Day One Continued- End of Day Status

After Getting Units Working We Started Aerifying 4's Green

As usual, we had our start up issues on day one of the aerification - seems that this never changes no matter how much prep is done.  But after getting the aerification started we moved along quite nicely finishing 11 greens today, even with have our loader going down on the last two greens.

This June we shifted the deep drill and fill to July which will allow the greens to recover quicker than before.  Plus with having lower staffing levels than any other summer in the past, this made what we did possible today.

See the Patterns -- That Was Sod We Di Late in the Summer Last Summer - No 100 Days

The greens are in the best shape they have even been in going into aerification.  Most are 100% after the weather has improved and the fact that last year we repaired greens such as 11 - 13 with 100 days of growth.  Good practices yield good results. 

The best change we did this year was put our efforts into three time per week verticutting and select needle tining of the greens in advance.  These practices will pay off for years to come, but were not received well.  We will look to alter to find the win-win to the transition issues.


Finished the Aerification of 14

The only thing we did not get done today like we usually do, is the start of the aerification of the tees, fairways and approaches.  We will start tomorrow but with the shifting of the drill and fill my hope is that we are back on schedule by week's end.

Started Aerifying 6's Green -- This Is the Healthiest I Have Gotten the Green Going Into Aerification

Looking at 6's greens (double click picture to enlarge) I can remember three years ago when we got hit by bermudagrass decline ... and now, it is almost perfectly filled.  WOW. 

Tomorrow, we will hit the ground running with working our plan and adjusting for whatever is thrown at us.  The good news is that we got a nice jump today and even started our bi-weekly tilling of the greenside bunkers per Green Committee request.

The plan is to open the course again on Thursday at 9:00 am.  I see no reason why that will change.

Day One - Aerification

This morning we start the first day of aerification.  It always seems to be a challenge because you have to work the bugs out and figure what is working this year compared to what is not.  More to come over the next couple of days.

Fertilizations and Aerification

As I would expect, the team continues to rise to whatever is needed to complete any given tasks. 

The aerification of the roughs has started and is progressing pretty much as planned with very little hiccups.  With only on machine in the field it is slower than desired but still progressing on target.  Part of the process of aerifying the roughs includes exposing the heads and valve boxes to decrease the chance of the aerifier running over them causing damage and added costs.  That is a important and time consuming step that saves money and repair time.

Additionally, we have finished fertilizing the pass on the fairways and tees with the first fertilization of the summer.  We apply the fertilizer at a lower rate this week and we will do the same next - spoon feeding.  This conserves our resources while aiding the turf to recover.  Additionally we are heavy fertilizing the greens this week too.  This also aids in the recovery while filling in the turf thus smoothing out the greens.

The sad part of the greens fertilization is that is also slows down the green speed.  To combat this effect we are double mowing the greens and after aerification we will be applying a growth regulator. 

Rough Aerification

Tomorrow the rough aerification begins as a second assignment.  The challenges every aerification is to complete this task with the minimal interference to our members and the guests of Avondale.  It is a big process that usually requires more than a week to complete since we do not stop the other services too.  This year is going to be even more of a challenge thanks to the loss of key experienced employees and overall reductions, but as we have done all season so far we will keep rising to the challenges, and we will continue to do so.

We will continue to find the most successful way of completing our tasks to enhance the experience of our golfers.  Some of this will be trial and error as we re-think our approach to the new realities. but the good news is that we have continued to work on those details such as edging bunkers, double cutting greens and cleaning the presentation around the clubhouse that have become the expectations of our members.

On Tuesday we will be fertilizing the fairways and tees thanks to a surprise rebate for one of our vendors.  This along with spot fertilizations will continue the recovery of the transitional areas that appear this time of year.

Bunkers Tilled, 4's Green Topdressed

Yesterday we finished the tilling of the bunkers and this morning we will be addressing the smoothing.  It usually takes a couple of days to smooth them back out but we will attempt to reduce the time window.

Additionally, yesterday we finished the topdressing of the new sod on 4.  This area was mowed for the first time yesterday and will recovery quite quickly.  The good news is that it has been laid with enough time to allow a 100 days plus of growth.

We will start today with the triplexing of the greens.  I tested the machine yesterday and we should enjoy the quality of cut ... but as always we will tweak as needed.

Avondale's Greens During Transition

The "Green" Spots are Where We Recently Aerified 4's Green's Bad Area

Sometimes I get asked why we aerify and more over why we transition on the greens the way we do here at Avondale compared to other places.  It is a simple answer the addresses both questions - relieve compaction, and thanks to compaction.  The picture above shows the "green" dots where the aerifier pulled the compacted core and was filled with looser sand.  This allows air movement to the root zone thus allowing the plant to breath and thrive.

Some other golf course do not have the compaction issues that we have here at Avondale, thus it isn't as difficult to transition the greens.  We sadly have "heavy" soils with 40 years of overturned organic matter ... so we face those compaction issues.  The good news is that I know how to address those issues that use to kill Avondale's greens every summer before my arrival.


Back of 15's Green - Best It Has Looked Ever at this Time of Year

Last year the Green Committee, GM and the Board allowed the maintenance staff to repair the greens of 11 - 13, and the back of 15 early in May.  This year, that decision has resulted in the best that those greens have looked since converting them to bermudagrass.  Are they flawless, no ... but they have very dynamic differences compared to last year.

12's Green - WOW, 100 days of Growth Last Year Has Positive Results This Year

The differences in year's past especially on 12's green are amazing.  There has been discussion in the Green Committee and Board level about re-constructing 12's green correctly with a potential cost of $15 - 25K that may not be necessary for quite some time.  This is great news.


5's Fairway - Starting Transition

Transition was started somewhat earlier this year thanks to 60 - 70 mph winds at the end of April and start of May, but will really start in full force very soon.  We are handling these transition issues as soon as they come.

12's Fairway

Lastly, today we are tilling the greenside bunkers and with the projects mostly done we will go to a two week rotation as per request of the Green Committee.  Additionally, hopefully starting tomorrow we will start the triplexing of the greens along with double cutting them.  This will not speed them up since we are in heavy fertilization mode to fill them in, but it will help smooth them out.

4's Green Repair This Week

Wind Deposition Damage

Back at the end of April the heavy winds deposited layers of fine dust on the green of 4.  Lots of efforts were given to address this issue and our efforts had a very successful Golden State event in mid May.

Removal of the Damaged Area

But those efforts fell short because the Poa Triv was irreversibility damaged and the voids left behind began to form algae do to the poor percolation rates of our greens.  So after several efforts to needle tine this area we went ahead and spot aerified the bad areas.

Sodding Out the Damage

Then the weather changed again dropping almost 30 degrees practically over night.  This combined with the damage and the poor percolation even after spot aerification allowed some recovery but not quick enough to be ready for aerification coming in a week ... so we sodded ONLY the bad area.

Deep Watering

We could have waited and tired to recover this area further, but I decided that we would bite the bullet and get a jump start on this area.  It has been almost a month since this area went bad and waiting another month seemed senseless.

Rolling the New Sod

As the greens are transitioning we will continue to perform plug repair until we can aerify them.  By performing these plug repairs we should come out of aerification for superior than we went in ... but SLOW at first.  The is due to heavy fertilization to expedite recovery.