Golf
“
After the
tournament, we sprayed the whole golf course with a herbicide to kill all the rye grass, which was a fascinating process to see for the first time
Short game practice area under construction
time to adapt, but I soon got used to it. The crew consists of three assistant
superintendents, twenty full time greenkeepers, five interns (four of which were through The Ohio State Program) and a handful of Hispanic labourers. During the Wells Fargo, there were over one hundred members on the maintenance crew made up of volunteers and full time staff. At 3.30am my alarm would go off, and I was not arriving home until 10.00pm. It was crazy, but this is what it takes to set up a tournament ready course to present to the world. In the coming years, not only are Quail Hollow preparing for the 2017 PGA Championship, but also the 2021 Presidents Cup.
Keith and his assistants want to offer the
best internship possible. Mine included equipment operations, pesticide calibrations and applications, fertiliser programme development, weed identification and eradication, record keeping, water management, course set-up, irrigation operations and repairs, sub air operations, large scale construction projects, budget management and leadership training. Quail Hollow is situated in the transition
zone; a great experience to work with both warm and cool season grasses in one location. I experienced two overseed processes. The process starts in mid- September. I was mainly involved in the chemical preparation of turf, ensuring pre- emergent herbicides were applied within a set time frame. Secondly, we cut all the Bermuda grass low, this was usually a one to two week process which would allow the ryegrass to sprout more readily as it was in close contact with the soil. At the end of September, we had contractors in to spread the seed at 400lbs (roughly 180kgs) per acre. Once the seed was down, it was a matter of keeping it moist in preparation for germination. After germination it was into establishment and preparation for the Wells Fargo Championship. Mowing varies due to establishment rate and continued pre- emergent applications leading up to
32 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016
Christmas and into the new year, as well as wetting agents, fertilisers and fungicides all to set time frames. After the tournament, we sprayed the whole golf course, (except for the Mini Verde Ultradwarf Bermuda greens) with a herbicide. This was in order to kill all the rye grass, which was a fascinating process to see for the first time. As the rye dies out you see what Bermuda survived the winter, and how much sod is going to be laid. Fifteen acres in total were laid this past summer. Some of these were due to construction projects of new tees, tree removals, and new viewing areas for galleries of future tournaments, but most were for winter kill and poor transition. As I mentioned before, the summers are
brutal in Charlotte, with months of no, or very little, rain. This meant some eight to ten guys dragging hoses around for twelve hours a day keeping the sod alive. Tedious and mentally draining to say the least, but it was all a necessary part of my internship training. A significant portion of my time at Quail
was spent on a spray rig. Accurate pesticide calibration and application were vital. This meant learning, understanding and putting into practice the imperial system so that mistakes were not made. Keith would set interns and other staff
members homework, relating to diseases, fungicide classes and chemistries. He wanted us to understand why we were applying a certain product and when it should be applied. I became familiar with high tech GPS sprayers which we used for tees, fairways, approaches and rough applications, as well as eight nozzle walk, spray hawk booms on the greens. On top of this, I carried out routine
maintenance tasks operating and maintaining machinery. Pedestrian mowing of greens, tees and collars, mowing of fairways, approaches and rough, course set up and presentation to a high standard, greens rolling, verti-cutting and topdressing, as well as both pedestrian and tractor mounted aerification. The equipment and machinery at Quail is any Superintendent’s dream as there is not much they don’t have, due to a strong budget. Being mentored by Keith, he demonstrated how to maintain Championship surfaces year round. These smooth, firm, fast surfaces were maintained by double mowing daily at 0.090” (2.5mm), foliar fertilisers and PGRs applied weekly, as well as double verti-grooming and topdressing, also on a weekly basis. Dryject was a procedure we carried out in
The two acre site included bunkers and a full irrigation and drainage scheme
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