2024 In Review

This time of year is always wise to look back, personally and professionally. As no two years managing a golf course are the same, we are constantly learning in a vacuum of variability. That leads us to improved strategies, investments with human and physical capital, as well as understanding what to expect in the following season. Looking back at 2024, it was one of the wildest weather swings I’ve ever encountered in my career. One thing I’ve learned for certain is that it’s near impossible to teach how much variability there is, the effect it has both immediately as well as compounded on the golf course conditions. It’s the constant pursuit of solving a never ending changing puzzle. This is what draws a certain individual to a career in Agronomy, and at the same time, what drives them crazy. So let’s look back at 2024 and the pursuit.

I keep a detailed journal of weather stats. Not because I’m a weather geek, but because the information is what I often use as a basis for making a decision. It’s too difficult to remember days, weeks, months that are strung together. Compiled data is the best way to see what kind of trend we are in. Last winter, we had little to no snow. A handful of times it did snow, we were fortunate of its timing – right ahead of a dangerously cold dip in temps. Without snow cover most of the winter of 2024, the soils were extremely dry, and the turf was susceptible to desiccation. Extremely low temps always come with extremely low dew points, so the soil and turf can lose an incredible amount of moisture – all the way up to being a lethal desiccation event.

This was February 2024. Extremely dry and on the brink of too dry. However, the turf seems to be more conditioned/adapted to survive these growing trends.

So with so little snow, we were on high alert watching to make sure areas of the property did not dry down to critical amounts. There’s not much you can do if the ground is frozen, but very little, to no frost, was experienced last winter. We were literally in a drought most of the winter months because we were losing so much moisture with the ground not frozen.

By early March, the temps began to rise quickly. So much so, that the turf had broken dormancy. There has only been one time in my tenure where we we’ve been forced to turn on irrigation earlier than March 12. Once the turf broke dormancy, there was little to no available moisture. It cannot be overstated how critically important it is to get available water to turf roots during this period. Because we deep-tine all of our shortgrass right before winter, we had lost even more moisture, and were evaporating what was left at a rapid pace. Areas of the golf course were prioritized and hand watered as much as possible for the next few days, until the entire irrigation system was up and running.

Notice the difference of the green-colored turf line across the 4th green – where the shade of the Elm tree resides + the natural flow of snow melt. Also, the property looked like a hay bale it was so dry! 

Certain areas of the course respond differently from the weather, mostly from the way the holes are routed on property, and their exposure to sunlight and wind. Certain areas of the course have different varieties amongst species of turf vs. other areas. There are literally dozens of microclimates on property and they both follow these trends through all four seasons. This produces the end product you play on. I know golfers think every hole spread over 160 areas should play the same, every day, every year. This is literally impossible, and probably the most unfortunate mindset golfers carry. Embracing the variability of golf, being played on an ever-changing “field” is what makes it the greatest game ever created. It wasn’t meant for every bunker, tee, fairway or green to play the exact same way. But without growing a mono-stand of turf in a mono-microclimate, we get dozens of varying results from their responses from weather. Again, this is year-round.

Notice how just topography alone affects the growing environment. The 3rd tee compared to the 13th fairway and green. 

Overall, we minimized turf loss, which felt like a huge win. And some controlled turf (Poa) loss is not necessarily a bad thing. Poa is our weakest denominator, and we always want to keep it that way so it doesn’t become a large percentage of our turf stand, and we’re forced to manage it as such. We used to have such high populations of Poa, and experiencing large amounts of turf loss over winter was a common part of our Springs. Poa would then re-fill those dead voids, and the circle would start over again. But even Bentgrass was at risk during that crucial watering timeframe of breaking dormancy in the Spring of 2024. This is why managing turf is so site-specific, strategic, BUT always variable. The scale is always sliding, the target always moving, because it’s a living plant living outside.

13 green has one section of Poa that is extremely resilient to our management practices. It did survive the Winter, but it was weak enough for the rest of the season for us to make reductions in its population.

Observe the difference in varieties of Bentgrass on 11 fairway. The outside “expansions” are a new variety (that were seeded in 2020), with improved genetics, compared to the 105 year old stand. Both survived, but a good example of how improvements of turf breeding isn’t just confined to the Summer playing months. 

Once Spring began (May…) we started to receive some consistent warm temps, as well as rain. Little did we know we were in for one of the wettest summers on record. By May 1st, our soils had recovered from their drought status. But the problem was, it never stopped raining. It rained record amounts over the next 4 months. And it was HOT, tied for the hottest year on record since 1872.

There isn’t a worse combination for turf than hot and wet soils, which is where turf roots reside. Hot, saturated soils are where turf roots go to die! This was never more apparent on our new putting green. The green is so large (15,000 square feet) combined with the surrounding area of the 1st tee and pavered cart path draining onto the green, that it takes on so much surface drainage. The hardest part of educating the need for drainage is that you don’t see those saturated soils, or can witness what’s happening below your feet. The accumulation effect of detrimental soil conditions don’t show the results until turf starts to die. Combine this with concentrated golfer foot traffic creating compaction on those wet soils, and the result is dirt. We plugged out dead turf and replaced it with turf from our nursery most of the summer, but that was merely a band aid and wasn’t correcting the problem. The plan was always to install drainage in the putting green, and it will be in 2025. But the summer of 2024 reminded us the importance drainage has on performance.

Internal drainage is not just needed on the putting green, it’s needed on all greens. Currently, we have drainage on #1, 5, and 14. It’s important to remember how our greens at Midland were constructed in 1920. They were built by horse and plow, by hand, with crude construction practices and little quality control for consistency. Also, there was NO irrigation at that time, so greens were built like a bathtub out of clay. Sometimes that clay bathtub was 8″ thick and sometimes it was 30″ thick. Those bathtubs were then filled with literal manure, with grass seed planted on top. The clay base provided a brilliant way to capture and retain natural rainfall. The manure was a great growing medium that didn’t release water or nutrients. Fast forward 105 years and expectations of golfers have changed just a few notches. We now have the ability to irrigate with control. But we still don’t have the ability to remove excess rainfall. Couple this with varying depths of clay bases, and “construction manure” depths, and you get greens that perform at varying levels. Combine that with a flat-ish green like #6 which doesn’t see much sun, little to no wind, to a green like #17 that is in full sun and wind, with great surface drainage and internal drainage, their performances are not the same.

Can you imagine if 14 green didn’t have internal drainage with as much water it takes on via the entire surrounding areas?

Compared to 17 green which has phenomenal surface drainage, wind, and sun exposure. 14 and 17 will literally never play exactly the same. The player should acknowledge their microclimates are completely different, in the same way they study their topography and adjust accordingly while hitting approach shots and putts. 

Again, everything below your feet produces the surfaces you play on. With record rain amounts and heat, the compounding effect on the turf produced shallower rooting, softer and puffier surfaces. Our aerification practices proved to be effective in reducing turf loss overall, but the effects of not being able to manage the excess moisture was noticeable, even though you couldn’t “see” it. Your ball told you what you needed to know.

However, it was GREEN in 2024! All of that heat and rain made a lot of people happy. Our staff wasn’t necessarily happy with the heat, my hats off to them, battling the roller coaster and after effects of being able, and willing, to pivot the game plan on little to no notice. Early starts, in complete darkness, was a trend to mow before the heat set in.

The heat and rain also made the Fescues happy….maybe too happy. Part of the design of the fescues is to keep them in strategic places. That strategy is to compliment the property aesthetically, as well as punishing wayward golf shots. The 30 acres of Fescue we converted in 2020 was designed to naturalize, yet create a hazard, and reduce inputs (irrigation, mowing, fertility, fuel, labor). But this isn’t Scotland, our soils are not of sand dunes. This was farmland before it was a golf course. We have ideal topography that sheds water to the right places. Seth Raynor’s original routing, along with all of the original wetlands that have now been buried, provided an ideal design that was as “linksy” as possible for the Midwest on a dry season. Now that the Fescues have finally reached maturity, they will always reflect what Mother Nature has given them. The record wet Spring and Summer, when the Fescues are developing from a vegetative standpoint, produce a serious “crop” which is their stalks and seed heads. Those stalks and seed heads were stunning in 2024, but the byproduct was not so friendly to seek out and find your ball, none-the-less, play out of. Again, the Fescues will look and play different each year, they will never be consistent (even amongst the property).

The link below, which was from early June, was an early indicator that the fescues would be aesthetically stunning for the season, yet later down the road, show their teeth. 

IMG_6239

The way we can manage the “crop” each fall is mowing them down and removing the biomass. This is an extremely laborious procedure. All 1,306,800 square feet is mown down and raked up. That harvest takes us over a month to complete. This year, it was honestly brutal. The staff has to hand shovel all of the piles of Fescue deposited by the rake into carts and haul it to the organics dumps. They went above and beyond this year if you can imagine the tonnage that was picked up by hand. This is also why we have to start the process of removing the biomass right after Labor Day, because it takes us a month+. There is technology to expedite the process of mowing it, raking it, and loading it into carts mechanically, all at once, but we still don’t possess that equipment. When we do, we’ll be able to keep the Fescues up longer into the Fall, and the following golf season will have a thinner stand of Fescues, as the equipment can “thin/groom” out plant material mechanically. We map out highly visited areas of Fescues that are thicker than we’d like, and will be able to eventually manage those areas properly.

The putting green mounds are a great reminder that weather controls even growing-in turf to the fullest extent. It’s also a great reminder that persistence against that variability pays off. In 2024, the fescue finally took off and the presentation at the putting green reached its intended vision. 

The fescues in 2024 put on a spectacular visual show, and complimented the topography and architecture on the highest level. 

Mowing and harvesting that show started September 3rd

2024 marked 4 years of play in our new bunkers. Now that they’re in the correct place, with green surfaces that fill out the entire green pads, and very little rough in front of fairway bunkers, they are getting a lot of play. From here out, every year we’ll be adding bunker sand, in a prioritized order. The process of adding sand is time consuming, laborious, and needs patience, as the sand must be compacted by hand after spreading out the sand where it’s needed, before returning to its normal playability.

Once Fall started, the rain stopped. The heat did not, but we didn’t receive rain for basically two months. That accumulation effect of saturated soils all Spring and Summer produced turf with poor conditioning (root structure) and we really had to babysit the property, as it needed more regular irrigation, as wilt was common. Cart path ends, high traffic pinch points, walk-on/walk-off areas of tees and greens were all in delicate shape for the last months of the season. We somehow found ourselves in a drought with fire restrictions. Just a wild roller coaster ride. Again, our technical staff had their hands full, with an aging irrigation system, and if certain areas of the course didn’t water each night because electronics didn’t work, we were scrambling with hoses in hand, and running the over-heads all day.

The one aspect that really shined bright in 2024 was our sand topdressing program, specifically on fairways. That venture started widespread in 2021 and is already showing a promising ROI. It’s a large investment in capital equipment, additional time to implement it, patience post-applications of sand, and the staff buy-in. None of it is easy. The goal is to improve playing conditions, its consistency, turf species promotion of Bentgrass which needs less inputs, and the reduction of earthworm casts. Given the record rainfall we received (36″ from March to July), our fairways would have been almost unplayable most of the summer – completely muddy from worm casts, with golf cart restrictions weekly. My assessment of the fairways this past summer is that you cannot deny club leadership made the right choice to implement a management strategy for improvement. The fairways will only get better in time.

Below is a comparison of fairway topdressing depths of areas we’ve had implemented since 2010 (right) vs. 2021 (left).

Fall marked the implementation of Bentgrass removal from the roughs around greens and bunker faces. We had completed several test trials in 2023 with success, and decided to implement a larger scaled eradication. The very definition of a weed is a plant growing out of place. Bentgrass in the rough is a weed. Read the previous post about it here: https://www.mhccturf.com/?p=3212

The challenge with this endeavor was twofold. First, it was going to be aesthetically unpleasing for member and guests. The way the chemistry works on the Bentgrass is by removing the chlorophyll in the in plant, which in turn, turns the turf white. Three applications must be made, as the desirable turf species need to be able to metabolize the chemistry slowly in order to survive, while the targeted Bentgrass cannot. The timing is also critical, in that metabolism cannot happen too quickly, and the reseeding process needs to be during a proper time as well. The logistical challenge is once the application is made, and is still wet, it can easily be tracked from the desired targeted rough to greens, fairways, etc. by foot and/or mower. The second difficult aspect of the process is reseeding the dying off Bentgrass to the desirable grasses (Fescues and Kentucky Bluegrasses). Our bunker faces are so steep that every spot needed to be reseeded by hand, with the staff crawling on the faces on their hands and knees. Once we got them seeded, of course a thunderstorm rolled through and a heavy washout occurred. So they were reseeded, and again more down pours occurred. Eventually it stopped raining but then it didn’t rain for 50 days and the heat didn’t subside! We don’t grow grass in a dome, and we live and die by the variability. Consistency won out, and our reseeding areas eventually became small and manageable, and we were able to grow turf on all of the conversion areas by the end of the season.

Once we made it to October, we shifted our focus to drainage installation. After the year we had, it was rewarding to tackle areas that have been identified for needing infrastructure improvements. We have installed several miles of drainage in fairways and roughs over the past 30 years. There is actually original clay tile from the 1920’s that is still working today on #10. Our network of pipe has been installed in a prioritized manner, and the two areas we’ve identified were both originally wetland areas that were buried in the 1920’s. These areas, on a year like we had, were roped off with cart signs up most of the golf season. These areas were also hand mown for months since the large-area rough mowers would have done too much collateral damage driving in them. Having staff retention is always key, but when installing something technical like drainage, it’s absolutely critical. Having everyone know the objectives, execution, and details is the difference maker. There isn’t money better spent on a golf course than drainage. Again, it’s what’s happening below ground that produces the product above. Drainage isn’t exciting, you can’t see it once it’s installed so it’s often forgotten about, but there’s not a better ROI than building your drainage network. We added over 1000 linear feet on #13 and 17 over a 4-week span before the ground froze up solid.

A small drainage improvement to the fairway bunker on #14, connecting the bunker outlet to the existing infrastructure.

This area of #13 used to be a wetland, as it takes all of the surface drainage from 12, 13 dumpsite/woods, 13 and some of 17.

This area of #17 was also a wetland when the golf course was originally built.

This area was connected to our existing drainage system that runs to the pond on the left of #14.

We did get some timely rains before the ground froze up in November, and went into winter on the drier side, which is always preferable vs. overly wet soils. That rain did help with the drought we found ourselves in to end the year.

All of our winter preparation cultural practices were completed in November, and so far this winter, it has been calm on the weather front. The 5″ of snow we had, melted over the holiday, and it got so warm that all of that free moisture got into the ground, eliminating the risk of creating damaging ice accumulation. As of this week, the largest threat is having the turf exposed without snow cover during an extremely cold spell. That cold air has a negative zero dew point, meaning it’s actually pulling moisture out of the turf and soil. Snow cover is needed to prevent desiccation. We’ll get snow, eventually…

2024 was a wild ride. Being able to pivot, given the all the variables, along with a dedicated staff who embrace the challenges, is the key to making good decisions and executing the plans. Some days we won, some we lost. We never give up, even if the game plan gets thrown out the window early in the season, we just draft a new one. Frustration over such an extended wet season was felt by everyone. We continue to strategize plans to improve infrastructures each year. Any weather extreme, be it wet or dry, show weakness in regards to lack of drainage, or lack of irrigation performance and dependability. We learn from each scenario so we can game plan for future wild rides.

See you in less than 100 days. We’ll be ready, with a plan.

Mike Manthey

 

20 Replies to “2024 In Review”

  1. Patrick Gray says:

    Great piece Mike, it is amazing what you and your staff were able to accomplish in such demanding conditions. Your hard work is paying off as we gradually climb the list of best golf courses in Mn. Happy New Year and here’s to a more “normal” 2025!

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Hey Pat!
      Whatever the new norm is, we’re here for it.
      Thanks for all you do as well!
      M.

  2. Tucker LeBien says:

    Mike- just a truly remarkable overview! I can’t imagine another club in the Twin Cities that provides this level of detail and education. Many thanks!
    At least you don’t have to worry about the Simulator turf…

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Tucker,
      Ha! If we get comments about the Sim turf…I’m not your guy!
      Appreciate you taking the time to read the post.
      Many thanks back at you!
      M.

  3. Bob Broich says:

    Hello, Mike.

    Happy New Year to you and your family.

    I appreciate the meticulous report on the 2024 season from your perspective.

    Very thorough and understandable to one who is not an agronomist, but one who has spent my entire career in production agriculture.

    I appreciate the work that you and your Team go through to maintain Midland Hills in exceptional condition!

    Regards, Bob Broich

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      HNY Bob!
      Appreciate the comments, and the support you give us all.
      M.

  4. Dan Kelly says:

    Midland Hills is so lucky to have you, Mike. Resist all offers!

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      We’re lucky to have each other 🙂
      M.

  5. Josh Hill says:

    Great overview! I truly appreciate the effort you take to keep the membership informed.

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Thanks Josh!
      M.

  6. Greg Amer says:

    As usual, i love all the information you provide Mike! So interesting!
    Thanks for all your work!

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Thanks for reading Greg!
      M.

  7. Paul Kirkegaard says:

    Ditto with all the other replies- well done and thanks!

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Thank you PK!
      M.

  8. Brian Gorecki says:

    Thanks Mike. You and your team do an amazing job. We are so grateful. bg

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Happy New Year BG!
      Thanks for the support!
      M.

  9. Joe Petrulo says:

    Mike – what a great read. 2024 was a fantastic year for the golfer at Midland and your detailed and informative reflections are just amazing to me. So many variables and challenges handled beautifully. Many thanks to you and the team. Cheers to the 2025 plan!

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Joe thanks for taking the time to read it. Appreciated!
      M.

  10. David Reeder says:

    Wow…what a post Mike…a great read…info/illustrations. Sure makes you appreciate the fragile nature of your work and the dance with Mother Nature every season. Appreciate you and your fine crew. Cheers to ’25!

    1. Mike Manthey says:

      Dance is the perfect adjective David!
      Cheers,
      M.

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