September 2023

 

August 2023

Hello from Fox Hills! August is suddenly upon us and we are in the homeward stretch towards Fall. TBH Fall is my favorite time of the year for managing turf. It's a great time for overseeding and planting trees as well as reduced stress times for growing turf at low height of cuts. In the Fall, playing surfaces that have been stressed and damaged have a fall recovery window due to the shorter days and cooler temperatures. On that note, let's discuss some water management tools used in Turf Management.

July saw just around 2’’ of precipitation for the golf course grounds. Greens, tees & fairways experienced a limited amount of wilt and stress. I attribute that to the timely rain and the use of a wetting agent called zipline on greens, and the use of a pelletized wetting agent called Vivax . Greens are more susceptible to wilt stress due to the Lower height of cut and the ridges and undulations built into the green complexes that are susceptible to high wind heat stress .

Wetting agents are applied to playing surfaces via a sprayer at the label rate. They are then ‘watered in’ immediately after the application. A wetting agent will either help the soil profile ‘RETAIN’ water in the root zone or it will help the soil ‘ FLUSH ‘ the root zone of water reducing salts and bicarbonate build ups. There are wetting agents that do BOTH, as does Zipline.

Using wetting agents allows you to reduce your irrigation frequencies, thus reducing pump wear and electricity costs that come with irrigating the golf course. It also helps protect the playing surface from isolated dry spots that will appear as heat and wind cause the plant and soil to lose more water due to high rates of evapo-transpiration.

Without the use of wetting agents, maintenance staff personnel will find themselves doing more hand watering as isolated dry spots appear as the window of heat and stress appears. It’s labor intensive to physically hand water hot spots and areas that usually wilt under stressful weather conditions. The costs of applying a wetting agent will soon pay for itself as the cost of labor to hand water is vastly reduced.

When you put together a wetting agent program based on applications, every two weeks or monthly, and a stringent irrigation management program, you will begin to see the positive results on the golf course. The use of wetting agents allows you to BALANCE out your irrigation programs and frequencies/rates. When this happens, then you will begin to see consistency in your greens as far as firmness and hardness.

The month of August will see the maintenance staff continue to sod bad areas in the fairways as we pull from the future location of the new bentgrass nursery on the driving range. I’m continuing my spray program to eliminate the deplorable grasses... i.e. Barley Foxtail , Crabgrass, Quack Grass on playing surfaces. If approved we will begin to remediate # 4 Fairway and #6 Fairway. We have been in communication with a local contractor who has done excellent work in the area. Be on the lookout for that improvement.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Summer and look forward to some of the best golf playing conditions of the year - FALL- And Keep ‘em on the Green!

July 2023

Greetings from Fox Hills! July has crept up on us with a cooler, wetter feel to it. Looking back, June’s precipitation events were limited, with 1.37” of rain recorded at the golf course.

June saw the overseeding of #11 green and the repair/renovation of the front #9 green. Both were successes and in time we’ll see the results. June also saw the start of bi-weekly topdressing applications applied to all greens. This will help reduce thatch and encourage turf that will produce a truer ball roll when you're putting.

I’d like to discuss this month something we call the Bentgrass Decline. Bentgrass decline is the slow degradation of the playing surfaces when it comes to golf courses. The turf , slowly over time , begins to weaken and will not recover from heat stress and wilt , disease encroachment, and compaction caused by an enormous amount of play.

 There are numerous causes that lead to bentgrass decline with not one factor being the major contributor. It is usually the combination of multiple factors that lead to the decline in bentgrass playing surfaces.

In regards to the greens at Fox Hills, there are 3 factors that played into the start of the decline of these young bentgrass greens.

The first one was the overuse of the effluent water the course uses to irrigate with. This water is high in salt content and bio-carbonates, which quickly accumulates in the top portion of the growing region of the bentgrass and soil profile. These high values of salts and bio-carbonates LOCK up the transfer of nutrients to the plant and inhibit water movement into the root zone. Water management is KEY to turf management especially when you have POOR water quality.

The Second factor was the overfertilization of putting green surfaces. Instead of small fertilizer increments applied to the putting surfaces, LARGE one time applications were applied causing a FLUSH of rapid growth, which leads to an overabundance of clippings, and the accumulation of organic matter which leads to a HIGH development of THATCH LEVELS.

The third factor was the ABSENCE of any agronomy procedures to REDUCE the HIGH LEVELS of thatch that were developing because of the practices performed in the first two factors. Core aerifying WAS NOT accomplished in the PRIOR years along with topdressing. Core aerifying REMOVES the THATCH that accumulates through the growing season. It allows the greens to breathe better with the removal of this thatch. Water penetration is MUCH BETTER too.

Even though this course is in its infancy stage, the putting greens here were in the early stages of bentgrass decline. We are hoping to reverse the negative effects of the FACTORS that caused this.

Like I said before, this just didn’t happen overnight. It took year upon year of the same practices to get to this point. It will take a few years to get the putting surfaces back to where I would like them, very low thatch levels and a true rolling putting surface. We will continue to manage the water output onto the putting surfaces along with careful fertilization practices and continued core aerifying until THATCH levels are at 1⁄8 “ or LESS.

Until That Time.........Have a Great Summer and Keep ‘Em on the Green!

June 2023

The Month of June is upon us and the golf course has seen around 3” of rain through 2 precipitation events that occurred in May. It has helped give the Course some very good color. This is in coordination with the fertilizer/herbicide application that was done the early part of May.

 Greens aerification was also accomplished In May. The maintenance team pulled ¼’ hollow cores from the greens and applied sand to fill them. We also applied approximately 9#/1000 ft sq of Gypsum to the Greens Surfaces to help amend the soil and counteract the biocarbonates and salinity from the effluent water we apply as irrigation water. It will take 2-3 years of hollow core tining to get the thatch level down to a manageable level.

When thatch gets over ¼” nutrients and water have a very hard time getting into the root zone so the plant can use them. Right now we are around ½“ of thatch on putting surfaces. This leads to turf decline and eventual death of the bent grass playing surfaces.

June will see us overseeding the back of the 11th green. This is a green that has seen wilt damage in the previous years along with very, very low cutting heights. When you combine those two situations you will lose turf and it becomes ‘dirt’ areas. You combine the growing season neglect with the harsh winter temperatures and sub-zero wind chills, and you will get winter die off in some areas.

 June will also see the continuation of the BATTLE against the weeds at Fox Hills! Continual herbicide spray applications will continue as we deal with the yellow flowers! We will also be reshaping the front of the 9th green. We will be removing the existing erosion and bentgrass, and reshaping and adding in bluegrass.

It’s a step-by-step improvement process here at Fox Hills Golf Course. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we move forward in making Fox Hills a Better Place to Golf.

Until next time…..Keep ‘em on the green!

May 2023

Greetings from Fox Hills! As I write this report, we've just opened the Golf Course. Monday, April 24th, was opening day and we are starting to charge the irrigation system.

April has been unseasonably colder with limited precipitation events causing the soil temps to remain LOW and slowing the green up of the turf. A constant 50° to 65° range of soil temps will be needed to start the growth and greening up of the turf. Until that time the turf will remain in a state of semi-dormancy with limited evapotranspiration, growth, and green up. April also saw two big processes accomplished on the course. The application of 52-tons of topdressing sand to the tees and the application of 5-tons of gypsum to the fairways & tees. The topdressing of tees will begin to improve the playing surfaces, especially those built out of straight clay material. Gypsum will also begin to help neutralize the sodic soil conditions found on the golf course. It will help the movement of water through the soil profile and improve the exchange of nutrients between the soil and plant.

Gypsum Application - CaSo4

New Top Dressing Machine

The month of May will see the beginning of wetting agent applications & the startup of fungicide and fertilization applications across the golf course.

Spring aerification of the greens will occur the 3rd week of May.

This summer will see the transition of the current maintenance operations to our new facility just East of the driving range. This will be a huge improvement over our current situation with heat, running water, bathroom, office space, and a large equipment maintenance work area. A big THANK YOU to the City of Watford City and the Administration /Council for purchasing this building and their willingness to invest in Fox Hills Golf Course.

Until Next Time, Keep‘em on the Green!

 

April 2023

Greetings from Fox Hills Golf Course. This is the first of many blogs/reports detailing the Maintenance Practices and Conditioning of the Award-Winning Golf Course in Watford City. 

I’d first like to introduce myself as Travis Rodenhizer. I moved here from Northwest Indiana in January. I’m a 1984 graduate from Stanley, ND and a 1989 graduate of North Dakota State University. I graduated with a BS in Horticulture and a Minor in Business Management.  I’m married to a beautiful woman from Africa, Cynthia Bandawe. We are currently renting in the City of Watford City.

As I write this report, we have around 20” of snow on the level on the course. We’ve had some melting on the course but need a good solid week of 40-50 degree temperatures to really put a dent in the snowpack. The snowpack is good for moisture and protecting that sensitive growing point of the plant we call the “CROWN”. The crown of the plant is what gets damaged due to cold temperatures and wind during the winter months IF NOT covered by top dressing sand or covers.

Looking ahead at a possible opening date, I’m targeting the week of April 17-21. This will all depend on melting and daytime temperatures and with no more snow added to the current snowpack. The course has handled the winter and snowpack rather well. I’ll include a picture of a plug I have taken off #11 Green and #8 tee box. This will show you that there is life in the crown or growing point of the turf.
 

We’ve added a few more pieces of turf maintenance equipment to the fleet during the winter months. Fox Hills now has the ability to roll greens on a daily basis if needed. This will help improve green speed and lessen the potential for disease. The most important part of rolling is the ability to ‘roll’ only on days the agronomy conditions warrant. This would be during stressful times brought on by high temps and windy conditions. Some other new equipment added are a Top Dresser, Greens Groomer Brush, and John Deere Gator Utility Vehicles.

Here is the Process for Prepping the Greens for Play this Spring:

Opening Process on Greens

1. Greens Cover Removal
2. Blow off Greens with Blowers
3. Brush Greens One Direction
4. Roll Greens
5. Cut Greens with Dirt Heads
6. Put New Pins in Greens

I’m looking forward to an exciting season here at Fox Hills Golf Course and being able to share it with you via this Monthly Report. With Fox Hills still in its infancy, it will be fun to see it mature through the coming years with proper agronomy practices in place and the repair of #4 and #6 fairways.

Until Next Month, Keep It on The Green!