Archive for category: Golf Maintenance

Bella Vista POA’s Golf Maintenance crews will begin drill and fill aeration in March on Bella Vista Country Club and Highlands courses.

The machine enables crews to drill a 10-inch deep hole and simultaneously back fill with sand. The advantage to this process is that, with time, the green will begin to develop the capability to move water through the profile. The process will help increase oxygen in the root zone and eventually create healthier green surfaces.

“This is only part of our management plan, along with continued use of conventional aeration to improve the green surfaces on these two golf courses,” Golf Maintenance Manager Keith Ihms, CGCS said.

“The drill and fill machine is very slow and will take a number of days to complete an 18-hole course,” Ihms said. “We will close the course that we are working on, in order to complete the task in an efficient and timely manner.”

The greens will be playable after the drill and fill process; however, as with any type of aeration, it will take time to fully recover. For this reason, we have scheduled the drill and fill project several weeks prior to our convention aeration on the other courses, scheduled to begin at Berksdale the 15^th of April. This will ensure a minimum of 3 courses available for play that are not impacted by either aeration program.

The schedule for Drill and Fill is:

• March 11^th – 17^th – Bella Vista Country Club
• March 18^th – 24^th – Highlands Golf Course

The schedule for conventional green aeration is:

• April 15^th & 16^th – Berksdale Golf Course
• April 16^th & 17^th – Dogwood Golf Course
• April 17^th & 18^th – Kingswood Golf Course

Recycling stations have been placed at Berksdale’s halfway house and #8 Tee Box. These were built with re-purposed pallets and accumulated scrap lumber. Casual observation has indicated 90% of waste collected on the course are aluminum cans and plastic drink bottles. We successfully began collecting cans a few years ago, using a large blue receptacle at the halfway house. We also began recycling cardboard at the maintenance shop in cooperation with the Bella Vista Recycling Center last year. Our hope is that these stations will help further reduce our waste stream and support Berksdale’s mission of environmental responsibility. For more information, see bellavistarecycling.org, auduboninternational.org, or contact moc.a1695626131opvvb1695626131@bydn1695626131ew1695626131.

Winter is definitely here and sticking around. We have been fortunate with weather so far this season that while we have still had to cover, they were not on for too long of a period. We are about a week into it now and the forecast shows we will have a week left. Hopefully this will change, but we are prepared for it.

While the new covers have been extremely helpful and proven much better, this time we did install both sets when we put them on. We used the old ones first and then covered them with the darker, thicker set. This will help hold in more favorable temperature and prevent the wind from hammering over the top. In preparation before covering, there were some things we did to help aid the covers. First, we took moisture readings over the greens to tell us how they are holding. Then, we applied a wetting agent that helps the sand profile hold onto the moisture without being overly wet. Next, we took soil moisture readings again over areas where we know the greens tend to dry out. We followed this with hand watering select spots as needed. Keeping moisture in the crown/root-zone area also helps hold more heat for the plant since the temperature will drop faster in a dried out profile. Luckily this time we also got about a half inch of rain the night before covering so our readings were perfect and where we like to see the moisture levels before covering. Last, we put the covers on. We did this while it was still warm to help trap more heat inside the soil profile. Doing both covers took a little longer than normal, but we were also very diligent about securing them since high winds were expected and that can cause problems if not staked down accordingly. We’ve had good success so far and will continue to do everything we can to aid the turf through the winter.

While the covers are on we’ve been busy. We have taken out dead trees that were not only unsightly but also could have posed a hazard as time passes. We also had a company come out and trim up the tree on #10 fairway. That tree helps make the hole but due to the growth it was starting to become too much of a hazard. The limbs were starting to get into the fairway too much blocking what should be a good tee shot leading into the second. We’ve trimmed it back so the hole is more playable. The canopy was also raised and thinned to improve the health of the tree and the turf underneath by allowing more sunlight through. This also took quite a bit of weight off the tree helping to prevent high wind damage in the future.

Before

After

Hopefully the weather will soon change, and everyone can come enjoy Scotsdale again. I thank everyone for their patience and understanding the winter practices we do for the golf course.

We have targeted week of November 26^th to begin the next phase of this project as described in the information below. Over the past seven weeks the encroaching Bermuda grass has been sprayed 3 times. The last spray was on October 26.

At that time, there was very little live bermuda observed.  With the kill we’ve achieved and the bermuda going into winter dormancy there is no reason to wait any longer to sod the encroached area.

On Monday November 26^th we will close the green and start renovating the surround.

The process is as follows

• The dead Bermuda will be stripped, the ground will be lightly graded to match the green surface and bent grass will be taken from the nursery and laid around the green.
• The green will be reopened once the new sod has been laid.
• During the fall the new sod will be rolled and topdressed and grown slightly taller than the green to encourage rooting.
• In the early spring of 2019 the height will gradually be taken down to greens height at which time the new sod will be playable as a greens surface.
• We fully expect the new area to need additional maintenance during the 2019 season until it is fully established. This will include additional hand watering, topdressing, and small tine aerification.
• The large oscillating fan from #6 Berksdale will be moved to the left side of #13 green Kingswood and the small square fans in the back of the green will be removed.

During the re-sodding a temporary green in the approach will be used.

We appreciate your patience during this time and apologize for any inconvenience.  We are confident that this project will improve your golfing experience.

Thank you.

There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. Cold temperatures can damage Bermudagrass. History has shown that unprotected Bermudagrass putting greens are often the first victim of an all-Bermudagrass golf course to succumb to colder temperatures. Fortunately, turf covers can dramatically decrease the chance of winter injury. Golf courses with Ultradwarf putting greens in the transition zone (like NW Arkansas) need covers and must deploy them when conditions warrant.

We purchased green covers as part of the overall greens conversion project at Scotsdale in 2016. After the unusually cold winter of 2017-2018 we have purchased an additional set of tarps which will allow us to double cover under similar severe weather in the future (temperatures approaching zero or below or extended periods when temperatures remain below freezing). We also have covers that we have been using since the installation of the ultradwarf bermudagrass greens at Brittany. The following guidelines will be utilized this winter at Scotsdale. These guidelines are based on our experience with the greens at Brittany, guidelines provided to us by our Ultradwarf Bermudagrass supplier, winter of 2017-18, Champion Turf Farm, and recommendations from the USGA Agronomist.

Since our Scotsdale greens were replanted in June of this year, we will be utilizing a more conservative approach again this winter, deploying the new, thicker and darker covers when the temperatures are forecast to be below 27 degrees and trending down. When the forecast is for temperatures in mid-teens or expected to remain below freezing for an extended period we will install the second set of tarps. Under these conditions our original tarps will go down first, and the new tarps will then be placed on top and secured. It will be necessary to close the course the day before since it requires a minimum of 6 hours to complete deployment on all 18 holes plus putting and nursery greens. If we double tarp it may require additional time to complete deployment. Once temperatures allow for the removal of tarps an additional day, maybe longer if double tarped, will be required to remove the tarps as well. We will give as much advanced notice as possible to the Pro Shop personnel, Golf Operations Office and on Today’s Play on the web.

We appreciate everyone’s understanding and cooperation.

Kyle Soller, Superintendent, Scotsdale