Dear Members-

I am at a loss as I sit here and try to find the right words to say after 24 years as your Golf Course Superintendent.  I never dreamed when I started here in 1992 that I would have had this opportunity to work here until now.  It is with mixed emotions that I am leaving, but change is good for the soul and it is time for me to have a new adventure.

 

I want to thank all of you for your many years of kindness and camaraderie; it has never just been a job for me, but more like a home away from home.  I feel privileged that I have been able to stay here all of these years and help make WHCC the “Hidden Jewel” of Los Angeles. As the saying goes you should always leave something better than you found it and I know that is what I have accomplished.

 

I have met many people and made lots of friends whom I will never forget. 

 

Again, thank you for the opportunity to take care of your golf course, it has been a great learning experience and has made me a better person.

 

If you are ever around Wood Ranch Golf Club, please stop by and say hello.

 

Steve Sinclair, CGCS

Wisp Broom

We have added a new maintenance feature for members to use while playing.  The Wisp broom is designed to sweep sand left on the green from bunker shots, and yes it is USGA approved.  You will find the Wisp brooms near the greenside bunkers on #3, #5, #6, and #15.  Below is a link to short video about the product. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wseo8xjYKXc

Earth Day

Ten Facts About Golf in Celebration of Earth Day 2016

Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and USGA offer facts on water and environment

Lawrence, Kan. (April 19, 2016) — Golf is a sport for a lifetime that delivers more than 2 million jobs and $69 billion in annual economic impact while contributing $3.9 billion per year for philanthropic causes -- more than all other sports combined.
A professionally managed golf course also can demonstrate environmental stewardship and provide a place to meet exercise and fitness goals. Just walking 18 holes, for example, can burn more than 2,000 calories.
As part of the celebration of “Earth Day” on April 22, here are 10 facts about golf that help promote the sport and the environment:

1. Golf courses are professionally managed landscapes where environmental stewardship is important – from using water and nutrients more efficiently to implementing improved methods of erosion control.
2. In general, the golf industry is striving to deliver firm playing surfaces that are better for everyone and improve the bottom line. More than two-thirds of golf courses report that they are keeping turfgrass drier than in the past.
3. The golf industry is continually investing in research to identify drought-tolerant grasses and improve water conservation through best management practices.
4. Golf courses continue to adopt water conservation practices, reduce irrigated acreage and use innovative technologies, such as targeted irrigation systems and ground moisture measurement tools, along with weather monitoring systems, providing the science to water only when and where it is needed.
5. Irrigated areas on golf courses have decreased by more than 14,000 acres between 2006 and 2014.
6. Use of recycled water has increased by 32.7 percent from 2006 to 2014. Recycled water now counts for 25 percent of all water used on golf courses.
7. Golf courses routinely have recycling programs to reduce and reuse.
8. More than 90 percent of a typical golf course is comprised of turfgrass, a water body or other natural areas that prevent erosion, filter runoff, and provide for cooler temperatures when compared to urban settings.
9. More than 70 percent of acreage on an 18-hole golf course is considered green space that provides benefits to the ecosystem, reduces maintenance and supports wildlife habitat, including protected species.
10. Through governmental affairs involvement, professional education and public information, the golf industry continues to promote environmental responsibility as a widespread industry practice.

Are you playing the right tees?

Here is a Video from the USGA with recommendations to enjoy you round more.
Click on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgYVhGRpTN4&feature=youtu.be

Greens Aerification Notice

As many of you may already be aware of, aerification is an integral part of any quality greens maintenance program.  Our number one goal at Woodland Hills Country Club is to maintain the highest quality putting surfaces for as much as the year as possible.  To make this possible we must aerify greens to relieve compaction to allow water and nutrients to reach the root system of the turfgrass plants.  This fall we will aerify and topdress greens on October 5^th, please bear with us over the next couple of weeks as the greens heal and return to the high standard you are accustomed too.

Fore The Golfer: Spraying On The Golf Course

Waste Bunker

The first load of sand was dumped in the waste bunker between 8 and 11 yesterday. 

7 Tee Update

The new tee has been sodded, rolled and even mowed once.  Everything is continuing as scheduled and we will open it as soon as it is ready. We still have to fertilize it a couple more times as well as aerify and topdress to eliminate the minor imperfections in the sod.

#7 Tee

For those of you that have not been out to play golf this week, we have begun to rebuild the 7th tee.  Before we started moving any dirt, we had a couple eucalyptus trees removed on the hill to the right of the tee, and a few others trimmed to get some additional sunlight to the area of the new tee location.  A temporary mat was installed at 97 yards from the green to use while the new tee is being built. 
On Monday we removed the sod from the area and began rototilling and leveling the new tee area.  We hope to finish this process this week, next week we will start hauling in a four inch sand base for the sod. Nest we will level and compact the sand, reinstall irrigation heads and sod the following week.   
When the new tee is completed it will be similar to the tee on #6.   It will be one level, the same height as the curb on the cartpath, slightly larger than #6.  Teeing distances for the new tee will be 112 yellow, 118 for the red, 122 white, and 132 for the blue and black tees. 
I will give more updates as the process continues, we are planning on opening the new tee in 4 to 6 weeks.
Below is one final picture of the tee before we started construction.

New Trees

If you have been on the course this week you probably noticed a few new trees being planted.  We have added a pine on the right of #4 fairway near the maintenance yard and a podocarpus about 75 yards from the green on the right, both were planted for future protection from balls leaving the course.  On the right of the 5th fairway we added three pines for the same reason.  We also added three California sycamores between the 10th green and the new black tee on #11.  Finally two oaks have been planted, one on #11 where we lost the large oak earlier this year and on the left of #16 fairway (pictured below) near where an oak is dying back.

BALL MARKS ON GREENS

We have been noticing more unrepaired ball marks than usual.  Below are instructions on how to properly repair a ball mark.  Please repair yours and any others you come across on the green as a ball mark repaired soon after being made recovers much faster than one repaired the next day. 

 

The right way to fix a ball mark

---

Step 1:
Use a pronged ball mark
repair tool, knife,
key or tee.

---

 

Step 2:
Insert the repair tool at the
edges of the mark; not the
middle of the depression.

---

 

Step 3:
Bring the edges together
with a gentle twisting motion,
but don't lift the center. Try not to
tear the grass.

---

 

Step 4:
Smooth the surface with
a club or your foot. Repeat
steps until the surface is one
you would want to putt over.

Channel 7 ABC

Below is the link to the interview from Channel 7 News yesterday on water savings.  Hopefully this will be the end to my 10 minutes of fame. 


http://abc7.com/weather/golf-course-takes-steps-to-conserve-water/240906/

LA Daily News

Here is a link the article in the Sunday LA Daily News about water conservation in case you missed it.

 http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20140802/woodland-hills-country-club-beats-par-for-water-conservation

Maintenance Day

Today is a very busy maintenance day on the course.  We are venting or aerifing the greens with 1/4 inch tines.

This allows water and air to get down to the roots, this will help the grass plants to better handle the stresses of our summer weather conditions. 

We are also verticutting and aerifing the fairways.

The verticutting reduces the thatch that builds up in the kikuyu, and will create a tighter and healthier grass plant.  We will verticut the fairways again an about a month. 

The aerifing of the fairways will reduce compaction and allow water to better penetrate the soil, reducing dry spots. 

 

The greens will be finished today, but the fairways will take most of the week to complete.  We will restrict the carts to the path this week to allow the fairways to heal better.  Please bear with us for this busy week as these procedures will improve the health of the golf course and improve playing conditions thoughout the year.

Tee Improvement Project

We have completed the leveling part of the tee leveling project, below are before and after photos of the first tee.  Next, we will begin installing the bronze yardage markers and finish up more concrete block work.

Fore The Golfer: Watering For Healthy Turf

Driving Range Tee

This week we took on the task of leveling and resodding the Driving Range Tee. This is what the tee looked like when we started.

We stripped the sod off on Tuesday, Wednesday we rototilled the tee, and blended in the transitions to the rough better than they were before. On Thursday we brought in an outside contractor to laser level the tee, below is a picture of his equipment in operation.

Today we brought in West Coast Turf to lay big rolls of hybrid bermuda, just like they laid the big rolls of kikuyu in the fairways.

We will reopen the new driving range tee in a couple weeks when the sod roots down and becomes firm.

Aerification Monday

Today we aerified the greens, so I thought I would give you a play by play on what and why we make a mess of the greens twice a year.  First of all, this is not our favorite thing to do, as it is a lot of work, and really messes up the greens for a couple weeks.  However it is a necessary evil.

 

 

We start by running the core aerifier over the greens.  This machine pulls plugs of thatch and compacted soil from the greens. The plugs are 5/8 across by 3.5 inches deep and are spaced a couple inches apart.

Then all the plugs are pushed to the edge of the green, picked up and hauled away.

Then we apply gypsum(calcium sulfate)and fertilizer.  The gypsum helps displace sodium in the soil. The fertilizer we applied today was 0-0-50(potassium sulfate) which is for heat, drought and wear tolerance.  We will continue to add potassium throughout the summer.  Last Monday we applied a balanced greens grade fertilizer containing 10 percent nitrogen, 4 percent phosphorus and 20 percent potassium to start growth and helps recover faster from the aerification process.

Next sand topdressing is applied at a rate to make sure all the holes are filled and there is extra to fill any low irregularities in surface smoothness on the greens.  Sand is used as it does not compact as much as soil based topdressings.  This allows for better air and water movement through the soil and deeper root depth.  Sand topdressing also helps reduce thatch on greens.  A build-up of thatch would prevent water from penetrating the surface, causing localized dry spots.

The sand is then dragged to move it into the holes and low spots.  This creates a smoother putting surface for the entire year.  We will continue daily dragging until the sand has worked into the soil and thatch of the turf.

Finally we water in the fertilizers and sand.  The water also helps work the sand into the soil and turf canopy as well as dissolves the fertilizer allowing it to be used by the turf plants and the gypsum allowing it to displace the salt particles in the soil.

All in all it is a long hard day of work beginning at 6:30 am and still going strong at 3:45 pm.  We should finish in the next couple of hours.  However, if these tasks were not performed in the spring and fall, the greens would suffer with compaction, reduced air and water movement, localized dry spots, and other additional stresses causing more fungal activity and loss of turf throughout the year.  So please bear with us the next couple of weeks while the greens recover, so the golf course can be enjoyed this summer.

Spring Cleaning the Pond

Today we started cleaning all the old and dead plant material from the pond. This will allow new green growth of plants. In a couple weeks it will be filled in again.

Large Brown Patch

You may have noticed the rain also brought some large brown patch rings to the kikuyu in the fairways.  On Monday and Tuesday we made an application of Banner Maxx Fungicide as well as a little fertilizer, Iron and Magnesium.  This has stopped the brown patch from spreading as well as greened up the fairways.