I’m going to be down in the Southport area in July. Was thinking the muni as well but the site says they do not let singles book tee times. Anyone have issues getting on as a single?
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Still making progress at Asheville Muni. Drainage work is done and most of the restored Ross bunkers are in. Any remaining planned bunkers will be added next year as they, at this point, wouldn’t be ready in time for the Skyview Tournament.
We did a survey a couple months ago and turf condition was issue #1 with respondents. Rightly so, it’s in rough shape. Here’s what our head pro (Pat) and our super (Matt) had to say about it. I’ll hide it because it’s long, but the agronomy sickos will enjoy getting in the weeds on this.
Agronomy! Weeds!
Summary
(From Pat)
Wanted to follow up on our conversation yesterday regarding the Bermuda grass. Matt had sent this to me a week or so ago which I circulated with staff for them to answer any questions that arose. I have also copied Matt on this in case he needs to add anything or I misspeak.
- About 2 ½ weeks ago, we sprayed a herbicide on the fairways to try and eliminate the poa and volunteer ryegrass that compete with the bermuda all year long.
- Some areas, like newly sodded tees (1, 3, 6) and 4 fairway look like they got really dinged up. This is because of the amount of ryegrass and/or poa that was in those areas.
- By lessening the competition for the bermuda, the more successful we will be at growing it in. Temporary pain for long term gain.
- We are currently mowing at .600” (or 3/5”). Last year, to “burn out” the poa and rye, we were mowing at .450”.
- Mowing at these low heights and using higher rates of growth regulators benefit us by:
- Decreasing the amount of clippings, we have each time we mow bermuda, which gives us a cleaner look and is easier on the mowers.
- Keeping the bermuda at a tight height, forces it to grow laterally quicker, and will help us fill in voids left from the ryegrass and poa that we killed out.
- Raising the height of cut on the bermuda would be counterproductive as the plant will use its energy to grow up instead of sideways. For a nice, tight playing surface where the ball sits up, we need to be mowing lower.
- We also circle cut the bermuda at least 2 times/month to smooth out the cut and attack the bermuda from angles it wouldn’t normally be mowed from.
- Mowing at these low heights and using higher rates of growth regulators benefit us by:
As I mentioned yesterday, bermuda really doesn’t need much water except when putting new sod down to make sure it roots. It does well with dry and warmer temps. As the year, and time, goes on, you should see the bermuda start to fill in the areas that were once occupied by the poa, rye and weeds. They will only get better each year as they get healthier.
Hope that helps clarify. See you soon.
(From Matt)
Just want to expand on some of the water issues and dry spots I know you are concerned about.
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Firstly, we are watering as much as we can/need to. We do this overnight, because that is the best time to water. Golfers aren’t around and the water won’t evaporate off the leaf blade.
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Another issue is we are still finding breaks/inefficiencies that are always being corrected when they pop up. This is common for every course, however, our issues were obviously much worse than most courses. I found a head in 2 fairway the other day that was mowed off, probably years ago. It’s hard to see when heads are going bad or broken until dry spots pop up, mainly because we almost never see them fully run. Then we investigate and repair as needed. Sometimes the issues are electrical, sometimes mechanical, but trust me, we are doing our best to address them as they pop up. We’ve already been through 40 new heads this year, and not just because of the storm water construction!
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Also, please, please keep in mind that we are in a drought. No matter how much water we dump on the grass, the drought conditions will always out compete the irrigation system. So, if you can do a rain dance, that’d be very much appreciated.
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Finally, I conducted an irrigation water analysis last week. Obviously, we are on city water, which is great for drinking and making beer, but HORRIBLE for trying to grow grass. I’m going to copy you some highlights of an email I sent to Peter, Pat and Mike:
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pH- 7.5
- pH is important because we use city water for everything, including filling the sprayer. Even though 7.5 is technically a neutral pH, a spray tank this high will begin to break down chemicals quicker, and they will lose the efficacy much quicker and/or may not even work. We will begin using pH buffers, to bring each spray tank down to a pH around 6.5. This will help us use our chemicals more efficiently. We have not seen any disease pressure issues due to the high pH, however, it is definitely affecting some herbicides we’ve applied.
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Dissolved Salts- 39.7 ppm
- 84% of the cations in our water are sodium, compared to 7% that are calcium. 90% of the anions are bicarbonates. This is a recipe for disaster. To summarize, the sodium in the irrigation water can/will strip calcium out of the soil and replace it with sodium. Obviously, the sodium is bad enough, however, when you add the level of bicarbonates in the water (which doesn’t come close to comparing to what courses at the shore have, but it’s still bad) we run the risk of “sealing off” greens from overwatering during extended droughty periods (such as the one we are in right now). The sodium (Na) will attach to the bicarbonate (HCO3) creating sodium bicarbonate (re: baking soda). This layer will not allow water to pass through to the roots.
- As a side note- this is exactly why the greens were in such bad shape when we took over. The practice the former superintendent, and likely every superintendent before him of watering .25” every night and not applying ANY calcium products basically ruined the greens. That is why we needed the extremely aggressive aerification to begin to fix the soil.
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pHc- 9.9
- The pHc value is theoretical and shows the waters ability to either precipitate nutrients or dissolve nutrients. Ours not only dissolves nutrients it can run them straight out of the soil, again, replacing them with sodium and bicarbonates. (By the way, rain water is also a dissover/stripper with a pHc of 9.83).
We already knew the sodium was an issue based on soil testing, with adding calcium (monthly gypsum apps and lime apps after aerification), however we did not realize that it was THIS bad.
The easy solution would be to inject calcium into the irrigation system and use it every single time we water. However, with 9 backflows, this is basically impossible and about as unrealistic as building an irrigation pond!
- In addition to our already aggressive (5/lbs Ca/app/month) gypsum plan, we will add a liquid calcium application in times of drought, to help fight the potential for sealing off.
- In the fall, we can incorporate a 38% calcium product into our topdressing sand and mix it straight into the soil profile, in addition to the calcitic lime application we need to do anyway.
This is all intended to remove the sodium off the soil colloid and replace it with calcium, which we are very deficient in anyway. I was always wondering why on every soil test the sodium and calcium values were not changing, and the irrigation water is the reason why. To continue to have successful, healthy greens that can stand up to stress, we need to get even more aggressive with our calcium applications.
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This is absolutely fascinating. I have been wondering for a while about the chemistry side of golf course agronomy. I’m sure the response changes as the soil and water makeups change, too. Where I live on the other side of the Smokies, there is an abundance of calcium in the groundwater, so that would likely not be as much issue with calcium deficiency. Any municipal water, however, is going to be laden with sodium (and chlorides, which plants don’t like very much).
I’ve heard from an owner that chemicals make up a huge percentage of course maintenance expenses every year. I believe it, after reading this. I wonder if an RO or DI system would be cost effective enough to be used. I’m sure it would improve the solution efficiency, since you would be able to basically dictate every ion that’s in the spray, but the cost of DI resin beds are quite high and RO creates a ton of water waste.
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Hello friends to the north, please take a look and consider helping a fellow Nesticle.
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Never been as a single but I do not think @iPress has ever had any issues getting on.
Another long Asheville Muni update from the city.
Summary
Hi all,
I am reaching out with the latest updates on the progress at the Asheville Municipal Golf Course. This information will be posted later this week on the course website at www.ashevillegc.com.
The Stormwater project is complete! New piping, catch basins etc have been installed through holes #11, #10, #1 & #2 as well as crossing Fairway Drive in front of the clubhouse and through the clubhouse parking lot.
In addition to the stormwater project you likely noticed a good deal of additional work around the course.
Paving:
Cart paths have been replaced on holes #10 & #11 and the final repair work will be complete on cart paths throughout the course by July 8th.
The Parking lot paving, where areas were disturbed due to the stormwater work will be completed around Labor Day.
Additional parking has been added to the right of hold #9 green and adjacent to hole #4 tee.
A new cart staging area has been added on the west side of the clubhouse near the starter position.
Carts:
A brand new cart fleet has arrived at the course and is in use and available for players.
Bunkers:
In total to date, and in accordance with the Donald Ross Restoration Master Plan we have removed (4) bunkers, restored (24) bunkers and added (29) bunkers.
Seventeen total holes have completed bunker work, hole #18 we intend to restore this fall.
Tee Boxes:
In previous updates I noted that we had already restored all tee complexs throughout the course. Since then, we have had challenges with shade and water access in a couple of locations and therefore we have made additional improvements to the tee complex on hole #14 and #16 to try and address the dying sod.
Irrigation:
The Superintendent and his team have repaired/replaced (7) backflow preventers and over (40) irrigation heads that were previously not functioning properly. This has allowed the team to water more effectively and by stopping long time leaks, reduced the total water usage at the course, while actually watering more frequently.
Pollinator space:
Thanks to matched donations raised by the Friends of Asheville Muni over 40,000 sq ft of pollinator meadow has been planted throughout the course. Highlight locations include below the practice green, above hole #11 green and across Fairway drive from hole #12 tee box.
Special thanks to the many volunteers that have come out to help this project, over 300 volunteer hours so far.
Hitting Nets:
A (4) bay warm up hitting net area has been built behind the cart barn near hole #10 tee. This area will open this weekend. Please see clubhouse staff with questions etc.
Most importantly, next week is the 64th annual Skyview Golf Association Open. The one week a year that we welcome professional players to the course. The tournament plays on July 9 - 11. On these days, the course will be closed to public use. The course will reopen as usual on the morning of July 12, and you can book your tee times in advance on the website, or call in to the clubhouse.
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3BR 4.0 July 20 2024 10 AM - Pete Dye River Course - Blacksburg VA - sign ups close 7/15 - #421 by country35 NC gonna keep this again?
Only 140 miles from me now… 
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Oh shit, I didn’t realize you’d done made the migration.
I can assure you a wicked great course under $100, and a solid crew to hang with and lot of dudes getting their teeth bashed in
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You can also help me try to get @OTPLefty down here.
Some dumb excuse about a bank and a job. I told him, there’s banks to rob in VA too, but I may have misunderstood.
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Still a maybe, but the pieces are moving.
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New Hampshire guy heading to Carolina Beach Sunday for the week. Looking to play2-3 times from the 15-18th. Playing partner is going to be gone, Muni is punching and closed for the week. Anyone looking to get out, or have a recommendation on alternative to Muni, let me know. I’m an 8 handicap, swing hard, play fast and enjoy cold beers.
We’re still a couple of months from leaf peeping season, but I’ll go ahead and throw out this breakfast/brunch reco for anyone heading to Asheville soon.
The Rhu is a great little cafe and bakery that’s a sister restaurant to Rhubarb, another good spot in downtown.
They have excellent coffee. Their breakfast sandwich is fantastic. My wife gets the quiche every time. They have really good bagels and muffins, but do not visit without getting one of their chocolate chip cookies. No hyperbole, I think it’s the best I’ve ever had. Nice and soft with a pinch of coarse salt on top. Decadent.
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Gillespie is a good walk—small ballpark, catch it early in the year when it’s in good shape and hasn’t baked out and it’s a treat.
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Late reply but your options may be limited right now. Beau Rivage is the closest other option from where you’ll be on CB. Please save your time and money.
I am swamped all week and we just punched at my course Pine Valley unfortunately.
There is a 9 hole par 3 run by the city as well but not sure if they are punching this week or not, its called “inland greens.”
If you want to drive a bit you could look into Castel Bay in Hampstead or take the ferry from Fort Fisher across to Southport and try Oak Island Golf Club.
Apologize for not getting back sooner. Unfortunately I can’t help with possible office space for remote work. I travel and fish for a living so it’s not something I have much knowledge of.
Are you gonna get to play while your down?
Hanging out in a Greensboro Saturday night. Is Northern Roots the play for coffee on Sunday AM? Open to other recommendations.
Yes, Northern Roots is probably the best option.
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Of staying downtown, Cheesecakes by Alex has good coffee and fantastic pastries. GOAT level éclairs
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