Goats/Dogs at Work

Since their arrival the goats have made some really good progress. In only a week we are already starting to see many of the natural features of the baranca on #18 being revealed.

The first couple of nights there was a little barking from the two dogs that are inside the fence to protect the goats, but that is believed to be attributed to the deer, and has subsided since both the deer and the dogs have gotten used to each other.

So far only two people have gotten a zap from the electric fence that surrounds the goats, and thankfully both were able to laugh about it shortly after it happened.

Who Let The Goats Out!

The arrival of brush goats to Pasatiempo is official!

  

For several months we have been working with a company out of Santa Barbara (Brush Goats 4 Hire) and hoping they would be able to help us in an innovative attempt to restore our canyons and barancas into a more rugged and natural appearance.  

The first trailer of our newest staff members arrived Tuesday morning and most of them sprinted down the canyon eager to begin munching on anything green.

Update on Our Native Grass Program

The native grasses that were seeded in January and February are doing quite well.  The blend of six-grass types were selected because of their drought tolerance along with their shorter growth habit and while they may look like a weed patch right now, they are doing what they are supposed to.  Keep in mind that these grasses have not received any water since the last rain fell in May. The main goal with our conversion to native grasses is to reduce the need for unnecessary inputs throughout the course, thereby contributing to environmental sustainability and conservation of our natural resources.  By eliminating 25-acres, we will save approximately 15,000,000 gallons of water per year, which translates into an economic savings of $110,000.  This figure does not account for the reduction in fertilizer, emissions from mowing equipment, and labor that will accompany the reduction in water.  Currently, these areas may not look appealing and what you may have expected from “native grasses,” however the finished product will look very natural, aesthetically pleasing, and serve as a dramatic complement to the classic Alister MacKenzie design.  

Alternative Brush management

175 BRUSH GOATS TO ELIMINATE OVERGROWTH IN BACK-9 BARANCAS

Over the years there have been various approaches to control the weeds and overgrowth in the canyons and barancas. None of the approaches will be as efficient and “green” as the goats that will be brought on to our property later this month. As we look to restore the look more common during the MacKenzie era, one of the features that has been lost is the stunning, rugged definition of the canyons. Throughout the years, the steep, jagged edges have all been covered up by extensive overgrowth. During the week of September 20th, we will introduce goats into the canyons to begin the extensive cleanup. There is a long list of benefits with regard to using goats instead of manual labor. Some of these include:

• Significantly cheaper than using our manual labor to clear out the barancas 
• Reduce the need for spraying harmful chemicals 
• No heavy equipment damage or noise 
• Goats can easily traverse steep, rocky and difficult terrain
• It will add an entertainment factor for our members and guests 
• Goats break down plant material, whereas our crew would still have to drag it out and chip it 
• They are very quiet cleaners and you will see amazing progress each week

The goats will be enclosed in areas that will be surrounded by solar powered electric fences. Great Pyrenees dogs will be with the goats to protect them and will only bark if they feel the goats are threatened. A herdsman will be within contact or onsite 24/7 and the goats are expected to be here for about 7-weeks. This is a tremendous undertaking, but the restoration to the canyons along with the elimination of unnecessary overgrowth, will ensure that this club project will be talked about for many years to come.

Summer Disease Update

Depending on the weather conditions, this can be a tough time of year for disease pressure in our region. A couple of the diseases we are currently seeing on the course are Southern blight and anthracnose.

We've seen Southern blight come in on some of the green surrounds over the past few weeks. We are not currently concerned about the presence of this disease due to its location (in the roughs). We are managing the situation by close monitoring of the progression of the disease, continued overseeding of the affected areas with resistant turf species, and proper irrigation management.

We've also been seeing some anthracnose pressure on a few of the greens (most notably the back right of the first green). Our management of this disease includes fungicide applications every ten to fourteen days, very close monitoring of the progression, as well as cultural practices such as sand top dressing, maintaining a mowing height above .115", and proper irrigation management.

NCGA Area of Emphasis: Agronomic Principals and Practices

Cultural Practices – At Pasatiempo we feel that plant and soil health are the keys to growing great turfgrass, and that proper plant and soil health is achieved primarily through good cultural practices. We aerify greens with 5/8” hollow tines twice a year, and use a Planet Air or bayonet tines every six to eight weeks to relieve soil tension in between spring and fall aerification. Like the greens, we use hollow tines to aerify fairways and tees each spring and fall, and knife tines throughout the rest of the season to break up surface tension and increase water percolation.

Top dressing is done on a light and frequent basis (every two weeks accompanied by a verti-cut) throughout the year on the greens, and we apply sand to the fairways five to six times per year.

Proper fertilization and water management are two of the main contributing factors to our cultural program. We use a “spoon feeding” method of fertilization on greens, tees and fairways, with spray applications scheduled every 10 days on the greens and every 21 days on the fairways and tees. We also conduct several granular organic fertilizer, and soil amendment applications on the fairways and roughs to help build up the biological profile of our soils.

Our views on water management have been discussed at length in previous blog posts, but with our new irrigation system in place we now have the ability to be much more efficient with how we water the golf course. We are now able to put the water where it is needed rather than having to overwater certain areas in order to keep other areas alive. This will have a direct affect on the rest of our cultural program, and will allow us to maintain a firm and fast playing surface while keeping the turf healthy at the same time.

Chemical Use – Pasatiempo has been Audubon Certified for over a decade, and therefore we have a major focus on our environmental impact. This is a constant consideration when we evaluate our chemical use. All of our disease management is done on a “spot and treat” basis, and our thresholds are relatively high considering our level of maintenance. Due to our climate we don’t have the intense disease and insect pressure that other areas of the country face; however, we do see fusarium patch in the cool months, and yellow patch, waitea patch, and anthracnose in the warmer season.

Behind the Scenes at the 2010 U.S. Open

Although most avid golf fans have the four days of the U.S. Open marked on our calendars from the beginning of the PGA Tour season, few of us have had an opportunity to experience our national championship from behind the scenes. This past week at Pebble Beach I had a chance to spend some time volunteering on the maintenance staff, and got a chance to see the operation from a totally different perspective. Participating in an event of this magnitude was not only a great experience for a young turf manager, but has been a career goal of mine for many years.

Contrary to what players and television commentators may have said, the golf course was in perfect shape for a U.S. Open. The U.S.G.A. and Pebble Beach superintendent; Chris Dalhamer felt that the golf course was exactly where it needed to be to present the toughest test of golf to the best players in the world. Greens were extremely firm and fast, and several areas of the course had been manipulated (i.e. shaving bunker edges and coastlines down to fairway height, and shifting fairways to change the players line of play into holes) to bring the various design features more into play.

Probably the most impressive thing to witness was the management of the irrigation. The golf course hadn’t been watered with the irrigation system for over two weeks, and the only water that was put on the golf course was done by hand watering. This is not only the most efficient way to apply water to turfgrass, but also provides the ultimate control of where the water is applied. This technique gives the superintendent the ability to provide the firmest playing conditions possible while still keeping the grass alive. (Please note that NBC did use green filters on their cameras, and the golf course was much browner and wilted than it appeared on television.)

The U.S.G.A. mandated that the fairways be mowed all one direction from tee to green to make the fairways seem even faster. While this is probably the most inefficient way to mow fairways, it accomplished exactly what the U.S.G.A. wanted, and made the shaved bunkers and coastlines even more of a factor.

While the greens were fast (pushing 14’ on the Stimp meter) the amazing thing was how fast and firm the approaches were (Stimping at over 12’). This allowed for shots to be landed short of the greens and run up more like a links style golf course. Players were also putting the ball from several yards off of the green due to the extremely tight lies on the approaches.

An event of this caliber is not easily achieved and should not be expected for daily play. For this event there were a total of over 100 volunteers from around the world, consisting of superintendents and assistant superintendents, which brought the number of total staff for the week to nearly 140 professional turf managers. Especially for this event Pebble Beach had 12 interns with college degrees on staff. We were working split shifts with the first shift beginning at 4 a.m. and the second shift not ending until 10 p.m. All told this event has been planned over the past six years and culminated over the four days that we all saw on television.

This was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I feel that I have learned many things about what it takes to provide true tournament conditions. I now have a better understanding of the vast amount of detail and focus it takes to produce an event of this stature, and it makes me want to strive to provide event better conditions for our members and guests on a daily basis.