Post Aeration/Zoysia grass

Last Monday and Tuesday the Grounds team was able to complete the aeration of the greens around a few rain drops. We adapted our practices slightly based upon data (over the past several years) of the soils and also the short and longer term forecasts. We also incorporated the practice of vertical mowing to decrease the lateral growth of these older bent grasses. The recommendation of vertical mowing was a result of a recent USGA agronomist visit in March. With a little help with warmer temperatures we hope you will see a significant improvement in playability by the weekend. 

Day 1-Post Aeration 

Day 5-Post Aeration 

Zoysia Grass:

The Zoysia grass green-up has been delayed this year with the roller coaster-ride of temperatures; however over the weekend there was significant progress, we anticipate with the warm-up this week and when the soils dry out, the carts will be scattering to the fairways very soon. The caveat to this is; there will be areas that will be roped off or we will be utilizing the geo fences on the GPS carts to reduce cart traffic in weak areas. There are a few areas that have been impacted by winter injury (i.e. poor drainage/ shaded) and will need to be resodded or plugged out with new Zoysia. 

#5 Tree Removal and new sod will improve playability

13 Approach- water sitting in front of the green over winter

13 approach 

Areas of thin Zoysia grass we will focus on turf improvements include:

• The end of 4 fairway  
• Right side of 5 fairway 
• 13 approach 
• Right side of 18 fairway 

Practice Area:

We will continue to shift the practice tee line at the range between the bentgrass area and the synthetic turf line. Once the Zoysia tee is actively growing it will be placed there more consistently. 

USGA Agronomist Visit:

On March 15th,  Zach Nicoludis from the USGA Green Section made a visit to Hyde Park, it was a great opportunity to tour the property and talk agronomy with a person that literally sees hundreds of golf courses each year. On the tour, we discussed the successes of the agronomic program and the challenges that are evident in the future. He had many observations and a few recommendations to further improve our program and the overall quality of the golf course.

The emphasis of the visit focused on:

• Agronomic Programming (i.e. organic matter management)
• Infrastructure Challenges (i.e. greens, bunkers)
• Tree Management Program
• Data interpretation 

Firmness testing

Zach Nicoludis, USGA Agronomist

Shade Study 10th green

Cultural Practices Paying Off

Thanks again for the feedback and questions on the course and grounds at HP. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions? grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thanks-you

Pat O'Brien,

Grounds Superintendent

The First Signs of Spring

The grounds team is off and running, the sun is out and the temperatures are signifying the start of another golf season at Hyde Park. We are excited to have many returnees and some new faces to our team that will help assist around the grounds. 

Zoysia Grass-

Overall, the turf has wintered well, there will be some areas in the Zoysia that will be slow to recuperate but we will monitor closely and replace if necessary. We have begun rolling the fairways to help firm after a long winter of freeze and thaw cycles, the light weight rolling will help reduce wheel tracking from carts and mowers.  The Zoysia grass fairways are starting the slow transition to green-up with the longer days and warmer soil temperatures, once the plant is actively growing it will have the recuperative capacity to withstand cart and mower traffic. It is difficult to anticipate exactly when the carts will be scattering to the fairways but historically we see early to mid-April when the Zoysia is actively growing. There will be shaded and low-lying areas that will be roped off to enhance these areas. 

Transition from Dormancy

Rolling of Fairways 

Putting Greens-

The greens have wintered well and have been mowed and rolled a couple times. This time of year the greens show some interesting hues of green, brown and purple. The splotchy or camouflage appearance exhibited on the original greens from the 1920's are the many different types of creeping bentgrasses; each grass type on the green preforms just a little different because of the genetic traits. 

#11 green

13 green 

Chipping Green- uniform with new bentgrass type

Spring Green Aeration-(Pending Weather) April 11th (Course Closed) April 12th and 13th- (Course Open) with temporary hole locations in the fairways. 

Horticulture-

Bryan Miller, Director of Horticulture has been focused on pruning, tree planting and spring preparations for mulching and pine straw. He was also was able to improve the drainage and soil in the front clubhouse bed. Unfortunately, this area has been a challenge to grow healthy plants, these improvements will help this area immensely. Another sign of spring are the emergence of the 10,000 tulip bulbs that were planted last fall. Bryan, will have more information on the tulip recycling program in April.

Other initiatives across the grounds include-

• Bunker sand additions 
• Irrigation system start-up
• Drainage repair on the left side of #8
• Weed control in high rough areas
• Clay tennis court resurfacing 

Thanks again for the feedback and questions about the golf course and grounds. Please don't hesitate to send us a note at grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent