Thursday- 1/4" Hollow Tine Putting Green Aeration

This has been a good week for the health of our putting greens!  You'll recall all of the greens were aerated using the DryJect process, two directions, this past Monday and Tuesday and then today, we followed that up with a 1/4" hollow tine aeration, and rolling.  Come spring (mid-late March), we'll be doing some more aggressive hollow tine practices combined with aggressive verticutting to remove even more organic matter and set the putting greens up for a successful 2027 season.  The beauty of this program, is that we never take the greens out of play for you after Labor Day, when most cool-season golf courses aerate putting greens.  For the last 25 years, I've understood how the season can seem short and I've tried to be creative to give the membership the best conditions for most all of the season.  I wish there was a way to delay even these recent practices but unfortunately, labor and weather aren't on our side.  Friday is the last day of work for my seasonal staff.  Aeration requires a lot of man power and we couldn't do it without these hard working folks.  Second, we are approaching the time of year when the greens will begin to freeze.  Aeration is ideally done during times when turf is actively growing.  Of course, it's impossible to aerate a frozen rootzone.  These aeration practices are extremely important and critical to the quality of your putting greens.  It would be unacceptable to not accomplish this work because we waited too late.

Golf Digest

To view the article at Golf Digest's website,

 CLICK HERE!

Wednesday

All of the fine fescue areas on the golf course are being trimmed back to about 5" tall for the winter.  This helps them from getting matted down over the winter and ultimately breeding fungus.

We started topdressing approaches today.  You can see how much sand accumulates on the surface once it is applied.  After it dries for an hour or two, we "drag" the approach with the broom system you see in these photos.  Note how all the sand basically disappears and fills the holes that were created from aeration.

With poor and very cold weather on the way, I decided we'll do a small core aeration to greens (1/4" hollow tines) tomorrow.  We'll clean them up and roll them after the process, causing very little disruption.  Of course, they are rolling much slower now that the height of cut has been raised to prepare the turf for winter.

7-Day Forecast

 

The polar vortex this weekend is really supposed to cool things off, as you can see.  Some weather outlets are even calling for a chance of snow in the mountains.  I think I speak for all of us when I say we're not ready for that just yet!  

This afternoon, the irrigation system is being shut down and drained.  This officially puts it to bed for the winter.  This also allows us time to switch the electric over at the pumpstation to the new underground electric line we installed last summer.  If you recall, this had to be done because the above ground power lines and the poles that feed power to the pumpstation are in the way of the dam renovation, scheduled to start in early December.  This gives our electrical contractor and the Town of Highlands Electric Dept. time to make the switch and remove the poles.  All necessary permits for the dam project (through the NCDEQ and Dam Safety Department) are officially in-hand, as of yesterday.  We are ready to roll!  It's going to be a fun winter!

Dryject Aeration

Above: you can see the benefit of DryJect looking at this cross section our root zone. The bright white sand are the channels created by the machine. 

It's that time of November when we have to disrupt the putting greens for the benefit of great putting surfaces for years to come.  Even though we DryJect two directions on the same day, this process still isn't as disruptive as hollow coring greens with 1/2" tines on a 2x2 hole spacing.  This machine shoots blasts of high pressure water into the green, fracturing the soil to a 3-4" depth.  Following those blasts of water, "oven-dry" sand is pulled down into the void that was created by the water.  This is such a great practice for greens for a number of reasons.  There is one thing it doesn't do however, and that's removing organic matter (cores) like traditional aeration does.  To that point, DryJect does not replace traditional aeration, it's simply another tool we add to our overall putting green management program at Highlands CC.  In March, we'll be doing more aggressive hollow tine aeration to remove the organic matter that accumulates below the surface.  By doing this, we are able to keep the putting surfaces firm and fast.

USGA Green Section Record

For the latest edition of the USGA Green Section Record,

CLICK HERE! 

Friday

Following the 5" of rain this week we noticed these stained areas on the practice green after blowing leaves the following morning.  The rain caused some of the organic compounds in the leaves to stain the turf.  It's not harmful in anyway but an interesting phenomenon. 

Cleaning up and mulching leaves on the golf course is the most time consuming task we deal with.  You'll notice we mulch more leaves than not.  This is simply because we have nowhere to put them where they can decompose without creating an odor, just like grass clippings.  Our campus is very dense and we want to be good neighbors.  This is the reason why you see us spending so much effort mulching the leaves with our rough mowers.

Firewood

After nearly 5" of rain, we are working off the golf course for most of the day to allow the course to dry out and drain.  Tomorrow, we'll be back to blowing fairways and mowing.  One of the jobs we are doing today is our annual Club firewood replenishment.  Each year, we split about 4 or 5 cords of firewood that is used in the Clubhouse and Hudson House fireplaces.  Taking care of it this time of year gives the wood a long time to dry out, making it perfect for the spring and autumn of 2027.  All of the wood comes from trees removed from the golf course the prior year.  

Rain Totals

Rain Totals

Over the past 24 hours, we received 4.55" of rain at Highlands Country Club!

This much needed rainfall raised our YTD total to 55.8" which is still well below where we should be for this time of year.

Tuesday

Approach aeration is underway!  This process takes a full week because of the acreage we aerate and clean up.

All fairways and tees were fertilized today with a 15-2-15 fertilizer.

We are adding additional curbing to holes #1, #2 and #3 now that we finished with #12 tees and #17.

Monday

In November, the golf course is closed on Mondays.  This allows us to get quite a lot done with the course to ourselves.  Today we are taking advantage of the time by aerating the practice tee and approach, the two chipping greens and turf nursery.  It's important to accomplish these tasks within the next week and a half because our seasonal team members leave the second week of November.   

In addition to that, greens are being topdressed and we have a large leaf crew out in full force.  Tomorrow, we will be fertilizing fairways and approaches.  You might be curious as to why we would fertilize in November, right as the grass is shutting down for the winter?  The reason for fertilizing now, is that it will enhance and speed, spring green-up.  Fertilizing cool season turf during this time of year, allows the grass to use the nutrients to produce carbohydrates and also grow additional roots.  The air temperature is much cooler now but the soil temperatures are still supporting growth below ground.  Many believe that this is the most important fertilizer application of the year.  In fact, if I could only make one fertilizer application over the course of year, this would be the timing I would choose.  

12th Annual Footgolf Championship

For the past 12 years, we've held the Annual Footgolf Championship at Redbird Golf Links in Sapphire, NC!  This annual event for the agronomy team is exciting and looked forward to.  I'd like to introduce to you, our 2026 Champions:

1st Place: David Morales (center)

2nd Place: Chris Chavez (right)

3rd Place: Raul Figueroa (left)

Architect Visit

Ron Forse, right, and President Stanley, left,  discuss the tees on the 6th hole.

Members of the Green Committee and Golf Architectural Committee spent the day on Tuesday with our golf course architect, Ron Forse.  The day was spent looking at the forward tees (4 tees), which will be rebuilt this winter to a sand based rootzone.  Many will be enlarged to support the amount of play the tees are receiving on an annual basis.  Because of the sand rootzone, these tees will drain a lot better and you won't have a difficult time getting a tee into the ground.

Above is an update on the curbing project on #12.  Once again, this curbing will extend past the 3 tee, all the way to the creek.

Club Lake Dam Earthwork

 

These are interesting models that show the dam as it is today (top photo) and a model of what it will look like after the work is complete (bottom photo).  The contractor uses this software to determine how many cubic yards of material needs to be excavated.  Looking at these, you can get a feeling for how the area will change over the winter.

Newspaper Alert

With this project being in a location where everyone can see it, members and non-members alike, I felt like it would be a good idea to put a short explanation of the project in both local newspapers.  It's a good way to stay ahead of any questions we get regarding the tree removal that was finished yesterday.