Greens Aerification

 

Greens Aerifier at work

Aerification Schedule for the Fall

Fairway Aerification

Greens Aerification

Fairway topdressing

Tee aerification: September 2 & 3
Fairway aerification and topdressing: September 4,8,9,10,11
Greens aerification: September 29,30
Practice tee aerification: September 15th

Aerification of the walkways and rough areas will take place after the fairway aerification is completed. The schedule is subject to weather and may be adjusted if necessary.

USGA visit

Silver Spring Club President Bette Spielman and USGA Senior Agronomist Jim Skorulski prepare to tour the course for Silver Spring's annual USGA Turf Advisory visit.
During this years tour, all the playing surfaces, and the programs we have in place for those areas, were examined for promoting and sustaining playability and plant  health. Jim also took a close look at all the new construction areas from last fall focusing on root development and soil structure.
Other areas that were examined during the visit were our practice tee, tree management program, and the areas of proposed new construction for our future Master Plan work,
Jim travels  throughout the Northeast during the growing season visiting over 100 courses, as well as being part of the USGA prep for all their championships.  He is a valuable resource to tap with questions on turf research and plant health as well as golf design.

Air fracturing Soils

The Air2G2 machine was developed to help turf managers keep their fine turf healthy and green. The machine will send inject compressed air into soils to a depth of up to 12 inches. The injected air will fracture the soils providing channels for nutrient and water to move throughout the soil as well as fresh air channels for root growth.The air exchange will also push harmful CO2 from the soil structure.

Work Schedule for the week of 6/30

In addition to our normal cutting schedule for the week, we will be performing the following procedures:
Greens and new tee venting
Summer patch and wetting agent treatment on all greens
Fairway fungicide and fertilizer application.
Tee fungicide and fertilizer application
Light greens topdressing
Complete divot repairs on tees and fairways

Green surface after venting

Member Guest 2014

Final prep for the 2014 Member Guest Tournament are complete.  We are ready to go. Great job by my staff dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's.

Master Plan Work 2013

Shaping Bunker #14

Bunker drains #15

Removal of fill from the pit on 14

Reshaping 14 green

New green site #14

Rebuilt bunkers #15

Greens drainage #14

Top dressing sod seams #14 green

New #14 green complex

15th hole completed

Four legged Golfer

I think I'll hit my wedge-

The New 14th hole

The Old Green Complex

Green site construction via google earth

Before

After

New Greens Mowers

This season we will be using the newest technology in greens mowing. The Jacobsen Eclipse Greens Mower has been on the market for several years and as with all new technology some problems existed with the design and operating system. After tweaking the design and operating system the newest model of Eclipse mowers have been very successful and well received in the turf industry. The mower has an combustion engine that runs at a very low speed to power the generator system that runs the electric components which include a computer that is set by our Equipment Manager to provide consistent reel clip rate and operating speed. This ensures that all operators get the same results when mowing. By setting a constant clip rate and speed it is possible to mow a fraction higher than our present mowers with better results.

Groundsman Chris Haro mowing the practice green with  the new Eclipse mower

This is Better

 May 3

 April 16th

Monday Maintenance

Cutting rough

Just a few of the work projects being performed today.
Our trusted rough mower Nick Gaeta is back smoothing the rough to a managable 2.5 inches and our annual sand injection into the green surfaces,"dryject", are in progress today.
Mowing of tees, colllars and approaches; green and tee bank mowing as well as tennis court maintenance are also on the schedule.
All the areas of new construction are now open and there were 2 birdies on the new 14th hole on Saturday during the men's golf opening tournament.

Dryjecting Greens

Winter Please GO AWAY!!

Here are the conditions that we awoke to this morning. The cold temperatures turned the end of yesterdays rain event to a mini snow storm. Over an inch of snow has covered all our playing surfaces and with the cold weather predicted to be around for the next two days, it might be a few days before we see grass again.

APRIL 16, 2014

Bent vs Poa

This picture shows the rear section of the rebuilt 14th green. During the rebuild the original green sod was lifted and re-installed on the newly graded surface. The configuration of the new green was slightly larger than the old green and some sod from our greens nursery was used on the rear section of the green.
The new sod,( planted in 2009), has a higher population of bent grass than the 85 year old sod that was on the original green. The green was covered for the winter to try and protect and accelerate the establishment of the new putting surface. When the cover was removed it was clear that the bent grass wintered much better than the Poa on the right side of this picture. Once the warmer weather arrives the color difference between the two species of grasses will blend together and will not be as noticeable.

Spring Prep

First cut on 3 black tee

 It's hard to believe that when the temperatures reach 45 it's considered warm, but with the weather we have had this spring we'll take it.
This week we will be making our first cuts on greens, tees and fairways. Our goal is to open greens and tees later in the week. The new tees constructed last fall will remain closed to allow for some better rooting to help the turf mature to the point that can withstand play.

Keeping the cut lines straight

Brushing 16 green

View from 3 Blue tee

April 1 Update

The combination of the heavy rains over the weekend and the snow on Monday morning has left the golf course extremely wet and soft.The golf course and all practice facilities will remain closed this week. The weather forecast is for improving, with warm and drier weather predicted for this week .We hope to be open for play on temporary greens and tees this weekend. That decision will be made Thursday.
Our goal is to open for play on regulars greens and tees by mid to late next week,( week of April 8th).
All areas of construction including the entire 14th hole will remain closed for play until further notice.
Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Course Update

Golf Course update March 24^th 2014

The cold winter weather continues: Several area of the golf course are still under snow cover and a deep frost layer exists in our soils. These conditions will keep the golf course closed to all play and practicing until at least March 31^st. Let’s hope the predicated snow storm for this week does not materialize, delaying the opening of the course any further.

Several days of warm temperatures are necessary to melt the snow cover and thaw the frost layers in the soil. Until all frost is out of the ground no traffic is allowed on the course. Traffic on thawing turf can harm the root systems and playing surfaces of our fine turf.

Please follow the club website and turf blog for updates on conditions .Thanks for your understanding.

Peter Rappoccio, CGCS

Golf Course Update March 2014

Spring is only days away according to the calendar; but Mother Nature has other ideas for our area. The coldest winter in many years has pounded the northeast with storm after storm and some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded. The month of March has been so far the coldest on record.

Presently the golf course has up to a foot of snow and ice on the playing surfaces. A snow cover has been present since early January. The prolonged cover can present problems for turf grass. The variety of grasses that we have on our greens, tees, and fairways can usually survive being under snow cover for 90 days. When ice is present under the snow that survival time decreases to 60 days.  The golf and grounds crew has been monitoring the playing surfaces for several weeks and this week we decided to remove the upper layer of snow to expose the 1 to 3 inches of ice below the snow. In most areas the ice is removed as well when thawing starts. . The danger of constant melting and freezing can cause the grass plant to die from anaerobic conditions, (the lack of gas exchange), and crown hydration that can develop under the ice. Removal of snow and ice is a delicate procedure. Many hours of hand labor is required to clear one green. A combination of warmer weather and through the efforts of the golf and grounds crew all of our greens have been cleared of snow and ice and playing surfaces look viable.

The golf course will remain closed throughout the melt down process. Even after the snow and ice are gone, the several inches of frozen ground has to thaw and stabilize to support any foot or cart traffic. Traffic on as little as 1 to 2 inches of thawing ground can cause damage to both the playing surfaces and the developing root systems  that can take several weeks to recover from. The colder temperatures this winter have produced a frost level that is several inches below what the average frost depth usually is.

We will continue to do all we can to get the course open ASAP and keep updating the membership on conditions as they improve. The course website and blog will have weekly updates starting March 24^th.

Peter Rappoccio, CGCS

Checking ice levels under the snow

Opening a channel on #3

 Every winter that has a prolonged snow cover has Turf managers keeping their fingers crossed that the snow cover does not turn to an ice layer on the greens. Turf that is covered with ice can survive for a period of time without damage. Different turf grass varieties have different thresholds for survival. Bent grass is 90 days and bent/poa which is the predominate grass at Silver Spring can survive up to 60 days under ice. Our greens have been under snow and ice for 40 days.

Our ven-trac snow blower

 This past week the golf and grounds crew removed snow on several greens to see if any ice was present and if there was the thickness of the ice. Using hand shoveling and our mini ventrac snow blower, channels of snow on 3,6,8,9,1,and 18 were removed. A 1.5" layer of ice was present on all greens examined. Fortunately the mini thaw we experienced this past weekend quickly melted the ice and exposed the turf below. Presently the turf looks good.

The inspection team

 We will continue to monitor snow and ice levels throughout the winter and remove the snow and ice when levels dictate.

Ice on the 3rd green

Winter of 2014

Just adding to the pile

 Many hours of snow removal have added to the work load of the Golf and Grounds staff this winter. What seems like a endless series of snow storms has keep the crew busy plowing and keeping  our four paddle courts operational.  With over 11,500 square feet of decking and court space at the paddle facility; a six inch snow storm produces over 200 cubic yards of snow that has to be shoveled from the facility before play can start. Unfortunately the heaters under the court are a help in light dusting storms but whenever the snow amount exceed 2 inches its shovel first and use the heaters to melt the light coat the shovels leave.

Can you find the new tees on #3

View from the new forward tee on #3

Many thanks to my staff for the fine job they have done this winter keeping the paddle facility running on schedule.