October 3

Greetings Members,

After seeing remnants of two or three tropical storms, the golf course received 9.62" of rainfall during September. We went from the dry summer season with stressed, slow growing and thin rough, to a rough that is playing quite difficult. Apologies to golfers for thick rough, and we acknowledge the appreciation from golf ball manufacturer's accountants.

This wet week has interrupted the fairway aeration process. However, we will get back to this important process next week. Most fairways have taken the aggressive aeration quite well, except for shady #15, where obvious injury was apparent.

We are installing a bluegrass and fescue turfgrass nursery in the driving range, close to 18 fairway. This half acre area will enable us to grow and later install sod to turf areas that are mowed at intermediate rough height and higher.

To prepare the area, we first applied a herbicide to kill all existing turf. (This area will turn to a straw brown color in a week or so) After a few days, we will aerate the area to remove thatch and to expose soil. We will then seed with a seed mixture of Kentucky bluegrass and fine leafed fescues. After maturity, the sod that grows from this mix can be used in all areas mentioned above, including bunker bankings.

USGA Agronomist Visit Next Thursday @ 9AM

USGA Agronomist Mr. Jim Skolurlski will visit Potowomut next Thursday, September 18th at 9:00AM. We will tour the golf course until 11:00AM or so. The purpose of his visit is to monitor our progress and suggest more ways to improve our golf course and our operation. Jim sees close to 200 golf courses per year, and always provides a wealth of information for both me and my staff, and members.

This meeting usually provides casual conversations with plenty of opportunity to ask a question or learn a bit about golf course maintenance.

Consider yourself invited!!

Aerification

And the good news is......Greens have all been aerated and topdressed and are healing. With good weather, we expect the aeration do heal within a week or so.

Greens were aerated using two different methods. (Conventional aeration and sand injection) The third scheduled process, the deep tine operation, was canceled due to high moisture levels in the soil due to rainfall (3.92") generated by Hanna last weekend. We had fear this equipment could cause greens surface damage for an extended period this fall.

Next, we will begin to aerate tees and fairways. We expect to begin early next week and will work into October to complete fairways.

Our apologies for the inconvenience of aeration, but these processes begins to prepare the turf for success next summer.

Fertilizer Costs

We have all heard and read stories of prices rising this year due to the surge in oil costs. Higher prices are hurting us all personally, and will continue to in the future.

The cost of fertilizers on world markets is rising faster than anything I have read about to date. Fertilizer prices in the US have mostly doubled, and in some cases risen 500% during the last fifteen months due to many factors. Nope, the 500% is NOT a typo. Reasons for the cost explosion include:

-Surging worldwide oil costs.
-The United States' developing ethanol (corn) fuel dependence, causing higher
demand for fertilizer, and higher prices.
-Developing third world countries' demand for a modern diet, a diet that
includes protein based foods supported by higher yield plants and
animals grown with the fertilizers of modern agriculture.
-Mines and fertilizer refining plants operating at capacity, a problem
resembling oil refining capacity in the US.
-Hoarding by some national governments, driving prices even higher.

Obviously, costs to fertilize turfgrass have risen dramatically already this year for Potowomut. Fertilizer decisions, never taken lightly, have more ramifications today compared with last season.

Next time, I promise we will write about something positive!!

How to best the pests.....

The past week, yours truly has been applying our grub protection for the season. We apply the insecticide "Merit" (Imidacloprid) to all property within our Rhode Island stone walls and forests. This process minimizes turfgrass damage caused by beetle larvae (grubs) feeding on roots, but also eliminates damage from large rodents that will search and destroy turf looking for a grub dinner later in the fall.

If the turf at your home has suffered from grub damage in past years, now is the proper time to apply any product that uses Merit as its insecticide ingredient. Products that use a different insecticide to control grubs should be applied between August 10th to 20th. Always read and follow label directions, and please remember that most materials need to be activated by rainfall or irrigation.

Friday July 25

Rainbow Derby Greetings,

What a difference a couple of days can make!!! On Wednesday, we were just about to send an email telling you about lack of rainfall, record number of gallons pumped by irrigation the last two weeks, stressed turfgrass in the rough and a request for a Potowomut rain dance or two.

After the last two days, however, the story has changed a bit. The rain dance has worked. The thunderstorm we witnessed here on Wednesday afternoon was extremely severe. We saw heavy winds, constant cloud to ground lightning and an inch of rainfall in quite a short time. Lucky for us, we only lost a few tree branches, and the protections installed to prevent lightning damage to irrigation components were up to the task. (We also received some much needed rain, 2.90" in total.)

We will begin adding sand to a few bunkers during the next few weeks. We will address bunkers commonly hit into that are lacking sand. They include the front greenside bunkers on 3, and 4, 6 and 10 right bunkers, and 16. Other bunkers will be addressed if sand supply remains.

Bunkers with sand added will play a bit differently as sand settles. Expect it to take a year for sand to settle and play as other bunkers on the golf course. We will do our best to hasten the sand settling process by applying water and compacting new sands with heavy equipment.

Today, the project to pave the cartpath that leads from the 3rd tee toward 8 tee will begin. We will do out best to alleviate traffic problems as the contractor completes the project. The bottom binder will be applied today and the top coat of asphalt will be completed next week.

Tidbits....From July 7 to July 21, we pumped a 15 day record 3,421,000 gallons of irrigation water. Old record of 2,600,000 gallons was established last year between August 27 to September 10....We will continue to sever tree roots with machine, filling in with soil and seed.....Please continue to help your golf course by repairing your ballmark plus one other, and please only use divot sand on fairway divots only. Please use divot sand sparingly, as too much sand in some divots is damaging mowers!!

Patrick Gertner CGCS

Fine Tuning Irrigation

Even though we have been using the new irrigation system for three golf seasons, minor upgrades and changes within both sprinkler components and Rainbird software are still being made. Just this week, fairway edges on the 7th fairway began to dry excessively, showing weak coverage despite nightly irrigation. Larger nozzles that throw water farther were installed, increasing irrigation coverage to both fairway and rough.

We have installed larger nozzles (and increased irrigation coverage) to many areas since 2005. Larger nozzles installed last fall to green perimeter heads have improved green surrounds by increasing coverage. Larger nozzles installed at #2 green helped this green improve this year. I estimate that 25% to 35% of all heads have had a nozzle change since the system was completed in 2005.

We have written and use different irrigation programs that assign longer or shorter run times for each golf course area, such as greens, tees, fairways, roughs, practice tees, etc. On days the weather station computes maximum water loss in turfgrass plants, (such as almost all of July this year) longer run times are chosen for each different area.

From the irrigation computer, we can adjust each of the 1100 sprinkler heads. To "fine tune" the system even further, run times of individual heads can be raised or lowered as a percentage of the chosen run time. This adjustment is based on how the turf is performing at the location of each sprinkler head. For example, the sprinkler head located on the top tee of #14 is currently adjusted to irrigate 200% of the chosen run time because of its normally dry condition. Heads located on the left side of the second fairway of #15 have been adjusted to 50% or less because of the large shade causing beech tree located there. Heads throughout the property have different percentages assigned based on how the turf usually performs in that area. These percentages are constantly being monitored and changed.

OK....I had better get back to my hose, still the most important piece of irrigation equipment we own!!

The hues of summer....

Greetings!!

Summer dry periods give the golf course different shades of greens and browns, especially in the rough. Rough areas are irrigated, but are not given enough water to provide the lush and green conditions seen during wetter seasons of spring and fall.

Our irrigation system was designed to provide water for greens, tees and fairways. Fairways have three heads placed across their widths, except #7 which has only two, because of this hole's thinner design. Each of the three heads' main responsibility is to provide enough water to keep fairways viable. It doesn't matter if a sprinkler head is placed in the fairway OR the rough, its job is to irrigate fairway turf for golf. (Alternative irrigation designs that provide sufficient water for rough turf were cost prohibitive.)

Providing the additional water through these heads to perfectly maintain rough would cause wet conditions for golf, as well as increases in both turfgrass disease and insect activity.

Because of the above explanation, during the dry months of July and August the golf course rough takes on a few different colors of greens and browns. When turf is stressed as the rough is today, these rough grasses go into a dormant state that protects it from permanent damage. When significant rains of September and October arrive, the plants break their dormancy and again turn to the thicker, lush conditions that lead to greener conditions and more difficult golf shots.

We are fortunate to enjoy the wonderful game of golf during a great summer for golf in Rhode Island! One reason for my love of the game is because every golf course changes each time we play it. Enjoy the changes, the many different hues of summer, along with the less penal rough!!

(2) Friday Greens Applications

With warmer temperatures, wet conditions and high humidity, different disease organisms become active and potentially destructive. If left uncontrolled, they would damage all short cut turfgrass before too long, rendering our golf course unsuitable for the game of golf.

Greens were sprayed twice on Friday, June 27th. In the morning, greens received these ten chemical materials:

1. A combination of two different fungicides. These materials were applied to prevent the disease anthracnose. Combinations of two or three different materials are always used to combat this Northeast disease. Like a boxer who uses two different punches, such as a body shot and a jab to topple his opponent, we are doing the same by using chemicals with different modes of action in the same application. Thanks to Dr. Bruce Clarke at Rutgers University whose tireless research has provided control strategies for Superintendents on anthracnose. If you would like to learn more about anthracnose, I have attached a Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England Newsletter that begins with a 2007 report from Dr. Clarke and associates. This can be found in the "links" section.

2. A growth regulator was applied to slow turfgrass growth on greens. While growth is slowed, plants use less water and provide superior putting surfaces in speed and smoothness.

3. A low dose insecticide was added to prevent damage from hyperodes weevil's second generation of the year. Larvae (small grubs) of hyperodes have caused problems at NE courses this year. To date, we are free of this pest that consumes turf stems, crowns and roots, and plan to stay that way!! This material also controls damaging cutworm, so we are getting broad spectrum control with this one application.

4. Six different high tech greens soluble fertilizers were mixed and applied in the morning application. Greens may take on a darker green appearance for the next week or so, and this healthy look can be attributed to these products supplied by Floratine and Rootex. Healthy plants withstand stress and provide the highest quality and most reliable putting surfaces.

This first application was allowed to sit undisturbed on plants all day, because leaves were absorbing these materials into cells where they will be utilized and
transported by the plants.

At close to 7:00 PM, we began the evening application.

First, a different fungicide "ProStar" was applied that works on soil borne disease Fairy Ring. This was used to eliminate the small and large dark green circular patches present on a few greens. Fairy ring damages greens, especially at later stages of disease development, and is quite difficult and expensive to control. This was the second treatment this month to eliminate Fairy Ring. I believe these patches will take a week or two to finally disappear.

Because this fungicide works in soil, we added a wetting agent material to the application. The wetting agent will help move the ProStar fungicide where the pathogen resides....into the soil. To assist the movement of the fungicide, we ran ten minutes of irrigation on each green, split into two five minute cycles.

Please feel free to email questions, or stop me to ask, anytime!!

Help!!!!

We have begun to fill holes and voids in rough areas with soil and seed. Between irrigation cycles and the wet summer, we are seeing some early germination success!! We do, however, need your help on this project.

Seeded areas are being flagged off with small colored flags. Please help us by staying off these areas with both golf carts and foot traffic. Together, we can and will continue Potowomut's improvement.

These flagged areas will be painted and maintained as ground under repair.

As long as we are asking for favors, we also need help on greens. During July and August, we rely on more irrigation cycles to keep them alive. Increased irrigation can lead to ballmarks....and this is where we seek your help. Please help your golf course by taking the time to properly repair your ballmark plus one other. Pinch the turf toward the center of the ballmark, and smooth with your putter.

One more request....have a great summer and play well!!!

Update

This week, we are working on a few projects.

1. Bunker edging has begun, and will be completed by the end of the week. Edging is done to contain lateral grass growth from the bunkers, and to give them a nice clean look. As part of this process, we are also re-distributing sand back to bunker bankings and higher areas caused by water erosion.

2. I am sure you have noticed the two drainage pipes that we have dug up and exposed. Drainage water was found gushing from the ground Sunday behind the 2nd green, and was spilling onto the green. The pipe here begins at the clubhouse entrance as it drains parking lot water under the clubhouse and into the pond on #2. During construction of this pipe, two old clay pipes met, and the mechanism that joined the pipes together crumbled. It appears this was repaired in the past, but the repair was done with a tar roofing material and failed again.

On #12, a dangerous sinkhole has been evident for months. The pipe here carries water from the small pond under the approach, to an outlet left of the cartpath. Since the pond is at the lowest elevation in this, the wettest area of the golf course, it provides an important drainage function. Sure enough, we found the old clay pipe had failed, as a four foot section collapsed, causing pond overflow water to divert around the pipe. Thus, the sinkhole formed. We expect repairing this pipe will provide drier conditions on the 12th approach.

Both pipes will be properly repaired within the next few days.

3. We installed a garden designed to supply habitat for butterflies near the 14th teeing areas. Plants Mac installed will provide food, water, shelter and places for egg laying and plants for young larvae to feed on. A butterfly house is on order and will be installed next week. A few monarchs have already found the garden. We are excited about watching the garden mature hope to attract butterflies in future years!!

Enjoy our wonderful Rhode Island summer!!!!

The Heat Is On

Late spring heat is here!!

Just like you and I, turfgrass cools itself by sweating water, but through pores on leaves instead of pores on skin. Turfgrass roots pull water from soil, cooling itself in a process called evapotranspiration. During many warm summer days, soil water can become depleted, causing plants to wilt. If turf wilts for enough time, death of the plant(s) may occur.

On the days plants on greens cannot find water it needs to cool itself, our staff takes over and cools the turf using hoses. When you see us pulling those heavy lengths of 100' hose, our sole purpose is to lower the canopy temperature. Like an athlete, the greens perform better after this cooling, or "syringing" process.

On tees and fairways, we may run sprinkler heads to spin once or twice, again to cool the turf.

Why don't we simply turn on sprinkler heads to greens to apply this cooling water? Each green has many different microclimates, and each has different needs for water. The perimeters of greens where greens were expanded a few years ago need more water than the centers of the greens. Also, wilting areas of greens need a bit more water to promote healing. The greens communicate to us what they need as we apply cooling water. If we applied overhead irrigation water afternoons to greens, ultimately areas of greens would get too wet, an unacceptable and unhealthy surface for golf turf.

As a part of your membership dues, staff is trained to cool anyone who asks!!

Stay cool!!

The Rough Is Rough

The good news......

As detailed in our Spring 2008 Newsletter, our rough needs work and programs are in place to address problems. We applied 28 tons of lime and a spring fertilizer to roughs. Additionally, all bunker and greenside bankings received an additional application with an expensive silicone and micronutrient based fertilizer.

Soil pH levels in the roughs are rising that will allow more efficient uptake of nutrients by turf plants from healthier soils. These programs will be repeated twice per year to continue to thicken rough and to eliminate thin and bare spots.

And now for the bad news.....

This year's cooler temperatures and timely rains have produced a deep and thick rough to many areas of the golf course. Many players have expressed some level of frustration attempting to extricate their Titleists, Callaways and Top Flights during the last few weeks.

I do expect these conditions will ease as the heat of summer arrives during the next few weeks.

Please remember however, that your playing partners and opponents all play the same golf course.....and also remember one of the first rules written about golf, to "play the golf course as you find it." We are mowing as fast as we can!!

Peace!!

Birdhouses

We installed four bluebird houses early this spring. As of this writing, we have yet to entice any bluebirds to these new accommodations. Bluebirds are a nearly endangered species whose numbers are steadily climbing during recent years due to nest box projects such as ours. For more information, please visit: http://www.auduboninternational.org/programs/acss/golf.htm

Instead of bluebirds, we do have a mating pair of Tree Swallows in the boxes left of the 5th hole.
Tree swallows, like bluebirds, are secondary cavity nesters, who rely on holes in older trees to build their nests. Golf course workers always enjoy the presence of tree swallows as they sometimes provide company with us as we mow turfgrass. The tree swallows artistically fly and swoop in circles around us, hoping to catch insects that we disturb during mowing activities.

We will nurture fledglings of swallows in a few weeks. and hope to lure bluebirds later in the season to Potowomut. Here is a pictures of a tree swallows on the 5th hole.

Tree Swallow Male #5

No Joy For This Koi

June 5

Early Tuesday morning, irrigation pumps were turned off at 1:48am by an alarm triggered by pump control software. Wednesday morning, the initial diagnosis showed one of the three large irrigation pumps was not working properly. Our pump service professionals arrived from Connecticut yesterday. (Wednesday) We disassembled the affected pump, and determined that both pump and electric motor were fine. Further work revealed that somehow, one of our larger koi fish entered the pump suction line and was lodged in the pipe leading to this pump. A few hours and plenty of ingenuity led to the extraction of the doomed bright orange koi.

There is a filtering screen on the water suction line that somehow failed, allowing this intrusion. A diver arrives to the Club on Friday morning to inspect and possibly repair the intake pipe.

After 30+ years in the golf course business, I guess I haven't seen it all.....



Apologies for the graphic picture!!

June 6th

The diver swam to the bottom of the pond this morning and found that the filtering screen at the end of the plastic intake pipe had fallen off and was sitting on the bottom of the pond. This allowed our koi friend to get sucked up on Tuesday morning, when pumps were supplying 1200 gallons per minute of water to the golf course.

Mike was able to re-attach the screen, ending this odd saga. We will contact the initial installer of the intake pipe and question them about a problem that should have never happened.