Twice As Bad, or Better?

This week at Blue Hills, the maintenance crew kept busy by cutting down and chipping up another tree that posed a problem agronomically as well as to the golfers. This tree in particular was located directly behind the right fairway bunker on number 18. The tree was close enough to the fairway that it posed a problem to the turf, but mainly we felt like the tree created an additional hazard, or a "double jeopardy" to golfers that were to land inside the bunker. The difficulty of shot would be hard out of the bunker, but it would be even more difficult to hit the shot out of the bunker and trying to avoid the tree as well. This is the first hole that was decided in this fashion, we will be looking at other holes/trees that have a similar setup throughout the winter months.

It's a Walk Path

Something that has been an issue lately are golfers taking their carts and driving them right down the middle of the walk paths. Here is an example of what we are talking about. Please refrain from driving on the walk path.

Spring Verticutting

Monday was a busy day at Blue Hills for the Maintenance Crew. The crew began the morning with a little verticutting to the greens. This is the first of many verticuttings this season. Verticutting is a cultural process that is necessary to incorporate every season to help with thatch accumulation and grain control. Verticutting removes excessive roots and stems that have been accumulating just below the leaf vegetative tissue and just above the soil surface. It also helps with removal of organic matter. This practice will allow the leaf blade to grow more upright which in turn will help with ball roll and overall green playability.  

Make It Linear

With Spring here warmer temperatures are sure to come soon. When warmer temperatures are here long enough our zoysia will begin growing. This will be the moment when we will be able to open our Driving Range Tee. Some things that everyone should keep in mind is the correct way to make a divot when hitting off the grass. This video demonstrates this perfectly.

The only thing that we would ask you to change is to leave a little more space between divot lines, possibly an inch or two. This will only help with the recovery of the turf. Instead of the grass having to grow through a big square disruption it can now grow through a skinnier one instead and recover faster.

Verticutting

This last week temperatures were rising and everyone believed spring was finally here. The Blue Hills Turf Crew believed this to be true and so we got out on the course and got down to business. We began our first verticutting of the season on all of our greens. Verticutting is a cultural process that is necessary to incorporate every season to help with thatch accumulation and grain control. Verticutting removes excessive roots and stems that have been accumulating just below the leaf vegetative tissue and just above the soil surface. It also helps with removal of organic matter. This practice will allow the leaf blade to grow more upright which in turn will help with ball roll and overall green playability. 

Dormant Seeding

This week we began dormant seeding our green banks. Dormant seeding is what it sounds like, you seed during the year when the ground temperature is below 50* and the seed isn't ready to germinate. It is useful and cost effective to do this now when temperatures are cooler and the soil can keep moisture for longer which helps minimize irrigation needs. 

We began this project by aerating multiple passes along each green bank, this pulles a core of soil leaving a little hole for the seed to drop into and helps make soil contact. After every hole was aerated, we came through with a rotary spreader and dispersed our tall fescue.  When the seed has been thrown we go behind and drag the area with a steel drag mat.  This process helps to break the plugs up and work the seed into the high traffic, thin growing areas, where it will sit until temperatures warm and the seed can germinate.

Let it Snow!

On both Christmas eve and the day after Christmas, we experienced some snow. The snow cover on the course is beneficial to the turfgrass. The snow acts as a blanket for the turf and insulates the ground to help it through these harsh winter night temps we are about to experience. Then, when it warms up the snow will melt and provide moisture to the turf.

Let it Shine, Let it Shine

          This week we removed a tree behind 17 green. This mature pin oak looked healthy and seemed to be out of the way in terms of affecting our golf course. Since the tree was so tall, it casted a large shadow on the south end of the green. During the winter months this is problematic especially during a snow event. The sun can't penetrate through the branches of the tree because of the sun angle being lower in the sky as compared to the summer months when the sun is higher. This will cause the snow to sit long periods of time on the surface, the same is true when it comes to frost. When looking at the pictures you will also notice that the tree, although looked healthy, it was beginning to rot from the inside out. This of course wasn't our intention, because it didn't show any signs of rot from the outside, but it goes to show what most of our mature trees might be experiencing on our golf course.

Fixing the Small Things

The Blue Hills Country Club turf team has recently been working on removing bare areas in highly compacted, high traffic areas. These areas have been there for a few years and we have struggled to get any turf to grow there.

Some of these areas include the right side of #4 at the bottom of the hill, and the right side of #17 at the end of the fairway where golf carts are exiting.  In winters past we have tackled larger projects such as cart paths, tree trimming and tree removal.  With some of the jobs having been completed, we now have time to take care of some smaller projects that needed addressing.

Snow on the Bermuda

Last year we began treating our rough with a non-selective herbicide to help eliminate the ever growing bermudagrass. The herbicide has a specific active ingredient Topramezone, that helps prevent the plant from producing chlorophyll. You will see the results in the pictures below. Since the plant cannot produce chlorophyll the plant leaves turn white. We are continuing this practice this year in hopes to completely eradicate the bermudagrass. We will finish this program with two more applications and seed the areas as needed. Thanks for your patience.