Tag Archive for: Conditions

Overcoming exposed conditions with Johnsons Sports Seed

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Overcoming exposed conditions with Johnsons Sports Seed: The exposed location and sandy loam soil profile of Cardigan Golf Club mean the links course is subject to harsh conditions, yet the greens and fairways have never performed better according to Course Manager Stuart Adams – who attributes the improvements in visual merit and plant health down to the bespoke seed programme delivered by Johnsons Sports Seed.

Steeped in over 100 years of Welsh history, the hilltop location of the 18-hole links course offers picturesque views over the Teifi Estuary. “Our clifftop position leaves us extremely exposed to the elements, meaning we tend to dry out very fast with the warm sea breeze we experience in the summer” explains Stuart, who heads-up a greens team consisting of two full-time and three-part time greenkeepers, together with an artisan worker. “When it comes to seed selection, we have to find cultivars that will suit our site and predominately choose hard, strong and slender creeping fescues.”

Overcoming exposed conditions with Johnsons Sports Seed

Overcoming exposed conditions with Johnsons Sports Seed

“Our fairways have a track-record for struggling from insect damage and the stresses of longer, hotter summers so I discussed options with my DLF Technical Manager Ian Barnett, who suggested a mixture based around Johnsons J Fescue with the inclusion of additional Hard fescue to suit our situation.”

A 100% fine fescue blend, J Fescue incorporates top-rated cultivars to provide a high drought and salt tolerant mixture for a sustainable sward that requires lower inputs of water and fertiliser. The inclusion of Hard fescue – known for its tolerance to a broad range of turf stresses – has resulted in a mix delivering outstanding resilience and recovery. J Fescue forms part of a comprehensive line-up of fine turf fairway mixtures including J Premier Fairway – incorporating 10% Hard fescue and 10% Sheeps fescue – and a new mixture for 2024, J Sustain Fairway, specially formulated with 40% Hard fescue to deliver a high-performance, sustainable surface with a foundation of natural strength.

“Our fairways look remarkable and are showing incredible improvements in sustainable management.” He explains, “Other brands cannot compare with the high germination rate, purity and overall results we achieve with Johnsons. We get consistent, strong and healthy grass, even in our high traffic areas, and our greens simply speak for themselves!”

With enhanced diversity of both cultivars and species within the sward, Stuart is well-placed to overcome the challenges of the new season. “Not only has our overall quality improved, but we’re building up increased resilience to the range of stresses we now have to overcome from the climate and ongoing reduction in chemistry at our disposal.” He concludes, “I’d recommend Johnsons as the first choice on any budget.”

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Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue

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Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue: Like many courses built in the great golf boom of the mid to late 90s, the Club at Gettysvue in Knoxville, Tennessee, had a number of challenges – none more glaring than the condition of its bunkers. 

“Some things that should have been done during the original build were not done, in an effort to finish the project on time,” says course superintendent Jeff Dudych. “We always had a lot of water running into our bunkers, because they were not built to today’s standards. Bunker maintenance has been an ongoing issue for my entire 24-year tenure at Gettysvue. We invested some money on the bunkers ten years ago, but it wasn’t enough to fix the issues. We had bunkers that didn’t drain properly, a lot of contamination – we are on red clay here, and a few weeks after putting new sand in the bunkers it would be contaminated with clay.”

Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue

Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue

Two and a half years ago, the course was sold to three club industry veterans. “The new owners have been fantastic,” says Dudych. “They have said from the beginning they wanted to invest in the course and do things properly.”

Last year, Dudych formulated a plan to fix the course’s bunker issues. Given the nature of the soil under them, and the Tennessee climate – the course averages around fifty inches of rain a year – it was obvious that a proper liner was a high priority, and it didn’t take long to determine that Capillary Bunkers was the right choice. “During my travels I’ve seen all the liners and from talking to my colleagues, it was clear that the Capillary Bunkers stood up the best,” Dudych says.

The initial plan called for doing nine holes at a time. However, because of significant membership growth caused by partnering with the members, the club was able to complete all eighteen holes in one hit. North Carolina-based contractor Signet Golf was hired to do the work. They started in October and the last of the Capillary Bunkers was installed in late November.

Dudych says he has already seen the benefits of doing the work. “We had our first big test last Saturday – an inch and a half of rain in an hour,” he says. “Normally that would require fifty to sixty man hours of repair. I sent one employee out, mostly to blow leaves and hand rake and he was done in three and a half hours and the membership is thrilled with the quality!

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Bayer’s role in outstanding conditions

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Bayer’s role in outstanding conditions: Greenkeepers are crucial to a golf course’s success, but inevitably a helping hand is sometimes required to maintain playability throughout the year to maintain stress free turf.

“We don’t know yet what conditions greenkeepers will have to deal with during 2020, in recent years they’ve had to manage both unseasonal dry and wet conditions, and at times it has been a challenge to keep on top of turf stress,” says Neil Pettican, Bayer head of sales.

Bayer's role in outstanding conditions

“Due to the unpredictable nature of the UK climate, we strongly recommend investing in a preventative and integrated approach to turf management to be in a position to handle whatever is thrown at turf throughout the year,” adds Neil.

He says when it comes to disease management implementing a preventative approach is key and can be achieved by incorporating cultural and biological practices alongside chemical solutions prior to the onset of disease.

“Healthy plants are better equipped to combat disease and mitigate stress. Modern fungicides and IPM programs need to do more than just work on the pathogen for disease control, as improving plant heath plays a crucial role,” he explains.

If greenkeepers aren’t invested in this approach, we’re recommending that 2020 should be the year that they change their focus.

“If you prevent diseases before they affect playability, it both reduces long-term costs and any negative effects on the golfers experience,” says Neil.

Bayer's role in outstanding conditions

He recommends that if greenkeepers are looking at using preventative fungicides, they should look out for Stressgard® Formulation Technology as it is proven to improve plant physiological results. It enhances plant health allowing superior disease management and healthier turf, ensuring grass is in a stronger position to withstand further pressures.

“Disease pressure  will inevitably be present during this year, so it’s best to get prepared well in advance,” says Neil.

He adds that for instance it’s been reported that 90% of golf courses suffer with Microdochium patch annually, so it will pay to be prepared early prior to infection, especially as the early stages of Microdochium patch can be very difficult to spot.

“Taking an early stance on preventative, rather than curative, applications will limit the severity of disease outbreaks later in the season, improving consistency of long-term playability and ultimately satisfaction for you and your golfers.”

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Aqua-Aid Combats Dry Conditions

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Aqua-Aid Combats Dry Conditions: The very unusual hot weather across the United Kingdom and Europe has been tackled by greenkeepers and groundsmen using Aqua-Aid EU’s OARS and Aquifer pellets in tandem with the PROportioner application system. In the last week of June alone hundreds of PROportioner applicators were sold to new users in Europe, delivering phenomenal results in extraordinary dry conditions.

Many greenkeepers will be experiencing localised dry spots (LDS) on their greens for the first time this year, due to the sweltering weather which triggers by a number of factors to cause excessive dryness. At a rootzone level, the waxy hydrophobic compounds that attach themselves to sand particles in the root zone will have done so and made these particles water repellent.

Aqua-Aid Combats Dry Conditions

But with increasing pressure to facilitate more golf the use of the course has increased – especially during the summer – and when combined with the specifications of modern greens the issue of water repellency increases, with wetting agents commonly used to tackle this issue.

OARS (organic acid redistribution system) has been used with consistent success to deal with LDS. The pellets use a corrective approach to remove the build-up of organic acids that coat the surface of sand particles which cause water repellence and LDS conditions.

This product is commonly used together with Aquifer which provides hydration for a 30 to 45-day period, allowing water repellency to be managed while preventing LDS conditions. It provides uniform downward and lateral water movement in the top several inches of the root zone and doesn’t need to be watered in after application.

Both pellets can be applied with the PROportioner system which is designed specifically for use on all types of turf. The convenient system doesn’t use any chemical mixing and makes hand watering more effective and longer lasting.

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