As you have played the White Nine, many of you have noticed the sizable nursery to the north of the sixth green. The 10,000 ft2 nursery is an important piece to our maintenance plan. The nursery was carefully constructed in 2007 to match the soil characteristics of the putting greens at NSCC. The matching soil properties serve to minimize transplant stress when repairing damaged greens or expanding greens or roll off areas during renovation. Additionally, the golf course maintenance staff utilized the nursery to replace fairway turf which was damaged due to excess water during the wet and hot summer of 2010. Each fall the golf course staff must do all we can to replace the sod that was harvested throughout the season. In order to accomplish this, we harvest the aerification cores from our putting greens. The cores are spread evenly throughout the desired area. Following the application of the cores, a light sand topdressing is applied to level the surface. The area is then seeded, rolled, fertilized, and watered to stimulate rapid growth and recovery. The end product is a variety of turf species which are essentially a clone of our existing greens. The mixture of creeping bentgrasses and annual bluegrasses mimic our putting surfaces making for a smooth transition should the turf be needed for repair or renovation work in the future. The background of the picture illustrates the established nursery, while the foreground depicts the portion of the nursery which has recently been repaired.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Nursery Green Reestablishment
As you have played the White Nine, many of you have noticed the sizable nursery to the north of the sixth green. The 10,000 ft2 nursery is an important piece to our maintenance plan. The nursery was carefully constructed in 2007 to match the soil characteristics of the putting greens at NSCC. The matching soil properties serve to minimize transplant stress when repairing damaged greens or expanding greens or roll off areas during renovation. Additionally, the golf course maintenance staff utilized the nursery to replace fairway turf which was damaged due to excess water during the wet and hot summer of 2010. Each fall the golf course staff must do all we can to replace the sod that was harvested throughout the season. In order to accomplish this, we harvest the aerification cores from our putting greens. The cores are spread evenly throughout the desired area. Following the application of the cores, a light sand topdressing is applied to level the surface. The area is then seeded, rolled, fertilized, and watered to stimulate rapid growth and recovery. The end product is a variety of turf species which are essentially a clone of our existing greens. The mixture of creeping bentgrasses and annual bluegrasses mimic our putting surfaces making for a smooth transition should the turf be needed for repair or renovation work in the future. The background of the picture illustrates the established nursery, while the foreground depicts the portion of the nursery which has recently been repaired.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Fall Fairway Maintenance
The fall season is a very busy time on the golf course at NSCC. Both golfers and golf course maintenance personnel attempt to squeeze as much as possible out of the beautiful days that autumn brings our way. Each fall, the golf course maintenance staff begins to prepare the course for the upcoming season. As golf course managers, we put into place many agronomic practices which afford the golf course the necessary inputs to recover from summer stresses, repair damaged soil conditions, and reduce the potential from turf loss and damage over the long Wisconsin winter. Each area of the golf course has a comprehensive plan which includes, but is not limited to nutrition (fertilizer), aerification, and pest control. We are currently in the process of addressing these needs on all areas of the golf course, while at the same time performing the required maintenance practices for daily play. One of the most time consuming turf areas to manage are the golf course fairways. Other than the rough, the fairways are the largest surface area we manage, totalling more than 44 acres.
The most important aspect of fall fairway maintenance is fall aerification. Prior to 2008, all fairways were core aerified. This process involved removing soil cores, drying the cores, pulverizing the cores, dragging the fragmented cores back into the holes, and then blowing off the remaining debris. This process did a wonderful job of alleviating soil compaction and reducing the amount of thatch, the organic layer just below the turf canopy, but was messy and impeded play for a considerable amount of time following, especially during wet conditions.
In 2008, we modified our fairway aerification procedure to a solid tine process. This process works well, by allowing us to penetrate 4 inches deeper into the soil than we were able to. The solid tine approach also serves to lessen the negative affect aerification has on the overall golfing experience. The downside to the solid tine aerication is its inability 
to reduce thatch. Excess thatch may lead to multiple problems in the future which include increased disease prevalence, mower scalping, and overall weaker turf. In order to address these concerns, we have proactively implemented an aggressive fairway verticutting practice. The tractor-mounted vertical mower uses multiple cutting disks to slice into the turf and remove a considerable amount of the organic material. While the process itself is messy, it is relatively simple and easy to clean up. The picture above illustrates the process in action. Once the organic debris is brought to the surface, it is blown off and collected. The fairway is never taken out of play and our goal of reducing organic matter has been accomplished. In summary, instead of pulling solid, clay cores from our fairways, our aerification process is now two-fold. The fairways are punched with solid tines to alleviate soil compaction and verticut to remove organic matter, both processes present less disruption to play while meeting our agronomic goals.
to reduce thatch. Excess thatch may lead to multiple problems in the future which include increased disease prevalence, mower scalping, and overall weaker turf. In order to address these concerns, we have proactively implemented an aggressive fairway verticutting practice. The tractor-mounted vertical mower uses multiple cutting disks to slice into the turf and remove a considerable amount of the organic material. While the process itself is messy, it is relatively simple and easy to clean up. The picture above illustrates the process in action. Once the organic debris is brought to the surface, it is blown off and collected. The fairway is never taken out of play and our goal of reducing organic matter has been accomplished. In summary, instead of pulling solid, clay cores from our fairways, our aerification process is now two-fold. The fairways are punched with solid tines to alleviate soil compaction and verticut to remove organic matter, both processes present less disruption to play while meeting our agronomic goals.
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