Mornings on the golf course

The day for a golf course superintendent and his or her crew starts very early, especially as we get into summer.  Waking up at 2:30 or 3:00 this time of year is more common than you would think!  The task of setting up the course for the day, which many of us refer to as the "morning shuffle," is a carefully planned and orchestrated task, as there are only so many bodies to put on equipment for the day.  As we go about our morning jobs well before sunrise, care is taken to ensure that we are focusing on the #1 priorities that will affect not only the health of the turf we manage, but more importantly the experience of our customers.

Here is an insightful blog post from Chris Fernandes, Superintendent at Northwest Golf Course.  Enjoy!
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            This is how most mornings look for the maintenance departments at your favorite golf course.  While most people are just getting up, getting ready for work, getting their kids ready for school, drinking their first cup of coffee or still enjoying a good night's rest, the maintenance staff is hard at work out on the golf course getting the place ready for our customers.  Everyday is different for the maintenance staff, but one thing that is always the same is setting up the golf course for play.  Mornings are the most important part of the day for the maintenance staff and will set the standards for the course that day. 

            Before the staff members even get to the first hole, there are tasks that need to be done.  Blowing around the clubhouse, picking up debris and trash in the parking lot, setting up the cart restriction and hole location signs and communicating with the pro shop on the days course rules, conditions and what the superintendent and the assistants have planned for that day.

Once the staff arrives at the first hole the work really begins.  On the tee boxes the staff will be filling in divots with seed and sand from the previous days rounds, moving tee markers and divot boxes in their new location and depending on the day mowing the tee boxes.

On the way to the green the staff will be checking for trash on the course, blowing any debris and moving the cart directional signs.  Once on the green, depending on what is planned for that day, many of the staff will be on every green everyday.  Weather it is mowing or rolling, mowing and rolling, spraying or just setting the new pin location there are a lot of tasks that need to be completed.

Also while on the green workers will be blowing sand or debris off the green, checking for any high or low plugs and repairing ball marks to make sure the green is perfect before the staff members move on the the next hole to start the process all over again.  During the morning set up other task are being completed such as emptying trash, making sure coolers are filled and checking the bathrooms before golfers start their round.

While workers are preparing the greens others will be mowing fairways, tees, intermediates, and rough while others will be raking bunkers, mowing collars, or anything else that needs to be done. 

Superintendents and their assistants spend these early hours following up on the tasks performed by crew members to ensure quality control, and will also spend time ahead of any equipment to look at dew patterns (good indicator of stress where there is a mottled or broken dew pattern), check soil moisture, scout for pests or disease (or vandalism!), and innumerable other tasks.  The golf course mechanic is also busy in the morning checking to ensure his equipment is performing up to par, and that the quality of cut is excellent.

These are just some of many tasks that happen everyday on the course to ensure that our customers have the best experience possible every time they come out to play.  

It's that time again! (Aeration)

The most important cultural practice that is performed at our facilities is core aeration, and I could literally wear out the keyboard discussing the benefits of this process!  The process of aeration and recovery is very stressful both physically and mentally for our staff, because we take such pride if maintaining great conditions for you!  But this temporary disruption to our playing surfaces is what helps the turf remain healthy throughout the year and is very important!  So what exactly is so great about removing all these plugs of soil from your beautiful golf course?

• Improved root growth
• Improved gas exchange (oxygen to the root zone and actual air movement underground!)
• Decreased thatch and organic matter that can hold excess water (bad for root development and increases disease pressure and insect problems)
• Incorporation of pure sand in greens to keep these important channels open (tremendous root growth in these holes!) as well as firm the playing surface
• Alleviates compaction caused by foot and vehicle traffic
• Improved water infiltration
• Improved microbial activity (healthy microbes help the soil environment function better)
• And the list goes on!

Superintendents LOVE this root development in aeration holes!

So when exactly will our courses be aerating? 
Find our aeration schedule HERE.  

On the date of aeration, the areas mentioned (front 9/back 9) will be closed for the day.  We have selected aeration dates that work best for the specific needs of each course based on types of grass, staffing levels, equipment sharing, and environmental conditions, as well as trying to work around major events and outings that are already scheduled.

Let the greens breathe!

It's been very wet the past few days, and with more rain forecast this week, you'll see that many of our superintendents have implemented venting programs so our greens can continue to breathe and function as well as possible.

While most of our old pushup-style greens lack internal drainage, even modern sand-based greens benefit from this important practice.  As thatch builds up just under the surface of the green, the amount of air flow between the surface and soil is reduced, and by venting the greens once or twice a month, we are able to keep a good supply of oxygen to the root zone.  The tiny holes created by this operation also allow us to better incorporate very light amounts of topdressing sand into the green that have numerous benefits as well such as thatch dilution and reduced incidence of insect and disease problems.

We are committed to continuing to provide excellent playing conditions for our wonderful golfers, and we have been having a fantastic year thus far.  By venting greens and performing other important cultural practices throughout the year (core aeration, topdressing, vertical mowing, rolling, etc), you'll be sure to have a more consistent, positive experience every time you come out to play!

New Flag System for MCG Greens

You may have noticed a recent change (or will notice soon depending on arrival of new scorecards to each course) to the flag system on our greens.

Historically, all MCG courses (except Poolesville and Hampshire Greens) have used a red-white-blue flag system to designate front-middle-back pin placement on greens.  (Little Bennett was red-white-yellow.)  We have chosen to launch a more consistent flag system so you are not encountering something different every other round at our courses.

The Executive 9 at Needwood, the Inner 9 at Northwest, and Sligo Creek GC are staying red-white-blue only since it is easier for the large number of beginner and family golfers we have playing there to identify pin placement since many family groups choose not to use a scorecard.

You will now be seeing scorecards that look more like this example:

You will be informed at the beginning of your round via the starter and/or signage near the first tee whether the flag is in pin position A, B, or C for the day, and with an image for each green on the scorecard, you’ll be able to see where it is, as well as have a reminder about the shape of the green for strategizing your approach shot.  

*** It is extremely important for maintenance staff to rotate the pins around the greens in order to distribute the traffic wear from golfers to different parts of the green.  DID YOU KNOW THAT AN AVERAGE GOLF GREEN RECEIVES 10,000 footsteps per day?  Grass on golf greens is already under stress naturally due to the low mowing height around 1/8”!  Add golfer traffic, varying soil moisture stress (too wet/too dry), heat stress in the summer, pest problems almost year round (any of about 20 disease pathogens that affect turfgrass), insect damage to roots and leaves, (the list goes on and on!), and you can understand why greens require so much attention every day! 

 (For a pretty exhaustive, scientific review of traffic and soil mechanics, check out this link from Ohio State University’s Agricultural Research and Development Center!)

Varying the pin placement according to the A-B-C system ensures that maintenance staff are properly rotating traffic as well as varying your experience each day if you are a daily or frequent player.

The flag change also coincides with the launch of our new logos at MCG courses as well!  If you haven’t noticed yet, you will begin to see more and more of these new logos. 

New merchandise is in our pro shops with the new logos … Get yours soon and be one of the first to wear it!

We hope you will continue to enjoy some of the positive changes that are taking place around our properties.  At any time you may contact us with questions or feedback.  We appreciate it!

Laytonsville #3 green drainage project

For any of you who have played Laytonsville after it has rained, you no doubt have experienced how wet and spongy #3 green is.  Superintendent Galen Evans and his great team have recently undertaken a major renovation to this green to help solve the drainage problem that existed.

As you can see from the above photo, there is a distinct layer that exists from when the green was constructed nearly 40 years ago.  This layer is the primary cause of the lack of water infiltration into the green.  You can also see throughout the profile numerous sand channels that are the result of core aeration.  In this green, however, continued aeration is just not enough to ameliorate the significant layering problem, and it was time for more drastic measures.

  After sod was stripped for the trencher, drain lines were carefully excavated, making sure spoils stayed on plywood to keep the surface of the green clean.

 2-inch drain pipe was installed after the proper slope was achieved at the bottom of the trenches....

 and the greens mix was added and tamped back into place...

Finally the pieces of sod were placed back in the exact order they were removed. Once the green is completely cleaned off of debris, it was rolled repeatedly to return the surface to its original condition for playability.


Drains were installed every 6 feet, about 18 inches deep across the green and back-filled with a mixture of 60% sand, 20% peat and 20% topsoil.  This mixture is a good recipe for allowing water to percolate down to the drain lines, and also having the ability to hold enough water and nutrients to maintain healthy turf.

Jon Lobenstine
Director of Agronomy