USGA Green Section Record

 To view the November 15th edition of the Green Section Record, please

CLICK HERE!

7-Day Forecast

 

2024 Carolinas GCSA Education Conference

This week, Monday-Wednesday, is the annual Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association (Carolinas GCSA) education conference and trade show in Myrtle Beach, SC.  This is a great event to network with fellow Superintendents and other industry partners.  The event is attending by several of my team; Chad S. (Assistant Super), Bill B. (Spray Tech), Matthew G. (Equipment Technician) and myself.  I personally took 2 excellent classes that dealt with data driven aerification decisions.  This is an area I've always been fascinated with because it focuses on protecting one of the club's largest assets, our USGA spec putting greens.  

I'd like to say on behalf of all of us, we are so appreciative that the Board and membership support our professional development and continuing education.  These types of events are also required for us to maintain pesticide licenses and in my case, the various certifications I hold.  It is also nice to see our team member, Cooper Hall, who has worked at Highlands CC for 4 years as a High School student and is now in his freshman year at NC State University. He is pursuing a degree in Turfgrass Management.  Cooper is at the conference with a several of his fellow students and professors.  Cooper will be completing his official internship at Highlands CC, next season.      

While we are at this event, the rest of the team in Highlands has their own set of goals for the next couple days,  Pruning back Rhododendron in areas and cleaning leaves and debris from this past autumn in all of our streams are priorities for the week.  In addition to that, we started with rough aerification. Our goal is to have that wrapped up by Thanksgiving.  This way, once the course closes for the season on December 1st, we can immediately knock out fairway aeration and get the completed by Christmas, which will allow us to focus on fairway topdressing after the new year.

Thank you for a Job Well Done!

Today marks the last day for our season helpers, who come to the US each April on an H2B visa.  Since late April, these gentlemen worked every single day without any time off!  They are hard workers and committed to their jobs for the time that they're here. The H2B program requires they return home for a period of time before they can reapply and come back to the US.  We've been fortunate to get the same workers for the past few years, and hopefully they will return next spring.  We celebrated their time with us by cooking a big Mexican lunch for team.  Chef Lyn is in full control of the cooking!

Employee Housing Update

Construction of the new Highlands CC employee housing continues to move right along with both buildings not being framed.  The contractor's goal is to have roofs on both buildings by late December. 

It's worth noting both buildings will be the same height; one will have 3 floors because of a basement level, as you can see.

Wednesday Drone Shots

Thanks to a relatively warm October and November, the golf course remains very green and in great shape.  We continue to mow at the same intervals as we do during the season.

The practice tee has been topdressed with 35 tons of sand!

USGA Green Section Record

CLICK HERE! 

Click above for the November 1st edition of the USGA Green Section Record.

7-Day Forecast

 

Curbing

The team is doing a great shop on our curbing projects.  Again, my goal is to have a standard curbing look throughout the entire golf course.  Each year, we select areas along cart paths that desperately need curbing and we slowly chip away at it.  One day, I'd love to see all tee and green complexes curbed!  The stone that we are using is expensive and that's why we only do a little bit each year.  Above, is the temporary basin we installed on #3 last year.  The purpose was to allow us to work on the bank below and establish grass on it without it continuously washing out.  However, the basin inlet and boulders stuck out like a sore thumb.  Below is what the area looks like now after new curbing was installed to contain and direct sheet flow runoff.

On #2, this corner was always bare of grass because of carts and mowing equipment cutting the corner too close.  You can see curbing was installed and the ground level around the tee was raised so it is flush with the backside of the curbing.  It is now ready for sod.

And finally, we are working today to install curbing behind the 6th green towards #7 tees.  This area is always wet because it's a low spot.  This will be a huge improvement because we'll now be able to direct water into the existing basin.

Apple Hill

One of the fascinating aspects of historic golf courses are the stories behind the property and how previous land use helped shape the golf course at the time of construction.  The most famous example I can think of would be Augusta National Golf Club, situated on what was Berckman's Nursery.  Also known as Fruitlands Nursery, it was the first large scale horticultural nursery in the southeast.   Many of the varieties of trees and shrubs developed by the Berckmans, still grow on the ANGC property.

In Highlands, one of the most historic homes in the area sits above the 5th hole along Cobb Road.  Of course, I am referring to Apple Hill.  A gentleman by the name of Jackson Johnson first built the home in 1850, making it one of the oldest homes in Highlands.  Legend claims the login cabin, made of hand hewn poplar logs, once belonged to the Cherokee Indians.  In 1887, the home was sold to Judson Cobb, who came to Highlands to raise cattle, and did so on the property.  He was responsible for initially enlarging the home.  Many years later, the property was sold to Cason and Nancy Calloway, who named the property Apple Hill because of the many apple trees that grew on the property and also once covered the hillside on #5 and #6 fairways, before the golf course was built.

Today, the apple trees are old and while most of the trees continue to produce fruit, they're in a major state of decline.  Each fall, they attract a population of deer and bear, without fail.   The two apple trees on the golf course are hollow but continue to hang on.  I think it's important we don't lose this history on this part of the golf course.  That is why today, we introduced 7 new apple trees to the area!  As these trees grow, we may need to remove the older specimens.  Regardless, Apple Hill will continue to be Apple Hill, well into the future!  I also found a local gentlemen who is well versed in the proper pruning of apple trees. I’m going to spend a few hours with him next Thursday, learning about the proper pruning techniques on apple trees that allow the trees to bear even more fruit. More on this next week!

A combination of Granny Smith and Winesap apple trees were planted along the golf course by Apple Hill.

I do want to thank my friend and Highlands Historian, Ran Shaffner, on the background info on Apple Hill.  Ran is a wealth of information and a great resource for this community. 

Wednesday

 

Above, the installation of curbing along the cart path on #2 is complete.  We will be resodding the rough around the tee and raising the ground level so it is even with the top of the curbs.  You can see how the curbing was used here to direct water into the basin inlet.

After 0.6" of rain last night and this morning, the sand is being worked into the canopy nicely following DryJect aeration.  Over the next couple weeks, we'll be alternating a rolling/mowing program to keep the greens as smooth as possible. 

Etiolated Grass Growth

I took this photo on Tuesday afternoon on the 3rd fairway.  You can see the dense Creeping Bentgrass growth mixed with taller, leggy, and lighter yellow- green grass.  It too is Creeping Bentgrass.  There are a few different factors that can cause this.

First, this is known as etiolated grass growth.  It is a phenomenon characterized by elongated, pale green or yellowish stems and leaves. 

One of the primary causes of etiolated growth is insufficient light intensity. Grass, like all plants, relies on sunlight to produce energy through photosynthesis. When grass is deprived of adequate light, it cannot efficiently synthesize chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for capturing light energy. As a result, the grass elongates to reach a light source, leading to tall, spindly growth. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in shaded areas, such as under trees, tall structures, or in densely planted regions where competition for light is intense.  It could also occur during prolonged days of dense cloud cover.

Another factor that can influence this is type of growth are temperature fluctuations.  While it's not fully understood, extremes between night and day temperatures can encourage this etiolated growth.

Plant growth regulators are another factor that can exacerbate this phenomenon.  While you probably didn't know such a product existed, we treat our greens, tees and fairways with plant growth regulators (PGRs) on a 14-day interval.  PGRs not only slow grass growth down to make managing clippings easier, but they are used to create denser playing surfaces.  In addition to that, they can be used to promote one turf species over another depending on their growth habit.  For example, PGRs encourage lateral grass growth, which can be used to encourage Creeping Bentgrass growth over Poa annua growth.  When turf is treated regularly for extended periods with PGRs, then those applications abruptly stop, this type of growth can occur.  Some refer to this as the rebound effect.  We stop all PGR applications by October 1st because with the drop in temperature, mother nature controls growth for us.  This rebound effect, is likely what is occurring on this fairway at Highlands CC.   

The final cause for growth like this is a bacterial infection in the turf.  I've not seen that in my career, but I understand it can be very serious in some situations, primarily on putting greens.   

Practice Facility Mats

If you look closely, you can see white lines that represent the new location of artificial mats that will be installed this winter at the practice facility.  We'll be doubling the number of mats we have from 10 to 20.  The yellow numbers you see on the tee. are simple elevation numbers we shot with a transit for our own information to get a feel for the amount of fill we'll need to level the tee.

Above, the new curbing on #2 is looking great!

Hurricane in the Gulf

Greatest College Football Coach of All-Time

 

I was just as surprised as anyone when I saw Coach Saban dressed like a Nittany Lion on Saturday!