1st hole

2nd Tee Took Significant Damage

I think it’s safe to presume that everyone has experienced some sort of hardship from the recent storm, and that if you yourself didn’t receive any damage that you are probably familiar with the extent of disruption that did occur. We were fortunate here at the Orchards to receive only moderate damage from the storm. By this I mean that there were no major trees that fell on buildings or greens, and nothing occurred that would prevent us from opening the course back up to salvage the remaining days of this golf season.

What did occur here was a lot of downed limbs, branches, and debris. In short, the course was a mess. We’ve been working since last Monday to get the course as safe and playable as possible. The past week has largely been spent removing hanging branches from trees, cutting up downed trees and branches, running truck loads of debris to our maintenance area, and making piles on the course of what we could clean up but could’t move. Once the snow melted (it took until this past weekend) we were then able to get out and clean up/ blow the smaller debris that posed a problem for golf.

We’ve made great progress in our clean up efforts and the golf course will be open for walking starting Tuesday. I’m happy to announce that golf carts will be allowed beginning this Wednesday! Please be patient as myself and my crew continues to clean up the course during the day. We still have many tasks to accomplish before winter, which now includes all of this clean up as well. I want to stress that the course is messy and there are piles of brush and stacks of wood scattered here and there. We focused our efforts the past 8 days first and foremost on getting the course safe. Once this was accomplished we then moved to getting it passable and playable. Some of the edges and out of the way areas have tree limbs or even whole trees moved to the side. This part of the clean up will be completed as we have time, but most likely will take place this winter.

My thoughts are with all of you as you navigate this unfortunate situation in your own lives- and I do look forward to seeing everyone out on the course! I want to recognize my staff for their hard work this past week. Beginning with my assistant Andrew “Digger” Charbonneau, I also want to identify Damian Sears and Greg Howe for their hustle during this difficult time.

As always, if you have any concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,

Matt Streeter

8th Green & Bunker

8th Fairway/ 4th Tee

Morning sky on fire here at the Orchards!

Course Update
August31, 2011

Fortunately the course did not sustain any significant damage due to hurricane Irene. It is messy and soggy out there, but as the days go by this week we should have things looking normal again. Please be patient as our crew cleans up the course- and be aware that special restrictions may be in play until things get back to normal.

Greens aerification will take place next Tuesday and Wednesday (September 6 & 7). We will aerify the back 9 greens on Tuesday and front 9 greens on Wednesday. As always, this process is completely dependent upon the weather. If it should rain and either postpone the process or prolong the completion of the process, we will finish as time permits.

I’ve been asked in the past why we aerify greens when they are looking and playing so good. The answer to this question lies within the question itself. One of the many reasons our greens look and play so well all season is because of practices such as aerification. Aerification is a process which is essentially a “savings account” for turfgrass. By this I mean it is not an instant gratification event; putting money away now offers the opportunity at more money in the future. Aerification is just that- a process that is difficult to swallow in the short term, but in the long run pays great dividends.

The benefits of turf aerification are two fold (to state it simply) – by removing compacted soil and grass material we are allowing the turf to “breathe” and better accept water, air, and nutrients. The other benefit is the integration of sand (topdressing) into the top 6 inches of turf which helps the soil better allow for root growth and overall health over time. Fall is the best growing season of the year, so reducing compaction now will aid in turf recovery and growth. Sand has more pore space (air space) between its particles, making it a more desirable medium to grow turfgrass. As in my savings account analogy above, this process requires an investment now that gives you the best chance for future success.

We take all precautions and target our most suited materials for use before, during, and after aerification to get the greens back to their strongest in time for fall golf. We will make fungicide and fertilizer applications to the greens a few days before aerification so that they are better equipped to handle the traumatic process of punching holes into the surface. Seed will be incorporated into greens after we topdress, which is exciting because it offers a great time to introduce better varieties of bentgrass into our greens while alleviating the troublesome Poa annua! As always, but more immediately necessary than other times during the season, we constantly monitor overall greens health and apply fertilizer and fungicides as necessary afterwards so they keep growing and flourishing well into fall. At this point they are in the best shape possible to be ready to withstand winter.

Hopefully I’ve explained clearly enough the reasons why aerification is important to healthy turf. This practice is widely regarded as one of the most important processes we do as turf managers. It sure would be easy to skip it and have an easy and smooth sailing start to fall, but I wouldn’t be doing my job properly as your Superintendent if I let short term hardships get in the way of long term success.
Please get in touch if you have any questions at all. I am happy to chat about this process or anything else that we do here on the course. I hope everyone is safe and you made it through the recent storm in good shape. Thank you very much for your membership at the Orchards- I look forward to seeing everyone out on the course!

Thank you,
Matt Streeter

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The Summer Rolls On

By David A. Oatis, director, Northeast Region
July 14, 2011

I can see it now; the summer of 2011 will wind up being ‘average’ when we total the year-end weather data, but for superintendents who manage turf, there really is no such thing as an average year.  Last winter certainly was not average because winter injury was experienced in many parts of the region.  The spring was not average because of the cool temperatures and tremendous rainfall.  Many areas of the region now have gone several weeks without rainfall, and some areas have gone without rainfall for much longer.  Once again, long-standing records will be broken for extreme weather, but the year-end totals will be ‘average.’

Annual bluegrass weevil (ABW) activity seems to be in a lull for the moment, but the next wave of damage will appear at any moment.  ABW populations were very high on many courses a few weeks ago, and, as has been the case annually for the last few years, we saw all phases of the insect at the same time at courses in the Met area.  A combination of a much wider emergence window and resistance to the pyrethroid class of insecticides are the most likely causes.  Control of ABW is more difficult now because different materials are required to control adults and larva, so it is essential to understand your populations.  Knowing the percentage of ABW in the adult, larvae and pupa stages is essential to successful control.  My best advice is to scout before and immediately after control applications so that you can target them more effectively and assess whether or not the control measures were effective.  Based on what we have seen thus far, plan on ABW being a problem for the rest of the season.

Given all the wet weather experienced this spring, one also would suspect that summer patch may be prevalent this year.  We just need some hot, dry weather to kick it off.  If that occurs, beware.

I saw the first Japanese beetle adults of the year on July 7.  Although I have not seen high populations at the courses I have visited, there are reports of extremely high numbers in some areas.  Thus, be sure your turf is protected from this insect pest.  Oh, and if the Japanese beetle traps are being used on your course, be aware that they bring in adult beetles from miles around so carefully choose where you place them.

In case you are feeling emboldened by your turf performing well, remember some key lessons from last year.  If you want to try a new product, do not try it on all of your greens, tees or fairways.  First use it in a few small areas, in some cases possibly over a couple of seasons, so that you can get a better feel for how the product will work under a wide range of conditions specific to your course.  Once you’ve done that, expand usage to the rest of the course.  Not before!

It seems hard to believe, but the summer is nearly half over, so here’s to hoping your turf has held up well so far and that it continues to hold up for the remainder of the season.  As always, do not hesitate to give our office a call if we can help in any way.  Our visiting schedule is busy, but we can always fit you in if there is a problem.

Source:  Northeast Region Green Section- Dave Oatis, Director doatis@usga.org; Adam Moeller, Agronomistamoeller@usga.org Jim Skorulski, Senior Agronomist jskorulski@usga.org.

Take a look at a few pictures taken throughout the week:

Fescue to the right of #1 green

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#6 fairway

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Damian rolling #8 Friday morning after the rain

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#4 green Saturday- tough hole location over the bunker!

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From #9 tee looking at the right of #3 green

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#2 fairway. Friday's storm was nothing more than a minor inconvenience... although a lot of rain fell in a short time span

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#4 green, approach, and fairway

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#5 black tee

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Gator in the 6th pond?!?!

Our staff has done a tremendous job preparing the course for play.  It’s nice to have a group of guys who come here each day with the desire to make the course better.  I want to extend my appreciation to my Assistant (Digger), Second Assistant (Damian), and our entire crew who worked long hard hours this week to make this tournament a success- thank you guys!

Thank you to all who participated this week- we appreciate your membership and support!

Matt

Good morning from the Orchards!

Look for more pictures as the weekend unfolds…

A Rough May

By Adam Moeller, agronomist, Northeast Region
May 26, 2011

Annual bluegrass weevil larvae were observed in the past two weeks in New Jersey.  Frequent scouting for this insect is necessary to prevent significant damage.

A few days of dry weather has been a welcomed respite from the deluge of rain throughout the Northeast in April and May.  With luck, drier weather will continue as we head towards Memorial Day, a prime golfing weekend throughout the country.  Due to the frequent rain, golf courses have battled a multitude of weather-related and agronomic problems over the past few weeks.

Penal, thick rough has been a constant source of discussion on golf course visits recently.  The growth rate of the rough turf, combined with saturated soils that are prone to tire rutting, has been next to impossible to keep up without damaging the soil structure or producing excessive clipping piles.  The abundance of heavy rain also has been frustrating to many golfers who want to play, even though the course is nearly underwater.  Playing on puddled and saturated greens is never good for the turf, and particularly damaging to soil structure.  Golf cart restrictions have been necessary at most facilities.  It is difficult to predict the damage potential from a few golfers playing on saturated greens, but everyone should agree that nothing good comes from golfer traffic in these conditions.  Thankfully, these frustrations diminish as the soils dry.

Annual bluegrass weevil larvae (and slight damage) were observed at several New Jersey golf courses in the past two weeks.  These larvae are likely to be active throughout most of the Northeast.  Keep a close eye on areas with a history of annual bluegrass weevil damage.  Discolored annual bluegrass (Poa annua) could be mis-diagnosed as drought stress when soils begin to dry.  Scouting early and often is necessary to maximize control programs and prevent significant injury.  Visual inspection of the soils in areas of past damage, soap drenches (lemon scented soap is ideal), and submerging turf plugs in a salt solution are excellent ways to identify insect numbers and life stages as you consider initial control and future action.

Golf courses that experienced putting green winter damage are still in recovery mode.  Whether seeding or sodding was used, inconsistent temperatures and saturated soils have slowed recovery to some extent, especially when the greens were opened for play before the young turf was adequately rooted and healthy.  Healing from winter injury is never easy, but golfer patience and conservative management practices will allow the injured areas to recover and survive through the stressful summer weather.  Many winter-damaged greens may look bad, but they play fine after a few topdressing applications.  It is important for golfers to focus on playability rather than aesthetics as much as possible, especially if winter damage has occurred.

USGA agronomists can provide insightful and invaluable information that involves all areas of golf course maintenance, which will help maximize turf health, playability, and efficiency.  Contact Dave Oatis, Director doatis@usga.org; Adam Moeller, Agronomist amoeller@usga.org; or Jim Skorulski, Senior Agronomist jskorulski@usga.org for a Turf Advisory Service visit this season.

Aerification holes are healing well.

If the weather cooperates, we will be aerifying the front 9 greens this Monday May 2nd.  Due to rain this past Monday, we were not able to complete aerification of all greens, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we have better luck this time.

On a better note, the back 9 aerification and topdressing went very well (once the weather cleared). The holes are healing in well and the greens are relatively clean and smooth.  We’ve been rolling consistently since Monday and the greens are responding well to all of our maintenance practices.

I look forward to completing this process so we can concentrate on improving the rest of the course and getting it ready for peak golf season.

Our Second Assistant, Damian, rolling #10