LEDGEROCK GOLF CLUB MAINTENANCE: Those white marks!

Over the last month or so you may have noticed white marks appearing on the greens. The small white dashes or 'T's are the areas where the greens are stimped. Up until this fall we were very limited on where we could stimp the greens.

Stimping 1 green (normal distance)

This is because flat areas are needed to get an accurate reading but once the greens are up to speed, the amount of suitable flat areas are greatly reduced. The USGA launched a new stimpmeter to address this. It only requires half the distance of the regular stimpmeter so it is easier to find an area to get an accurate reading. Even with the shorter required distance, finding suitable spots can be difficult; therefore the small 'T's were painted so the suitable spots could be found quickly and to ensure consistency. The other benefit of being able to stimp more of the greens on a regular basis is that it ensures the green speed is consistent from green to green - which incidentally is the real reason the stimpmeter was created.

The last week of October saw a number of bigger white marks appearing. These are marking the drain lines in the greens. The as-built drawings were damaged during construction and over the years, the greens drainage clean outs etc were lost. ISTRIC's expertise came to the rescue with their camera snake and tracer.

Camera Snake viewer

Marking the drainage laterals

With a bit of practice they showed us how to locate a drain line (and in most cases the clean outs). Once they were found the snake was sent down the drain and the laterals were easily visible. The white marks show where the mains and laterals intersect and now new as-builts can be created. The second benefit is that the drainage could be checked for damage making sure it is working properly with no blockages; the great news is they all looked great.

Marking 2 green - the drainage didn't end in the rough so will need to be extended

The third benefit is, now that the clean-outs have been located, a backpack blower can be used to blow air through the drainage system (similar to a Subair system) which will help keep the greens drier and healthier going forward. The Subair systems are expensive and when given the choice of fans or a sub-air style system, the fans were more beneficial as explained in this old post. Through their research ISTRIC discovered over the last few years that hooking a backpack blower to the drainage system can replicate the Subair process. While not as efficient as the more expensive unit, it is a very cost effective way to move air through the profile. What all this means that now we not only have a method to dry the turf surface during hot humid spells, we can also accelerate the root zone dry down also; which provides more options for watering the problematic shaded greens. The ability to blow air also helps release 'sewer' gases that can build up at the end of the drain lines which can be toxic to turf.

This is the final piece in the puzzle for maintaining the pocketed greens. It'll take a year or so for the management of these greens to be fully dialed in as we learn how they can be ultimately pushed. A few years ago these greens needed to be nursed though the entire summer from the onset of the heat, requiring more fertilizer, a higher height of cut and reduced rolling (all resulting in slower, less consistent surfaces) to surfaces that now remain consistent with the others all summer and this past year only started showing signs of stress in early August. Now they should be able to get over that last hurdle and remain healthy all year along with being consistent.

Blowing air through the drainage with a backpack blower