If you've read our posts throughout the past week from the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional CC, you'll recognize the name James "Jimbo" Hayes (kneeling in photo) as my go-to guy for information about the status of the Blue Course and the activities of the maintenance staff.
Hayes is the second assistant superintendent on the Blue Course and volunteered his services as a guest blogger for us. The plan was for him to submit daily updates of his duties and activities in preparing the course for the championship, and provide a little insight into what it's like to serve on a maintenance staff at a major golf championship.
Well, like so many other well-laid plans, real life and Hayes' duties on the golf course got in the way. He still served as a valuable resource for me, answering texts, emails and phone calls at all hours of the day and night, and drug my carcas around the course on more than one occasion. But he didn't quite get to the writing like he figured he would.
Well, until now. As I sat in Washington D.C.'s Reagan National Airport waiting for my return flight to Kansas City, I received an email from Hayes with the following post. We're planning on more to come over the weekend, so check back for those.
This will be my third time watching greens here at Congressional under championship conditions. The first two were for the PGA Tour's AT&T National Tournament hosted by Tiger Woods in 2008 and 2009 and then this year's 2011 U.S. Open Championship. For us, there is no difference in management practices just because the events themselves are completely different in structure and organization as we strive to have our course in championship condition all year round for our membership. The biggest difference is in our greens themselves.
In 2009 at the conclusion of the AT&T, we immediately entered a greens reconstruction period. This was to ensure the integrity of our club's greens for the future. With better scientific understandings of turfgrass and new technologies, we have really seen the benefits to the new-age design of our greens. From the consistent and properly-draining USGA sand mix profile to the installation of SubAir units on all of our greens, we really can once again gain an upper hand on weather and climate issues that until now, usually left us with little or no control.
Switching from Poa annua to bentgrass has also been a big leap for us, but one that has already been worth it's weight in gold. The new Penn A-1/A-4 bentgrass greens have been able to to give us greater root depths than could ever be matched by Poa, especially in the heat of the summer months. This, matched with the USGA profile, is a perfect combination as it gives us the ability to step up our management practices in mowing and rolling to consistently provide firm and fast conditions.
Already with the management of our greens for the U.S. Open, you can see that we have entered a new era on an already historic golf course, which is something we have all been excited to be a part of. The time is here, and it's safe to say that our greens have been put to the test. Right now as they grow, our greens are roughly a year and 10 months old. They have been put to the test by the rigors of preparing for a major championship such as the U.S. Open, but honestly we couldn't be more pleased with how they are reacting.Even before the Open, the last few weeks have been a test on us as well with water and green management. We have seen record-breaking temperatures for the region. It seemed to have come in two waves, the first being shorter than the second but both reaching temps of nearly 100 degrees and high humidity. Most know that as the temperatures rise, the need for water is greater, but when mixed with high humidity, the greens then rarely lose moisture. So how do you put water to cool the plant from heat and yet not add any water to the profile of the green itself? Very carefully and precisely.
This is the battle we face every year here at Congressional and in the transition zone. It is given that every year we will see high temps and high humidity. This year, however, we saw these conditions earlier than normal and just before the U.S. Open; normally, we would not see this until July.
So how have we enacted careful and precise watering practices?
Well, much like any practice, there are tricks to the trade. We have various tools that help us gain back some control over Mother Nature, one being the SubAir units under the new greens which we already discussed. Some of the others include our Precision fans above the greens which move and circulate stagnant air while cooling the surface of the green as well. (Editor's note: Those fans were removed for the U.S. Open) Another tool specifically to do with water are our Fieldscope moisture sensors. These are the tools that get everyone excited.
I first started using them for the 2009 AT&T. Then, as now, everyone will ask you what you are holding after coming off a green with moisture data. The tool measures volumemetric water content, or VWC for short. This simply gives us a percentage of moisture in the green to correlate with core samples that we take to physically show us the underlying sand profile. Anytime we can put a number or figure to something, we can become more consistent, and that is the key to hand-watering. Before this tool, we simply had a core sample and would have to feel in our hand how dry or wet the soil was.
Our goal for this championship, as well as any other day, is to be consistent with our hand-watering techniques to keep the moisture consistent throughout not only each square foot of one green, but from green to green throughout the entire course. This is no easy task and takes more than one person. What keeps us all together and on the same page? Well, the moisture meter is our good start.
Each day for the hampionship, we have a morning and evening prep. At both times we use our moisture meters to give us that VWC percentage. Then we will touch up any isolated dry spot to bring them up in moisture to where we think they should be, and if the entire green is lower than we would like then we will work water into the profile until it too is where it should be. Our targe numbers change all the time. They depend on weather, temperature and humidity.
During advance week, we were in another awkward heat wave with high humidity. At the start of that weekend, cool nighttime and daytime temperatures helped us out incredibly. Since then I have been on the front nine greens and taking readings and getting a feel for where they need to be while still keeping them firm and fast.
Thanks to the renovation of our greens, we have been able to give them the water they need to keep them healthy, while still increasing our mechanical practices to increase green speed. Neither one has affected the other negatively.
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