Course Happening During Another Wet and Cold Week

The cold and wet weather continued this week, frustrating both golfers and maintenance team members alike.  After nearly six months of winter weather, residents of southeastern Wisconsin and its turgrass could use some warmer temperatures.  Fortunately, the course did survive the winter with only very isolated patches of damaged turf, unlike courses throughout many other parts of the country.  Even though the weather has been less than ideal, the maintenance staff has been busy preparing the course for the golf season.  While course access has been limited to walking due to continued wet conditions, we have utilized our time to prepare other areas of the course so that we can dedicate our entire team to course conditioning practices and mowing once we finally dry out.

9 White Green

 The White Nine putting greens were aerified on May 5th.  Unfortunately the cold day and night temperatures have hampered their recovery.  It is unlikely that the greens will completely recover by its reopening on Memorial Day Weekend.  Should this be the case, the pro shop will route the 18 hole golf course from the Red Nine to the Blue Nine, leaving the White Nine as the "family" nine until the aerification holes have completely filled in.

Blue Nine Bathroom Water Suppply

 As many members have noted, the course bathrooms on the Blue Nine have not yet opened for the season.  Upon pressurizing the water supply to the bathroom, a leak was discovered.  Since we had no drawings from the initial construction and well installation, golf course staff was tasked to excavate the site to determine the cause of the leak.  After an extensive investigation, we determined the cause of the leak was an old buried air tank.  A new tank has been purchased and installed, and the water supply has been reconnected.  The bathrooms are now again in working order.  Staff will repair the work site next week.  Hats of to Bob and Ricky for their hard work on this project.

Since course access has been limited, staff has continued knocking off punch list items in preparation for Memorial Day.  All bunkers on the Red and Blue Nines were edged.  The White Nine bunkers will be edged next week.  The seeded stump holes have finally germinated, in large part due to the insulating covers.  We will remove the covers and hand mow all forty-five of these areas in the coming week.  While we will apply a broadleaf herbicide to the entire rough next week, we were able to sneak out and treat all bunker edges with a combination of post and preemergent control.  It is no secret to most homeowners that the past winter was very hard on most evergreen trees and shrubs.  Due to the extensive damage, many plants at the club's main entrance were replaced under the guidance of staff horticulturist Susie Jushka.

Bunker Edging

Seed Germination

Broadleaf and Preemergent Control 

Plant Installation at Club Entrance

Be prepared for a soggy golf course and thick rough this weekend.  Due to the saturated soil, we have been unable to send out our mowers to cut the rough.  Should conditions allow, we will begin mowing the rough over the weekend.

2014 Course Opening and Conditions

We are pleased to announce that the 2014 golf season has officially arrived at North Shore Country Club.  The golf course has come through the winter in great shape and will only improve as temperatures increase.  The practice tee will open today, Wednesday, from the artificial surface only. Both the Red and White courses will open in their regular format on Friday, April 11^th at noon.  Currently the golf course will be available for walking only.  Future cart accessibility will be evaluated on a daily basis and relayed to the Pro Shop. 

Over the past two weeks the golf course maintenance staff has been busy.  Initially upon snow melt, team members walked the entire course raking debris in to piles.  Over the past two days, staff has removed most debris from the Red and White Nines.  Currently, the golf course maintenance staff is curren working to repair and rake the bunkers.  Prior to opening on Friday, staff will mow all putting greens for the first time.

If you are fortunate to play the course over the next couple weeks, you will likely notice that the pond on 3 Red is lacking water.  Over the extremely cold winter, over two feet of ice formed on the pond.  The thick layer of ice placed more pressure than normal on the stand pipe that serves as an outflow and drain for the pond.  The pressure of the ice actually damaged the valve at the bottom of the pond.  Next week, we will repair the valve and fill the pond once again.  Please refrain from walking on the exposed edges of the pond. Not only is it dangerous, it could also damage the pond.

Lastly, I wanted  pass along a photo from the sixth fairway on Red Nine.  You will notice the brown circles of turf leading up the through the middle of the fairway.  At first glance I thought that it was disease.  Upon closer inspection the damage was caused from snowshoes walking the course over the winter.  Even though we had ample snowfall, the compressed snow turned to ice, causing the damage.  This picture truly shows how fragile turf is, even in the winter months.  The damage is superficial and the turf will quickly recover with the onset of warmer temperatures.

First Glimpse At Turf Conditions

1 White Green From Rear

7 Red Green From Rear

The warmer temperatures over the last few weeks have provided us an opportunity to finally view turf conditions below what had been a thick blanket of snow.  While I was confident that the turf was well insulated and protected from the cold weather, I was pleased to see that my prediction was accurate and the golf course putting surfaces have handled the winter well and are in great condition.  Avoiding any freeze/thaw cycles and winter rain certainly played a key roll in the turf's condition, as ice formation was minimal over the winter.  In past years when we have seen significant winter damage, major ice accumulation had occurred and remained for an extended period of time.

8 White Green From Year

 Over the last few days I have walked the entire course and viewed each green.  While a couple of greens still remain snow covered.  The majority are clear of snow and appear very healthy.  As seen from the clubhouse, the putting surfaces appear unnaturally green compared to their surroundings.  This green color is not due to any photosynthetic activity, rather the dark coloration is due to the pigments that were applied in conjunction with our late fall plant protectants.  These products provide protection against cold weather fungi, which if left untreated, can be devastating to the turf over the winter.  Even though these snow molds are clearly visible in home lawns throughout the area and untreated rough on the course, the preventative products applied last fall have kept all greens, tees, and fairways free from these pathogens.  We will likely make follow-up applications of dark pigments over the course of the spring to foster growth. The dark color of the pigment will allow for greater absorption of solar radiation, leading to an earlier green-up and leaf growth.

8 White Right Side

Even though most turf appeared very healthy, there were a few areas of concern.  One example is pictured on the right.  The right side of 8 White green appears mottled.  The light brown patches are annual bluegrass, Poa annua.  Poa is much less hardy than its more desirable counterpart, creeping bentgrass.  Due to its questionable appearance, samples were taken from this green and brought indoors for further examination.  After watering and warmth, all turf on the sample responded by growing and turning green.  Based on this sample, I anticipate the brown patches of turf to be mostly superficial.  With the onset of warmer temperatures and a resumption of maintenance practices, I expect the putting surfaces to quickly outgrow any imperfections.

8 White Sample From Right Side

Snow. Turf's Great Blanket Offers Protection From Polar Vortex

The recent frigid temperatures and bone-chilling winds have made the words "polar vortex" as common place as "apple pie" throughout almost the entire United States. While temperatures below -25 degrees F and wind chills more than twice as cold can wreak havoc on cars and prove deadly for humans, they also can be extremely damaging for turfgrass.  The cells within certain varieties of golf course turf may even rupture due to freezing when temperatures fall to such dangerous lows.  Fortunately, the vast majority of turf at NSCC has been insulated with a thick blanket of snow since early December.  Even though monitoring turf conditions below the snow cover is not possible, our in-ground moisture meters give us an inclination of what is happening to the turf.  Not only do our moisture meters measure moisture levels, they also measure soil temperatures.  The graph below depicts soil temperatures since January 1.  Each line on the graph represents one individual green:

• The top yellow line is the 7 White green
• The second orange line is practice green
• The third yellow line is 2 White green
• The bottom brown line is 1 White green.

As you can see, the top three lines represent the three greens with the heaviest snow cover.  This snow cover acts as a blanket, offering the turf sufficient insulation.  Notice that there is only a minor drop in soil temperatures over the period of extreme cold that we have just encountered.

The bottom line represents 1 White green.  While covered in snow, the elevated and open nature of the green allows for more wind and blowing snow minimizing the extend of insulation.  Because of this reduced level of insulation, the soil temperatures rise and fall more frequently.  Even taking these temperature fluctuations into account, the turf on 1 White green is still very healthy as there has been sufficient insulation to prevent any severe damage at this point.

Over the course of the winter, members often ask how the course is doing.  I feel strongly that a heavy snow cover is the turf's best insulator and protector.  The use of soil technology provides a graphic which explains why this is true.

Root Pruning

Dew Pattern Indicating Insufficient Moisture Due To Competition With Tree Roots

In addition to removing leaves and preparing the course for the winter, the golf course maintenance staff has been busy completing other punch list projects before the ground freezes.  One such project was root pruning all trees located within ten yards from the perimeter of the fairways.  While time consuming, the benefits of this process will be realized next summer with healthier fairway turf, more consistent fairway moisture, and a reduction in labor intensive hand watering.  By use of the vibratory plow attachment on our trencher, we were able to sever all roots to a depth of ten inches.  As witnessed by the photo above, these fibrous roots wreak havoc on the turf during the stressful summer months as they are able to outcompete the turfgrass for moisture.  It will take about two years before the roots regenerate and this process must be completed again.

2 Blue Pond Restoration

2 Blue Pond With Restored Edge and Beach Bunker Removed

Even though no major renovation plans took place this fall,the golf course maintenance staff has completed an extensive pond edge repair projecton 2 Blue.  As many of you have surelynoticed, the integrity of the pond edge had declined over the last few years,exposing the irrigation piping and posing a safety issue to both members andemployees.  In order to repair theroughly three hundred feet of pond bank, the talented members of the maintenancestaff utilized an excavator to reshape and soften the edge.   At the same time the pond edge was beingprepared, other staff members worked to further improve the hole.  The narrow point of the fairway was expandedby roughly three yards to disperse cart traffic and improve playability.  Additionally, the beach bunker on the greenside of the pond was removed according to the Forse plan.  The elimination of this bunker will easemaintenance associated with sand washing into the pond and improve playabilityby eliminating a long bunker shot for those who have punched out through thefairway and into the bunker.  Prior toregrassing the edge of the pond, the entire edge was lined with wire mesh toprevent muskrat damage and plastic mesh to reduce future erosion.  The entire project was completed in-house bythe golf course maintenance staff and serves to improve the hole for futureyears.

Prior To Restoration

Bank Excavation and Grading

Grading and Beach Bunker Removal

Beach Bunker Removal

Muskrat and Erosion Prevention Installation

Sod Installation and Fairway Expansion

Fairway Topdressing Success

NSCC's fairway topdressing program is a critical piece to the overall management of our fairway turf.  The program began in 2008 and was discontinued from 2009-2011 during the economic downturn for budgetary reasons.  The application of sand, when partnered with solid-tine aerification and aggressive vertical mowing, will greatly improve the playability of the fairways.  While the traditionally used core aerifcation allowed us to manage the thatch level of the fairways and alleviate compaction, it did nothing to improve soil conditions.

Since NSCC rests on poorly drained, heavy clay soils, managing turfgrass moisture is very challenging.  As most members can attest, the fairways are very soft when wet allowing for minimal ball roll and increased disease pressure.  When the fairways become dry, they have the consistency of a terracotta pot.  Managing a high quality playing surface under these extremes can be nearly possible at times.

Fairway topdressing allows us to modify the underlying soil profile through the introduction of sand.  As the sand accumulates over the years, the fairways will become increasingly firm with improved drainage.  Golfers will easily recognize the improved ball roll, consistent lies, and increased cart usage following rain events.  The reduction of thatch and improved drainage will reduce disease pressure, allow us to better manage moisture, and provide a higher quality playing surface to the membership.

Consistency and patience are the key to a successful fairway topdressing program.  In its first full year, the program has accumulated over .25" of sand on all the fairways.  At this rate, the fairways will be growing on two inches of sand in seven more years.  Due to the duration of time needed to reach this goal, most golfers will not notice an immediate change, but each year the playability of the fairways will continue to improve.