usga green section turf advisory service … james... · mid-atlantic region green section 485 ......

United States Golf Association Mid-Atlantic Region Green Section

485 Baltimore Pike, Suite 203 Glen Mills, Pennsylvania 19342

(610) 558-9066 FAX (610) 558-1135

USGA GREEN SECTION TURF ADVISORY SERVICE REPORT

JAMES RIVER COUNTRY CLUB Newport News, Virginia

August 2, 2012

PRESENT: Bert Kelly, Club President Allen Tanner, Board Member Bobby Lanier, Green Committee Chairman Mike Link, Committee Member Moe Bsat, C.O.O., General Manager Sean Daly, Assistant Golf Professional Jay Long, Golf Course Superintendent Stanley J. Zontek, USGA Green Section

James River Country Club August 6, 2012

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The following report is offered to summarize the major points of discussion during our half-day meeting at James River Country Club on Thursday, August 2, 2012. This report will include observations, suggestions and recommendations made during our tour of your facility. INTRODUCTION This has not been a good year to grow cool-season grasses in the Tidewater area of Virginia. It has been a great year to grow bermudagrass or zoysiagrass. What’s the difference? Creeping bentgrass is a cool-season grass and the other two grasses are, warm-season grasses. As the name implies, the cool-season grasses struggle with prolonged summer heat stress whereas the other grasses thrive. Conversely, when cool weather returns, creeping bentgrass grows at its best and the warm-season grasses begin to go dormant and reach complete dormancy over the winter. That’s why they turn brown/tan in color. Additionally, the hot weather has affected all golf courses in the Mid-Atlantic region and in fact, over most of the country. This is not an excuse, it is a fact.

Turf loss on the Seventh green being viewed by Mr. Bsat. This has not been a good summer for your greens. While other areas of the golf course have been the best in years, the damage to the greens consumed most of our time. Truly, the condition of your golf course from tee-to-green was perhaps the best ever, but the problem exists with your greens. An analysis of what to do is included in this report.


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What has been different between one region to another and even one part of an area, is the amount of rainfall that has occurred. Some areas are having a drought whereas other areas, like yours, have been overly wet. When you combine prolonged periods of heat and humidity along with wet weather, you have absolutely the worst scenario for the growth of healthy creeping bentgrass. Therefore, even before the resodding project for your collars, and through the rest of the summer, it has been a challenging year to grow grass on greens. Truly, some courses have done better than others but we will concentrate on your course. This report will be a departure from the traditional format of USGA Turf Advisory Service reports. We will attempt to answer a number of questions discussed during our visit while looking at the damage on the greens. The final part of our report will follow a more traditional USGA report format. QUESTIONS 1. What happened? Why did the grass around almost every perimeter of the greens show decline and general loss of turf? Almost always, turf loss is associated with a number of different factors; a disease or an insect damaging the grass are individual factors but, it is those combinations of factors that usually occur. Those factors include, post-plant care of the zoysiagrass surround-ing all of the greens. We agree with Mr. Long, in watering these new areas of sod, some of the water inadvertently ran onto the greens. The soil and thatch became saturated and wet and when these areas were cut, mechanical damage occurred. (See image next page.) That is, the grass was essentially scalped and abrasion occurred as the thatch swelled up and the mowers sank in. The worst damage in most cases occurred on sharp turns where extra abrasion developed.

A close-up. You can almost imagine the sod being watered and the seepage onto the green. The good news is that the zoysia resodding project has turned out well although there were some “unintended consequences” on the adjacent putting green turf.


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Overall, the new zoysiagrass sod has performed well but one of the unintended conse-quences of its establishment has been too much water on the grass which made the edges of the greens too wet and this began the wet wilt and stress that occurred. Compounding the extra water issue was…heavy rainfall. In all honesty, this only made matters worse. Once the turf became weak abrasion continued and it became worn out right through the summer and, yes, even now. The unfortunate part in all this is that, you still have to mow the grass. Ways to speed the recovery will be discussed later in this report.

When grass is lost, one of the first things we look for is, a pattern. Most of your greens suffered turf loss on the outer edges of the greens after the collars were sodded to zoysiagrass. In the normal watering process, excess water runs onto the green. This keeps the outer edges of your greens, wet, too wet. When you combine this extra moisture to all the rainfall your area received as well as the heat and humidity, all the ingredients were in-place for damaged grass when these areas were mowed, and they had to be mowed. See report for what happened and how to achieve recovery. Now that the zoysia has been established, this type of damage should hopefully be nothing more than just a bad memory.


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2. What else? There were other contributing factors. For one, once these areas were damaged, Mr. Long and his staff attempted to sod out the worst of these areas. Under normal circumstances and even normal summer temperatures, the sod would have had a better chance to survive. In many cases, it did not. It declined along with the rest of the grass. Secondly, the hot soils from the summer heat is not conducive to root growth in general, is detrimental in fact, and the new sod just did not adequately root so the new sod declined along with the grass on the greens. Thirdly, did the plastic liner around the greens have an effect? No. And here is why. As was seen during our visit, as we probed the lowest area on the green adjacent to the liner, there was no black layer, no anaerobic foul-smelling odor from the soil, discolored soil from prolonged wetness or even, excess moisture at the bottom of the probe. If any of these situations would have occurred, the plastic barrier would be considered a factor. The simple fact we saw no excess moisture at the bottom of the probe, we detected no unusual odors and did not see any discoloration of the soil tells us that, quite clearly, the plastic liner was not a factor. Note: sometimes it is. It is always at the low front of a green where liners can possibly affect water drainage out of the profile but again, this is easily detectable by black layer near the surface and wet soil at the bottom of the soil probe. Again, this did not occur even with all the rain you did receive. The plastic liner or, “wicking barrier” was not a factor in this problem. Note: from time to time, this wicking barrier does need to be either trimmed or pounded back down into the soil (like along the right side of the Ninth green where it is elevated above the grass). This can create a playability/Rules-of-Golf situation. The barrier should not be visible or only barely visible on the surface. In summary, your problems no doubt started with the installation of the zoysia sod around the greens and it was compounded by the failure of the areas that were sodded out in an attempt to repair the damage. There were no obvious disease, insect or even fertilizer burn issues; it is excess moisture during a hot summer compounded by mowing the perimeter cut around the greens. In trying to diagnose turf loss problems, you always look for patterns, for common denominators. The simple fact is, essentially all of the major turf loss occurred on the outer edges of the greens where the hand mowers turn, lift and then are dropped back down onto the grass. When you combine all of this with a hot, wet summer, some turf was lost. Again, grass just does not naturally die in a pattern, and your greens definitely have a pattern.


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3. How to speed recovery? In a perfect world, without compounding factors, most of these areas could be reseeded and some areas resodded. However, the best source for putting green quality sod, Colin Boyd Turf Industries, may not be available due to legal issues not related to turf man-agement. The other putting green quality sod is grown on field soil, which, when sodded onto a sandy soil, creates a layer that affects rooting while restricting water movement through the soil and in fact, keeps water near the surface of the soil which isn’t good. Washed sod may be an option but we honestly do not know of any sod farm that still, washes sod. When you wash sod you wash off the soil that comes in with the sod, leaving a mat of roots, stems and leaves. In an equally perfect world, you would have a large enough sod nursery with the same grass growing on the same soil as is in your greens. In this situation, there would be no layering issue, it would be a direct replacement but, the sod in your nursery is all but exhausted. It was good to learn Mr. Long plans to reestablish the sod nursery this fall. It is a necessary and needed effort.

How best to achieve recovery was an important part of our visit and, this report. Some of the areas that were sodded, failed. Perhaps seed is the best option, certainly in the short term. We plan to return in a few weeks to see how well these areas have recovered. See report.


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This only leaves seed. As was discussed during our visit, in order to reestablish a good stand of seed, you need to surface aerate or dimple tine. This punches holes just about a half inch deep which allows the seed to germinate and then become established and …spread. Almost certainly, these areas may have to be seeded more than once. Time will tell, because some areas will recover faster and better than others. It is also good to mulch the seed with light topdressing or even use the natural organic fertilizer, Milorganite. Here again, the goal is to have tufts of grass as close to each other as possible for, rapid recovery. Keep the fertility generous because, after all, in some areas this is a near grow-in. Note: do not skimp on seed; 2-3 lbs. of seed per 1,000 sq. ft. is not unrealistic. Also, these areas may have to be seeded a second and possibly even a third time. It all depends upon the catch and also, how much of the existing turf will naturally recover. Be mindful of damping-off diseases and, yes, we like using the coated seed from the Barenbrug Seed Company. The seed coating helps germination and ultimate establish-ment. Once seeded, keep the area damp, not wet, with frequent light syringings preferably by hand. Mr. Long is well aware of the grow-in process but it is worth mentioning nonethe-less. Raising the mowing heights on the outer perimeter cuts may also be a good idea until these areas have grown back. One final point. On the smaller spots of dry wilt, like we saw on your Second and (was it?) Fourteenth greens, these areas are best plugged-out. In fact, this would be a good project before your Member/Guest event in August. While these areas do not affect playability, they just do not look very good. This is a good project. 4. Can this type of turf damage be prevented? To some extent, yes. In all honesty, a good case can be made for installing a few high capacity fans on those more pocketed and enclosed and damaged greens. Specifically, the Fourth and Seventh greens. It is a question of electrical power more than the price of installing a fan. You have some investigating to do before a decision should be made. That said though, we are seeing increasing usage of fans on golf courses. They cool the turf, they even cool the players but more importantly, they dry out excess moisture while keeping canopy temperatures much lower. It is an investment worth looking into. How do you prevent hot weather? How do you prevent thunderstorms? We wish we had an answer for these. Mr. Long asked the question about using a SubAire, a machine that sucks excess water out of the soil. To answer the question, we have been monitoring the SubAire system at Congressional Country Club. Their Director of Golf and Grounds Maintenance, Mike


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Giuffre, (301) 767-3775, considers his fans much more beneficial to the grass than is the SubAire. Also, if you were having moisture retention issues within the putting green profile then, it would be easier to recommend the SubAire. Right now, the drainage in your putting green cavities seems to be working just fine. Have we missed anything? If so, please do not hesitate to contact our office for any addendums or follow-up answers which may be required. Additionally, we will endeavor to stop-by either later this month or in September, as we pass through the area. When we know for sure, we will give Messrs. Long and Bsat a call. Other topics were discussed. These include: GREENS 1. Second Green. Another possible candidate for a fan would be on the Second hole. Over the winter, try to remove those low hanging limbs which are blocking air drainage. Then, wait and see. If natural airflow is good then, a fan is not needed. If air drainage is not good then consider installing a fan. The fortunate part about the Second green is that it is located so close to the pump house. Thus, adequate electricity is only a short distance away. Of all the fans, this may be the easiest and most economical to install if one is needed. Time will tell. 2. Nematodes. We agree with Mr. Long, as you begin rebuilding your grasses rooting systems this fall (and they do need to be rebuilt), be mindful of nematodes, microscopic root parasites. In fact, a preventative nematicide application may be a good thought because, with our prolonged high soil temperatures, some of these microscopic insects are definitely present in your soils, probably, not at very high levels. Yet, for the money involved and with so little environmental risk, it is an application or two worth making. 3. Isolated Dry Spots. It was interesting to note that on the outer edges of the greens

turf was lost from too much water whereas, on other parts of the greens, like on your Second and Fourteenth greens, small patches of grass were being affected by dry wilt. In the morning, check dew patterns. Some of this wilt is superficial in nature but some of this wilt could be associated with the beginnings of isolated dry spots. Again, the dew pattern will tell the story. If you do need an extra wetting agent application, vent the greens with solid tines and then make your wetting agent application. This will help the material to penetrate into the soil. 4. Management of Dry Spots. As was discussed during our visit, the best way to manage these small dry spots, as long as they are not isolated dry spots, is to simply spot water and lightly syringe the greens. With the heat, this is almost an everyday occurrence. No doubt your shallow and damaged rooting system (see digital image


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below with brown roots) might make light hand watering even more important for these last few weeks of summer. 5. Collar Dams. You’re right, in planning for the future, some of the “collar dams” eventually should be lowered. Collar dams exist where the collar is higher than the green. This affects surface drainage off the green. Any area where water puddles eventually develops into bad grass. While a number of greens had collar dams, two of the most obvious were on your Sixteenth and Eighteenth greens. This is not easy work. A tremendous amount of sod needs to be removed, soil removed and the grass replaced. Because you are dealing with bermudagrass, unfortunately, this work is best done during warmer weather so the grass will have a chance to recover. It is a bit tricky to do the work in the fall but, it can be done. The choice is yours.

Summer rooting in the greens was good. The hot summer is never good for roots of cool-season grasses like the bentgrass on your greens. The heat damages roots. By contrast, your bermudagrass, a warm-season grass, thrives in the heat. In any case, except for the outer edges of the greens and a few areas of dry wilt, the centers of the greens were good.


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FAIRWAYS Conditions. As the digital image attempts to show, your fairways were in excellent condition. True, with the heat and rainfall, the fairways are growing aggressively even without fertilizer. Indeed, a fourth application of a growth applicator, to slow top growth and to reduce puffiness and the resulting scalping that can occur, was being applied the day of our visit. This is money well spent to keep your fairways tight and free of another form of mechanical damage, scalping. It has been a common problem on bermudagrass fairways this summer. With heat, humidity and excess moisture the fairways (or any bermudagrass area) can become soft and puffy. Keep mowing the grass and, the growth regulator should help…that’s the bottom line.

Again, it has been a good year for growing bermudagrass but a difficult year for growing creeping bentgrass. We absolutely agree with the group, overall, your fairways were in the best condition ever. Even your roughs were doing well, except along tree lines where shade and tree root competition is causing turf thinning. If an area is of great

The Celebration bermudagrass in your fairways continues to perform beautifully. The weather has been good for bermudagrass (perhaps too good). Some areas of puffiness have developed but overall, your bermudagrass fairways have pro-vided excellent playing surfaces. The view down your Eighteenth hole is impressive.


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concern, be sure to prune the tree roots first before doing any other work. Maybe that will be enough to get the grass growing. This could be a project for the future. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Ornamental Beds.

2. Tree Lines. While on the subject of tree root competition, the fall is always a good time to try to plant some grass in your tree lines. Mr. Long plans to seed these areas with a traditional Shade Mix. It may be the best choice, whichever grass in this mix survives is the best and most adaptable to this area. 3. New Standards. As mentioned, it may be worthwhile to look into the effect Tier 4

emission controls will have on golf course maintenance equipment. Almost certainly, these air pollution standards will increase the cost of machinery and make mower maintenance much more complicated than it is now. You may even need computerized diagnostic equipment to maintain the engines.

While not discussed in the body of this report, we continue to support the gradual reduction in the number of ornamental beds out on the course. They are expensive to maintain and most areas could easily be reduced in size. Having more grass near the shelter is a great idea.


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Go online. Tier 4 regulations are being discussed by all organizations including the CMAA and GCSAA. Cleaner air comes at a cost. CONCLUSION Have we missed anything? If we have, please let us know. It is important to get all of these points, “right.” In closing, I would like to thank the Club for its gracious and generous hospitality which is always shown to me during my visits to James River Country Club. Thank you. This concludes our summary of the major points of discussion during our visit and tour of your golf course. If any questions arise concerning this visit, our report or any other area, please feel free to call our office. We are here to help.

Sincerely, Stanley J. Zontek Director SJZ:m Jay Long, Golf Course Superintendent Moe Bsat, C.O.O., General Manager Jeremy Franks, Golf Professional Bert Kelly, Club President Bobby Lanier, Green Committee Chairman

usga green section turf advisory service … james... · mid-atlantic region green section 485 ......

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