About 16 days ago, golf course operations were coming together and I felt we were getting dialed in on the water management of the greens. There were not a tremendous amount of dry spots and staff was able to effectively manage them with daily hand watering that was not taxing our hours. If that routine could be maintained where the water lost during the day was replaced with the irrigation system each night and hand watering done only where inconsistencies in the system occurred, then I felt the greens would be firmer and smoother and play better if the correct ball speed could be achieved. The first lesson was to think that all contingencies had been considered.
On the night of June 2nd, the pump station faulted during the nightly operation and shut down leaving the greens without irrigation. Not a problem as we increased our hand watering the following day and no harm was done. On the night of the 3rd after changing the program a little, the same fault occurred. Now it's Saturday morning and a big deal especially when one of the staff called in sick leaving us short handed. But the greens were checked and hand watered and appeared to be holding their own. That afternoon turned scorching hot and hand watering could not keep up. The irrigation faulted again that night but this time the programs had been changed wholesale so the greens did water before the fault occurred. The greens were additionally hand watered Sunday morning and were being done so again that afternoon when the station quit working automatically altogether. The pump station technician was consulted and the station was switched to manual control where it has operated since. In retrospect, on Saturday morning I should have cut back on our routine making it possible to not only hand water but also run the irrigation system making up for faulting during the night but I was trying to deliver the expected even in impossible situations. Second lesson was that you have to know when to fold and cut your losses.
In the last two weeks with manual operation of the pump station, the greens have slowly been rehydrated to correct levels. On manual it has to be a basic program and that has slowed the recovery. Another factor is that greens daily and tees once a week are the only areas being irrigated. The program to irrigate around the greens takes to long to run during the day and interferes too much with routine maintenance. But that is exactly the program that would help several greens surrounded by trees such as #4, 10, 13, and 17. We know those have tree roots in the greens and normally we try to run the heads around the greens during dry spells to satisfy the trees and keep them from robbing too much moisture out of the greens. In the absence of that program, hand watering has been increased. The biggest help to greens recovery has been the rainfall albeit a small amount to this point (.30). Because of the high bicarbonates in our irrigation water, the longer it has to be the sole source of water, the less effective it becomes. From the 25th of May until June 17th there was only .1 inches of precipitation. Even the .06 received on the 14th started to invigorate the turf. Third lesson is to remember that Mother Nature has the biggest stick.
The fourth lesson came as I was originally writing this blog on Saturday. I got interrupted by a storm, so I saved it with the intent of coming back and finishing it. Unfortunately I was not savvy enough to get back into the saved document without outside help (my wife) and it is now Wednesday evening. If it can go wrong with technology it probably will especially when you do not want it to.
The last lesson learned from our pump station faulting was that the course is being over watered. The fairways and rough went nearly two weeks from the last time we irrigated them until it rained last weekend. The fairways were showing some stress in three areas and we ran the heads just in those locations but otherwise the turf has become absolutely wonderful. The rough did go off color somewhat and has stopped growing so fast but it has become playable. Both areas have greened up since the weekend rain and you would be hard pressed to know they had gone two weeks without water. Additionally, the bunkers were beautiful during this period without the irrigation system hitting the sand. It whitened up and raked much better.
None of these lessons are new and earth shattering. Sometimes in the heat of battle the goal of winning the war gets lost. On a golf course producing the best playing conditions for maximum golfer satisfaction (winning the war) does not entail lush, dark green turf growing at breakneck speed. It is producing a turf that is only moderately growing with decent color on ground that is firm underfoot. Last winter I talked about reading "Practical Greenkeeping" and the last two weeks have reinforced the message from that book. Let the turf do its own thing, just try to help it when it needs it, but never try to force it to do anything. The pump station is supposed to be fixed tomorrow and I will be working hard to change the irrigation schedules to keep the conditions of the last few weeks. See you on the course.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Feast or Famine
The pendulum seems to have swung past middle and on to the other extreme, hot and dry that is. Whether or not this trends continues and how long it lasts are only answered by living through what summer brings us over the next couple of months. It certainly is not the type of late spring weather that most people hoped for. A nice even ramp up into summer would have been preferred, but this is what we have so we have to cope with it the best way possible.
The good news is that the warm season turf, bermuda and zoysia, love the weather of the past two weeks. The fairways are filling in rapidly and the zoysia has recovered from the nutsedge control and looks great. The fertilizer that was applied has given them a wonderful color and they are ready for a growth regulator application next week. Other good news is that the warm temperatures have slowed the growth of the rough. It is still thick in most areas but at least it is not growing gang busters anymore.
On the other side of the coin is the effect of the early heat on the greens. They were doing just fine and it looked like the program was on the right track when the irrigation pump station decided that it was time to test our mettle. On the night of the 2nd, it malfunctioned just after midnight and the greens did not water. They still had good moisture content and they were hand watered during the day on the third. That night, after thinking that changes to the schedule would help, it did the same thing and the greens again did not water. Again they were hand watered the next morning and looked reasonably good. That afternoon the temperatures soared and the greens dried out too much and too fast to keep up with. Again changes were made and the greens did water that Saturday night. However, on Sunday during hand watering time, the cpu unit on the pump station failed preventing the pump station from turning on. Finally after a couple of telephone calls, the station was switched to manual control in order that the greens could be cooled and irrigated.
The pump station company ordered new parts and they and the technician arrived on Wednesday the 8th. Unfortunately our station is of an age (16 years) that it was built without a memory chip for backup. What has happened is that the cpu has lost the program on how to operate. It is supposed to be stored on this memory chip attached to one of the circuit boards, but it is not there. Today the manufacturer thought they could supply a chip with the program drawn from the original records and have it to us early next week. The technician will then be able to diagnose which board is faulty, replace it and then reprogram the cpu.
In the interim, the station has to be operated manually. This requires first bringing the system up to operating pressure slowly, then turning on the heads desired and matching the outflow with the capacity of the pumps. As the heads quit running, the pressure has to be watched closely and pumps shut off to prevent too much pressure building in the system and blowing pipe apart at the seams. Needless to say it is a little nerve wracking and we have decided to only water greens at this point. Tees were able to be irrigated Thursday morning and might be done again on Tuesday. Greens take anywhere between an hour and four depending on how much water needs to be applied. During the day we are able to open the #12 lake fill valve in the system that allows the small pump to run continuously while we hand water the dry spots on the greens. The lake valve acts as a safety release keeping the pressure in the system from building. Fairways and rough are not receiving any water at this point.
The upside to not watering the fairways is that the poa annua that survived last winter and could not be sprayed out is dieing quickly probably saving a herbicide application. They also should be rolling quite good making your tee shots even longer. Without irrigation the rough has slowed its growth and should be more playable. The greens have suffered some but are being nursed back to health. Some turf has been lost mainly on edges where problems have surfaced before. When the pump station is fully operational again, these areas will be dealt with using plugs. Of course they have been other complications such as 3 heads that quit turning and 2 controllers that also quit. Normal occurances for a 23 year old system but never the less very frustrating on this end. The course really does look terrific right now even with all that has happened in the last week and hopefully you are out enjoying it.
The good news is that the warm season turf, bermuda and zoysia, love the weather of the past two weeks. The fairways are filling in rapidly and the zoysia has recovered from the nutsedge control and looks great. The fertilizer that was applied has given them a wonderful color and they are ready for a growth regulator application next week. Other good news is that the warm temperatures have slowed the growth of the rough. It is still thick in most areas but at least it is not growing gang busters anymore.
On the other side of the coin is the effect of the early heat on the greens. They were doing just fine and it looked like the program was on the right track when the irrigation pump station decided that it was time to test our mettle. On the night of the 2nd, it malfunctioned just after midnight and the greens did not water. They still had good moisture content and they were hand watered during the day on the third. That night, after thinking that changes to the schedule would help, it did the same thing and the greens again did not water. Again they were hand watered the next morning and looked reasonably good. That afternoon the temperatures soared and the greens dried out too much and too fast to keep up with. Again changes were made and the greens did water that Saturday night. However, on Sunday during hand watering time, the cpu unit on the pump station failed preventing the pump station from turning on. Finally after a couple of telephone calls, the station was switched to manual control in order that the greens could be cooled and irrigated.
The pump station company ordered new parts and they and the technician arrived on Wednesday the 8th. Unfortunately our station is of an age (16 years) that it was built without a memory chip for backup. What has happened is that the cpu has lost the program on how to operate. It is supposed to be stored on this memory chip attached to one of the circuit boards, but it is not there. Today the manufacturer thought they could supply a chip with the program drawn from the original records and have it to us early next week. The technician will then be able to diagnose which board is faulty, replace it and then reprogram the cpu.
In the interim, the station has to be operated manually. This requires first bringing the system up to operating pressure slowly, then turning on the heads desired and matching the outflow with the capacity of the pumps. As the heads quit running, the pressure has to be watched closely and pumps shut off to prevent too much pressure building in the system and blowing pipe apart at the seams. Needless to say it is a little nerve wracking and we have decided to only water greens at this point. Tees were able to be irrigated Thursday morning and might be done again on Tuesday. Greens take anywhere between an hour and four depending on how much water needs to be applied. During the day we are able to open the #12 lake fill valve in the system that allows the small pump to run continuously while we hand water the dry spots on the greens. The lake valve acts as a safety release keeping the pressure in the system from building. Fairways and rough are not receiving any water at this point.
The upside to not watering the fairways is that the poa annua that survived last winter and could not be sprayed out is dieing quickly probably saving a herbicide application. They also should be rolling quite good making your tee shots even longer. Without irrigation the rough has slowed its growth and should be more playable. The greens have suffered some but are being nursed back to health. Some turf has been lost mainly on edges where problems have surfaced before. When the pump station is fully operational again, these areas will be dealt with using plugs. Of course they have been other complications such as 3 heads that quit turning and 2 controllers that also quit. Normal occurances for a 23 year old system but never the less very frustrating on this end. The course really does look terrific right now even with all that has happened in the last week and hopefully you are out enjoying it.
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