I wanted to use the blog to communicate one change to our maintenance practices on the golf course.  We are currently in the process of installing a "first cut", "intermediate cut" or "courtesy cut" of rough around our fairways and greens.  This is an approximately 6 foot wide strip of rough immediately surrounding the greens and fairways that is mowed at a height between typical fairway and rough heights.  Once fully established, this "first cut" of rough will provide some relief from regular rough height for a ball that just rolls out of the fairway or through the collar of the green.

First Cut along fairway edge

The process of this establishment began a couple of weeks ago with "scalping" the height of the cool-season turf in these areas from their normal 3" height of cut to the 1.25" height that will be maintained once fully established.  Following scalping, these areas have been core aerated and we are now in the process of seeding these areas to a low mow variety of Kentucky Bluegrass. 

As you might imagine given the hot and dry temperatures we have been experiencing lately, the process of scalping, aerating, and seeding the existing Fescue in these areas has been quite hard on the existing turf and we have experienced some thinning of the turf stand in these areas.  This is especially the case around the greens where traffic and compaction is concentrated from our mowers, rollers, and foot traffic from golfers.  While this is currently creating some tough lies in these areas, the thinning of the existing turf was to be expected and is partially by design. 

First Cut around greens edge

As mentioned, the predominant turf in these rough areas surrounding the greens and fairways is turf-type Tall Fescue.  Tall Fescue is not particularly suited to mowing heights as low as we intend to maintain these new "first cut" areas, which is why we are seeding in a bluegrass variety that has shown to maintain a quality playing surface at the intended height of cut.  The goal of beginning the scalping, aerating and seeding process so early (while we are still in the heat of summer) was to "thin" the fescue in these areas as much as possible to allow for a quicker transition to bluegrass in these areas.


One downside to seeding bluegrass is that it is a very slow grass to germinate from seed.  Other cool-season turf species such as fescue, ryegrass and bentgrass typically germinate in one week or less.  Kentucky Bluegrass by contrast takes 3-4 weeks before a seedling emerges from the seed.  Please bear with us for a few weeks as we transition these areas and I think you will like the results.  The quality of these playing areas should improve dramatically by the end of September. 

Have a great end of summer!

Steve

 I have had a number of members stop and ask me lately what we are doing when they have seen us utilizing some "new tools" on the greens.  These new tools are soil moisture meters that we use to check water content of the root zone on our putting greens.  These meters are relatively new to the golf course maintenance field and have been in an invaluable tool in helping us maintain greens health throughout the heat of summer.  The meters are fairly simple.  In short you just stick the 3" probes into the ground and push the "Read" button.  What the meter returns is a percentage that represents the volumetric water content of the greens root-zone. 

Jake Manda checking moisture with meter and Steve Frick watering as needed

Every golf course is different in the age and construction method of their greens.  Our greens at Milburn are older, soil-based greens with a rather significant layer of sand (approx. 6") built up on top of the soil base from years of sand topdressing and aeration.  The one exception to this is our putting green, which was built in 2011 and is a true sand-based root zone that is built to USGA specifications for putting green construction.  The age, construction method, and soil texture of the growing medium all help determine the rate at which a green allows water infiltration through the root-zone.  This infiltration rate in turn is one of the factors that we use to determine our "ideal" water content of the greens.

Output of the meter.  This spot shows moisture content of 14.4%

The goal in the heat and stress of summer is to maintain the greens as dry as possibly while not so dry as to reach their permanent wilting point.  Excess moisture in the root-zone contributes to disease problems and ultimately can "boil" the turf roots (as water is an excellent conductor of electricity).  A saturated root zone allows for excessive root-zone temperatures during the heat of the day which can quickly cause decline in turf condition on the greens.

Another benefit of these new meters is that it allows us to better "balance" the soil moisture throughout the green.  The more even the moisture percentage we can achieve in our greens, the better and more consistent playing surface in terms of firmness and greens speed we can deliver to the golfers.

If you see a staff member using one of these new meters on the greens and want to see it work firsthand please feel free to stop them and ask for a quick demonstration.

Enjoy the rest of your summer,

Steve

One of our recent projects has been to remove the very large mulch area between the fairway and the cart path on the right side of hole #2.  There are a number of these mulched areas on the golf course.  For the most part these mulch areas have been established through the years because the area is too heavily shaded and has not typically supported a quality stand of cool-season rough.



Mulch area on #2 before removal

I have received much feedback from the members and staff regarding the need to reduce or eliminate these mulched areas that are in play on the golf course.  This particular mulch bed on #2 was the first  of these mulch areas that we have targeted for removal because its size and proximity to the fairway made it very much in play for many golfers.


Asst. Superintendent Josh Frandsen rolling out the new sod

I am hopeful that the fescue sod that we installed in place of the mulch bed will be successful.  To this end, we removed 4 smaller trees that were in this area.  The shade and root competition of these trees were the main reason why turf was not successful in this area in the past.  The larger trees that are left in the rough in this area are more desirable trees as they branch much higher allowing for more sunlight penetration to the turf and have not reduced the difficulty of this hole.




New fescue sod installed and mulch area gone

Hole #2 at Milburn is a great golf hole that was recently selected as one of the "18 toughest golf holes in Kansas City" by Kansas City Golfer magazine.  We believe that removing this large mulch area will only make this great hole even better!

We will continue to review these mulches areas on the golf course and evaluate whether the mulch can be removed and turf can successfully be grown in its place.

I hope to see you on the golf course soon,

Steve

Before the storm last week that has left us with a foot of snow on the ground, we undertook the process of rebuilding the right greenside bunker on hole #11.  The sand in this bunker was heavily contaminated which contributed it to playing poorly from a golfers standpoint.  Also, the bunker was no longer draining water properly after a rain event which meant we had to phyiscally remove the water from the bunker each time it rained with a gas-powered pump.



#11 bunker with sand removed

The process of rebuilding this bunker began with removing all existing sand from the bunker.  Due to the fact that bunkers rarely are flat, removing all sand from the bunker has to be done the good, old-fashioned way...with shovels.  After shoveling all of the old sand out of the bunker we added and compacted some soil to restore the contours on the face of the bunker.  The next step was to remove all existing drainage pipe in the bunker to insure that it was not clogged.  After this we used a laser transit to grade the pea gravel in our drainage ditch to insure proper fall for drainage, then reinstalled drainage pipe and backfilled with clean pea gravel around the drain pipe.

Using transit to ensure proper drainage

The next step was to install a fiber "bunker liner" product called Sand Dam.  Currently none of the bunkers (except this one) at Milburn are lined.  The purpose of lining bunkers with this material is to keep sand from washing down the steep bunker faces in the event of heavy rainfall (not really an issue with this bunker as it is relatively gently sloped) and also to prevent underlying soil from working its way up and contaminating the sand.  Usually this contamination is a result of the daily raking process to prepare bunkers for play.  These bunker liners insure that the soil stays below and the sand stays above the liner so that they do not mix.  This keeps the sand looking and playing better for years to come.  Following placement of the bunker liner, aproximately 5000 metal staples are inserted through the liner into the soil to hold the liner in place.


Rolling out and stapling the bunker liner

Once the lining process is complete, new sand is placed in the bunker.  The sand that we use here at Milburn is sand that is dredged from the Kansas River, cleaned, and separated by particle size to meet USGA recommended specifications.  We fill the bunker to a depth of 5 inches and then use a vibratory plate compact to compact the sand to a consistent finished depth of 4 inches.  This bunker took approximately 24 tons of sand to reach this desired depth. 

Asst. Supt Greg Burdiek running plate compactor

This bunker with new sand on #11 will play somewhat "softer" than the rest of the bunkers on the course for a short period of time.  Despite employing a vibratory compactor it typically still takes a few months and few good, heavy rains to fully compact the sand.  The process will be similar for any other bunkers that are identified for refurbishment in the future. 

Steve

I would like to take this opportunity to say "hello" to all the Milburn members that I have yet to meet.  I am now just 3 weeks into my position as your Golf Course Superintendent at Milburn and my head is still spinning from all the transition items and work to do to get the course ready for the 2013 season.  There are also many "finishing touches" to help with regarding the completion of the new clubhouse.

Alisha, Hannah, Drew and I

It is truly an honor to be selected as the Superintendent at Milburn.  The quality of the golf course and history of the club are truly unmatched.  Milburn has always been very special to me as I grew up less than a mile from the club and one of my first jobs in golf was on the maintenance staff at Milburn in the 1990's.  For me, returning to Milburn as Superintendent has always been a dream.  I am anxious to build upon the work done by Bill Maynard in his 13-year tenure at the club and do everything in my power to provide you a well-conditioned golf course day in and day out.  You have a great golf course maintenance staff in place at Milburn and I look forward to leading their efforts.  Assistant Superintendents Josh Frandsen and Greg Burdiek have been a great help as I have made the transition and tried to hit the ground running.

Benjamin

For those of you not familiar with my background, here is the cliff notes version:  I have been the Golf Course Superintendent for the last 9+ years at Meadowbrook Golf & Country Club in Prairie Village.  Prior to that I served as Golf Course Superintendent at Olympia Hills Golf & Conference Center in Olympia Hills, Texas; and as Assistant Superintendent at Indian Hills Country Club and Falcon Ridge Golf Course.  My degree is in Horticulture (with an emphasis in Turf) from Kansas State University.

On the personal side, my wife Alisha and I have been married for 10 years.  Alisha is a RN at Shawnee Mission Medical Center and is pursuing her Masters Degree in Nursing.  We have three children that keep us entertained and very busy, Hannah (8), Drew (4) and Ben (1).


I look forward to meeting you on the course soon!

Steve Wilson