Golf Course Updates - March 2020

The entire world is grappling with COVID-19 and we find ourselves thoughtful of the sick, the deceased, the first responders, our global leaders, the millions of businesses and everyone else affected by this pandemic. 

But as golf carries on in Virginia (albeit safely and differently), we wanted to share some of the ways that we are trying to provide golf while respecting the health and safety of everyone around us. 


1. We have inverted all of our putting green cups so that the ball may still be "holed", but cannot fall to the bottom of the cup. This allows our players to safely retrieve the ball without touching the cup. Furthermore, Our flagsticks remain in at all times to further limit touching.  

2. We have removed all of our bunker rakes so our members or caddies aren't tempted to pick up a rake. We are playing a "lift, smooth and place" rule in all of our sand bunkers. 

3. And for all 3 of our practice putting greens, we are leaving the cup approximately 1" above the hole. As the player warms up or practices putting, they are never required to touch anything but still have an aiming point. 

Aside from these precautions, as the golf course moves into week-4, post-aeration, we are very excited about this coming season. The turf is starting to really move and as we begin our full mowing schedule, we expect the spring of 2020 to be fantastic. 

It is not lost on us how much this virus is affecting our global community. We hope that maybe, just maybe, the great game of golf will be a therapy of sorts. We will continue to work hard preparing the golf course for 2020 and pray that everyone affected by this pandemic recovers as quickly as possible. 

Bridge Crossings and Traqmatz

 With aeration behind us, we have begun preparing the golf course for our Annual Opening Day (April 18th, 2020). This preparation includes, but is not limited too: edging features, spraying weeds, mulching, resetting furniture, placing bunker rakes, burning mow patterns, seeding natives, landscaping and creek repairs. In addition to these chores, we are also experimenting with a new method to mitigate traffic near our foot bridges. 

Each season, 3 to 4 times per season, we replace the turf on both sides of our walk bridges. This turf is replaced because foot traffic and compaction thin the grass until it is nearly bare. While attending the Golf Trade Show, we came across a product called Traqmatz. (www.traqmatz.com) 

Traqmatz is an "environmentally-friendly turf protection and safety system that allows water to drain through turf and top soil, improving growth and preventing damage. Made of 50% recycled premium rubber, lightweight protect the crown and root of grass blades and other organic materials, allowing them to grow in high-traffic areas." (Traqmatz.com, 2020)  

Pictures below courtesy of Traqmatz

Essentially, the porous design of the mat allows the grass to access water and sunlight while shielding the plant from traffic. There are two methods for installing the Traqmatz and we are currently evaluating both methods. 

The pictures below are of our 9th golf hole. On this hole, we excavated the trafficked soil and replaced it with a topsoil/compost/seed mixture. Once the soil mix was graded, the mat was installed. The idea will be that in 3-4 weeks, the grass shoots will cover the mat, but the crown of the plant will remain protected from traffic. 

On the 4th golf hole, pictured below, we tried the alternative method which is to lay the mat directly atop the newly installed sod. Similar to the seed method, in this example, the sod should blossom in the spring and its growth should come through the mat until it is virtually covered. 

In addition to the turf protection, these mats should keep our bridge crossings safer at all times. Over the next 3-4 weeks, we will evaluate which method we prefer. Prior to opening day, all of our bridge crossings will have the same mat installed and be much more durable throughout the growing season. 

2020 Aeration Week

From February 24th through March 3rd, 2020, the KGC maintenance team completed its annual, golf-course aeration. Due to the leadership of Adam Sauls and Blake Heinz, our team was well-organized and diligent. In addition, Terry Kennedy and his team made certain that our equipment was operational and effective. Aside from our teams’ efforts, we were very blessed with the weather. Of the 9 days that we were closed, only 2 days were hampered by wet conditions. Considering the seasonality of late Feb/early March*, working 7 of 9 days with sunshine and wind was remarkable. And finally, it is never lost on us that we have unbelievable support from our club to perform this crucial agronomy practice.

*We chose these dates to lengthen our spring season. By aerating 4 weeks earlier than usual, we are optimistic that we will provide “season ready” golf course conditions by the 1st of April. 

I. Putting Greens 
Our 25 putting surfaces were top-dressed with a kiln-dried, sterilized sand. This sand compares favorably to our underlying profile, so the risk of layering is low. The sand was applied at a rate of 1400 lbs. per 1000 square feet. On an annual basis, per the USGA, this volume of sand constitutes 56% of the total sand required for optimal dilution. To achieve 56% of an annual need in one application is remarkable.

Following the top-dressing, the greens were deep tined to a depth of 7 to 8”. We deep tine to ensure that we fracture the soil past the depths of our traditional aerators. Aerating at the same depth can create a “pan” layer at that depth.

Following the deep tine process, each green was triple aerated with our Toro, walking-aerators. These aerators “punch” a solid hole that is 5/8” in diameter and to a depth of 2.5” to 3”. The spacing of each machine is set to produce a 1.5” x 1.5” grid.

Once the holes are punched, we sweep the sand in multiple directions until the sand has filled every hole on the surface. The result is an aerated surface with many new “veins” of fresh, aerated sand. Aside from the dilution of the existing organic layer, these “veins” promote vigorous rooting, gas exchange and mitigate seasonal compaction. 

II.         Fairways and Tees

The fairways and tees received a similar treatment. Prior to the application of our VSS, fairway, top-dressing sand, all surfaces were deep-tined to a depth of 6” using a 7/8” diameter tine. Once deep-tined, every surface received over 1400 lbs. of sand per 1000 square feet. In total, we spread nearly 2.5 million pounds of sand across 43 acres of fairways and tees!

Once the sand was spread, the fairways were solid-tined with 7/8” diameter tines to a depth of 3”. These tines were spaced on 2” centers and all surfaces were aerated 2 times at opposing angles. In total, because we chose to double aerate the fairways and tees, we effectively aerated over 80 acres of turf. And that figure does not include the 5 acres of putting surfaces that were triple aerated!

Once aerated in 2 directions, we used a 3-man team to sweep the sand in a way that every hole was filled. Sweeping the sand effectively is a long process that requires perfectly dry weather conditions. Our “sweep team” began the clean-up process on Thursday afternoon and swept sand for nearly 11 hours per day across 5 straight days. However, the finished product is gorgeous and our bent grass surfaces will love the porosity and dilution that we created through this process. 

III.        Aeration Summary

Aeration is designed to reduce organic matter, mitigate compaction, increase oxygen in the rootzone and promote healthy gas exchange. Historically, we have used core aeration because there is actual removal of material. However, by refining our bent grass fertility, the accumulation of new organic matter has decreased. And, since our soil profiles are already sand based, we began considering an approach wherein we use solid tines to create 2x to 3x as many channels and in lieu of core clean-up, using our resources to incorporate sand at levels never achieved. To test our assumptions, we analyzed the physical traits of our profile before and after 3 different aeration methods. Two of these methods utilized core aeration and the other method was the triple-solid tine approach. Looking at the data collected, we saw very similar results using the triple solid approach in comparison to the core aeration method(s). In fact, what we did discover with these tests was that we were able to “drill” more sand into the channels using solid tines only. Although we are very excited about the channels created and the overall look of our 2020 process, we will continue to evaluate the most effective aeration methods. We may adopt the solid tine approach over the long term, or we may “mix and match” solid and hollow tines… depending on how the turf performs. But, for 2020, we are excited about our programs and confident that we have laid a strong foundation for the upcoming season.

IV.        Other Projects

With 9 days of golf course closure, our team executed many other course improvement projects. Below is a small summary of those things completed during aeration week.

a     Roughs – All 37 acres of new fescue sod has been solid tined in 1 direction. This application is important because we are “punching” a hole through any potential layering that can occur when sod from one site is overlaid on soil from another site.

In addition to the solid tine application, all our new fescue was fertilized with a highly soluble form of Nitrogen. The grass received .6#’s of N per 1000 square feet with another scheduled application to be applied in 3 weeks.

Finally, all the new sod was over-seeded with a thermal Bluegrass (KBG) species. The rate we used should encourage the development of KBG but not “overwhelm” the existing Fescue species. This over-seed is in conjunction with our long-term renovation plan.

Aside from our newly renovated Fescue areas, we used this week to scour the entire rough and apply a seed/compost mixture to thin areas. This project went well as our team was able to walk each hole and thoroughly cover the entire rough.

b.    Bunkers – We were able to compact every bunker face on the property. In addition, we moved sand levels to ensure that every bunker has 2-3” of sand on the faces and 5-6” of sand in the bottoms. This should help our sand settle and reduce “fried egg” lies. Upon re-opening, we also returned to the “Aussie-Style” raking method. With this method, our faces are constantly rolled and not raked. This should also promote firmer faces with less chance for embedded golf balls.

c.     Irrigation – We continued our spring irrigation audit. We were able to fix numerous, small leaks, replace a mainline valve and perform preventative maintenance on our pump station.

V.         Summary

Between our staff and Mother Nature, our 2020 spring aeration was one of our most efficient and productive. We are pleased with what was accomplished and are very excited about the early start to the 2020 golf season. So long as March gives us reasonable temperatures, we are prepped to have outstanding golf by the 1^st of April. Again, we thank our General Manager, Board of Directors and membership for the patience and support to care for the golf course.