Greenbrier Country Club Fall Update
The fall months here at Greenbrier Country Club offer us the opportunity to showcase playability of the course with firm and fast conditions. Outside of promoting a fun golfing experience, we also focus our efforts toward applications that prepare the course for the winter, and keeping the course clear of leaves and debris. This time of year also offers the chance to evaluate areas that need to be addressed in the off season.
Winter Preparations
Winter preparations include the following....
-Pre-emergent weed control to the entire golf course to keep Poa annua (Poa) and other common winter annuals from sneaking in.
-Preventative fungicidal applications to all tee boxes and #7 Fairway (a problem area) for Spring Dead Spot. While we can grow many areas affected by Spring Dead Spot in once warmer weather arrives in the spring, we saw an opportunity to protect our most important areas.
-Application of Potassium to all sodded areas, tees, and 6 of the holes that were most affected by winter kill in previous years.Potassium is a nutrient that simply put, toughens up the plant when it is heading into a stressful period. We hope that the expansion of this application to more areas will help us come out of winter in better shape than in previous years, by hardening off the plant before severe cold weather stress arrives.
-Raising of mowing heights around the course. Tees and fairways, are being cut at even higher heights than in previous winters. This cultural practice will not only help improve the health of the Bermudagrass heading into winter, but may also eliminate some of the tight lies in fairways that some members have experienced when the turf goes dormant.
Potential Winter Projects
There are a number of areas that we would like to address on the course in the off season. Some of these projects may be weather dependent, and many other factors can influence their feasibility. This is why I have included the word "Potential". Having said that, here are some of the areas we are eager to address...
-Dormant sodding of winter kill areas that were not addressed this summer. We have made substantial progress addressing many of these areas in season, and hope to wrap up the loose ends this winter.
-Drainage projects around the course. Some areas that standout are #7 fairway, and the #17 along the cartpath (just past the red tee)
- The leveling of #4 Hill.
-Reduction in size and quantity of landscape beds. (Simpler is better in this instance).
We look forward to continued improvements to the course, and hope everyone has enjoyed the weather and playing conditions this fall at Greenbrier CC!
We have laid 10 pallets of dormant sod this week. These areas will be marked as ground under repair until they are established. Please avoid these areas with carts and take a drop no nearer the hole if you land in one of these areas.
Many members may have noticed a large puddle on the cart path to the right of #4 Red Tee recently. This issue was caused by a drain that had roots and debris blocking the flow of water. We were able to determine where the pipe was blocked, and put a replacement section of pipe in that area. The second picture below shows the clog in the pipe, which is a reminder of the impact trees have on the golf course. Trees can affect drains, irrigation, turf health, and cart path structure. This is just another indicator of why selective removal of trees around the course is so important here at Greenbrier Country Club.
We have added two Purple Martin bird houses to #12 and #3. Purple Martins are the largest swallow in North America. These beautiful birds are declining in population for reasons that are not clearly known. Many believe that it is the result of competition for nesting with starlings. Purple Martins nest almost exclusively in housing provided by humans. This housing is designed specifically to allow Purple Martins in, and keep predators out. With proper setup and maintenance, these houses can promote colony formation. 
The cart path on #17 has had an issue with standing water. This coupled with water sitting against the edge of the path has made getting through this corridor of the course very difficult. In digging around to see what existing drainage was present we determined that this project has been attempted before. Our #1 goal with this type of project is to make sure we fix the issue permanently. We found that the path of the outlet pipe has a number of trees causing issues by either blocking or breaking the existing pipe with their root systems. Another issue that the drainage system had was smashed pipe from cart traffic on the left side of the path. Our plan to solve these issues includes replacing smashed pipe on the hole side of the cart path and covering with dormant sod to protect it from cart traffic. This includes extending the line back toward the tee.
