PAR 4 Research Golf Auction

For the second year, the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association, which Chad and I are both members of, has organized the PAR 4 Research online golf auction to support turfgrass and environmental research at UW-Madison.  The auction runs from April 1-10 and can be found at http://www.par4research.com/.  Here, you'll find golf items from around the state that you can bid on.  We are proud that Blackhawk has once again provided a donation, and I hope that you will join the club in supporting this worthwhile cause.

Opening Update

With the warmer weather, there's understandably been some buzz about when Blackhawk will be opening.  Despite the relatively nice afternoons that we've been having recently, the frigid nighttime temperatures have prevented the turf from entering a phase of active growth. Couple this with ground that's still frozen in the more shady parts of the course, and we don't yet have conditions that are acceptable for opening.  With frozen soil and inactive plants, the possibility exists for long-term damage to occur to otherwise healthy plants that simply haven't yet fully woken up.  And, although tomorrow and Saturday look to be nice spring days, the other days look to be cold and/or wet.  We are cautiously optimistic that opening MAY be possible by mid to late next week.  Rest assured, we are just as ready for the course to open as you are, and it will be open as soon as it's ready.

Also, if you have time, feel free to take a few minutes to read some of the previous posts about how the course fared during winter. 

Winter Injury Video

If you have 13 minutes to spare and would like a great explanation of the ins and outs of winter injury, follow this link: http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=79f4umdab&et=1104914172407&s=18960&e=001PWTSGKttWv653dF-p6_idhVW8stwYqy4YmRyW9SfPbJaIhlKLzuwqn5j7t2tb62hfClwuvQLx1RMo2c9vftPvULH_tfTTJw1gBlzC0a-Hy-OyGtaL0wAMyvrMgRpLXQVC7LJGfB318ISGxf20ZD51aikzRyCCfqT0vVUMKVrQ80=

The video was created by USGA Agronomist, Adam Moeller.  Adam and I both interned at Blackhawk in 2004.  Adam is a fellow UW-Madison graduate who attained a masters degree from Purdue and is now working in the northeast region.

Post (?) Winter Update

With the frigid stretch of weather that we've reentered, it appears as if I should recant the comments about the weather forecasting skills of daffodils.  Sure, the warm weather will return, but it's not in any hurry.  I'm just glad that we didn't get the snow that the northern half of the state received this week

Besides some snow banks around 3, 6, and 17 greens, the white stuff has mostly disappeared from the course.  With that, Chad and I have been able to more fully evaluate the post-winter condition of the course.

As we suspected, the ice on 3 and 6 did damage the Poa annua, and there are a few other greens that appear to have suffered some winter injury.  Here's a rundown of the problem areas that we've observed:

3 Green:  The back half, which is the most shaded, suffered the most significant damage, and pin placements will likely be relegated to the front half of the green upon opening.  Overall, the green seems to be improving daily, but these cold temperatures may set it back.  However, on Wednesday, we put a cover on the back of the green to protect it from frost and to help warm the soil.

6 Green:  The damage on 6 green is much more mottled than on 3 green, but it was also showing improvement.  As the picture below illustrates, we covered the entire green on Wednesday.

These breathable covers will help protect fragile plants from frost while promoting recovery by retaining heat.

7, 8, and 14 greens:  All of these greens have more minor, concentrated damage in their centers.  This damage likely occurred during the more recent freeze/thaw cycles and looks similar to some minor damage that we've observed in the low-lying spots of a few fairways.  On 2 and 11 greens, there is a narrow band of injury that perfectly coincides with the edge of large drifts that had formed on these greens.  From this, we believe that there was a certain depth of snow on 7, 8, and 14 that was conducive to injury during the recent freeze/thaws.  The below picture of a river birch that's along 3 fairway gives a good illustration of how freeze/thaws can be damaging.

As temperatures warm and day length increases, plants are stimulated into taking up water and resuming growth.  Some of the water that the river birch was taking up escaped through an old pruning cut and formed a small, frozen waterfall.  Turf plants also begin to take up water, but their thin leaves freeze more easily and the expanding ice can rupture their cells.  While we see damage to the turf leaves, we're hoping that their crowns (fancy term for growing point) are intact.  If so, they'll recover quickly.  

16 green:  The damage to 16 green is very similar to that of 3 green.  The much more shady back half was the most affected, and it was also covered on Wednesday.  Once again, this half of the green will likely not be open immediately.  Luckily, I can't imagine that there are too many of you who enjoy pin positions on that portion of the green, anyway.

17 green:  The right half of 17 green definitely appears to have more injury than we'd expected.  Despite not having a significant duration of snow cover, this is unfortunately the best candidate for possibly having a temporary green upon opening.  Hopefully, a temporary green won't be necessary, and we've also covered the entire green to protect it and to promote recovery.

As you can see, having predominately Poa annua putting surfaces on a heavily tree-lined course during a winter that saw a lot of snow and several freeze/thaw cycles can create an interesting concoction of conditions come spring, and it's not a surprise that many of the aforementioned areas receive little to no winter sunshine due to southern shading, and even though 7, 8, 14, 16, and 17 were cleared of snow during the January 1 thaw, they still couldn't escape unscathed.

The good news is that the other 14 greens came through winter with little to no injury.  Now, we're hoping for a nice warming trend and quick recovery.

It's Melting...

The daffodils that are already emerging from the ground in front of my house indicate that winter just might be over.  Well, I'm crossing my fingers at least, and with the 10-day forecast calling for temperatures to remain above freezing, it seems as if the daffodils could be correct.  If you're like me, you're ready to see some green after a winter that's brought 71" of snow (43" is the to-date normal).

Naturally, the question becomes, "So, when's the course opening?"  There are two general conditions that have to be met before the course opens: 1) the frost is out of the ground and 2) the grass is actively growing so that it can recover from any wear and tear.  As of yesterday, the National Weather Service's Stoughton station reported a frost depth of 11" with only the top 1" of soil thawed.  Although the high temperatures this week have been above average, the nights have still been below freezing, and these cold nights have decreased frost thawing.  However, the higher sun angle and warmer air has put a good dent in the course's snow cover.  There is still a significant amount of snow in the most heavily shaded areas and surrounding the greens that we cleared earlier this winter, and it's unlikely that these piles will disappear over the next few days.

Last year, the course opened on March 24, which was the second earliest opening since 1973.  Since 1973, the first week of April has been the median opening date, and at this point, that seems to be a good target for this year.  Of course, it's totally weather-dependent and can change quickly and unexpectedly.  The average high temperature for March 16 is 43 degrees, but by April 1, that average climbs to 50 degrees.  So, despite the above-average temperatures that we're going to experience for the next couple of days, you still have a little bit of time to get those golf clubs cleaned up before the course opens.

From our perspective, as long as we don't have to do this...



On March 30, 2010, we had to clear ice from the shoreline and get our irrigation system running due to an early opening date and an unusually dry period.



...again, the grounds crew will be ready for opening.

Course Conditions Update

If you glance back to the post dated January 4, I wrote of our concern for the health of 3 and 6 greens.  Due to the location of these greens, and 3 in particular, northerly winds blow and deposit significantly more snow in these areas than on the rest of the greens.  This, combined with nearly complete winter shading, prevented these greens from clearing off during the New Year's Eve thaw.  Instead, some of the snowpack melted and turned into ice.  Similarly, snow melting from the bank adjacent to 16 green ran across the green's lower tier, towards the lake, and also formed ice.  Two years ago, when we had extensive winter damage, the extra snow on 3 and 6 actually allowed them to emerge unscathed from winter, but the opposite appears to be true this year.

On February 13, Chad and I chipped through the ice on 3 and 6 greens and brought in some plugs to assess their health.  The good news is that the plug from 6 looks healthy, but the not so good news is that the plug from the back half of 3 indicates that some winter damage has occurred.  Due to segregated populations of creeping bentgrass and Poa annua, these plugs likely don't tell the whole story of these greens, but they are indicators of the bigger picture.  More than likely, the weaker Poa annua plants that compose much of our greens succumbed to crown hydration, which occurs when free water in the plant turns to ice and causes the crown, or growing point, of the turf plant to explode.  Creeping bentgrass, on the other hand, tends to remain dormant and to not take up water during winter warm spells and is thus much less susceptible to crown hydration.  Thus, the areas on these greens with higher P. annua populations are likely to be most affected.

Right now, it's too soon to speculate on the extent of winter injury, and the common late winter thaw/freeze cycles have the potential to change the severity of the situation over the coming weeks.  Regardless, we are already make preparations to bring any damaged greens back to health as quickly as possible, while hoping for the best.

Last week, while touring the course, the higher sun angle resulted in significant melting, despite a high temperature that only reached 40 degrees.

The water was really flowing off of 12 and 13 into the drainage area that's to the right of 13 fairway.

In the flatter areas, such as 7 fairway, ponding water was commonplace.

Brush Removal

Over the past two years, we've begun picking away at the buckthorn, honeysuckle, and box elder that have taken over the wooded areas over the years.  Most notably, the areas to the right of 7 tee and by 9 green have been cleared recently.  These plants have the ability to spread very rapidly and take over the wooded understories.  When they do this, the more desirable native plants are out competed for sunlight and begin to disappear.  As part of our Audubon International certification process, reclaiming the health of these wooded areas is one of our priorities.  A few years ago, we teamed up with the village of Shorewood Hills to clear many undesirables from the area left of number 16, and this week, we again teamed up with the village forester and a team of public utility workers to clear the hillside to the right of 8 tee.


The "before" picture illustrates the brush that had taken over.



After 8 hours of work, it looks a little differently.

 Twelve years ago, the village installed a series of rain gardens in this area to capture the water that would rush down the slope.  Initially, there were some prairie-type plants in the rain gardens, but after years of neglect, they have been taken over by weeds and brush.  This year, they will be making a more concerted effort to get the more attractive prairie plants established.

And, while we were out there, we also removed some of the invasives from the edge of the woods by the tee.

The woods along 8 tee.

All in all, it was a great project, and due to the cooperation between the village and our crew, we were able to get a lot of work done in a short period of time.  Over the years, we've certainly benefitted from having a great relationship with these village workers, and their equipment and labor really made this a successful project.  Hopefully, in a few years, these areas will be filled with prairie grasses and flowers.