Fieldstone Course Updates

tee and fairway seeding

2010-08-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here is an update on the progress we are seeing on tees and also what we are doing on the bad spots in our fairways. As noted in the last post, we are doing everything possible to help speed recovery of our course. These steps are starting to show signs that it is working and we continue to work hard at them.

After an area in the fairway is aerified, we go back and top dress the area with a seed and sand mixture. That mix is then brushed into the holes where it will germinate. Seed is also spreed over the area to get worked into the surface when we go over it with the broom.

Here is a spot after we have aerified, top dressed, and brushed in.

In this photo you can see the grass germinating in several of the aerifier holes. We began seeing germination on tees about 12 days after this was done.

You can see here the seed germinating in a larger area than just the aerifier hole. This is what we are after, and are encouraged by what we have seen so far.

Rough work and seeding

2010-08-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

This week we have begun cleaning up and seeding the roughs. We are doing this in our ongoing effort to repair any damage from this summer and also to continue what we started last year and introduce newer varieties of grass into our roughs. These newer grasses have better growth habits including drought resistance and color.
What we will do is start lowering down the roughs from 2 1/2" to 2". There will be a little mess at first but we will immediately start over to mulch up any clippings that may be left after the first day. Then we will go out and start slit seeding rough areas again. We lower the height down first so that the seed can get down into the soil better and so that when it begins to germinate it wont get suffocated by the the existing turf canopy. You can view an earlier blog postings from last year showing how the slit seeding works.

Update and disease pressure

2010-07-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

First let me apologize for the absence of posts lately, it has been a roller coaster of a summer so far. As you all know I'm sure, we ran out of water early on in July. The irrigation pond was the lowest I have ever seen it in the nine years I've been here, with the top of our intake pipe visible. This is probably because in 2002/03 there were water restrictions in place during that drought. This year there have been no restrictions, just low well volumes and virtually no rain in June and the first week of July. Then, around July 9th, it started raining and has been wet since. That coupled with the extreme heat is causing a whole different set of problems. We are now experiencing several different turfgrass disease's and have also seen crabgrass/goosegrass start to take over anywhere we were weak during the dry period. We are diligently spraying for both and will work to eradicate the disease and weeds as soon as possible.

Below are a couple pictures of the "pythium" fungus that we had on tees this week. This is probably the most devastating disease to bentgrass there is and can wipe out a green or tee in very little time.

You can see the "greasy" look this fungus has

This shot shows what we call the "smoke ring" that is very gray around the edge and the orange/brown dead turf in the middle. The smoke ring will have mycelium with it in the morning's and can be spread very easily by mowers or foot traffic.

vandalism

2010-05-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since my last post, and unfortunately this is not a good one. The combination of Spring and the shortage of staff for awhile led to the absence. I will try now again to update more often and keep this more current with what is going on.

Now, to the point of this post. Sunday evening apparently someone had to much time on their hands. One of the courtesy carts was taken and driven around the course. They hit 6 different greens, did doughnuts on several tees and fairways and went in multiple bunkers. Fortunately, MOST of the damage is not severe. Below are some pictures of the events.

Here's what i was greeted to at 5:30 Monday morning...I had a feeling it was going to be a bad day.

#12 green

#4 green

#2 green. This is similar to what #5, #6, and #13 looked like as well.

snow cover for 3/10/10

2010-03-10T04:36:00.001-08:00

Again, here are some pictures of the last snow cover out here. We will have these areas cleaned by Thursday and plan to open at that time. Sorry for the delay.

Looking at 7 tees and path

7 Green still half covered

8 Tees

Cart path going down 13

cart path going down 6

One of our new guys, John clearing the path on 4 tees

Snow cover for 3/7/10

2010-03-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

Below are pictures of the current snow cover here at Fieldstone. As you'll see, we are getting close but there still is a lot of snow.

10 and 2 fairway

From behind 15 green

Looking towards 13 and 6 paths

view towards 7 from from the green

Putting Green

course pictures for 3/6/10

2010-03-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

Today's (3/6/10) course pictures showing current snow cover

Putting Green

10 and 2 fairways

View from behind 15 green

Looking towards 13 and 6 tees and path

Looking down 7 from green to tee

Snow Cover 3/5/10

2010-03-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the course showing current snow cover.

Putting Green

Looking down 10 fairway

Standing behind 7 green looking towards the tee

View from behind 15 green

Looking at the paths on 13 and 6

winter work during shut down

2010-02-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

Below are a few things we started during the three week shut down period. We use this time to do projects outside if the weather is decent and to help with whatever may need done in and around the clubhouse such as moving furniture to paint, repairing/servicing equipment and the courtesy carts, and of course this year snow removal. This still has to be done for worker safety and so emergency vehicles can get in and out if necessary.

Most of the outside work other than snow removal is not finished as you can imagine, so our efforts have concentrated on inside work. Our equipment technician Greg has been working hard at machine repair and servicing, blade and reel sharpening and any warranty work that may need done before the season starts. Our assistants, Donovan and Drew have been repairing golf course accessories, painting and sealing, and helping with repair when needed.

Below are two pictures of the new wine barrels we will use this year for trash containers. We cut out the tops, pressure wash inside and outside, and will make lids for them.

This is the area beside the new putting green we built last year. The fescue square in front of the brick parking area was removed and a new landscape bed will be installed.

These are pictures of the right side of the yellow tee on #8. You can see where the day this picture was taken, the turf was just cut. We removed all that old sod and are going to re-shape the area around the catch basin so water flows into it better. We will also add some drain lines around the yellow tee trying to stop water from standing and making the tee playable faster.

This is the cart staging area for the proshop. It has always just been fescue and did not look very neat. We have removed the fescue and will again make this a presentable landscape bed. The old cobble stone path you see in the second photo leading from 9 green was removed and a new brick path will be put in its place.

winter work

2010-01-11T03:44:00.001-08:00

One of the projects we do each winter is repair bunker rakes. They may require new green handles, rake heads and even the black top on them. The green handles will either be replaced if they are cracked or they can be repaired by putting a new sheath on them. This is done with a vinyl product that you slide on and then heat to "melt" into place around the handle. Below are some pictures of the rakes.

View of an original handle that is splintering and faded.

The first handle is a brand new one
The second one is a old handle
The third is a repaired handle with the vinyl product used

Rohna chasing geese

2010-01-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

The video was shot with my cell phone so it's not very good, but here is Rohna earning her keep this morning.

Q&A: Seed/Divot Mix

2009-12-10T01:57:00.001-08:00

Q: Is there seed in the divot mix we use on the driving range at Fieldstone? I have seen the seed in the mix at other courses but don't see it in ours.

A: Yes we do put seed in our mix. We are using bentgrass seed which may be why it is not as noticeable. Bentgrass seed is extremely small, maybe as much as a tenth the size of ryegrass or bluegrass seed. At other courses and particularly southern courses this time of year, they use ryegrass or bluegrass seed. Southern courses are over-seeded in the winter months because the bermudagrass goes dormant and brown. They over-seed with ryegrass to make it green and aid in healing throughout these months. Below are pictures showing the differences in seed sizes. On top of that, we use a divot mix that is green and has organics in it which makes it even more difficult to see the seed.

bluegrass/ryegrass seed mixture (similar to what you may use at your home)

bentgrass seed (literally millions of seed here)

Side by side comparison

bentgrass in our divot mix

Fairway "scarring"

2009-11-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

As many of you have seen if you played the last week or so, the fairways have some scarring as many have put it. What you are seeing unfortunately is the result of a fungus commonly called "dollar spot." If you read my earlier post about the color's on our greens, you'll remember I briefly talked about different varieties of grasses and the traits they have been cultivated for. One of the traits the bentgrass on our greens exhibits is a resistance to dollar spot fungus. It definitely still gets the disease, but not nearly as bad as the bentgrass on our fairways. Greens are A4 bentgrass, one of the newest varieties when our course was built. The fairways are a blend of two different bentgrass called "Princeville" and "Putter." Neither one of these two grasses has great fungus resistance, but may have had other desirable qualities at the time. They are not terrible grasses, just different.

Prior to top dressing fairways three weeks ago, we did not see much dollar spot. It has since been fairly wet yet cool enough with short daylight hours to stop the turf from growing much. Over the last couple of years we have been able to grow out of this late season fungus from the heavy organic fertilization we do at the time of aerification. This year we have not been able to do that yet. We plan on spraying some Iron and possibly a small amount of fertilizer to help us heal up.

Below are several pictures of the problem in question:

Colors on our greens

2009-11-20T07:16:00.000-08:00

Question:
Why do our greens have different colors in them if they are only one kind of grass? Specifically, the red or purple patches that we see on the greens right now.

Answer:
Although our greens are 100% of one type of bentgrass (A4 creeping bentgrass), this grass was breed from several different varieties. The turfgrass breeders (yes there are people who do that), look at existing grasses and try to single out the genes in them for specific characteristics. They may pull a gene from a grass that exhibits resistance to a specific fungus, or one the has good drought tolerance, or maybe one that survives well under extremely low mowing heights. The red and purple colors that you see are patches of grass starting to go dormant and are revealing more of one type of "parent" grass than another.

View of #1 green

Close up with my radio antenna showing a spot

Audubon Update

2009-11-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

As you may know, Fieldstone is working towards our "Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary" status. We began this last winter and believe we will finish this winter. There are 6 different categories to achieve prior to being awarded certification. They include; Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation, Environmental Planning, Wildlife and Habitat Management, Water Quality Management, and Outreach and Education. Of those, we have been certified in the first three, have sent in the required paper work and documentation for two more and are almost finished with the last category. This is all documented in our shop and below are pictures of the Audubon display we have.

bulletin board with certifications

certificate from completing one of the categories

Limb on 16

2009-11-14T06:37:00.001-08:00

The only severe damage Fieldstone had from IDA remnants and the following Nor'easter as of Saturday morning was this limb across the cart path on 16. The pictures below show how we roped and coned the area off for safety until we can get equipment in there Monday or Tuesday to bring down the limb and clean up the other branches that have been damaged.

View from 16 tee prior to roping area off

View from 17 fairway side showing safety cones marking the tree.

View from 16 tee after roping off the cart path and creating a new path to go around the tree/limb

from behind 16 green

bunkers on 16

2009-11-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures updating the #16 bunker project. We have removed all the fescue surrounding these and replaced with bluegrass.

Guys "pulling" the old fescue up with a hoe since we can't get a sod cutter on the slopes

Another crew cleaning up and hauling away the fescue

Laying the sod. The right side and bunker behind the green are finished

firewood

2009-11-06T04:49:00.000-08:00

During frosty mornings again this year Fieldstone is splitting firewood to sell. We are selling firewood for $75/cord. Anyone who has bought in the past knows we will work with you on price if you can only handle a trunk load or small amount. Unfortunately, we do NOT deliver. Please call the maintenance shop to arrange pick up at 254-4569 and ask for Brad.

Leobardo stacking wood. A cord of wood is
4' high x 4' wide x 8' long

Victor splitting the wood

Top Dressing Fairways

2009-10-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Today we started top dressing fairways. This is a practice we began four years ago and has helped tremendously. Fieldstone is very rocky with poor soil quality, especially in the fairways where there was a lack of good top soil. In brief, adding sand has helped reduce compaction, allowed for better water infiltration and improved turf quality tremendously.

spreading the sand

A thin layer applied

dragging in the sand after

Donovan, one of our assistant superintendents doing the dirty work

2009-10-14T04:21:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 14

First Frost!

Ice crystals on the leaf blade

Frost out over #1

Blog test

2009-10-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new Fieldstone Golf Course Update blog. I have set this up to keep members as informed as possible and to hopefully make it easy for you to check on what is happening at your course.

It is my intention that this be an informative blog, where I will post project status, picture references, explain whys and how's of what we are doing, and editorials on these and many other things. I will try to update this as much as possible and hope everyone enjoys what we post. Who knows, maybe this will help answer a question someone might have without having to ask it.

Thank you,
Brad Smith
Golf Course Superintendent

Post #1 Slit Seeding
Tuesday, October 13

Today we have begun slit seeding the rough. We use a tractor and implement on the back of it to slice "channels" into the soil and deposit seed in those channels. The machine does this with the blades you see in the picture and also helps to remove thatch at the same time. Unfortunately, the thatch is just shot out from behind the machine and left on the turf. This does cause a little mess, but will be mowed over and disappear soon. The de-thatching helps with the turf that is still there to allow water and air infiltration for root growth and loosen the soil to help establish the seedlings that will germinate soon.

Blades on the back of the slit seeder

Andrew (Drew) one of our assistant superintendents, doing the slit seeding

Seeds in the channels