What's Up With the Rough?

The golf course Maintenance Team has been hard at work this spring creating an exceptional golf course. While the golf course suffered some winter damage, we believe that our Team has done a great job repairing the golf course.

Growing Degree Day models show we are roughly 3 weeks behind "typical" weather for this time of year. For more information about Growing Degree Days, go to: http://www.wunderground.com/about/faq/degreedays.asp.

We are seeing the growth, especially in the rough, that we would see typically in late April/Early May. We are mowing rough daily to try and keep up with the amount of growth.

It has been a challenging season thus far, but the weather will get better and so will the conditioning. Thank you for your patience while we work to repair and maintain the golf course to our high standards.

Greens Update

The majority of the greens are open to play on! We will still utilize temporary greens on 1,2, and 3. Mother Nature has given us a little help the last few days allowing us to aerate, topdress, fertilize and seed all the greens. The use of temporary greens on the remaining few, will allow the turf to fill in and get healthy for the summer ahead.

For more information on temporary greens and course conditioning, check out the latest USGA Regional Update from Keith Happ, Director of the North-Central Region.

http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/northcentral/Turf-Will-Need-Time-To-Heal-This-Season---April-2014/

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

The Course is Open for Play!

We finally have some decent weather.  This winter has been brutal with all the snow, wind, and cold.

We will be opening on temporary greens because the soil is not warm enough for the turf to start growing. Without growth, the greens can't recover from normal, day-to-day golfer traffic. By utilizing temp greens, we can enjoy the property without risking damaged greens for the rest of the summer.

There are a few greens that are currently under greens covers to help increase the soil temperatures and stimulate growth.  This tactic will allow us to see any areas that may need some additional attention. The good news is that there is no catastrophic damage, but some spots may need a little assistance.

Thank you for being patient as we work with Mother Nature and kick off the 2014 golf season.

Golf Course Opening Factors

Weather is the biggest indicator on when it's safe to open the golf course. Changes in soil temperatures and moisture levels are dictated by the weather.  Once the surfaces are clear of frost and snow, the turf can begin to grow out of dormancy.  Turf must be growing in order to allow player traffic, otherwise there is no opportunity for recovery from the normal wear and tear that occurs during normal play. The course needs time to warm up and start growing.

Patience is required this spring more than ever given the extreme conditions of this past winter.  To paraphrase the assessment of Dr. Trey Rogers of the MSU Turf Team, "the turf thinks it's really March 8th".  It is quite telling that the Golf Association of Michigan has declared that the "official" start to the golf season (for handicap posting purposes) has been delayed more than two weeks.

Team Member Retirement

The time has come.  One of our very best Greenskeepers ever, Robert Noworyta, has retired from the University after 24 years of service. Robert's talents include: tree maintenance; including planting, trimming and removal, design and maintenance in landscapes, facility maintenance, and an uncanny sense of humor. Robert has played a major role in improving the course and has touched so many lives of past and present employees. As former Executive Associate AD Mike Stevenson once said, Robert's "fingerprints" are all over Radrick Farms.

He will be missed by many, many people at Radrick Farms and the University.  But we won't be surprised to see him roaming the course with camera in hand this season!  We wish him the best of luck on this next phase of life.

 2014: NHL Winter Classic 

1999: Installing new roof on 12 lightning shelter.

1998: 18 Landscape Installation 

2008: New railing on the walk bridge on 6.

2000: New wash pad install at the Maintenance Facility.

Winter Conditions

Many weather records have been broken this winter so far. With this kind of weather, turf (in particular greens) can go through changes that have many different outcomes. Academic research, has shown that certain turf species can survive under ice for different lengths of time. Annual Bluegrass (Poa Annua) has been said to last only 45-90 days under ice. Bentgrass can survive up to 120 days.

With that said, we have sampled greens at an interval of 2 samples per week since late December. Thankfully, the turf looks good within these samples. There is a lot of winter left and the worse conditions may still be coming. Crown hydration may still be an issue when the "big" melt happens. We are closely monitoring the turf conditions and will continue to do so throughout the rest of this record breaking winter.

We have also created a testing area on the one of our practice greens. This area will give us valuable insight into how removing snow can affect ice layers on turf. Our hope is to learn as much as we can about the timing of snow or ice removal, techniques to remove ice, and how different weather patterns can affect these decisions. We have also brought plugs from greens into the shop to see how they grow out of dormancy. Thus far, the plugs have grown out of dormancy well.

For further information check out the MSU Turf Teams blog at http://www.msuturf.blogspot.com/2014/03/ice-and-poa-survival-update.html. Click here for a letter from Drs. Frank and Vargas from MSU http://www.migcsa.org/uploads/Winterkill-Letter-2014.pdf.

Plugs that have been removed from greens so far.

Snow removal on the Old Putting Green

Turf inspection

After clearing a portion of the green. 

Continuing Education

This month Radrick Team Members attended the Golf Industry Show in Orlando, FL. We attended sessions hosted by both the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA). We attended educational sessions that included the topics of bunker maintenance, winter injury in Northern climates, renovation project management, and picked up many tech tips on the trade show floor. We are grateful to have the opportunity to learn and improve. It’s great to catch up with industry contacts as well as meet new ones and share best practices.

I was fortunate to serve on the GCSAA Election Committee for the first time in my career. It was a great experience and I look forward to serving this great organization again in the future. Attending this conference helps us discover new ways to continuously improve our operations as we strive to create exceptionally valuable golf experiences for the University of Michigan community.