Winter at The Links

USGA: Northeast

Mid-Atlantic Region update

These Two Links are From the USGA Green Section.  Both talk about Winter Kill and Crown Hydration

Picture after Winter Storm Hercules left deep drifts all over The Links

Rockville Links has survived all the crazy weather Mother Nature has thrown our way in the last few weeks.  It All began with the big winter storm Hercules, I guess the weatherman likes to name winter storms now too.  This was followed up by warm weather and rain.  This created a very wet sloppy course that still had many pockets of snow and slush throughout.  

These conditions were last Monday January 6th.  The crew worked hard on Monday morning to clear off remaining snow/slush from greens approaches and low fairway spots.  The afternoon was spent squeegeeing puddles on greens and a few fairway spots. This paid off with the Polar Vertex coming in Tuesday night.  The heavy winds that proceeded this cold snap also helped dry playing surfaces.  

Warm wet weather followed by  extreme cold is perfect conditions for Crown Hydration, talked about in both articles above.  All the hard work put in by the crew helped prevent damage that could have occurred. 

Mya enjoyed the snow for the few days it hung around

  

Winter

2013 has just about come to an end.  The golf here at Rockville Links has slowed to a halt, for the time being, because of the snowfall and freezing temps.  

The question I receive most this time of year is; What are you doing for the winter?

There is still plenty of work to be done around Rockville Links all winter, and yes myself, assistants, mechanics, and a few full-time employees are here year round.

I will try to give weekly highlights to what we accomplish throughout the winter months to give membership a better understanding of how much work and course preperation goes on in January, February, and March.

Winter is also the main time for continuing education.  Classes, conferences, and trade shows provide a great opportunity to keep up to date on the latest in the industry.  They also provide credits that are mandatory to renew our NY Pesticide Licences. 

Fall Projects

 

A major in-house project began this fall was re-grassing bunkers on #5 and the left side of #6 green.  The pictures above show the finished faces.  Both of these areas had built up a great deal of sand over the years.   This made it extremely hard to keep quality turf in these high profile areas just off the green.   

The crew removed the years of buildup down to the green netting/mesh from the original sod.  We were able to find this netting on all the bunkers we re-grassed so they were unchanged from the original design.   The new sod installed was a turf type tall Fescue, which will survive better on these bunker faces because it is more drought tolerant.

Before and After shot of #5 Left Side

We also cut down the all the high rough mounds that were sodded last fall.  Below if a Time Lapse video that highlights how much work goes into these areas.  I'm hoping to add more videos like this in the future to better show what goes into maintaining Rockville Links Club.

Late fall aeration

This week was set aside for Rockville Links late fall aeration.  We began the process by using our deep scarifier verticut blades.  These do a great job removing thatch and organic matter from the surface making room for sand.  As you can see in the pictures above there is plenty of excess sand after Drill and Fill.

Drill and Fill is a very slow process that we bring in an outside company to complete.  3-4 machines operated for 20+ hours to complete all 18 greens, putting green, and target green on the range.  The huge advantage of this process is it removes material at depths of 8-10" and completely fills the 1" holes with sand.  

While the drill and fill process was ongoing, Rockville's crew aerated approaches.  The sandy mix left behind on greens was then dragged onto apps to fill the holes.  

Once cleanup was complete on greens they were rolled and then aerated.  The above picture is how they looked directly behind aeration.  The greens were then rolled again and amendments were added to the open holes.  Sand topdessing was then applied and brushed to fill holes.  

Weather cooperated all week long.  There were no frost delays and rain came as soon as cleanup was complete.  There will be ongoing work in the next week to help ensure sand is distributed evenly.  The greens will also be rolled a few more times to help smooth the playing surface. 

Irrigation in the Rain?

Anyone at or around The Links this afternoon saw sprinkler heads running on the greens.  The timing just seems off with the light rain Mother Nature provided, but this was done intentionally for multiple reasons.

• Test sprinkler heads after deep Drill and Fill aeration to make sure no wires were damaged.
• Clean sand and debris from drives.  The kiln dried sand seems to hang around even after the head is cleaned off
• Rain was not enough to wash in fertilizer, amendments, and the wetting agent/soil spray.  The spray this afternoon needed to be washed in thoroughly, and the rainfall was not heavy enough to do it alone. The rain also was off and on, so there was a chance of burning the grass blades if the spray sat to long. 
• The extra water will help sand get washed in better/faster.

Frost Delays explained by USGA Agronomists

USGA: Our Experts Explain

Great read  on how frost can cause damage to the course.  Long term forcast looks like we could see some frost delays this week.


A video:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/zkoWWrHzuAg

USGA: Northeast

USGA: Northeast