Rutgers University Golf Course Grounds Maintenance

It is hard to believe that it is already December. The brief periods of colder temperatures over the last few weeks have certainly been a nice break from the oppressive heat we experienced throughout a good stretch of the summer.

There no longer seems to be an average weather pattern that we can plan and prepare for. For instance, in the 2021 season, we endured many significant rainfall events. Contrast that to the 2022 season, where we went months without any precipitation at all. 2022 was one of the driest years on record in New Jersey State history. There was a 6 week stretch from the middle of June, through July, where we had gotten less than a half inch of rain.

In May we welcomed a new member of our maintenance staff, Jayson Dalina. Jayson will serve as the assistant greens superintendent. He has been a huge asset to our operation from the day he first walked in the door. His experience working at Forsgate Country Club and Metedeconk National Golf Club will help the operation as we continue to improve the golf course. Jayson received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Food Systems from Rutgers University's School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

        - Grant Bezek, Greens Superintendent

Practice Facility Improvements

Before addressing 2022, I just want to touch on the short game facility modifications that we wrapped up at the end of 2021. We took the existing 12,000 square foot green, separated it, repaired several areas, and then re-grassed the area between them with turf type tall fescue. TTTF is the most drought, disease, and insect tolerant grass variety commercially available. We also started the process of killing off the False-Green kyllinga that is encroaching through the putting surface. Looking ahead into 2023, we will be filling in, shaping, and seeding the fairway bunker at the range that has gone unused and unmaintained. Tree and brush removal surrounding the short game area will continue to help facilitate better air movement. As well as, significant irrigation repairs to various sprinkler heads and valves around those greens and the grass islands between the parking lot and range tee. These two greens have remarkably more organic matter than the greens on the golf course. Unfortunately, this will require much more frequent cultivation and venting practices to get them more in line with the rest of the property.

Winter 2022

We started off the season continuing tree work both contracted and in-house. We have been taking care of any dead wood that presents a safety concern but also unwanted species of trees severely impacting the growing environment for any turf. We began cleaning-out and removing decades worth of organic material that had been piled up to the left of 13. We hauled out two 40-yard dumpsters full of material, and then seeded the entire area with fine fescue as it is unirrigated. The removal of stumps around the property followed suit. This included the area between 7 and 13 tees, which was filled in and seeded. The bridges on 2, 9, 10, and 17 were repaired with new decking, as well as covered with a non-slip material to help reduce any slick conditions for our players that walk the golf course. We intend to replace all handrails that have become warped and bent from the weather over the years.

Summer 2022

The irrigation systems central computer and satellite controllers out in the field were all updated from an antiquated Hunter system to a much newer Toro system. This upgrade has been monumental in allowing us to be more efficient in the way that we water the golf course. The meticulous record keeping allows us to generate detailed reports on where, when, and how much water was applied. Although this is a great step in the right direction, this upgrade has no impact on the infrastructure of the system itself (Pipes, valves, sprinkler heads). Since July of 2021, we have replaced over 50 sprinkler heads, a half dozen valves, and repaired multiple broken pipes. To put that into perspective, there are only 500 sprinkler heads total on the property. In June, we were thrown another audible when our pressure maintenance pump went down. This low horsepower pump is designed to sustain the pressure in the system when we are not watering, while the two main higher horsepower pumps are off. Operating without our pressure maintenance pump created several other issues since our two main pumps would now kick on to sustain the pressure in the system, which then caused a high-pressure alarm that immediately shut down the entire system. Unfortunately, due to supply chain issues, we couldn't get a new one for ten weeks. This made daily/nightly irrigating a challenge, but we worked through it and had a new pressure maintenance pump installed on August 22nd.

The growing season went well considering the severe drought we encountered from the middle of June through August. Not only was it dry during that stretch, but consistently having nighttime low temperatures above 70 degrees and daytime highs in excess of 90 degrees is what presented a challenge. Having cooler nights (60’s) is critical to turf health in order to get any kind of recovery during those periods. Once you throw in 250+ daily rounds, and all the foot/cart traffic that goes along with it, that is the biggest obstacle from a maintenance standpoint.

The photos below were taken on July 7th and August 7th. This is a notable example of how important cart traffic distribution, hand-watering, the use of wetting agents, and having cooler nights can be.

The greens hung in there well all summer, except for the surface rooting in the back left of 7 and 13 greens. To get the greens where we want them regarding firmness and speed, continued aerification and sand top-dressing will be key. We have added a new greens roller to our fleet, which I think has already made a noticeable difference in the way they roll. Moving on to the fairways, I am pleased how they responded all summer and where they are currently heading into dormancy. We certainly had some “bumps and bruises” in isolated locations where irrigation issues had to be addressed. All of which have recovered on their own or been overseeded. Specifically, the beginning of 1 fairway, 3 approach, 4 fairway, 10 fairway, and 14 approach. Across the board, the tees did well throughout the season. We did encounter some localized dry spot on certain teeing areas during that dry spell. But, after aerifying, overseeding, and top dressing they have bounced back quite well.

With over 35,000 + rounds annually, maintaining the par 3 tees can be a challenge. Tee marker placement and movement daily is crucial to distributing wear and tear. In Spring of 2023, we will be re-establishing several tee edges that have shrunk over the years to help widen the teeing area and get them back to original size. I am sure you have noticed by now, but we re-established the forward tee on 11, down below across the creek, giving golfers with less carry the ability to still hit the green in regulation. After multiple attempts to improve the condition of 10 tee, we’ve made the decision to do some modifications to the sub-surface and partially rebuild it. We have already removed several trees that were stealing water and nutrients from the turf and will continue to open that area to increase air movement prior to re-building the tee. Lastly, we are exploring the idea of adding several forward tees to the property. Particularly on 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 13, and 17.

A severe drought is a terrific opportunity to see how tough and resilient the turf on the golf course really is. Most of our tee and bunker surrounds are turf type tall fescue from renovation projects over the past several years. Tall fescue is drought tolerant due to its deep rooting (2-3 feet), which was paramount having encountered the weather we did over the summer. In the height of that period, we had multiple bunker surrounds that do not see much irrigation coverage go dormant. Looking at those same areas now, you would never know that we experienced such a lengthy drought. The green surrounds are a mixed stand of turf type tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and annual bluegrass. Areas that suffered the worst this summer were our rough's tee-to-fairway. Some holes have irrigation coverage, others do not. The worst being 1, 2, 5, 9, 12, 16, and 18. All these areas were over-seeded in September and October and have grown back in.

Fall 2022

Being the dry year that it was, repairing bunker washouts was something we did not have to worry about for the bulk of the season. Getting them more playable has been a goal of ours since last July. In September, we went through 18 of the bunkers and addressed the exposed liner and added 75 tons of fresh sand. We intend to complete the remaining 28 bunkers in the spring of 2023. There are several bunker faces that have become inundated with sand splash, causing the edges to erode and collapse. This spring, we hope to remove the old sod, shave down the excess build-up of sand back to their original shape, and re-sod portions of them. We will start with the greenside bunkers on number 8 and 11.

An example of trees that present a safety concern and are unwanted species of trees that severely impact the growing environment of turf would be the large pines that were removed from around 7 green. Despite numerous attempts through aerification and plugging to sustain turf in the back left corner of that green, all have been unsuccessful due to the root structure at the surface compromising the green.

Once fall arrived with more consistent rainfall events and cooler temperatures, we were able to focus on a few plantings. The first was around the RWGA bench to the left of 14 tee. Initially, we planted mini-Japanese maples, yucca plants, and miscanthus grasses. Unfortunately, the mini-Japanese maples continue to be destroyed by animals overnight even after being replaced a second time. We also planted a row of miscanthus grasses along the block wall at 13 tee.

Winter 2023 Projects

The off-season provides a great opportunity to focus time to projects that cannot be accomplished during a busy growing season. We hope to have these projects and more ready to go for the start of the 2023 season.

• Drainage work on and around 17th green
• Re-leveling storm grate located in the middle of the 16th fairway
• Renovate 7th green surround where pines were removed
• Significant tree work to improve safety and turf health
• Continued irrigation repair/improvements
• 10th tee renovation