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Greens Verti-Cut/Hyrdo Jet/Fertiliser Programme.

See Greens Update Notice issued 17th June

Please note the dates Hydrojetting is being done, at least one green will be out of play at any one time. It will take approx 10hours to complete all greens.

Verti-Cutting, all greens will be sanded at same time so there will be disruption to golf.

RUSH GOLF CLUB

Full REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

SITE VISIT:       7 June 2011

PRESENT:         Mr. Podge Dolan, President

          Mr. Ivan Kelly, Greens Convenor

          Mr. Eddie Donlon, Links Superintendent

          Mr. Eddie Connaughton, Agronomist.

INTRODUCTION:

I carried out a links inspection on the above date with those mentioned in attendance and we concentrated our time on the greens as they were causing the most concern regarding condition and ball roll. The links was looking very good despite the continuous poor weather for the time of year. There was a droughty look to the fairways where irrigation was not as evident on all the high drier areas giving the brown appearance to the grass which contrasts very well with the greener hollows. The wispy rough also looks very well and this should be encouraged further by annual cutting of the fescue dominated rough to encourage that wispy thin appearance.

GREENS:

The greens were causing the most concern due to some die-back on greens like the 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 5th and isolated areas on other greens. I was examining the greens as they were recovering from the die-back of grass some 3-5 weeks ago. On the first green in particular the affected areas were almost in two distinct lines up the green thus suggesting some spray damage. I examined these areas and took soil cores out for a physical determination. There was no dry patch present on the 1st but it was observed on the 4th green which showed slightly different symptoms to that of the other greens. The 4th green had the classic links look of dry patch which is a random pattern of different coloured grasses over all the green rather than particular areas showing stress and die-back.

The cores from the 2nd, 3rd, 5th & 8th all exhibited the same condition which was not relating to dry patch but more strikingly showed a very poor level of root activity. In fact the root depth was only in the top ½ - 1 inch of the green surface which is very shallow and leaves little room for the greens to endure stresses such as dry weather, poor growth or low cutting heights. The root depth will have to be improved in the long term to create a more stable environment for producing good greens throughout the year. The current practice of hollow coring in the autumn with micro-solid tining during the winter and deeper verti-draining every 2/3

seasons is a reasonable approach but it will not improve greatly the root depth in the greens.

It will be necessary to commence summer aeration to improve root activity and this can be achieved with Hydro- Jet Aeration . This is a method of injecting water under high pressure into the greens profiles causing a fracturing of the compacted soil and allowing roots penetrate through the resulting holes. It can be carried out during the summer months without disruption to the playing surfaces which satisfies golfer's demands for smooth putting surfaces. It also allows aeration on the greens when the grass is growing actively and roots have an opportunity to grow to a better standard. This aeration should be carried out three times this year with four treatments scheduled for the 2012 season.

With the damaged areas on the greens not caused by Dry Patch and having an appearance of being sprayer related, we examined all the treatments carried out on the greens this spring. The one chemical used that was not previously used was a seedhead suppressant for the meadowgrass. This product is capable of causing die-back to the grass if overlap takes place or if stressful conditions are evident on the grass at the time of use (i.e. dry cold winds in April). I would be very confident that the die-back on the greens was related to chemical stress as sections of grass beside poor grass were perfectly healthy. Also having reviewed the work

programmes carried out it is the only treatment that could have caused the type of die-back that occurred as no other stresses such as disease or insect damage appears in patterns. These areas will recover over the summer months and

have all been overseeded over the last few weeks. I recommended a small amount of plugging with the hole cutter from the edge of the green to regain some good cupping locations on greens like the 1st in the back left part of the green.

The dominant grass species on these greens is annual meadowgrass (Poa annua) with little sign of any Fescue despite all the overseeding that has taken place over the years with this species. Meadowgrass is the dominant grass type of greens in Ireland with some links courses making progress in getting fescues to establish in their greens. This is a slow difficult process with a lot of disruption involved for the clubs who attempt the transformation with no guarantees of success once commenced. In my opinion attempting the conversion route for Rush Golf Club would not be desirable for the following reasons:

•  Traffic patterns and wear and tear problems with a nine hole course favours meadowgrass over fescue.

•  Summer management of low cutting heights would not promote the fescues.

•  The profile of the greens make-up is old sand and organic matter that is conducive to moisture retention which favours meadowgrass.

•  The disruption process of reducing the meadowgrass would have serious impact on the smoothness of the surfaces produced over a minimum of five years.

If the club wanted to have Fescue dominated greens the best way to achieve this would be through reconstruction and re-grassing of the greens.

I believe it is possible to manage these greens to produce desirable putting surfaces that exhibit links condition of a true medium- fast character. As demonstrated on the 5th green during my visit, topdressing lightly to reduce leaf surface and verti-cutting to thin out the grass sward will produce good surface quality. The nutrition (fertilising) programmes have to be adjusted to produce slow, even growth rather than “bursts” of growth from the granular applications. Also, the use of plant growth regulators during the summer months will help with producing finer meadowgrass that will putt true and smooth without too much “flushing” which invariably causes greens to be slow.

The following should form the basis of the greens management programme for the remainder of this season:

Aeration:

•  Hydro-jet three times between now and September

•  Schedule Autumn hollow coring as normal

•  Schedule Winter micro-solid tining monthly

Nutrition:

•  The main recommendation is to use liquids during the summer with Primo-Maxx (PGR) to maintain a slow even growth without excessive flushing of the grass. Therefore commence the following liquid mix week beginning June 20 per 500 m2 and repeat on a 3 week cycle depending on growth and grass clippings yield.

1 litre of Best 24-0-0

1 litre of Best Silica 30 % +15% Potassium

1 litre of Algae Green seaweed liquid + 8% N

20 ml Primo- Maxx

•  As these green are prone to Anthracnose disease the granular Scotts 14-5-10 should be applied before the end of July at 25 gr /m2. Time this granular when the second liquid feed is running out and then commence the liquid feed again in mid-August when the effects of the granular feed is wearing off.

(Note: as fertilising is very mobile and depending on weather conditions, Eddie should keep me updated monthly by phone and we can review our programme)

Cutting/ Verti- Cutting / Topdressing/ Rolling:

•  The height of cut was to be adjusted down to 3.5 mm after my visit and it should be retained as that for the summer season unless drought or other stress conditions deem it necessary to raise back to 4 mm.

•  Verti-cutting and light sand topdressing will have a major impact on the surface roll of these greens as it should be scheduled for twice per month with a double row of the verti-cut set at 1 mm below the cutting height. This depth can be adjusted to suit weather and growth (i.e. damp weather with lush growth use the deeper depth, while dry weather with less growth raise the blade) throughout the summer. Topdress with a minimum of 1 kilo per m2 after verti-cutting to achieve similar conditions to those demonstrated on site when I visited. Rolling after topdressing is also very beneficial to bed in the sand and smooth the surface for play.

•  Rolling should be carried out for all member competitions if labour resources allow as it makes up for not having to “shave” the greens down to achieve speed. With the shallow rooting in the greens low cutting heights cannot be sustained during periods of dry weather and therefore rolling will improve ball roll on the greens.

Spraying:

•  A wetting agent should be applied monthly throughout the summer with the higher/drier areas treated daily if necessary with the wetting agent gun and tablets.

•  Always have a stock of fungicide to spray whenever an outbreak occurs. However, with these greens a preventative monthly programme should be in place from September through to December as a precaution against

Fusarium attacks. Also, with September hollow coring spray with a preventative contact to reduce the risk of disease with heavy sand applications.

Overseeding:

•  I do not see any sign of Fescues appearing in these greens from the overseeding carried out and with the management programmes in place Bentgrass would have a better opportunity to establish. Therefore, change to using Agrostis Capillaris (Browntop Bent) for the September overseeding.

GENERAL:

I commented earlier about promoting the wispy rough and cutting the Fescue areas (i.e. high dry parts) will further promote this. However, there are parts of the links like the left side short of the 3rd green that is full of pasture grasses. This would be an ideal place to experiment with the Rescue herbicide in September for control of the coarser ryegrasses. This herbicide works very well at removing ryegrass

from Fescue after 3-4 treatments and is much more effective than the cutting down method in such areas as left of the 3rd.

In conclusion, Eddie Donlon should keep in touch with me on how the programme is working and a review visit should be scheduled for the autumn if possible.

Eddie B. Connaughton, B.Sc.

Agronomist.