Clubhouse Landscaping

If you have been able to venture out to the club and enjoy the dry but cold weather, you would have seen all the pruning and removal of landscaping around the clubhouse. Our clubhouse facade offers a wonderful backdrop for photos and for the course, but has been covered by overgrown landscaping. Over the last 2 weeks we have initiated a very aggressive landscape pruning and removal plan. The photos below are of the back patio and the exterior of the restaurant. We have removed the privet hedge along the wall to offer a much more pleasant vista of the course from the bar area. The view from 6 tees is also striking as you can now see the beauty of the clubhouse. We have also completed a rejuvenation pruning of the rhododendrons along the restaurant windows. This pruning allows for views of the course from more of the restaurant and will also give us much better flower crop this coming year.

In the spring we will be adding miscanthus, ecanasia, and shasta daisies to the area where the privet hedge was located. Summer annuals will also be added to compliment the above.

Bunker project

Despite the lack of cooperation from the weather we will have been able to complete the bunker project relatively quickly. I projected with the weather, not completing this project until mid January, but our contractor has done a fabulous job of utilizing alternative methods to allow continued work when conditions weren't optimum. We are looking at wrapping up all bunkers by the end of this week. I have been given approval to complete the bunkers on the left of number 1 by the green and 2 additional bunkers on the right of 12. The bunkers on 12 will receive some minor work to allow the water from the homes to flow around the bunkers and not through them. This work with cooperation from the weather, should be completed by the end of next week. I will be posting photos from the project shortly and will have a small presentation for the Advisory Board meeting tomorrow evening.

Infamous 16th Bunker...

... or as Dusty Bottoms and Ned Nederlander would say from the 80's classic Three Amigos "in-famous...in-famous!" Ned, "He's not just famous, he's in-famous. He's more than famous!" Ok, enough digressing into an 80's classic. YES, the 16th greens side bunker is complete. The entire surround of this bunker has been sodded so please, please, please if you are going to enter this bunker, do so from back side. DO NOT CLIMB up the face of the bunker. Proper etiquette during entry and exit of any bunker is to never do so from the front side or face of the bunker. Attached are photos from the bunker work and completion.

Winter Course Setup

For me, the official start of the off season is when I see double cupped greens and temporary tee markers. Today, trying to beat a possible freeze, we set the double cups in the greens. During some short term thaws in the winter we will change any cups that may seem to be wearing. The temporary markers have been out for about 5 days now. We put a set of blue markers and a set of whites on the tees. However, I encourage you to hit from where ever you would like. It is important we spread the wear out over the dormancy months. The tee markers have been placed for any groups playing over the winter.

Shortly, my Assistant will be returning from his first of two semesters at Rutgers Golf Turf Management program. Upon his return, we will begin topdressing the greens. The greens will be topdressed relatively heavy to protect them from winter play and desiccation. We will also begin topdressing approaches and par 3 fairways with the dirty bunker sand. Again, this will help firm up the approaches so they receive a golf shot better.

Cart rules 12/3

We recieved almost 2 inches of rain last night. We will be utilizing cart paths only. At this point no blue flags will be permitted. We will evaluate at noon.


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Earthworms

Over the last several months the earthworm activity has continued to increase to nuisance levels. The cause of the increased earthworm activity is simple related to the precipitation we have received over this past year. Many of you may have also seen, in your personal lives, an increase in earwigs, ants and other soil living organisms. These insects along with earthworms lives in the soil. When precipitation levels and frequencies increase, many of the pore spaces in the soil begin to fill with water, in turn the oxygen levels in the soil dramatically decrease. When oxygen levels decrease, these insects need to find it to survive, so they go to where the oxygen is, the surface. Earthworms are no different and is the reason our earthworm issue is so bad right now. This time of year, when the temperatures are cooler, the soil takes much longer to drain/dry out. These normally air filled pore spaces will hold water much longer than in the late spring, summer and early fall.

Now, can we solve this problem? Ultimately, we need the faucets to shut off, but frozen temperatures will fix our problem in the temporary. Castings are also much more visible now because the grass has pretty much stopped growing. So for the grass to mask this issue, we will have to wait till next spring. Many years ago, there was research completed on the affects of topdressing and worm castings. Initially it was found that topdressing areas of your golf course and building up 1 to 2 inches of sand would correct worm cast issues. Now, if you ask researchers or the USGA, their tunes have changed, especially in years like this. Topdressing areas will not significantly affect worm activities.

When we topdress our greens during aerficiation, we are applying only about 1/8 of an inch of sand. To apply this amount of sand over our greens requires about 44 tons of sand. It also takes approximately 8 weeks for all that sand to be moved below levels in the turf that will not affect our mowers. To topdress our fairways and tees to levels which MAY help the earthworm issue, would take 5 to 6 years and many many tons of sand. It is a practice that just isn't cost affective for something that isn't even guaranteed to work. We do topdress our tees at Hartefeld, but not enough to make a signification impact on worms. I have made plans to begin topdressing many of our approaches this winter utilizing the dirty bunker sand we have removed during our bunker renovation. Topdressing our approaches will provide us with a better cut and allow the approaches to receive a golf shot better.

Eradicating earthworms by use of chemicals is also illegal, nor do we want to eliminate our earthworms. There are a few fungicides we apply throughout the summer that irritate earthworms. When we apply these products, you will see a reduction in the activity for a few weeks, when the product is no longer in the plant, the worm activity resumes.

Our earthworm activity is also not isolated to Hartefeld. Several high-end private facilities are also dealing with the same earthworm issue, Kennet Square Golf Club, Cedarbrook Country Club, Chester Valley Country Club, Whitford Country Club. These are just a few specific clubs, there are many many out there dealing with this. As I stated above, we need the rain to stop for our earthworm issue to decrease back to a more tolerable level. We also want to keep in mind, we need the earthworms in our rhizosphere; they play an integral part in creating our healthy soil and turf. However, just like anything else, too much of any thing is never a good thing.

Frost delay

Delay expected until 9:30am today.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Bunker Update

Despite the continued rain, we have been able to move forward successfully over the last 10 days. Early this week, the crew worked on removing sand from the 17th bunkers and yesterday afternoon began refilling the greenside bunkers. The greenside bunkers on 13, 14 and 15 will receive an additional power tamping today to continue our settling and firming.

Cart Rules Today 11/20

Due to the storms passing through last night, we will be utilizing only cart paths today. Blue Flags will be permitted.

Tee topdressing

Today we will be topdressing the tees. We are using a 95/5 mix. The 5% is a 4-2-3 organic fertlizer. At the rate we are applying the topdressing, we are also applying 1lb of nitrogen.

Due to the bunker project and limited sand storage, the topdressing is wet. Once the topdressing is spread it will require drying time before it can be drug in.


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Cart Rules Today 11/15

We will be restricting carts to paths today with the use of Blue Flags.

Hartfeld has a twittter account

Check it out...Twitter.com/hartefeld

Follow us and find out what is happening at the club!!

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Bunker Project Photos

Below is a slideshow of some of the photos taken during our project.

Cart rules 11/12

Today carts will be restricted to paths only.


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Bunker Project Update

The bunker project is going extremely well. As of this morning, the 1st, 10th, 11th, and 12th (green side only on 12) have been completed. We are working on the greenside bunkers on 13 now. I have been approached several times with varying ideas of what we are actually trying to accomplish and what material we are actually using. In several of my older posts, I have discussed this project in great length. What I would like to do is review the project based on some of the questions and comments that have arose.

Our goal of the project is to have USGA spec bunkers while eliminating the liner. USGA specs for bunker sand depths are 2" of sand on the face of the bunker and 4" of sand on the base of the bunker. Below I will bullet point answers and/or comments to what has been discussed with me.

- We are utilizing our existing bunker sand while incorporating new sand to ensure the proper quantity of sand in each bunker. The existing sand is removed and sifted together with new sand at my shop. When a bunker has been properly cleaned, drains checked and any sodding completed, the sand is returned to the bunker and installed to USGA spec.

- We are not using a 3 aggregate sand and nor do you need a 3 aggregate sand to achieve our goals. Our existing sand is a manufactured quartz and in the industry is called VFW or Valley Forge White bunker sand. Without getting into to much detail, to ensure the sand plays properly, compacts properly and drains properly, the sand contains a certain percentage of particle sizes. These particle sizes are characterized by fine, medium fine, medium, medium coarse and coarse. By blending the sand, which is done at the plant, with the proper particle sizes you can achieve all of the above.

- The sand we already have and are purchasing, VFW is being used at many top private clubs and courses in the area. Most notably Aronimink Golf Course,which is hosting the Tiger Woods AT&T National for the next 2 years. Their bunkers were redone specifically for this event.

- Playability of the bunkers. We are doing everything to compact the sand mechanically, but time and settling will get us to our ultimate goal. Our sand is angular which allows each particle to fit together like a puzzle. Because the sand is "new," mechanical tamping and rolling will only get us so far. Rain, freezing and thawing and just time will help settle the sand down. After each bunker has been determined to be at its' presettling depth, the sand is rolled and tamped to the proper depth.

- Our current process is causing at most 2 to 3 bunkers to be disturbed at once. The amount of disturbed bunkers is determined by the size of the bunkers we are working on. Since we are taking sand from one bunker, sifting and placing in the previously excavated bunker, the size of the bunker having sand added will require us to begin to excavate another. Once the proper amount of sand is added, a small crew works the sand to completion. Another small crew begins the next bunker or bunkers. We can't simply do one bunker from start to finish and move on to another, that simply does not make sense from a timing and efficiency standpoint.

The above should have answered several of the questions and comments that have been brought to my attention. I will be placing a bunker project status board outside the membership directors office today.

Watch those Ticks!!

Well the last few days have not been fun! Late Thursday and Friday, I travled to Kansas to the home of the GCSAA headquarters. I have been selected to serve on 2 of their nationl committees and was attending the Professional Development Committee meeting. Arriving back to Hartefeld Saturday morning, I felt the beginings of what I thought was the flu. I figured with all the flu out there, I had contracted something from traveling. Two days later, an admitance to the hospital and a battery of test, it was determined that I have contracted Lyme disease. I am back full swing with some minor discomfort from some of the test that were run. Three weeks of antibiotics and hopefully I am clear.

Frost Delay 11/4

We are currently under frost delay.






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Frost Delay

11/3 Frost delay lifted.

11/3 Frost Delay

We are currently under frost delay. Stay tuned for further updates.

Bunker Renovation Begins!!

The much anticipated bunker renovation has begun. Below are some photos from the first bunker. We started on #1 green side because of our process. We will be moving to #10 after all the sand from the #1 green side bunker is removed. We will keep the proshop updated on all hole closures. I will also post frequent updates with photos. Our plan is to still complete the backside greenside bunkers first.

Carts And Greens

We have recieved over 5 inches of rain since last Friday. To speed the
greens back up we are brushing prior to cutting and rolling this
morning.

Carts will be restricted to paths only today with the use of blue flags.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Cart rules for Tuesday 10/26

Today we will be restricting carts to paths only.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Video of Hartefeld Mix and Mingle

On October 14th, we held an Open House in our Turf Center. What a great event!! During the open house, we had an equipment demonstration, Q&A on our management practices and trivia. Trivia was a huge success!! I look forward to doing this again next year in the summer. For now, take a look at the video I put together from the event.

A big thank you to my crew for getting things ready for the evening and my wife for all the great video and pictures!!

Green speeds

I wanted to make sure I clarified our green speeds upon posting.
Today, the greens are stimping approximately 12.5ft on the stimpmeter.
12.5 feet and they WERE NOT cut today. One reason for the increased
speed is the changing season. Over the last week we recieved December
like temperatures. These in combination with much shorter day lengths,
the grass is begining to shutdown. Sand will fluxate in temperature
much quicker than clay or loam. This is why the greens will yellow out
quicker in the fall and green up faster in the spring than any other
area of the course.
We have reduced our greens mowing to 4 days a week, but have
continued our in season rolling schedule. If temperatures dictate the
need to increase our mowing frequency, we will do so.
There are also agronomic reasons the greens are as true and as
quick as they are, fertlity and growth regulator mangement are just a
few reasons.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

10/20 Frost Delay

Frost delay until 9:15 today.

Frost delay update

Frost delay until 9:15am this morning.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

10/19 Frost Delay

Brrrr....Temperatures around 29 degrees, we have a heavy frost today. Details about the delay will be posted, once the sun breaks the horizon.

Cart Rules Today

Yesterday we received over 1.5 inches of rain with the coastal storm. We will be restricting carts to paths only today with the use of Blue Flags. If you are utilizing a Blue Flag, please be very cautious, it is extremely wet out there.

October Issue of GCI Magazine

The October electronic edition of Golf Course Industry magazine is now available, featuring the latest industry business trends and agronomic information, as well as the following "must-read" feature stories:

• Mobile Mileage: Get the most out of your smartphone with superintendent-friendly apps. In addition, researchers at the University of Georgia develop the first mobile application for turfgrass management.

• Winter Tee Management: Solutions for preventing wear and tear - from mats, to deer netting, to enlarging tees.

• In-house Blowouts: Superintendents perform fall irrigation blowouts in-house to retain control and save money.

• Bentgrass in a Poa World: Bayonet Black Horse, which fully reopened last December after a $13 million renovation, features all bentgrass playing surfaces - a rarity for the Monterey Peninsula.

• Pat Jones' Q&A with Dean Graves, a superintendent who never lets the grass grow under his feat at Chevy Chase Club.

Simply click here to access the issue.

We hope you enjoy the October electronic edition of Golf Course Industrymagazine. Please feel free to forward it to your colleagues.

And for daily news updates and late-breaking news be sure to visitwww.golfcourseindustry.com

Enjoy the issue.

Cordially,

Mike Zawacki
Editor
Golf Course Industry

P.S. If you can't click on any of the links above, please copy and paste this URL into your web browser:
http://golfcourseindustry.texterity.com/golfcourseindustry/200910

Mix and Mingle

Thank you to all who attended last night, it was a great evening! My team and I appreciate everyone who attended to see what goes into managing Hartefeld National. We look forward to holding one again next year. We will do it when it is a bit warmer!

M & M Question 10

And finally the last question.

Question 10

Who is considered the "father" of modern greenskeeping and where did he tenure?

M & M Question 9

Question 9

What do the following terms stand for?

- Lolium perenne

- Agrostis palustris

- Poa annua

Hint - K P C O F G S

M & M Question 8

Good day! Below is question number 8. On a side note, you will begin to see the color of the greens bear their late fall/winter coats. We have had a light frost the last two mornings and in combination with the growth regulators and sand greens, we will see some yellowing out. No big deal, just that time of year.

Question 8

On every bag of fertilizer the analysis of nutrients is listed as a "number" - "number" -

number". An example is 20-3-10 or 32-4-8.

The question is, what do these numbers mean and what does each stand for?

Hint - Look into this, not as simple as it may seem.

M & M Question 6 and 7

Good day! I will be posting a few questions today and one more tomorrow morning. I would like to have 10 questions for the trivia.

Question 6

What constitutes and "illegal" pin postion?

Question 7

A follow-up to our second question. Since we now know what aerification is, why do we aerate?

9th green stimped

At 10:00am the 9th green was stimped at a reading of 10.25ft. We
received .3 inches of rain in two downpours this morning at 5:45 and
6:45am.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Response to article in GAP's monthly magazine "Is Your Course Down with brown? If Not It Should Be."

Recently there was an article posted in the Golf Assoc. of Phila. monthly magazine titled "Is your course down with brown? If not is should be." Sean Remington stated in the article "...nearly all of the group's (members of the Philadelphia Association of Golf Course Superintendents) 300 members are adopting brown techniques to varying degrees." We are part of this group! Since my arrival at Hartefeld National, I have implemented many new turfgrass management techniques, all these programs are based on a more progressive and sustainable approach. This approach allows for less costly inputs into the turf, freeing up valuable resources and more importantly, produces an excellent playing surface. Some of the members at Hartefeld have questioned some brown areas on the course throughout the year. We are doing exactly what these Superintendents speak of in this article. Although some brown is good, I feel it is also important to manage your membership expectations when it comes to turf management. If any of you have been privileged to play at Huntington Valley, I can assure you the management of the turf color would not be acceptable here at Hartefeld. That is what the members at HVCC want. There are times of the year when I am hardening off the turf, preparing it for the summer and winter stresses. Yes, I would like to push the turf a bit more, let it brown out a bit more, but that isn't what is acceptable here. Allowing the turf to stress at certain times of the year allows the plant to be stronger when we need it to be.

In the article, the three Superintendents mention areas on their properties where they have reduced inputs and allowed some brown. In the next few paragraphs, you will see what we have reduced and/or changed to decrease costly inputs into Hartefeld, yet still produce excellent playing conditions.

From an irrigation standpoint, I have introduced some changes that has decreased our irrigation input by over 30%; this includes a new state of the art central irrigation control system. This new control system includes a rain sensor to cutback on costly irrigation when rain events occur. I also installed part circle irrigation heads around our greens. Previously, to apply water to the green surrounds at Hartefeld, the full circle green's heads would need to be utilized. This process kept the greens wetter, producing a less than desirable putting surface. Utilizing part circle irrigation heads, I can irrigate only the surrounds, not putting a drop of water on the greens. This allows me to keep the greens dry, while still producing a desirable surround.

My IPM and BMP programs include a very aggressive wetting agent and penetrant program. We apply a wetting agent every 2 weeks on our tees and fairways and a combination wetting agent/penetrant to our greens. This allows me to decrease my water input and interval. Using 30% less water at Hartefeld has also decreased the need for fungicide applications.

My IPM program also includes a less traditional more progressive approach to turf disease management. Going back to building a sustainable turfgrass system, I utilize phosphites throughout the growing season. PO3 or Phosphite is naturally produced in a grass plant and is what helps the plant fight diseases. By applying very inexpensive phosphites and raising the level in the plant, certain costly nuisance diseases (brown patch and pythium) are not an issue for us. Growth regulators are heavily utilized at Hartefeld as well. All of our playing surfaces receive growth regulator applications from March until November. We do not apply growth regulators to reduce our mowing frequency, we use these to keep the plant healthy and to create a more desirable playing surface. There are also several other benefits to using PGRs.

Organic fertilizers are utilized heavily at Hartefeld National as well. I would need far more space than what I have available here to explain the benefits of organic fertilizers, but they to help produce the sustainable turfgrass system we are achieving. Not one of the mentioned above is a silver bullet, all of our IPM and BMP's work together to produce our sustainable system and playing conditions.

I hope the above has helped to explain and show that our programs here at Hartefeld are on par with Superintendents like Matt Shaffer and Scott Anderson at Merion and Huntingdon Valley.

M & M Question 5

Good evening! I hope you are all finding the answers to the questions I have posted. Just an FYI for the Mix and Mingle, from 5:30pm till about 6:15pm I will have equipment out on the 11th hole for any of you to demo if you wish. We are a little under the gun with daylight, so get there early if you would like to try any of our turf equipment. I will be showing most of our equipment during the shop tour as well.

Question 5

Two years ago I achieved CGCS (Certified Golf Course Superintendent) status with the GCSAA (Golf Course Superintendents Association of America). Only a very small percentage of all the Superintendents in the world reach this level of professional distinction.

Question 5 is what are the 4 requirements that must be met to achieve the CGCS professional distinction.

Hint - www.gcsaa.org Keep this website bookmarked, it is a very handy website for information.

7th green stimp reading

At 11:45am the 7th green was stimped at a reading of 10.5 feet.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

M & M Question 4

Good day! Question 4 for our trivia is based on the answer to question 3 and is a 2 part question.

Question 4

What type of growth habit does the following areas of turf exhibit:

Our greens?

Our fairways/tees?

Hint - There is a reason they call it creeping bentgrass and not just bentgrass.

Stimp readings today and Question 3B

I will not be stimping the greens today for two reason, first the rain and secondly the wind. Sustained winds at 15 to 20 mph with gust to 45, it will be to difficult to determine an accurate reading.

Since we have begun to post regular stimp readings, I will post a Question 3B

How do you stimp a green and what is the unit used when giving a stimp reading?

Hint - there are a few basic but very important steps in stimping a green, this is what I am looking for.

M & M Question 3

I hope you are all finding the answers to these questions. If some of you are finding these easily, they will get harder. Good luck!

Question 3

What are the three types of growth habits of grass?

18th green stimp

The 18th green was stimped at 9:40am at a speed of 10.3 feet.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

M & M Question 2

Good day! Today's question for the mix and mingle is as follows:

What is the definition of aeration?

Mix and Mingle October 14th

Good day! As you may have seen in the last e-newsletter, the mix and mingle will be held in our turf facility. My team and I are excited to have you tour our facility and see what is involved in managing Hartefeld National. I have a schedule for the evening that will include a demo of some equipment, tour of the facility and a Q&A with our trivia.

From today until next Monday, I will post a question each morning that will be a part of the trivia. You may choose to answer these questions yourself or if you would like, form a small group and answer as a team. At the mix and mingle, the first person or team to give the BEST answer will be rewarded. Joe and I are working on some small prizes for the evening. Good luck and we look forward to you all being there.

Question 1
What is the definition of turfgrass? Thought this would be fitting as a first since we have almost 220 acres of this at Hartefeld.

6th green stimped

The 6th green was stimped at 10.25ft this morning at 8:10am. We
received a small shower prior to this stimp reading.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

11th Green Stimp 9/29

This morning the 11th green was stimped at 10.25' on the stimp meter.

11th green stimp

The 11th was stimped at 10' at 9:00am this morning.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Green speeds

Today at 2:30pm the ninth green was stimped at 9' 11". This speed is
subject to change based on temperature, humidty and daily growth. We
continue to cut greens 6 to 7 days a week and rolling 4 to 5.

Tonight at the BOA meeting I will be discussing some interesting
research conducted by USGA correlating topdressing sands and green
speeds/firmness. These findings are being initiated at Hartefeld.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

10th Green Repaired

Attached are some photos of the repair of the 10th green. The 10th green was suffering from a severe bout of wet wilt. This green contains three drainage trunk lines, one of which exits the back left where our issue was. We initially felt the issue was with the drain lines, upon opening the green we found it to be another issue.

When greens are built to USGA specifications there are a few variations. These include, to add a chocker layer between the gravel and sand layer and/or to install a wicker barrier(plastic liner). In the past, the wicker barrier will line the entire boundary of the green with a smile drain installed at the lower areas of the green. When greens are constructed without a smile drain, many times the wicker barrier will not be installed to allow water to exit the green's profile at the lowest point. Neither of these cases existed on our 10th green. There was no smile drain installed on the back left and the wicker barrier existed around the entire circumference of the green.

When we began digging into the edge of the green, it was clear the wicker barrier was causing the problem. Besides the mottled sand (iron oxidation in the soil turning the soil gray) there was water sitting against the barrier. We excavated the green down to the gravel layer and removed the entire wicker barrier along the area of concern. We installed the sand layer and sodded part of the back left side. The remaining thin areas were seeded with bentgrass.

As of today, the green was showing enormous improvement. The right side of the green is also improving and has been seeded. If we continue to have the same rain patterns, we will be removing the wicker barrier along the right side of the green as well.

Below is a photo of the wicker barrier still installed

Below is a photo of the mottled soil that was removed from the green. The mottling occurs when iron is oxidized. This is always a defining sign that there is a lack of oxygen because of the presence of water. Closely you can see the beginnings of black layer. The small of sulfur was evident when digging.

USGA Visit

Yesterday was my annual USGA visit. Stan Zontek was very happy to see many of the issues we discussed last year were improving, such as the poa annua populations on all playing surfaces. One of the areas we talked about in great detail was the natives areas. Over the years for whatever reason, many areas on the golf course have been let to go "Native." Examples of these areas are the rough between 7 & 8 and the area around the 10 Fazio tee. These areas were never intended to be native areas, they were originally designed and seeded to be primary rough. Now they undoubtably look horrible. He and I, while touring the course, cataloged many of these areas so that I can begin to return these to primary rough.

We will begin mowing these areas down. Once mowed down with a larger brush hog, these areas will be put back into our weekly primary rough mowing schedule. These areas will need herbicide treatments and some seeding before they will look like the rest of our rough.

We discussed several other issues during Stan's visit, green firmness, bunkers, to name a few. Stan is hoping to have his report completed for our BOA meeting on the 24th.

Course update 9/13

We received another .3" of rain yesterday. The course is saturated! We
were forced to mow the greens today as it has been two days since we
have been able to do so. We also rolled. Greens 10,11 and 14 will be
handmowed because of how wet they continue to be. These will not be
rolled. Greens will again be slower than what we are used to because of the rain.

Our greens are a USGA spec and do drain very well, however the water
needs some where to drain. This would either be through the drain tile
or simple through the subgrade. Our problem is that everything is
saturated and the water leaving the greens has no where to go. Water
tables are also extremely high.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

10 Green

The back left of the 10th green is roped off this morning. This area is taking a beating because of the lack of drain functionality. There are three trunk lines that exit the green, one is in the back left. This line is either clogged or has been damaged from the tree that has fallen in the woods. We will be locating the blowouts for this trunk line on Monday and blowing the lines out. If this does not solve the problem, we will be exposing the trunk line just short of the hazard behind the green and allowing it to exit from there. The small area in the back will be sodded, the remainder of the green will be aerated with solid tines to help dry this green out..........It is Soaked!!!

Course setup following coastal storm

We are able to complete a full course setup today, however greens will not be mowed because of the amount rain we have recieved.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Bunker Renovation Update

With the remainder of the season extremely busy on the golf course, we have scheduled the renovation to begin November 2nd. I have been approached regarding the renovation and the various discussions that have taken place over the summer as to how the renovation will be completed. Our biggest issue is the liner migration. Once we have corrected the migration issue by removing the liners, the sands playability will improve. The process is as follows:

- Remove existing sand from the bunker and stock pile.

- Remove all liners and staples.

- Retamp base of bunker and add any clay to correct any bunker structural issues.

- Several bunker surrounds will then be resodded at this point.

- Add new sand to existing stock pile to ensure proper quantity and sift together. Sifting sand together will ensure there is no noticeable difference between the new and existing sands.

- Sand will them be placed back into the bunker at a depth of 2" of sand on the faces and 4" inches of sand on the base.

- Sand will them be rolled and tamped to ensure proper compaction.

Yearly ryegrass seeding

As I stated upon arriving, one of the biggest issues at Hartefeld is the Poa annua population. I have communicated over the last 18 months our strategy for the erradication of the poa annua. We are beginning today our yearly seeding of the fairways to help increase our ryegrass populations. We will also be seeding some small areas in the first cut around the greens where we have erradicated the poa annua. Included, is a photo of an example of an area where our poa erradication with Trimmit has been extremely successful. We will continue our seeding over the next 14 days, weather permitting.

12 greenside first cut

In my previous post I mentioned our seeding into areas where we have
successfully eradicated poa annua. On the 12th hole because of it's
importance, we will be sodding out between today and tomorrow.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

14 greenside bunker

The sod has recovered enough from it's initial damage last Friday(see
previous post) so we are beginning to install on the course. The area
between the collar and the bunker on 14(see photo) will be resooded
during the bunker project. We are just patching in bentgrass where the
collar has struggled.

Spot sodding of collar on 14 and 10

We will be sodding out a few spots on the collars of the 10th and 14th green surrounds tomorrow, weather permitting. Our plan was to have these areas completed prior to the labor day weekend, but we had an issue with the range ball picker causing some damage to our new sod nursery. I had to allow the sod to heal prior to putting it on the golf course. These are the areas I discussed in a previous post that were damaged during the aerification process. Most of the areas have healed with the exception of a few, these will be repaired.

Aerification Recovery

Our greens continue to heal at a good pace. Immediately following the aerification we made an application of fertilizer and a vitamin pack. Three days following the aerification we made the same application. Yesterday's forecast for rain today and through the weekend prompted us to apply a granular application of fertilizer. This application should begin showing signs of release this weekend. I am anticipating the greens being back 100% by next weekend.

Since the aerificaiton, we have been rolling the greens daily, always in the afternoon. We began cutting the greens today, but with additional rain we had to stop. We will be mowing and rolling the greens tomorrow and Sunday as long as the weather cooperates.

Collars on a few back 9 greens

I have had a few questions arise regarding the few collars on a few holes on the back side. These collars were stressed from the aerification process. These collars were weakened from dragging the sand over the greens. Bentgrass is extremely resilient, so I have no concern over these collars. We are bringing several pallets of sod in next week, if these collars continue to heal slowly, we will sod them out to show a more immediate recovery.

Aerification Update!

As I am sitting at my desk awaiting our restart, I can hear the rain hitting our metal roof......I can't believe the only cell of rain is over Hartefeld! Last night a severe storm hit Hartefeld at about 7pm. The outing finished late, in turn we got a late start on 10. We tried to wait out the rain, but it wasn't cooperating. We made a decision to leave and return this morning at 3:15am to begin again.

To ensure a finish by early afternoon and ahead of the forecasted weather, we will be shutting the front nine down while we complete aerification. When we move to the back nine the front will be open, the back closed.

Countdown to Aerification

As I sit in my office finalizing the specifics of our almost night long aerification two things strike me, we are 45 mins away and there is storm heading towards us......Can we get a break!! My team and I made the decision to aerify the greens at night because of the heat. I am not concerned about the heat affecting the greens, but the heat affecting my team. We will begin aerifying the back 9 at about 5:30pm. We will push as hard as we can until about midnight. At 4am, part of my team will return and begin aerifying the putting green, 9th green and 6th green. We hope to have all greens completed by around 10am, weather permitting.

We will be using 3/8" tines on a quad block, so there will be more smaller holes versus less bigger holes, to put it simply. We will make some fertilizer applications tomorrow morning to push the recovery as quickly as we can. As stated in the email Joe Mackley sent out, we will not be able to mow the greens on Saturday and Sunday morning. This is because the sand will be wet causing the mowers to jam or cake on a roller. Until the amount of sand is reduced on the surface from turf growth, any cultural practices we do can only be done when the sand is dry. It has been asked before about removing the dew on the greens if we are not mowing. Whipping or dragging the greens when the sand is wet will pull the sand to the surface and slow our recovery. We will be doing everything we can to ensure a rapid recovery.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Bunker Rake Interference

There have been a few discussions regarding the "new" placement of our bunker rakes. Hearing your input and suggestions hear is what we have. The placement of a bunker rake, in, out, partially in and out can be the most discussed issue on a golf course. Like the placement of a pin, there is no set rule the USGA has for the placement of a bunker rake. The USGA simply makes suggestions on both of these issues. At Hartefeld, our bylaws state to the effect that a bunker rake is placed in the bottom of the bunker. Regardless of where a rake is placed, if it interferes with a ball USGA Rule 24-1 Obstructions will handle removing the rake a getting your ball back in play properly. Below I have extracted what I feel are the important segments of Rule 24-1, 20-2 and 20-3 required to put a golf ball back in play.

24-1. Movable Obstruction

A player may take relief, without penalty, from a movable obstruction as follows:

a. If the ball does not lie in or on the obstruction, the obstruction may be removed. If the ball moves, it must be replaced, and there is no penalty, provided that the movement of the ball is directly attributable to the removal of the obstruction. Otherwise, Rule 18-2a applies.

b. If the ball lies in or on the obstruction, the ball may be lifted and the obstruction removed. The ball must through the green or in a hazardbe dropped, or on the putting green be placed, as near as possible to the spot directly under the place where the ball lay in or on the obstruction, but not nearer the hole.

The ball may be cleaned when lifted under this Rule.

When a ball is in motion, an obstruction that might influence the movement of the ball, other than equipment of any player or the flagstickwhen attended, removed or held up, must not be moved.

(Exerting influence on ball - see Rule 1-2.)

Note: If a ball to be dropped or placed under this Rule is not immediately recoverable, another ball may be substituted.

20-2. Dropping and Re-Dropping

c. When to Re-Drop

(vi) rolls and comes to rest more than two club-lengths from where it first struck a part of the course; or

(vii) rolls and comes to rest nearer the hole than:

If the ball when re-dropped rolls into any position listed above, it must be placed as near as possible to the spot where it first struck a part of thecourse when re-dropped.

20-3. Placing and Replacing

d. Ball Fails to Come to Rest on Spot

If a ball when placed fails to come to rest on the spot on which it was placed, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced. If it still fails to come to rest on that spot:

(i) except in a hazard, it must be placed at the nearest spot where it can be placed at rest that is not nearer the hole and not in a hazard;

(ii) in a hazard, it must be placed in the hazard at the nearest spot where it can be placed at rest that is not nearer the hole.

If a ball when placed comes to rest on the spot on which it is placed, and it subsequently moves, there is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies, unless the provisions of any other Rule apply.

Many have asked me over the last week what the white lines are painted around the greens. Over years of mowing the proper collar width and area change and migrate. Since we will be aerifying next week, it is the perfect time to correct any issues like this. Attached are photos of the lines painted on 2 of our greens. To note, a few collars are being pushed back towards the rough which in turn is causing us to scalp the greens back. These scalped areas will quickly recover, I have no concern over them.

Excerpt from GCM Blog on the PGA Championship Course Maintenance

Below is an excerpt from GCM's Blog at the PGA Championship. We are not alone in our struggles with rain. Take notice of the manpower used to restore the bunkers prior to the event.

News and notes from Minnesota

Random bits of information that I've stumbled upon during my first two days at Hazeltine for the 2009 PGA Championship. Prepare to be randomized!

• All told, the heavy rains that resulted in monumental bunker washouts around the course this past weekend took a heavy toll on staff as well. Superintendent Jim Nicol, CGCS, estimates his team spent nearly 450 man hours working on the bunkers — back-to-back 15 hour days on Saturday and Sunday for a group of about 15 workers.
• The course got about an inch and three quarters of rain on Friday, with a real drenching Friday night into Saturday of at least five inches of rain (and maybe more ... Nicol's manual rain Gage's near the maintenance facility hold five inches and both were topped off when the storm subsided).

Photo of New Fairway Mower

New Fairway Mowers

I have had a bit of an absence with the weather, just another unfortunate spell of nasty weather. This past Friday the much anticipated arrival of our new fairway units occurred. Yesterday, we were able to use them for the first time and what a noticeable difference! I received some comments on the course regarding the new mowers. The overwhelming response has been, "The clippings are gone!" YES, the clippings we continually dealt with from our previous 15 year old mowers are no longer an issue.

Left are 2 close up photos of our units and the specific parts that have corrected our clipping issue. The first photo is a picture of the rear of the cutting unit. Above the rear roller is a powered brush. This brush spins at a high rate while the unit is engaged and breaks up any clippings that roll up on the rear roller.

The second photo is a picture of the front of the unit. Attached to the unit's shield, just above the reel are small fins. These are loosely fitted on the shield so when the clippings are pushed out in front of the reel, these fins break up any clumps.

SWAMPED!!

Well, in our 10th day since it started raining we have received 8 inches of rain! Just as we had gotten the course back in condition, greens were rolling 10.25" on Friday morning, the sky opened up again. The worst of the rain hit Sunday afternoon. We received 1.5" of rain in about 12 to 15 minutes. This type of downpour is the worst, especially for our bunkers.

As always, our goal is to return Hartefeld to optimal playing conditions as quickly as possible. Today, I have our entire crew, shoveling the extremely washed out bunkers. Late this afternoon we will begin mowing some of the playing surfaces and continue tomorrow early in the am. The forecast is not calling for any additional rain until late in the week, I am hoping we are back to "normal" by Wednesday mid day.

Thank you all for your cooperation!

Saturday Course Conditions following MORE RAIN!

With the storms that passed through the club this afternoon, I made my way back down to the club to see what damage was done. The wind was minimal, I wish I could say the same for the rain. We received another 1.5 inches of rain. This puts our 7 day total at 6 inches! We will be working hard in the morning to get the bunkers back in shape, they are in bad shape. Unfortunately the greens are completely saturated and our maintenance goals for Saturday will need to be pushed to Sunday. We will be cutting the greens on Saturday but can't afford to roll.

Cart traffic will be restricted to paths only with blue flags being utilized. I will make a reevaluation in mid afternoon, but with 6 inches in 7 days I don't anticipate releasing carts until Sunday afternoon.

Number 1 Tee expansion

Last year while attending a Ladies Golf Committee meeting, concerns over the size of a few our tees were shared. I fully agreed with these observations. The 1st, 3rd and 7th tees are postage stamps and don't offer much room and in one case doesn't provide what the USGA designates as a tee box. While my goal was to complete some sort of rebuild of these tees last fall, issues arose that didn't not allow the completion.

Again this year, the concern over these tees arose and not wanting to wait until resources became available to rebuild, I have decided to improvise. Evaluating the forward tee on #1, there was plenty of flat area around the current tee box to expand the tee. Since the tee itself is not constructed of sand like the others, it would be easier to expand. Yesterday, I scalped the area where the proposed tee expansion would be. A white line is also painted to show the proposed new tee. The scalped grass will take sometime to recover, but the area is certainly usable. This is not the most ideal situation, but like other areas of the course, I am not one to sit back and wait, we will make adjustments when we can, an move on.

I am investigating the use of the unused tee in front of the white tee on #1. If I find that tee has been abandoned, I will strip the good sod from that tee and transfer over to the expanded ladies tee. If this is done the markers for the ladies will be placed in the fairway next to the tee until the sod is knitted enough to make a successful golf swing without injury to the golfer. Anyone with information on this tee, it would be great if we could hear what the situation is.

Green Speeds and Weather

I discussed in a post on May 23rd titled Green Speeds, how speeds of our greens can change. In the last seven days we have received over 4.25 inches of rain and with the extremely high humidity levels, the water is not moving out of the turf. Today we are not able to mow greens because they are saturated, however we are able to roll them.

My goal is to be extremely aggressive tomorrow through Sunday to push greens speeds back to our goal of 10'. We will be brush and cutting and possibly rolling tomorrow. Saturday we will be double cutting and rolling. We will make a decision as to our maintenance on Sunday based on the speeds we are able to achieve on Saturday. All of the above can change if we get the forecasted rain tomorrow.

Storm damage!

We got hammered last night here at the club. Stay tuned for an
additional update with photos. We will be cart path only today with
the 10th, 11th and 12th holes closed until tree work can be completed.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Heavy rains

In the last 24 hours we have recieved over 2 inches of rain. We will
be restricting carts to paths only until 10:00am.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Green Speeds

Today are greens are rolling 11' 2" on the stimpmeter. The greens are extremely dry at this point, with some rain these speeds may fall a bit. Again, our goal is 10 to 10.5'.

New Bunker Rake placement

In our last BOA meeting the discussion of bunker rake placement was addressed. Throughout my career in the golf business, I have had several different opinions and procedures for the placement of bunker rakes. Inside, outside what is the best for the player? It was brought to my attention in the bylaws for Hartefeld National it states the placement of the rakes are to be in the bottom of the bunkers. We have now instituted this new placement and are looking for stickers to be placed on our new rakes to ask to have rakes remain in the bunker. To the left you will see a photo of our 9th hole with the correct placement of our bunker rakes.

Getting Back on Track

It is been awhile since I have posted here. The water shutoff and got a bit warm and with the turf used to wet cool conditions, my attention was hyperfocused on transitioning the turf from April early May weather to Mid July/August weather literally overnight. All in all I think we did real well. We were able to keep disease at bay, which I contribute a lot to our fertility program this year. I am excited to get back to "normal", whatever that may be.

Other business has kept me extremely focused, that being the departure of our Assistant. Ken had an opportunity that may only come once and felt he needed to make a move. Transitioning into his position will be the Assistant from Broad Run, Sean. Sean will be a wonderful addition to our team. Sean will also be elevating his career to the next level as he will be attending the Rutgers Golf Turf Management program in the fall to earn his Certificate in Turfgrass Management.

Turfgrass Melting Pot

Arriving at Hartefeld over a year ago and taking inventory, the turfgrass melting pot that exist across the property quickly became a top priority. This exists across the entire property, from greens and tees to fairways and native areas. The fairways particularly had a wide variety of turgrass species. These species were Perennial Ryegrass, Creeping Bentgrass, Poa annua and some Kentucky Bluegrass; the predominant species is Ryegrass. Managing a melting pot of turfgrass can be expensive, particularly managing a population of Bentgrass and Ryegrass in the same fairway. Each of these grasses have their own management nuances which doesn't make them favorable to populate the same turf stand. Poa annua being the easiest to control with an aggressive growth regulator program along with proper water management, we started there. We have had great success with our Poa erradication!

The next step was Creeping Bentgrass. This was going to be a bit more difficult. Our IPM and BMP programs developed to manage towards the P. Rye is also favorable to bentgrass. In order to eradicate our bentgrass we need to use specific herbicides and we need to use them when the bentgrass would be under stress, summer time. Last week we made the first of three herbicide applications to eradicate the bentgrass. This herbicide also controls several broadleaf and annual weeds, crabgrass is an example.

The pictures below are of 13 fairway. You can see the bentgrass has begun to decline after only 6 days. 13 and 17 fairways have the highest bentgrass populations, therefore will not visually be favorable, but playability will not be disrupted. We have overseeded these fairways last fall and will continue to overseed the worst areas of bentgrass decline through this entire process.

Close up of bentgrass decline from herbicide.

Photo of 13 fairway.

Pushing Roots!

The challenge for any turf manager on a golf course is building a strong root system. The more robust your root system, the healthier the plant. The issue with creating a robust system is the stresses we put our turfgrass under, traffic, low mowing heights, etc. is not conducive to a healthy root system. Since we can't take away these stresses, we do what we can to limit the severity through aerificaiton, golf traffic control and changing mowing and rolling patters. We also supplement the turf with different fertilizers, wetting agents and plant protectants, but more importantly we do our best to control the amount of water the turf is receiving. This has been especially difficult over the last few months. Scouting the properties today, I was very pleased to see with all the challenges we have faced this year our root systems are thriving.

Below is a photo of our root system. Usually the root depth is proportional to your top growth. This is obviously not the case here. Great job to our entire TEAM!!

Green speeds

The greens following yesterday's aerification are at 9'10" on the
stimpmeter. They are still really wet!

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from wireless device.

Green Venting

The minor greens aerificaiton went extremely well yesterday. We began punching holes at about 4:45am and finished the complete process at 3pm.

Over the last few weeks the rains have been relentless. I began noticing the first signs of wet wilt and stresses from the amount of moisture the greens were holding last Wednesday. Despite the rains, I continued our wetting agent applications in hopes to keep the profile as uniform as possible and help the excessive water move through the profile more efficiently. Utilizing wetting agents is just as important when you are receiving excessive rain as when you are dry. Despite our best efforts we needed to get more aggressive to help dry these greens out.

The minor aerification was done with the use of bayonet tines. These times look exactly like a bayonet at the end of a riffle. Utilizing this type of tine, allows us to make the greatest impact on the rootzone with minimal surface disruption. Our process for this aerification didn't stop after the holes were punched, we rolled the greens directly behind the aerifier and this morning and Thursday morning we will brush, cut and roll the greens. The greens look fantastic today! In a short while I will be stimping the greens and will post the results.

Rolling behind the aerificaiton.

Putting surface immediately following aerification and roll.

Cart Rules

Finally, back on the turf! There will be no restrictions for cart traffic today. Stay tuned for an update and photos of our greens venting today.

18 & 16 greens Dollar Spot

Dollar spot is one of those nuisance turfgrass diseases, very simar to
the common cold. By utilizing a strong IPM program we can keep this
disease to a minimum, but sometimes no matter what we do it shows it's
ugly face. This is the situation with 18 & 16 greens. We literally had
an explosion of dollar spot over night(pictured above).

Despite the look of these two greens, I have no concern. We were due
for our biweekly greens spray yesterday. We increased the amount of
curative plant protectant for these two greens along with the addition
of some fertlizer. As long as we can get the disease in check over the
next few days, thunderstorms and rain will make this a bit difficult,
we should see recovery by next week.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from wireless device.