Stoneham Golf Club : Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward

Hi All,

I just wanted to give you all an update from the course. It's been a very busy period on the course but not with golf this time but due to all our aeration works. As we move into a new era as an industry with limited chemical use, aeration will be more and more important to maintain healthy surfaces.

Like in modern society, the use of antibiotics is being frowned upon and Doctors told to reduce and limit until completely necessary it's the same in our industry and many others.

Chemicals revoked, changed and made less harmful to the Environment all of this can only be a good thing but it means we need to look at other options. For humans it's about eating healthy, getting our daily steps in, exercise and using vitamins to boost our immune system. For the grass plant this isn't much different, getting air into the plant, a good balance of fertiliser and water. Reducing the stress and allowing time to recover after an illness.Again like humans if you get ill or a disease it's about doing what we can to help aid recovery.

For us all the aeration work on the course has been about that. We are trying to get over a disease attack or reduce the risks of it happening again. You will have noticed not only the hollow coring of the greens as mentioned in my previous blog but the hollow coring of all the Tees, Aprons, Surrounds and some of the fairways worst hit by the intense heat and drought in July.

Over seeding the Anthracnose greens

Double sarel roll to gives us more holes for seed to fall in.

Greens

As I mentioned in my previous blog we have had a real battle with the Anthracnose disease this year. We like so many have had issues bubbling away most of the summer. This mainly due to heat stress and possibly the stress from the lock down and then quickly back into being used A LOT. With fungicide usage limited or at least the active ingredients reduced this has been a learning curve and an insight into how things are going to go for the entire industry. We have done a lot of work on the greens especially the ones worst hit - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 13th. We found out our magnesium levels had dropped to low and applied weekly feeds of this. We have over seeded three times and hand seeded weak areas too. I must admit sometimes when we do the work the greens look like they have taken a step back but I know what we are doing is right and will improve them and aid recovery in the long term. Seeing these areas covered in sand after the light top dressings needed to seal the seed in can then stand out and make the scar areas more visible. We have also added an organic fertiliser and now we are giving the greens weekly hits of urea, Humics and Carbs. This will help encourage growth and allow the plant to thicken up and help the seed establish beyond the two leaf stage.

tracking sunlight on the 4th green

Why is it particularly bad on the first five greens?

I ve been asked this question a lot. One thing to remember is that all the greens on the course are different. Different make ups, depending on the soils around them when they were built. Most are made of the clay. Some have drainage, They have there own micro climates, trees, shade, water running on to them from ground above, water shedding off them. Some are south facing, some are north, east or west. Some get more wind so dry out quicker. No green is the same but our job is to try and get as close to consistent as possible.

When we looked at the greens my first thought was the greens at the start are maybe a bit wetter and we know anthracnose like other fungi loves moist condition even though it's the heat that explodes them into life its the moisture it thrives in. This is also a double edged sword as when you get heat you water more to keep the plant alive and the pathogen thrives on this. A stressed plant and then added moisture.

After studying the greens closer with Murray Long we realised they all sit in the shade at some point in the day. See photo taken of the 4th green and sun light levels. This will impact growth hugely. If its only getting four hours of day light compared to other green getting 7-8 then the impact over time will be huge and this is only getting short and darker as we get into winter. We have had the disease on most greens on the course but the recovery has been good them compared to the ones in the shade.

Dark patches of compost and sand mix to aid the seed

Dark patches?

This week I hand over seeded areas again and added some compost mix to aid the new seeds coming through and help the fresh seeds establish quicker. The theory of this is the darker patches will attract the heat, its will give a rich soil the seed to sit in. I know these don't look attractive but needs must and I as much as everyone want to get recovery from this disease.

Anthracnose is a slow burning disease and a slow disease to recover from,but like all the diseases we have had/get and will get, it's part of life and nature, all we can do is do the right things to minimise this happening and when we do get it do the right things to aid recovery. The positive I take from this, is that the disease only takes out the Poa grass species and our long term goal is to reduce the Poa content within the green swards. This is because as much as it's a great putting surface it's the weakest species for disease and needs lots of fertiliser and water to maintain it. All the bent grass species we have been sowing into the scar damage is more disease resistant and requires less water. Long term with the way things are changing this has to be our goal.

Seeds popping and new leaves above the rest of the green

How long until recovery?

This is a hard question to answer but our aim is asap. All the work on the seeding is paying off slowly and is now evident that its starting to pop. We know for sure that as the weather changes the pressure for this disease will go away and the cool season diseases will be lurking. I can honesty say the staff have been putting in all they can to help but like all diseases on turf we know grass will recover and hopefully we will increase the bent content to reduce the risk in future years.

Seed popping from the hand over seeding

Fairways

In August we hollow cored the 1st, 6th, 9th and 11th. At that point we had only had 36mm of rain all in one day but a further 84mm of rain fell helping to bring the course back to life. The use of the wetting agents (a product used to help get the water into the plants and then in turn retain moisture) really paid off as the fairways seemed to green up instantly. The rest of the fairways along with the four we worked on will be done again in November. It is hoped by then more moisture will in the soil profile to allow us to over seed after and get some more uptake from the seed. I am also hoping to give them a granular fertiliser to keep them healing during the winter months. We will also need to spend some time working on selective areas on fairways and other areas around the greens that are particularly poor to aid recovery.