Spring Greens Aeration? Not this time.

 It's that time of year again. The sun comes out, the grass starts to green up and even grow a little bit! Golfers and golf course maintenance teams alike get excited for the coming season. 

We've been fortunate to receive numerous comments lately on how nicely the greens are rolling and we most definitely appreciate the good feedback! Usually around now is when the disappointment comes for golfers though. The Grounds Team rolls out the aerator, punches holes, perhaps removes cores and dumps a bunch of sand on the greens. In effect taking the good momentum we had going and placing it on the shelf for a few weeks. 

This year we are happy to report that we will be able to avoid this disappointment. There will be no major greens aeration this spring - lets keep these greens rolling nice! As much as we know this may be appreciated, I am sure the questions are quick to follow - how we are able to do this and will this create problems down the road? The short answer is no, not in the immediate future. For a longer answer let's dig into some science.

In late January of 2021 and 2022, we took core samples across numerous greens on the course with the goal of collecting both a baseline organic matter level, and also the change, or lack thereof, in organic matter percentage over last season. 

(A little sidebar on what is organic matter for those who may be wondering. Organic matter in a putting green is both the living and dead/decaying leaf and root tissue. During growth, the plant sheds old tissue and creates new. While organic matter has benefits in our sand based root zone including holding moisture, nutrients and creating resiliency, too much of a good thing can be bad. Excessive levels of organic matter can make greens spongy, soft, more susceptible to disease and a whole host of other undesirable putting green characteristics. Let's avoid those ok? Practices like aeration and topdressing are used to keep organic matter at acceptable levels.)

Back to the testing. We took 5 samples from each green and cut the cores in 2 cm increments. The like depths are grouped together and sent off to a lab in Ohio where they measure the dried sample weight, place the sample in an oven and burn all the organic matter to ash. The weight is again measured and the difference can be calculated to the percentage of organic matter that was in the sample. 

While this is not a new testing technique, it has become more adopted by turfgrass managers around the globe, especially the ones that enjoy science and numbers like myself. While we have three depths of measurement, the 0-2cm measurement is the important one. This is where the golf ball meets and interacts with the turfgrass surface, where the rubber meets the road you could say.

Image courtesy Dr. Micah Woods, Asian Turfgrass Center, Thailand.

Great, so we have some numbers, next question. What's the magic number? Well, there isn't really one. Here is where the science of green keeping blends with the art. The art is how are the greens playing? How do they receive a ball? What does the ball mark look like? Are you seeing scalping from mowers? Holding excessive moisture? We observe these and other indicators throughout the year, pair those observations with our organic matter numbers and then design a greens maintenance program to increase, decrease or perhaps just maintain organic matter levels. Based on the information we have tested for and observed over the past year, at this time we do not need to aerate greens. We are content with the current organic matter levels.

To avoid rambling on too long, I'm going to break this into two or three posts to further delve into what is involved in greens maintenance programs designed to increase, decrease or maintain organic matter levels. 

To close off today though, I will answer one last question. Does this mean we will never have to aerate greens again? No, I'm not going to say that. We will continue to learn the greens at Olympic View, monitor how they play, test organic matter levels and make calculated decisions with the goal of having optimum playing conditions for as many days per year as possible.

Irrigation System Upgrades

Many of you may have seen the expansive hole dug on #11 over the past week. This project is a continuation of the ongoing irrigation isolation valve replacement program here at Olympic View. 

Isolation valves allow us to turn off the water to sections of the golf course to perform necessary repairs. The original valves installed are over 30 years old on what would usually be a 20 year lifespan. When these valves fail, we can either not shut water off to an area to perform repairs or, if they fail closed, we can not get irrigation water to certain areas. We aim to replace 9 valves this season which will take us to 70% of all valves being replaced over the past 5 years. 

On #11 we replaced 3 valves which feed #11 tee, #11 green and half of #10. This required a substantial hole as you can see in the image below of the old valves / piping.

The replacement valves are a significant upgrade and will provide a functional lifespan of over 50 years! They are also installed with higher quality ductile iron fittings as opposed to glued PVC fittings. We were able to eliminate some noticeable bows in the piping with the new install. This was the main reason the hole became so large.  

You can expect any further holes this season to much smaller as the remaining valves are only one valve per hole. Due to supply chain issues the majority of the valves are 14-16 weeks away which will lead us to installing them in the fall.

Thank you for your patience on the course as we continue to upgrade our infrastructure with the goal of providing improved course conditions.

Why are the Greens Still Closed?

 

#12 with a light dusting of snow Monday morning

While most of us I'm sure were hoping that the nice weather in early February was set to continue, these hopes were quickly dashed with cold temperatures and snow this week. These low temperatures have frozen our playing surfaces but we expect to start to thaw out in the coming days. 

This is one of the most vulnerable times for turf damage from traffic. Please see this excellent short video from the USGA Green Section regarding root shear.

USGA Root Shear Video

As we start to thaw from the top down, the Grounds Team will be checking to ensure that we are completely thawed at each green, before opening the green to play. Greens that have less sun exposure will of course take longer to thaw.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we bring the course back to fully open status over the next few days. 

Olympic View Grounds February 2022 - Superintendent Introduction / Blog Revival

 

Well it has been just over a year now since I started my new role as Superintendent at Olympic View Golf Club. The Olympic View Grounds Team would like to start this second season off right by reviving the Olympic View Grounds blog that has been dormant since the summer of 2019. As it has been in the past, once again it will be an excellent avenue to provide information directly to members and guests from the Olympic View Grounds Department. 

Our goal is to provide a monthly post, but there will be a couple extras in the next few months as we have some items to catch up on. In order to have content to consistently produce, you should expect a wide range of topics in this blog that will include, but not necessarily limited to the following:

• New Information

• Timely updates on new course features and upcoming / on-going projects

• Course Playability & Etiquette related to Grounds

• fixing ball marks / pin placements

• Grounds Agronomic Decisions & Explanations

• course closures / frost delays

• Grounds Agronomic Practices

• Why we aerate, top dress, roll etc

• Irrigation & Drainage Systems

• Operation, maintenance & installations

• The Grounds Team

• Introductions to key members of our team

• Information on various procedures, and challenges we face in preparing the course each day

#13 Green July 2021

Before we get too deep into all the fun stuff above though, I would like to provide some background information on myself. 

Growing up as one of three sons of a Golf Course Superintendent, my two younger brothers and I were essentially raised on the golf course. My father, Dave Creamer, was most notably the Superintendent at Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay from its construction in 1991 through 2005. I held many roles here, the first being a rock picker prior to fairway seeding in 1991 and the last being Assistant Superintendent 2001-2003. My passion for the industry was born here and I completed a Diploma in Turf Management from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in 2000 fresh out of high school.

The other main stop in my career was 15 years at Victoria Golf Club. Again I worked my way through the ranks here and was most recently the Assistant Superintendent for 9 seasons. I was fortunate to be intricately involved with numerous construction projects during my time at VGC. These projects provided continuous experience for me in project planning, budgeting and execution as well as the opportunity to work alongside world class architects, irrigation consultants and drainage engineers. I look forward to applying this skill set to future projects here at Olympic View Golf Club. 

Alongside my construction experience, I also have a track record of providing exceptional playing conditions. As an Assistant Superintendent I have hosted numerous national events including the 2016 PGA Championship of Canada and the 2018 Canadian Mid Amateur, both at Victoria Golf Club. I was also fortunate to be selected as a member of the volunteer agronomy team for the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay. Preparing a course alongside 150 other team members for a major golf championship will always be a highlight in my career.

Chambers Bay - 2015 US Open

I am very involved in numerous turfgrass associations across the country. I was the first Assistant Superintendent to be President of the Vancouver Island Golf Course Superintendents Association in 2019 and have been a conference speaker on multiple occasions for the provincial and national Superintendent associations. I am well regarded by my peers in the industry and enjoy the benefits of an extensive network of professionals for which to consult.

In 2017 I was selected as the inaugural Assistant Superintendent of the Year, by the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association (CGSA) and in 2018 was nominated to the Turf & Rec magazine Top 10 Under 40 list. Also on this list was past Olympic View Superintendent and current Director of Grounds for Golf BC, Brett Finlayson.

To cap off my professional accomplishments, I completed my Bachelor of Science in Turfgrass from Penn State University in the spring of 2021. I currently maintain my Accredited Golf Course Superintendent status through the CGSA and constantly seek to increase knowledge in my chosen profession.

On the personal side, my wife Tina is a retired internationally accomplished kick boxer who is now a personal trainer and co-owns a gym in downtown Victoria. Our son Hunter will be 8 this summer and you will no doubt see him alongside me working the occasional morning and or playing alongside me on the course. Away from the course I enjoy the outdoors through hunting, fishing, hiking and camping and generally enjoy any opportunity to be outside of cell phone coverage.

So I know now what you are probably thinking, “Well this guy can certainly write a lot about himself, but why wasn’t ‘X’ better last season!!” Well heat domes, droughts, atmospheric rivers and pandemic challenges aside, a golf course is a living, breathing entity and it takes time to learn and understand the course. Myself and new Assistant Superintendent Josh Edgar had a lot to take in last season and have spent the winter re-grouping and building new plans for 2022. We can assure you that the best is yet to come for our tenure here and we look forward to communicating those steps as we progress through the year in this blog. Josh, myself and the entire Olympic View Grounds Team have nothing but eager anticipation and excitement for the 2022 season and look forward to enjoying Olympic View Golf Club with you this year!

T-Jay Creamer BSc, AGS

Golf Course Superintendent

Olympic View Golf Club

Looking Forward

Well, it looks like the weather has begun to drag itself out of Winter and we are starting to see more encouraging forecasts on the horizon. That was a pretty nasty stretch and believe me when I say here on the Grounds Maintenance Department it certainly had no fans. Thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding as we tired to protect our course as much as we could during that rather nasty period.

Anyway, enough looking back at what was, let me give you a little bit of information about what we have planned for the next couple of Months as we drag this course from it's Winter slumber and get it ready for this season.

We have quite a bit on the agenda so as I have done before I will list them out and let you know a little about what we have planned.


Aeration

This necessary evil is currently scheduled to take place on April 2nd (full course closure) and April 3rd (Back 9 closure, The Front 9 will be open for business). Due to the freezing weather our timetable here on Grounds has been condensed somewhat as we too haven't been able complete some of the tasks we would have liked. With that said you may have noticed that we have already made a sneaky start on Aeration and have cored our Tees. These are being over seeded and top dressed then brushed,with the forecast it is our hope to see them perk up again very soon.

As for the 2nd and 3rd of April here is a brief run down of our plans. You will be happy to know that our current plan for the Greens is relatively nonabrasive.

We will be performing a "deep-tine" these are solid spikes about 0.5 of an inch thick that penetrate up to 10 inches in to the green. Using this technique not only provides vents to help the plant exchange gases but also helps to relieve compaction and aid in drainage. As well as this there are some small select areas on some of the Greens we have chosen to pull cores but we feel these areas are so localized we don't think they will hinder your game.

We will be pulling cores on all of our approaches and fairways in the usual manner along with top dressing and brushing course wide.

Aeration is a huge undertaking with many Team Member putting in 1 or more 12 hour shifts to aid in it's completion. If the pros didn't drastically out weigh the cons from a turf health perspective you can rest assured we would not do it. It is our hope to be cleaned up and well on our way to recovery as soon as possible.

 Irrigation and H20 

Prior to Aeration we will be priming our Irrigation system and stock piling water in our pond network. Currently Dave Smith our Irrigation Technician is installing our Satellites around the course which we bring in over the Winter to keep them protected from the elements. These Satellites are dotted around the course in those silver metal boxes and they relay messages that our irrigation computer sends out to their corresponding areas. Once this is complete we will be turning on our pump station and filling the pipes course wide, this is a long process and there are always some unforeseen issues this being said the entire operation should be completed in a day or two after the initial start up of the pump station.

Also, you may have noticed we have removed some of the cat tails from the ponds on 15 and 17, these ponds are part of our irrigation network and the cat tail situation and gone unchecked for a few years making our holding capacity in these pond servery reduced. Over the next few weeks we will be damning up the outlets in our ponds (where possible) to stock pile water for what is expected to be another record breaking Summer. So please don't be alarmed of the water levels in some of the ponds look unusually high. As the season starts to heat up we will release that water in to our holding pond on 13/14 so that it can be pumped out on to the course via the irrigation system.

A Few Other Projects

I am aware I have prattled on for a little while now so I will briefly cover a few more projects we hope to be completed in the next couple of months.

• Tee Leveling - like we have on the Practice Facility we plan on stripping and leveling the following tee decks 1 White Tee, 8 Black Tee, 9 Forward and White Tee, 15 White Tee. For the most part tee markers will be moved to adjacent tees while these renovations happen.
• 11 Walking Path - We will be building a new walking path from the bottom of the hill by the pond all the way up the left of the hole to connect to the walk off area on the other end.
• 1 Green cart path - We will be renovating and moving the cart path adjacent to 1 green. The trees have made the cart path almost impassable and we feel enough is enough. The cart path will move several feet to the right through that area and we open to scrape through the gravel area on the left of the path and to grow grass there. This should make that area a lot more friendly to those way ward shots. 

Well, thank you for taking the time to read this update and I hope you have enjoyed getting a little more insight in to our lives down here on Grounds. As always we will see you out on the course and I will provide another blog in the coming weeks. 

So Close, Yet So Far

Here is an update about current course conditions at Olympic View.

Well the end should be in sight, after patiently waiting for the snow to thaw, which it has done on the majority of the front 9, the Grounds Maintenance Team are happy that all the playing surfaces have been cleared from debris and play can resume when it is time. Mother Nature unfortunately has had different ideas. With constant freezing over night temperatures and a very cold wind, the snow has given way to frozen ground conditions with the majority of the greens on the front 9 staying frozen all day.

This can be a difficult call to make as far as whether or not to open. Even though the wind is keeping the frost off the grass blades, the plant and ground it lives in are very much frozen. As the sun hits the green, it starts to thaw the top layer of soil, this can create a fragile environment for the root system of the plant. Foot traffic can cause movement in the upper thawed layer, shearing the roots from the frozen layer below.

Currently we are checking the greens every morning and afternoon to monitor daily thaw patterns. As it stands the day time temperatures are just not quite high enough to allow for a full thaw of frozen ground and the remaining snow across the front 9. Looking forward, there are some clouds and rain in the forecast which will hopefully give way to warmer day time highs and more importantly, warmer overnight temperatures.

Snow on 1 and 4 Greens still hanging on

1 and 9 Fairways still have some decent coverage

Moving focus to our chilly back 9. The snow still covers most areas and all but the green on hole 12 still has snow on them. Like on the Front 9 as the snow thaws is uncovers the debris left over from the wind storm last week.

12 Green and surrounds were littered

Hole 11 with thick ice covering the pond

Hole 12. Ever increasing snow moving back towards the tee.

Hole 13 still mostly covered from Tee to Green

Hole 14

Hole 15

Hole 17 Just the Tee and Green still have snow.

Hole 10

All photos showing snow coverage were taken on the morning of Tuesday 26th February.

Although we are seeing daily changes in the amount of snow on the back 9, partly due to the heavy winds, the thaw is still extremely gradual and it will still take some time to go completely. Hopefully we start to see some warmer temperatures soon as all of us here at Olympic View are ready for Spring to arrive and to welcome you all back for a great 2019 season.

Thank you for reading this update.

OV gets a taste of the Canadian Winter

I thought everyone may be starting to think about golf now that the snow has left the majority of the downtown area and the sides of the roads are looking clear. Here is a quick update from the Grounds Maintenance Department at Olympic View.

A couple of weeks ago it started to get pretty cold at Olympic View as the forecasted Arctic Air moved in over the region. This came in the form of freezing conditions followed by a light dusting of snow which had no problem settling on the already frozen ground.

Following that, a huge windstorm battered the course on Friday, February 8th and Saturday, February 9th. On the Sunday when the winds calmed down, myself and our 2nd Assistant, Sean Olsen, came in to a temperature of -10C to do a course check and survey any damages. The course was littered with small debris, branches and the light snow from the previous day had been blown in to snow drifts up to 2ft deep in places. For the most part and compared to other courses, we got away with any major damage and only a couple of smaller trees were felled as a result.

That evening there was a rather large snow event which continued on and off for the next few days as you may have noticed.

18 Fairway from the Clubhouse the morning after

Brett and myself ventured in that morning, while the rest of the city hunkered down for a snow day, to see what the situation was. Thanks to Glen Shillito for spending hours plowing the driveway and parking lot we could get access. When we arrived we were met with up to 18 inches of snow course wide and with the roads to the Grounds Maintenance Department being un-passable for vehicles without 4 wheel drive, the team drove to the Clubhouse over the next couple of days to help clear the parking lot and make walk ways and exits safe. From there we set about clearing a route along the cart paths from the Grounds Maintenance Department to the Clubhouse to allow our Team Members and equipment to go back and forth.

Cart path on 15, route cleared after 4 hours.

Over the next few days the team continued to remove snow from the Clubhouse and parking lot areas as well as moving around the course plowing the cart paths to allow for access to monitor the thaw.

The following are pictures as of the afternoon of Wednesday, February 20th, depicting current conditions and thaw progression.

The 1st fairway from the White Tee. One of our shadiest holes, the vast majority is still covered with up to 3 inches of thawing ice.




Hole 18 from the Club House fountain, snow on the higher areas are starting to recede but shady areas along the tree line are still thick. The Green still is covered with 2 inches.

13 Fairway is still covered from tee to green.

14 Fairway saw some of the deepest snow due to the wind swept drifts.

15 View to the Green. Pond is still covered with thick ice.

16 Very little signs of movement with 5 inches of snow still covering the tee.

The above pictures hopefully give you a good idea of the situation on our back 9 holes. Being tree lined for the most part, most of you will know that it always take a good amount longer to thaw than the holes on our front 9.

Below are a couple of photos showing the current situation on the front 9. Again these photos were taken the afternoon of Wednesday, February 20th.

View down 3 and across to 8 from 9 Tee

Hole 9 from cart path. View to Green

Thawing snow un-masking the debris situation from the wind storm

9 Green

As you can see the thaw on the front 9 has been drastically quicker than the back. This being said at time of writing, the only fully snow free green was on hole 5. Holes 1, 3, 4 and 9 still are covered with large amounts of snow.

Currently the Ground Maintenance Department have been out on course daily picking away at the task of debris clean up which is proving to be massive. As areas thaw, it is allowing our team jump to around blowing and raking the course to make it playable for when the snow does finally disappear.

The recent weather conditions and those that are forecast are far from being conducive for a quick thaw. Daytime temperatures on course are barely reaching 5-6C and overnight temperatures are dropping to freezing. Currently the early weekend has been forecasted with rain and we are hoping it will be enough to finish the thaw on the front 9, at least enough to allow play ASAP. The following week currently calls for more clear and cold conditions which will again slow the process down.

The Grounds Maintenance Team is working hard to tidy up after these storms and to get the course back in to shape for when Olympic View finally opens again. We hope to see you all out there soon and as always we are keeping the Golf Shop Team updated with current conditions.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update.