October 2024: Summer Synopsis and Master Plan Update

We are enjoying another beautiful New England fall with great weather and good golfing conditions the last few months. This summer was quite a challenge with the extreme weather but fall is here and the last bit of good golfing weather is ahead of us. We weathered the storm of extremes and high volume golf and are continuing to look at the future with the newly received Golf Course Enhancement Plan that will be discussed on October 16th at 5pm in the clubhouse. Please attend what I expect to be an informative meeting with our golf course architect Robert McNeil; this will be the blueprint for course modifications as the club moves forward. I'll give you an update on a few on course items, summarize the summer and provide some background on the planning process as we've worked through it the past 12 months or so.

What a summer, a scorching hot and humid July with just about no rain in July, August and most of September. When we did get some rain it measured just about 0.1" on the rain gauge which lasts the plants about half a day!  Thank goodness for the new irrigation system which allowed us to put water in more places than the old system, with more precision, control and stretched our resources as far as we could. The wells ran all summer long and by the end were producing half their usual volume. Water quality was less than desirable with two of our wells becoming completely unusable with salt contents at three times the recommended level of sodium; using this water would quite literally kill the turf. I'm monitoring the sodium levels on a daily basis and check soil tests a few times a year. Thankfully the longest stretch of no rain for 33 days came after aeration in mid August and the weather was much cooler at night with a few dewy mornings. At the end, we actually had to buy water from the city for 6 days to get us through. The rest of the fall should be manageable so long as we don't get any crazy fluctuations and an occasional rain event.

This extended period of dry weather and well water usage does create an issue in our soils. The salt air already creates a challenge with fog off the ocean depositing salt crystals on leaf blades as it burns off. Again, salts are the main ingredients in weed and grass killers so natural rain or good clean irrigation water is important. When you don't have both or either of these you need to get out your chemistry set, wave a magic wand and try to manipulate the environment. I am not surprised that our recent tests are showing some really high levels of sodium. This can be somewhat remediated or modified by adding some other nutrients with stronger electron bonds like calcium, magnesium and potassium in the right amounts, at the right time and in the proper order. Today we started by adding some calcium sulfate (gypsum) to the greens in a granular form. We did about half the greens today and will do the others sometime next week. Once this product is applied we quite literally flood the green with water to get it into solution and into the top few inches of the soil profile; we will repeat this again this evening. This will create a situation where the calcium will come into contact with the sodium that is stuck on the soil colloids and quite literally kick the sodium off. Calcium is sodium's stronger big brother so it replaces the sodium on the soil and then flushes out of the profile. This requires a lot of water to ensure it makes it out the bottom of the root zone. We will follow up in a few weeks with a different calcium source and then some potassium later in the fall.

As I mentioned already the architect will be here on October 16th to show membership the new Enhancement Plan for the golf course; I strongly recommend that everyone attend if you can. The plan has been created to provide a blueprint for future changes and improvements to the course and to ensure that there is a consistent design style for the property. Bass Rocks had a plan previously put together in 2001 and has been the greens committee's guide for the past 20 plus years. Club membership, changes in demographics as well as people's priorities change over time and after 23 years it was time to update this document and help plan future course improvements. The plan makes it easy to maintain continuity for years as committees and boards change. The main areas of interest had to do with neighbor concerns, water retention and flooding issues, green, tee and bunker updates and enhancing the practice facility. Robert was initially tasked with addressing these areas with the following goals in no specific order:

1. Maintain the feel of Bass Rocks with rock features and seaside vistas.

2. Balance functional improvements like cart paths and drainage with enhancement opportunities like bunkers, greens and mounding.

3. Create visual and strategic interest on the wide open holes like 11, 12 and the meadows.

4.  Develop a plan that make the course more challenging for the lower handicap golfer without penalizing the higher handicapper.

5. Create a plan that accomplishes the other goals efficiently and cost effectively without adding unnecessary labor intensive maintenance challenges.

6. Have some flexibility regarding construction due to challenges such as rock and ledge outcroppings.

I sincerely hope many of you can make the meeting, see what Robert has to say and ask lots of questions. As a teaser I can tell you that the 7th hole is well represented in the plan! I am also happy to answer any questions you may have about the plan if you don't have the ability to make the meeting or simply want to know more. 

Memorial Day and poa annua- Our Grass

Its here, Memorial Day Weekend, and welcome home to all of you who went south and were wise enough to stay and avoid the cold! Summer has arrived here on Cape Ann, at least for a couple of days. A month has passed since the last blog post and things are really starting to brighten up. Cheryl and the team
from Plant Creations were here last weekend installing our annuals and we have mulched the beds around the clubhouse; the tulips were nice while they lasted. We have also been busy getting out or preventative applications for seedheads, weeds, insects and growth regulation course wide.  The trees are almost all leafed out and the bentgrass has finally started to green up as temperatures are rising out here in the middle of the ocean. Our college crew has been trickling in the last week and a half and a solid crew of Rockport High School students has been working on weekends.  We won't have the Vikings in full force for a few more weeks until they are done with school; please be patient as most of them are greenheads that will need some training.  This last week we did our initial mowing for the native areas along with a weed and growth regulator application. We will continue to mow these every 2-3 weeks throughout the season. Did I mention that the rough is growing like crazy and dreaded pollen is in full effect? 

If your eyes are watering, your throat is scratchy or you have a headache like me you might have allergies and the golf course is a great place to torture yourself with all things related to these seasonal nuisances. Thank God for Zyrtec; I always know mine are about to kick in as soon as I see the poa annua seedheads. Yes, believe it or not, I am allergic to grass like many of you, poa annua. 

Poa annua, or annual bluegrass, is one of the main grasses here at Bass Rocks; we have it on every playing surface, it is our primary putting surface as well. It is very well adapted to coastal climates with cool, moist environments and moderate winter weather.  It makes a great putting surface with a dense, upright growth habit. Poa annua is the main plant type at other famous courses like Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Oakmont C.C. Johnny Miller always loved to talk about how poa greens get bumpy in the afternoon. Poa annua is a great plant but it does have a few challenges, one of which is their seedhead which becomes very prominent this time of year. They push up very quickly during the afternoon even after a morning mowing and make greens putting surfaces bumpy. Treating green surfaces to prevent them from forming is a hit or miss battle, over time we have settled into a multiple application protocol with great success. You will see the seeds formed densely on fairways and roughs the next few weeks which will make your efforts of getting out of the rough just a little bit tougher. We will be cutting rough and blowing the clippings more than normal to keep up with their huge push. Greens mowers will be using the ultra groomer attachments to try and harvest any seeds that do push through our control applications. 

The next challenge with poa annua is that its a favorite delicacy of the annual bluegrass weevil. Weevil larvae are munching hard the next few weeks as they complete their life cycle just as we get close to Father's Day and just as the plant is about to complete its life cycle. We work hard all spring scouting for the overwintering adults as they march out to lay eggs in an effort to keep their brood going. Last but certainly not least is the biggest challenge of all. Poa annua is an annual plant meaning it only lives for one year. It produces the seedhead as its last gasp before it plans to go off to greener pastures. It is supposed to die and here we are trying to keep it alive just as we are getting into the hottest time of the year. After poa finishes its seeding it will start to yellow and start to wither. We will be all hands on deck from that point through the fall trying to keep it alive. Small but exacting fertilizer combinations with micronutrients and organic plant and seaweed based products will be applied to manage the plant and keep it chugging through the summer. Precise moisture monitoring and watering methods will be utilized to promote root and shoot health while managing the surfaces for speed, trueness and color. Add in a little bit of, "keep it healthy but not too healthy" to the mix with regular mowing, rolling and topdressing and you have a successful year at the club. 

The maintenance team will be working hard to give you just exactly that all season long. Let's kick off the summer this weekend with our families, a cookout or two, take in a round of golf or a game of tennis and enjoy the views of the ice cold 52° Atlantic Ocean. 

April 13 - Masters Weekend

We are all looking forward to some great golf this weekend on the course AND on the television. I am happy that we were able to get the course open a little early this week with some nice weather on Tuesday and Wednesday for some play before we got drenched with another inch of rain yesterday. That brings us to over 5 inches in only 8 days! As you might imagine it is extremely soaked out here creating some maintenance and playability challenges. The cooler days (and nights) along with already saturated soils with just require the course a little more time than normal to dry out. Barely active plants that are taking up less of water for physiological processes than during the active growing season also slow the drying out process. What we need right now is a few dry days, some wind and most of all, some patience. 

I thought it would be good to touch on a few things early in the season that often come up regarding our maintenance practices, scheduling and the course availability. Maybe a little Q&A from some often asked questions I've had over the years and I saved my favorite for last.

When are you going to get carts out?

    There is a reason this one is first and the answer to this isn't easy but to keep it simple I would say this: as soon as possible without doing damage to the course; we don't want to do damage before the season has even really started. Some years, when its really dry we can get the carts our earlier, other years when its wet it might take longer. The course right now it completely saturated. As I said earlier, we've received 5 inches in 8 days ON TOP of the almost 10 inches we got in March! That is a ton of water for our course at the bottom of the hill just above sea level. Again, lets hope for some drying weather to make this happen; we aren't looking to keep anyone from enjoying a round of golf, in fact its just the opposite. We are very sympathetic to the fact that some people have limited access to the course when carts aren't available and we will do our absolute best to get them out as soon as possible.

Why are the greens still slow?

    We aren't mowing at our summer height. The grass is barely growing and the golf season is a marathon, not a sprint. The grass has used up a lot of its food reserves over the winter simply trying to survive. The extra length of the turf for the next few weeks will allow the plant to replace and create some more carbohydrate reserves and push some roots so that it can handle the extra stress of cutting at 0.100 inches, rolling and foot traffic almost every day for the next six months. We will start lowering the heights in a few weeks.

Why are the pins in some funky spots?

    This goes along with the higher height of cut. The higher height of cut affords us a few more pin locations because the ball won't roll away as fast. Utilizing some of these locations allows us to spread the wear pattern around on the turf. As you know the turf isn't growing vigorously yet and thus isn't able to repair the damage from foot traffic that it is receiving from golfers. Its good to spread wear around as much as possible and using these spots not only gives "in season" hole locations a break but gives them an extra boost for the aforementioned carbohydrate building.

Why aren't you mowing every day yet?

    On repeat, the grass can't quite handle the traffic of the equipment yet and they aren't growing enough to justify it. There are a lot of other things that happen in the spring that need to get done to have a successful season. Short of having a staff of 30 (instead of 9 currently) things need to be prioritized in order for everything to get done. We are tying up other projects, prepping things like flower beds for annuals, mulching etc. getting tennis items up and finishing up winter cleanup. We also have a lot of spraying to do.

What are you spraying?

    This is a great question. We are preparing for the season and there are a lot of products that need to go out that do different things and they can't always be combined into the same tank. Remember, this isn't a home lawn and tightly mowed turf is much more susceptible to pest pressures from insects, weeds and fungi. We will be putting our seedhead suppression materials on greens and approaches to minimize their impact on ball roll and maintain smoothness. Preemergent crabgrass control will go out almost everywhere with the exception of green surfaces and broadleaf weed control will be managed as needed often being spot sprayed. Different soil conditioners, biological, seaweed and nutrient based fertilizers and minerals (like lime, gypsum etc.) will be applied as needed based on visual observation and soil testing results. Wetting agents will also be applied to both aid in flushing or holding water as needed to many surfaces. This is what is going on in the spring; some product need watering in and others need to dry, so much of the timing for each application will be tailored to the weather that day and or the availability of each area. It takes much more than a single day to make each of these applications and they also need time after being applied which means nobody mowing, driving or walking on the areas. 

Why aren't you using the normal back tee locations?

    This is actually a great question for this time of year but its also a question I get during the season especially on hole number 9! This would probably be more of a question for holes that many golfers use irons, par 3s or extremely small tee boxes. We have a number of REALLY small teeing areas here simply due to lack of space or design. We could use A LOT more tee space for the number of rounds we have. The answer here is twofold. First, the main reason for the spring is that the turf isn't vigorously growing yet so smaller teeing areas cannot recover from wear as I've stated previously. Some holes, for example 9 gold tee, is also not in the sun with the lower sun angle in the spring which only adds to the decreased ability to recover. Par 3 or teeing areas where golfers often use irons tend to have many more divots; another example of this is the grass tee at the practice area. It is still very cold at night, even daytime temperatures here at the coast sticking out in the ocean are much lower than inland. Grass seed simply doesn't germinate at the same speed, if at all, in these low temperatures. Add the high volume of rounds to divots that don't grow on tiny little tees and you end up with DIRT. Nobody wants dirt tees, so we try to use the front teeing spots or less desirable tee boxes like hole 8 behind the pond during this time to "save" the good areas for the actual season when recovery is possible. It doesn't make a ton of sense, at least not to me, to have people using the course in April from the best location and not have those spots available for the long list of tournaments we have starting in May and going all the way through October. Finally, on repeat, this is the answer for the in season tee locations. We have a busy course AND a busy tournament schedule. We try to mix in the prime spots for regular play as much as possible but we also try to save them for the many member tournaments we have scheduled during the actual golf season. 

My favorite question is an open ended, insert your item type of question. Why can't we do ________?

    This one is my favorite; its the question everyone often asks regarding something they think should be done on the course or some type of change whether it is paving the road, adding flowers, having earlier starting times for a tournament or even having a bigger steak on the menu. It really could be used for anything. The answer is really this; we can. We can do just about anything out here with time, money and a bigger billing statement. Different amenities cost more based on location whether it is additional staffing, hiring a construction crew, or buying higher quality ingredients and anything related to golf is already wildly marked up. These things come with higher costs, more time, more equipment and more help. Sometimes making changes requires closing the course or an individual hole, it might require trucking or shipping in a special material. One of the things that I have seen over the years here at Bass Rocks is the great involvement we see from many of our extremely smart members to make well informed decisions and prioritizing the club's needs. Balancing the "needs" with the "wants" is extremely challenging especially when there are so many people wanting different things. Enhancing the current experience while still spending money to maintain the things we already have has become one of the biggest challenges since the start of the pandemic. Prices and availability of almost everything including labor have skyrocketed. 

So that's my latest and I hope I have answered some questions you might have. Keep the faith, clean your sticks and get out your old pair of golf shoes for the next few weeks while we dry out. You shall see our great staff doing their best to prepare you with a nice course and a good golfing experience for the remainder of the season. 

March 25th, 2024 Spring is here... sort of

It is officially spring but it sure doesn't feel like it! This past winter was relatively mild- definitely no complaints from the maintenance team. That is usually a good sign for the course and the season ahead. We experienced our first cold week last week; we were out cleaning the place up and finishing a few projects that we started last fall. The course is in good shape as we get things ready for the season.

The team has been busy this winter as always going through the shop. We are just about done servicing the equipment, all of the reels have been sharpened, bearings, seals, hydraulic pumps and fluids checked and repaired. Many of our accessories like ballwashers, trash cans, flagsticks to name a few have been sanded and repainted plus our new roller came in last week. The staff breakroom, bathrooms, and office area of the shop have been given a fresh coat of paint and our posting area has been revamped. Many plant protectant materials and fertilizers have been delivered and inventoried, but a few deliveries are still scheduled for this month. Numerous reports have been sent in to state and federal agencies per requirements, continuing education classes for the professional team's licenses and certifications have been attended and we all went to the New England Turfgrass Conference and Tradeshow in Providence last month. We are in the process of putting together our summer maintenance staff; we are looking for one more full time position and a few seasonal/summer staff as well. We lost Evan Rose, a key team member to Belmont Country Club this past December. Evan was made the proverbial "offer he couldn't refuse"; we wish him all the best. You may see the staff scurry out of here after Opening Day morning setup to head to New Hampshire to attend his wedding... 

We have been busy working outside this winter as well. The club is continuing to work with our architect, Robert McNeil of Northeast Golf Company. Robert has been tasked with with a new master plan for the golf course; something to address the needs of the club moving forward. He has been here a few times in the last couple months and will be on site again this week. Some goals of this plan are to look at expanding our water retention capabilities, addressing safety concerns and visual as well as strategic impact with features (bunkers, mounds, teeing areas, etc.) across the property. He is also looking at agronomic and drainage issues; don't worry, looking at 7 green is on the list as well! It should be a comprehensive document that will be a great blueprint for the club moving forward. I would expect us to have something by the summer sometime.

We have done some tree work on the course this winter too; notably by the pond on 1, by the maintenance facility and most noticeably on hole 6. We looked at the original "new 6th" plan and noticed many of the smaller trees to the right of the approach area had grown so big that they blocked out the 2nd shot and changed the original intention of the hole design. Robert tagged trees for removal and the work was completed. New, lower growth will fill back in during the season once things warm up and native plants get going. Our cattail work around the ponds has also continued. These areas were sprayed per a DEP permit in October; they will be cleaned up as access is available. It will probably take a few seasons to get a real handle on these areas but a natural buffer is still intended, just not one with invasive cattails and phragmites. We've also gone through our drainage ditches and streams by hand removing leaves, stick and debris to keep them functioning well to keep the course as dry as possible all winter. 

Sod behind 4 green

Peter has been working hard on getting the new bathroom and water service station together between the 4th green and 5th tee. A large area was disturbed behind the 4th green to provide sewer, electric and water service to the bathrooms. We regraded the area last week and installed new sod; this area will be roped off for a while this spring until it can handle play and traffic. We will be working to tie the area in around the bathrooms over the coming weeks. As you might expect, we have a lot of things to get ready on the course in preparation to open so this won't be an area of focus but we will be working as time allows to make things as presentable as possible. They are still working on the bathrooms with plumbing, electric, roofing and all of the inside finishes to still be completed. Once they are completely done we will have to look at putting the cart path back into proper condition.

Some other cart path areas were addressed this winter; most notably the areas that tend to wash out during large storms. We purchased and installed some geo cell fabric from Vevor that seems to be working excellent thus far. A new mat is being installed on the back of the range tee so we decided to utilize some of the old mats in the lesson area. Last week we stripped the lesson tee sod, enlarged the footprint and tried to level it as much as possible. Unfortunately there is a large mass of tree roots right in the root zone but we did what we could without completely reconstructing the area. We were also able to install 4 mats in that area and seeded the top with a perennial ryegrass blend. The tee will be covered this week; we'll just have to wait for some good growing weather to get the tee back into use.  

A couple weeks ago, when it was actually still warm, we pulled the greens covers off, topdressed, aerated and brushed the surfaces. We followed this up with a roll before covering them back up. We are giving them a little help in healing up before removing the covers for the season. This was particularly important because the water hadn't been turned on yet, although Mother Nature seems to be taking care of that most of this month. Our hopes are that they will be mostly healed by the time we open, giving members the greatest putting surfaces for the longest period of time before we "ruin" them again in August. I did put the pump stations together last week and slow filled the system on Friday. We will be working on going through the whole thing in the coming weeks, tweaking anything that needs tweaking and checking all electrical connections and software. 

We are looking for a window to pull the covers permanently. This means we would like a few days without high winds or rain. If we see something this week we will start the process and hope to have them all uncovered by midweek next week. Once the greens are uncovered they will need to be rolled, blown and mowed before being treated for poa annua seedhead suppression and an early spring fungicide cleanup spray. As for looking to predict an opening, we are expecting to be on a normal timeline with the goal of being open sometime the week of The Masters. The weather will be the real determining factor. We will, as always work hard in the coming weeks to keep things moving forward and get you back on the course as soon as possible. We are looking forward to another great season here at Bass Rocks! 

Is it November or June?

November in here on Wednesday and the season is winding down. You wouldn't know it with all of the green grass out here on the course. The Turkey Shoot is this weekend, the most important tournament on the schedule; good luck to everyone. 

We have yet to have a freeze which isn't that abnormal but last week was magical. The switch will flip soon though and grass growth will really slow; I would expect mowing to be curtailed significantly with the probability of the last mowings sometime next week. Leaf cleanup, native areas plus stream and pond cleanups will be our focus moving forward the majority of November. 

We could really use some colder weather to let the turf know it needs to store food in time to get ready for winter. Last week we put our gypsum (calcium sulfate) , potassium and magnesium applications out before we winterize the irrigation system. The compressor is on site and we plan on blowing out on this Tuesday with Tanto Irrigation here to assist. We will have the portable bathroom on hole 6 picked up next week and winterize the bathrooms at the snack bar after the Turkey Shoot so be prepared. On course bottled drinking water will also stop after Saturday. 

Looking forward, I would expect us to begin the process of closing things down the week after Thanksgiving per usual. We will take that following week to get our last sprays out for snow mold protection, install temporaries, topdress greens and get all of the covers installed. I will probably put together one last blog post after the season is wrapped up.