Water, water every where, and not a drop to irrigate

Now that the U.S. Open has made headlines by going to a more traditional "links" course, the spotlight has been put on less maintenance, more "browning" due to less water, and, wait for it, *GASP*, more fescue type rough areas.

The climate of golf has changed in the past 5-10 years.  With less time being allotted for recreation and more emphasis on family time, the norm may soon be courses of the style of Chambers Bay, Whistling Straights, and yes our little Links at Piper's.  We are following some of the more traditional "old world" values of golf greens keeping with lowered input of water on fairway and rough areas, as well, with any luck we will be adding a few waste areas in the future to lower the water needs further.

As we are all aware, the drought that has grasped the Southwest United States, is a very real threat with climate issues arising near daily.  To say as an industry we need to change and evolve is an understatement.  We are very lucky in this area to have a near inexhaustible source of water in the Saugeen River, and Lake Huron as well.  But we also know all to well that we have rolling water restrictions put on us in the Town of Saugeen Shores every summer.

Our philosophy in our Turf Department is less water on fairway and out of play areas the better.  We know our fescue is punishing, imagine how thick it would be if we watered it?  And really whats a hard fairway aside from a few extra yards of roll, who wouldn't want that?  As we hear the pros complaining about the conditions at Chambers Bay, remember we are now adjusting the game to make the course more sustainable in the long run, because there are very real dangers of water restrictions, should our little slice of heaven all of a sudden cease to be there.  If we slow the process, we will have fresh water for many generations to come.

So this summer, when your drive lands in the fairway, and you see a puff of dust, remember that we are just doing our part to help Mother Earth sustain us for the long haul, by not spending as much if her assets in areas where they may not be needed.  Brown may soon become the new green.

Clear Sunny Weather

Albeit cold out, this clear sunny weather has been great for the golf course.  The snow is melting slowly, we should have a lot less standing water around this spring, and to boot, the greens came out of winter looking absolutely fantastic.  We have take the last of the snow off of the few greens that did have lingering snow amounts, and we are now just waiting for all the snow to be gone so we are able to work on the course and prep it for our members and golfing public.

We are just starting to bet busy in the shop, reconstructing mower heads, and sharpening our blades in anticipation of grass in need of cutting.  Now is the key time for spring green up, and we are hoping that the temperatures stay around the 0 degree to 10 degree mark with ample sunlight.  We are in need of a couple of spring showers as well to help thaw out the soil, as it is still quite chilly down there in the root zone.  This way the grass can start to uptake any nutrient locked up in the soil from last fall's fertilizer applications.

We will be hoping, as many of you are, that Mother Nature will give us exactly what we need in a timely fashion, so we may get the course operating at full potential much earlier than last season.

Season close

Well, another golf season is ended, and the course has been put to bed.  I want to take a moment to thank all of those members and guests who played the course this year, and the many positive reviews we received from players.  I only hope that our crew of very dedicated staff met or exceeded all of your expectations, and gave you an exceptional course to play on.  

As the Golf Course Superintendent I only hope that next year will be better in condition, (and weather) for all of you, and new golfers to enjoy the "Links" experience we have tried very hard to embody at Piper's Glen.   

Thanks to my staff.  You have all made it very easy, by being dedicated to the jobs and tasks given to you, and worked with the greatest of detail in mind.  Thanks Darren, John, Klaus, Joe, Ben, Tanner, and Blake.  It is easy with a great bunch of workers such as yourselves.

I must also take a moment to thank the inside operations staff for their continued support.  Without them tirelessly informing you, the golfer, about where my work is being done, I couldn't possibly get everything in the condition it was in.  Thanks Glen, Wendy, Brad, Richard, Daryl, and Jim.

Finally, I would like to thank our ownership.  They support every aspect of what I do out there, and give me everything I need to produce the conditions that golfers appreciate everyday that they play.  Without this support, my job would be increasingly difficult to perform from a maintenance stand point as well as at the administration level.  Thank you Rod, and the support staff at Rice Development.

Have a great off season and we hope to see all of you in the spring when we kick off another great season at the Links at Piper's Glen.

Evan Martin

Golf Course Superintendent

'Tis the season

Once again the days are getting shorter and we are looking to squeeze every bit of golf into the fading daylight.  We too, in the turfgrass world have a lot to squeeze into the shorter, autumn days and will do our best to not to impede your game.  In the next little while we will be aerating tees, fairways, and yes, the greens...I think I just heard you all groan, "not the greens"!  

We have had a great year at the Links this season, conditions were optimal, and still are.  The course was, I am hoping, to your satisfaction.  But like every season that darned invasive fall maintenance has set its sights on us again.  We will try very hard to do all we can to not disrupt the conditioning of the greens until as late as possible, and when we do the tees, we will keep them in play and go about our business as efficiently as we can.  Please talk to our friendly pro shop staff for news of what maintenance will be going on what days.

Thank you, and see you on the LINKS!

Ball marks...

Is there anything more frustrating than your ball hitting a ball mark when it is tracking on a putt?  This is something that should make high and low handicappers alike cringe.  These craters on the face of the green are also very frustrating to the greens keeper as well.  You see, the ball mark is both a breeding ground for disease and invasive plant life, and a problematic issue for the mowers as well.  If left unrepaired on a creeping Bentgrass green, poa annua is allowed to invade, as well as clover, creeping charlie, moss and algae.  All of these invasive species can cause issues in putting green quality, and are very hard to control as very few chemical herbicides can be used on Bentgrass without injury to the Bentgrass occurring.  

As well as being an environment to the invasion of weeds, a raised ball mark will scalp which will incite disease issues.  These issues must be treated with expensive chemicals that we do not wish to use on the course unless absolutely necessary.  5 seconds is all it takes to fix a ball mark, it's amazing that 5 seconds of negligence can possibly cost the golf course thousands of dollars in chemical and man hours.

As well as disease issues, unrepaired ball marks can also cause damage to the intricate reel type mower that keeps our greens cut at 140/1000 of an inch, and lower at some golf courses.  That's almost one eighth of an inch.  Check out a tape measure to see just how low that is.  This raised piece of earth can damage the reel and/or the bed knife which then must be taken apart and sharpened or replaced.  This takes hours of our time to repair, or as I said before 5 seconds of your time to repair your ball mark.

In conclusion, we have the ability to take a few seconds to repair the epidemic that is ball marks, when you do this you make the game more enjoyable for everyone, so fix your marks and one other and enjoy the game every day.

Finally!

Here is the weather we have all been waiting for.  The temperatures have finally hit the 20's and things are really starting to grow.  We have just finished spraying all the fairways for weeds and are moving on to the rough.  Over the next few weeks we will be doing a few different practices to the golf course, we will be fertilizing the rough and fairways, tees are going to be solid tine aerated, and we will be spiking the greens to help water infiltration and oxygen exchange to the roots.  This is a very pivotal time for the course as we have shifted gears from very wet to very dry in the matter of a few weeks.  The greens have started to firm up, and with this the greens will need to be doctored along with a few extra cultural practices.  Spiking is a non invasive form of aeration to aid with water getting into the rootzone and allow for oxygen in so the roots can breathe.

Winter in Southern Ontario

Wow, what a crazy winter.  This past 6 months has been a roller coaster of weather events.  We have seen 20 degree swings in temperature overnight, we have had record low temps, and record high snow falls.  Torrents of rain followed by 2 days well below freezing, and the spring still hasn't arrived.

On the plus side of the coin, our golf course handled the winter very well, with turf loss limited to fairways and the odd tee, and very little issues with the greens.  Heat and sun is all we lack now, but I am sure that is coming soon.  If I can judge Mother Nature from the last few months she is going to go from 0-60 in one fell swoop.

On another note, I just want to share a few things with you here.  There have been some of my counterparts in Ontario this winter who have seen the absolute worst that Mother Nature has to offer.  On older greens consisting of poa annua turf grass the winter was not good at all.  The cause was non preventable, as the heavy ice layers under insulation of snow caused this type of turf to suffocate and perish.  I have linked an article I hope you will read to understand the frailty of our turf in certain situations and have a little bit of understanding towards what the golf course itself goes through in an extreme winter such as this past one.

http://canadiangolfer.com/g4g/2014/04/25/ontario-courses-with-poa-greens-struggle-to-deal-with-cold-weather-carnage/