad. I am not sure how long the flooding will occur but we are having to keep the front nine closed until the water subsides.

This is life in the flood plain when the Gore reaches record levels. Last night the Gore topped off at 1600 cfs. For those of you who are not privy on that number for a creek that size, that is very high, very fast and very dangerous.

Locals who I have spoken with have never seen this much flooding occur on the golf course. The holes affected the most are 2,7 & 8. These areas are the lowest on the course and right now are having a difficult time draining into the creek. Some holes on the back nine will be effected this afternoon as the creek begins to rise again.

Experts say that the creek usually tops out between 2-4am. By this afternoon we'll have to close the back nine as flooding will most certainly occur in areas.

The GCM staff is busy catching up on mowing while levels are down in the morning. We are also working on sand bags and pumps to mitigate further damages.

More to follow.

Landscaping

Friday, we spent much of the day getting the plantings in place around the pump house building. It was a long time coming. I am tired of looking at that lonely building. All of the trees and bushes are in place. Planted were 3 white firs, 3 blue spruce, 3 lilac bushes and 7 red twig dogwood bushes. Next week we will be putting the final touches on the irrigation and planting the native grasses.

Grand Traverse Landscaping was a big help with the plantings and they are off to a great start with managing many of the landscape beds around the property.

Second Assistant Tony Giroux and Landscape Manager Stephanie Bibbens worked hard all week to prepare this area for planting.

Seeding Process on #4 New Tees

This Blog was written by our Iowa State University intern Andrew Evans.

With the good weather last week we were able to put down seed on the two new boxes on #4 and #8. Many steps were taken to ensure good growth on these tees. There were many rocks on the tee surface that had to be raked and removed. Next the seed was applied with a rotary spreader. Perennial ryegrass was used on the tees, because ryegrass has very fast growth and does well in this environment.
A bunker rake was used to rake in the seed with the soil and prepare a smoother surface. The tee boxes were then seeded a second time with rye for uniform coverage. A start up fertilizer was then applied to provide the proper nutrients to the soil for seedlings. The tees were then covered with turf covers to help with the growth process and give some protection to the newly seeded surfaces. The covers keep soil temperatures high, moisture in the soil profile and prevent drift of seed from the wind. The tees are hand watered daily for germination of the seed.

May 2010; By the Numbers

Average High Temperature: 57 Degrees F
Highest Recorded Temperature: 77 Degrees F
Average Low Temperature: 29 Degrees F
Lowest Recorded Temperature: 21 Degrees F (yesterday morning we reached 28 degrees)
Total Moisture: 3.14 inches
Total Snowfall: 12 inches