For your enjoyment. Please note that this was written by an assistant. I should take this time to say that I believe our current Superintendent is the finest any Indiana course has ever seen.
Opening Day
With the recent thunderstorms it is apparent spring is here. This is an exciting time of the year at Victoria National for many reasons: the course is being prepared, the temperatures are getting warmer, tee sheets are filling up and our first Clam Bake is on April 18th. The winter has been a time for the agronomy team to complete projects such as the mound on number three, tree removal and pruning, refinishing of course accessories and many other tasks that we cannot do during peak golf season. Now that winter is at an end, it is time to switch gears and prepare the course for our membership.
A golf season for the grass is very similar to that of a baseball season for a player. It is a long season that requires dedication, proper management, and hard work. Players are reporting for spring training and starting to push themselves and get into shape for the grueling season that lies ahead. As they prepare for the season, conditioning and fundamentals are the main focus before the much anticipated opening day. Their spring training is very similar to the practices that we will apply to the golf course to prepare it not only for opening day, but also to be able to provide consistent conditions throughout the entire season.
Players are running wind sprints, going through defensive drills and taking batting practice to get ready for their season, and we will be pushing our turf through these drills as well. It is a long season for baseball players and our turf, and there are many things that must be done to ensure that the season is a success.
Batting practice and defensive drills are important and cannot be overlooked, but without proper conditioning it is impossible to maintain championship form for an entire season. A major conditioning drill for us, which is noticeable by all, is aerification. We have performed a spring aerification to reduce the organic matter and to introduce new sand into our soil profile. This is similar to wind sprints in the sense that no one truly enjoys doing them, but without proper conditioning the performance during the grind of a season will suffer. Core aerification and the introduction of new sand promotes healthier root growth and improves water filtration allowing surfaces to drain and firm up quicker after a rain. The removal of organic matter is a major reason for our need to aerify. This layer of thatch holds water during the season and acts as a sponge. Without proper management of this layer, the greens will become soft and hold water throughout the season. This holding of water makes it difficult to provide firm playing conditions and is unhealthy for the plants during the heat of the summer. Water retention in the top layer provides an excellent playground for plant diseases to thrive and can also lead to boiling of the root zone during extreme heat. The more aggressive we are with conditioning and running our wind sprints in the spring, the healthier and stronger the plant will be throughout the season.
The defensive drills are often overlooked by many fans and the fundamentals are not exciting to watch. As many sports enthusiasts know and many coaches have preached "defense wins championships." This is the unexciting and non-flashy part of turf. Our defense is putting together a sound agronomic plan and working on the small things during the off season much like working on properly fielding a grounder. These things include: the proper maintenance of equipment to ensure quality performance every time it leaves the shop, having a safety program to minimize the risk of accidents during work, improvement of the irrigation system to maximize watering efficiency, and the testing of the soil and water to help determine what agronomic steps are needed to maintain championship conditions. We must know not only what we are doing tomorrow but have a plan for the next week, next month, and next year as well. These are the little things that by themselves may seem small but when added together they are major factors of a championship course. Working constantly on the foundations of a solid defense allows us to confidently know that we will be in the championship race.
Next comes batting practice, and for most, it is the most exciting part of a team. Most baseball fans enjoy seeing their team win by hitting home runs instead of sacrifice bunts. Spring preparation includes spring fertilizer, the first mows of the season, spring clean-up of debris, putting out course accessories, changing pins, and everything that is expected and necessary to provide championship conditions. These things are the base foundation to be able to hit the home run. Having a smooth, powerful swing helps with hitting the ball over the fence, but there is daily work required to maintain that. To be able to hit home runs, we must start with the little things on the course and work on the foundation before we start swinging for the fences. As we start mowing and prepping the golf course, we will begin pushing the turf as it gains strength in the spring, for faster greens, firming fairways and thicker rough. These are the home runs that are on the highlight reel and draw the golfers to the course much like fans to the stadium.
There are also the intangibles. In a baseball player, the intangibles are what separate good players from great players and great players from hall of fame players. They are the little details that make a player stand out. These are things that we tackle during the winter months. We have sanded and refinished all of the benches on the golf course. Yardage plaques, tee markers, and ballwashers have received a fresh coat of paint. The shop has been updated and organized to maximize efficiency during the summer. Bunker rakes have been refinished with a clean bright cover. Birdhouses have been straightened and fixed. It is these small details that when paired with everything else makes Victoria National a championship caliber golf course.
As mentioned earlier, it is a long and tiresome season for players and for the turf. A baseball season has 162 regular season games that can wear a player out. Turf has to deal with traffic on a daily basis. According to the USGA an average foursome takes 300 steps on a green. We anticipate over 12,000 rounds of golf this season. This is over 900,000 footsteps over the course of the year on a single green. If maintenance and caddie traffic is included, this number climbs to over a million steps on a green over the course of a season. With this much traffic there are times when it is necessary for the turf to get rest to ensure that it can perform at a high level at the end of the season and during the playoffs. These rest periods will usually be during the summer months when heat is also a major stress on the turf. We can push the green speeds and firmness during the excitement of the spring, when the weather is cool and the turf is able to handle the stress that is associated with such conditions. Like baseball players, to make it through the season and the heat of the summer, it is necessary to give the turf a break. This allows us to push the turf and playing conditions again in the fall as temperatures cool and the grass can handle the stresses required to provide quick and firm greens. This is playoff season and we need to be firing on all cylinders to reach the pinnacle at the end of the season.
Much like putting together a championship baseball team, providing a championship golf course requires great performance from every position. A great offense cannot win consistently without a great defense, and even a great team will not make it through a season without proper conditioning and knowing when to rest.
We hope everyone has a great opening day, and we are excited for the season to begin.
Sincerely,
Gerald Smith
Assistant Superintendent