All bodies of water are different, different sizes, shapes, depths and many other factors that make no two ponds alike. This means that they are all different ecosystems.
We have 7 different water retainage areas on the course. I will go over each of them in this post and describe the issues that we have, some historical information and the efforts that we have put forth.
#7
First off #7 has a very special place in my heart, My beautiful wife and I were married on the edge of that pond. It is one of the 2 fondest memories that I have, the other being the birth of my son. This hole is also the "signature" hole for the golf course. It is a retainage pond. It has had issues in the past with algae, not bad issues but issues none the less. This year there was a die off of fish in that pond. The cause of the fish die off was a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water column. There were several factors that led to the oxygen burn. The main factors were water temperature, having a fountain missing, and a hot stretch of summer followed by a cold rainfall. The process of a fish kill is a rough process. When any organism in a water body dies the decomposition process burns oxygen in the water, so a body of water that is low in oxygen gets lower. It's like rolling a boulder down a hill the further it goes the harder it is to stop. However, we had employees out there cleaning up dead fish with pool skimmers trying to keep the amount of decomposition and odor to a minimum. I think we did a great job responding to the issue in a timely fashion.
A brief history on this pond. It has gone dry 2 times since the construction that I know of. Once was about 5 years ago and once was well before my time.
The homeowners that live around the ponds have been managing and maintaining the fountains in the ponds for the last 10+ years. We met with that "Pond HOA" and they have given us the control of the fountains. They did a great job with those fountains for a long time. We have already changed out the nozzles on the units to throw more water and create more oxygen and surface cooling. we have gone from 400 Gallons Per Minute to 1500 GPM, a large difference. I am currently investigating different fish species to introduce to this area. predatory fish like bass to keep the number of smaller fish down, triploid grass carp to help keep the ponds clean and we have used tilapia in the past to help combat algae. I am also researching colorants for this area to block UV rays and prohibit algae populations.
#9
This pond has no issues. It used to be a hazard on the course that had dried up because of the inability to fill it. Since gaining that ability the pond has sealed up and is holding water nicely and is again a hazard.
#11
This pond is the start of a storm water runoff system. The water that runs into it comes from HWY 231 and surrounding areas. It used to be one of the sources of our irrigation water. It has issues with primrose, an aquatic plant that is easily controlled with 2,4-D or Diquat. Both of these herbicides are acceptable to apply in water bodies and safe to fish. Since it is a storm water system the water column is changed over frequently with large rainfall events. I have simply not had the time to treat this pond lately and that's on me. This pond is also about 4 feet deep and has about 3 feet of sediment in the bottom.
#12
This pond is on the far right as you drive in the neighborhood. It is the same scenario as #11 an storm water collection system that used to be part of our irrigation source. the pond on #11 feeds to #12 and It also gets fed by all surface runoff from areas south of this from Runnymeade Drive north. So this pond gets double the input that #11 gets. It is about 4 feet deep with a rock bottom. UV rays penetrate it easily to allow algae and other plants to grow in it easily. In the past there were major algae issues with this area. The neighbors banded together that lived around this area about 9 years ago. They purchased and installed 3 fountains with IHGC's blessing, 2 in #12 and 1 in #13. These were small 110 volt fountains that did not exchange much water and could not cool off the water column because there is no cool water to draw from in the summer on a 4 ft deep pond. After a while these fountains were just sucking up the muck on the bottom of the ponds and getting clogged up with debris. They became more of a maintenance nightmare than they were worth. It was a good effort but a poor fit for the process.
That being said we do not have an algae issue in this pond this year so much as we have a duckweed infestation. Duckweed is a naturally occurring plant that is one of the smallest complete plants on earth. It is about the size of a pencil tip. If you are interested in researching the plant click on the highlighted name above and it will take you to Wikipedia. The problem with duckweed is that it is very hard to kill in our environment the plant already has a seed by the time it hits the surface and releases that seed when killed so surface herbicides, diquat, do not work well. There is a product that I tried at the correct application rates, "Sonar". This herbicide has the ability to treat the entire water column, kill plants and seeds. Its issue is that it needs to be active in a body of water for 48 days and it is very expensive. I estimate that our application was active for about 7 days before the rains flushed that chemical out of the water body. It is really hard for me to justify spending someone else's hard earned money on a issue that is almost guaranteed no win scenario. Do not misread that statement, that does not mean that I am not going to do anything about it, it means that I am going to be very careful about what I do. I had attempted 3 diquat applications this summer and 1 sonar application. You also have to remember the statement from #7 pond about organisms decomposing in relation to oxygen content. So if we kill of all of the vegetative material in a 4 foot deep pond at once it will burn off oxygen and "shock" the pond thus potentially killing fish. I have to follow the rule of thirds when treating the ponds as not to create a different problem. the rule of thirds is to never treat a heavily invested pond by more than 1/3 of the surface area at one time as to protect the other ecology in that environment from damage.
#13
This is the closest pond to the road on the right as you drive in. It is also part of the storm water runoff system and has the same issues as #12. The duckweed moves with water and gravity, down stream. This pond would have small algae blooms in the Spring each season as the temps came up. But, it had one natural defense, it is a very deep pond with flow through. The depth allowed the water to remain cooler and reduced the ability of UV rays to penetrate to the bottom and breed algae.
#18
This pond is on the left side of the entrance as you drive in the neighborhood. It is our irrigation holding pond. It contains IHGC's water once it is in this pond it is IHGC's and no one else's. the brick house on 231 side is our pumping station. It is state of the art and we are very proud of it. The water in the pond is effluent water the same kind of water that many golf courses around the town and the world are trying to use. We do this in order to reduce our environmental footprint. We are not the first golf course to use effluent water and we will not be the last. Effluent water can be from many different sources but ours is processed treated water. It is not sewer nor has it ever been water that went down a toilet. One quality and burden of Effluent water is that it contains nutrients Phosphorus particularly which is a key food source for algae. Also the effluent is warmer and creates another algae breeding scenario. You will notice that it can get kind of a pea soup look in the summer, this is green algae trying to bloom in the water column. About 7 years ago in the infancy of our Effluent usage we had a complete coverage of algae on that pond. After that we installed 2 Sonic Devices that emit ultrasonic sonar wavelengths that actually destroy the algae at a cellular level as it is trying to form. These devices have done a great job in control of algae blooms. Remember this is our irrigation source and we apply this water to the grass on the golf course so there is the concern of herbicide transference and damage to the course by herbicide applications in this pond. I do not believe that we require any herbicide applications to this pond at this time.
#17
This pond is having trouble holding water at a certain depth It is a small hazard pond on the course. we may try to add some bentonite to the banks in the future to seal up any leaks.
This season we have had several complaints made to regulatory authorities with concerns about our water areas by neighbors of the course. I have been working with TDEC since the complaints started on #18, 13 and 7. They are well aware of the issues that we face. I have explained with them what our management attempts are and have been. They have agreed with my strategies.
There are other methods of algae control such as sub surface bubbler systems that release air at the bottom of the pond and help create aeration and circulation of the water.
I am happy to accept phone calls on the issues or any golf course related issue. I can also be found on social media @bradmarcy on Twitter.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Course Alterations for 2017
As the golfing season is upon us with the first round of the Masters on TV this afternoon. While we were installing the irrigation system this Winter we also took the chance to make some course alterations.
The first thing that we did was course yardage. This has been one of our most common complaints in the past. Well, we have added yardage tags to 350 sprinkler heads. I feel like we are so well marked that we might remove the blue red and black pavers in the fairways and posts at the path.
Hole Number 6 had the most noticeable changes. First off the left greenside bunker has been filled in. I still believe that it was one of the hardest situational shots on the course, unless you were smart enough to putt out of it. Next the front right greenside bunker is in the process of a face-lift. We have removed the steep face and are in the process of regarding the base. We will drain it, line it and add some new sand and were good to go. Then we opened up the exit area back to the path. It used to be about 5 yards wide between berms. Now you could drive the space shuttle through the exit area of the hole. I hope this allows for better traffic wear patterns.
On hole 8 we had the, while structurally sound, clunky bridge that I built removed. In its place is a concrete cart path bridge that wont knock out your teeth when you drive over it. We also removed the old grass bunker left of the fairway.
On hole 10 we extended the rock walls surrounding the fairways. Also, we filled in the 3 grass bunkers on the left side of the fairways. Lastly we added a more friendly Ladies tee that is waiting for sod.
On Hole 12 we got rid of the dip in the cart path that went through the creek bed. We replaced it with a new cart path bridge.
On hole #14 we removed the left side fairway bunker.
On hole #17 we removed the old grass bunker on the right side of the fairway. It will finish its transition into a new Ladies tee.
On hole 18 you will notice that you are driving through the water in the spillway. That is because of the new stream that has been routed through the 18th hole.
Hopefully I have not forgot any of the new features but it is entirely possible that I have.
The first thing that we did was course yardage. This has been one of our most common complaints in the past. Well, we have added yardage tags to 350 sprinkler heads. I feel like we are so well marked that we might remove the blue red and black pavers in the fairways and posts at the path.
Hole Number 6 had the most noticeable changes. First off the left greenside bunker has been filled in. I still believe that it was one of the hardest situational shots on the course, unless you were smart enough to putt out of it. Next the front right greenside bunker is in the process of a face-lift. We have removed the steep face and are in the process of regarding the base. We will drain it, line it and add some new sand and were good to go. Then we opened up the exit area back to the path. It used to be about 5 yards wide between berms. Now you could drive the space shuttle through the exit area of the hole. I hope this allows for better traffic wear patterns.
On hole 8 we had the, while structurally sound, clunky bridge that I built removed. In its place is a concrete cart path bridge that wont knock out your teeth when you drive over it. We also removed the old grass bunker left of the fairway.
On hole 10 we extended the rock walls surrounding the fairways. Also, we filled in the 3 grass bunkers on the left side of the fairways. Lastly we added a more friendly Ladies tee that is waiting for sod.
On Hole 12 we got rid of the dip in the cart path that went through the creek bed. We replaced it with a new cart path bridge.
On hole #14 we removed the left side fairway bunker.
On hole #17 we removed the old grass bunker on the right side of the fairway. It will finish its transition into a new Ladies tee.
On hole 18 you will notice that you are driving through the water in the spillway. That is because of the new stream that has been routed through the 18th hole.
Hopefully I have not forgot any of the new features but it is entirely possible that I have.
Irrigation Renovation Update 4-6-17
Well, we are in the home stretch, although there is still a lot of work to be done. The guys with Nutt Construction have done a great job with a monster of an install job. They have been flushing out the lines for the last two weeks. This has to be done to remove the debris from the interior of the lines. This could be dirt rock or PVC shavings that somehow got in the pipes and could stop up a head when it tries to go from ON to OFF. They were flushing out the Turf Nursery Area and the res/com system around the club grounds today and those were the last two areas to flush.
I have been running water for about a week now. I am trying to find bugs in the system, test capabilities and find programming thresholds and faults. Every morning I am riding the course looking for weeping heads, heads that are stuck on or other anomalies that may have taken place from the night previous. Hopefully the punch list made each morning will diminish with time. I have heard from some residents about sprinklers hitting decks or patios. If you have one of these issues please contact me and let me know. I will not get to see every one of the 1,700 heads run. I have moved our watering times to 10:00 PM so there will be less likelihood of something hitting a deck when you might be eating dinner. I have had programs running at 7:00 PM and 6:00 AM so that I can see or get feedback on the process but it is time to put them on in the dark.
The parking lot is starting to get vacated just in time for tournament season. We still have a lot of pipe to get out and some other items. Thank you to the neighbors who were very patient with us while we stopped traffic to load the Semi trucks on Calumet Trace with equipment, you were very patient with us.
While the project is winding down there is still a lot to do. there are a lot of areas that have been torn up and need to be repaired. We have been re seeding areas this week and are waiting on some sod to come in any day now. We will still have a small construction crew here for another 3-4 weeks cleaning up and helping fix scars and smoothing out rough areas.
Once again, Thank You to Nutt Construction, Aqua Turf International Consulting, Rainbird Golf Products, Keeling Co., Ole South Excavation, the Residents of Indian Hills Subdivision and All of our golfers.
I have been running water for about a week now. I am trying to find bugs in the system, test capabilities and find programming thresholds and faults. Every morning I am riding the course looking for weeping heads, heads that are stuck on or other anomalies that may have taken place from the night previous. Hopefully the punch list made each morning will diminish with time. I have heard from some residents about sprinklers hitting decks or patios. If you have one of these issues please contact me and let me know. I will not get to see every one of the 1,700 heads run. I have moved our watering times to 10:00 PM so there will be less likelihood of something hitting a deck when you might be eating dinner. I have had programs running at 7:00 PM and 6:00 AM so that I can see or get feedback on the process but it is time to put them on in the dark.
The parking lot is starting to get vacated just in time for tournament season. We still have a lot of pipe to get out and some other items. Thank you to the neighbors who were very patient with us while we stopped traffic to load the Semi trucks on Calumet Trace with equipment, you were very patient with us.
While the project is winding down there is still a lot to do. there are a lot of areas that have been torn up and need to be repaired. We have been re seeding areas this week and are waiting on some sod to come in any day now. We will still have a small construction crew here for another 3-4 weeks cleaning up and helping fix scars and smoothing out rough areas.
Once again, Thank You to Nutt Construction, Aqua Turf International Consulting, Rainbird Golf Products, Keeling Co., Ole South Excavation, the Residents of Indian Hills Subdivision and All of our golfers.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Irrigation Renovation Update March 8th
Currently all irrigation has been installed on the playing surface of the golf course. Hole #7 was the last hole to be installed and that was completed on Friday. The driving range was completed Sunday and back open for play on Monday.
There are only 2 areas left to irrigate. The club grounds with a res/com system and the nursery area which is about the size of a par 4. The nursery area runs parallel #2 on the other side of the rail road tracks. Apparently this area was once intended to be part of the course but for one reason or another it was abandoned. It has been a bone yard or a dumping ground for the last 30 years. The whole thing was an over grown cedar thicket. So we had it cleared out with a grinding machine. We found that there had been some clearing and shaping that took place somewhere in the past. Piles of boulders and piles of quality tee soil piled up in areas. It was really pretty cool to uncover. I would love to eventually have a full sod nursery with An acre of bent, fescue, bermuda, and zoysia at some point in the future.
The pump is in place and the pump house is dried in. Brick is scheduled for the exterior on Monday and the electricity will hopefully be run this week. Would love to be blowing out installed lines in a week.
We have some cleanup still going on on the front nine. I would hope to get all 18 holes back open for play on next Saturday. We still have a lot of concrete cuts to pour and rolling to do though.
There are only 2 areas left to irrigate. The club grounds with a res/com system and the nursery area which is about the size of a par 4. The nursery area runs parallel #2 on the other side of the rail road tracks. Apparently this area was once intended to be part of the course but for one reason or another it was abandoned. It has been a bone yard or a dumping ground for the last 30 years. The whole thing was an over grown cedar thicket. So we had it cleared out with a grinding machine. We found that there had been some clearing and shaping that took place somewhere in the past. Piles of boulders and piles of quality tee soil piled up in areas. It was really pretty cool to uncover. I would love to eventually have a full sod nursery with An acre of bent, fescue, bermuda, and zoysia at some point in the future.
The pump is in place and the pump house is dried in. Brick is scheduled for the exterior on Monday and the electricity will hopefully be run this week. Would love to be blowing out installed lines in a week.
We have some cleanup still going on on the front nine. I would hope to get all 18 holes back open for play on next Saturday. We still have a lot of concrete cuts to pour and rolling to do though.
Friday, January 20, 2017
I got a new toy
I am now a proud drone owner and operator. If you have spoken to me on the subject, I had purchased a GPS based drone 18 months ago from a startup company by the name of Lily. Well, I found out last week that the company couldn't secure the final round of financing and went the way of the Dodo bird. Plan B. I went out and bought the DJI Phantom 3 drone this week. I think that it will provide some really cool vantage points to the golf course. I have had it out of the box and up in the air twice now trying to learn how to fly. I have attached some of my amateur footage below. Enjoy!
Irrigation system update 1-20-17
Well the first part of 2017 has not been kind to us between the rock and the rain. Last night we got 1.5" of rainfall onto an already saturated golf course. The last 8 months have truly been feast or famine with regards to precipitation.
On the plus side we are officially making the flip from front nine to the back nine for golf play tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are forecast to get 0.5" of rainfall both days this weekend. On the negative side we will be primarily Cart Path Only for the next 2 months.
We started piping on the front nine this week. We have run into some rock on #8, as expected, and it has slowed the main line progress a little. On the flip side the heads and lateral lines have been installed on #8 and most of #9. The 2nd 10" main line that goes by the practice green got stalled by a big rock that we were not expecting.
In the positive column we have the completed wet well which looks like a small rock mountain. I am hoping to pour a pad on it next week. That's just one step closer to installing the, still unnamed, pump station.
Also, we got the first and largest road bore completed yesterday. It is the main trunk line, 12", from the pump station to #13. We have 4 more to complete.
We changed some of the concrete entrances and exits to roadways. They used to be a 45 degree curb and gutter to cart path. Now they are a more gentle transition from road to path and vice versa. Also, we have been repairing some areas of the path that were really bad in the past.
On the plus side we are officially making the flip from front nine to the back nine for golf play tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are forecast to get 0.5" of rainfall both days this weekend. On the negative side we will be primarily Cart Path Only for the next 2 months.
We started piping on the front nine this week. We have run into some rock on #8, as expected, and it has slowed the main line progress a little. On the flip side the heads and lateral lines have been installed on #8 and most of #9. The 2nd 10" main line that goes by the practice green got stalled by a big rock that we were not expecting.
In the positive column we have the completed wet well which looks like a small rock mountain. I am hoping to pour a pad on it next week. That's just one step closer to installing the, still unnamed, pump station.
Also, we got the first and largest road bore completed yesterday. It is the main trunk line, 12", from the pump station to #13. We have 4 more to complete.
We changed some of the concrete entrances and exits to roadways. They used to be a 45 degree curb and gutter to cart path. Now they are a more gentle transition from road to path and vice versa. Also, we have been repairing some areas of the path that were really bad in the past.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Project update end of the year
Today is 12-27-16 and we are at about the 8 week mark for the new irrigation system installation. The weather has certainly caught up with us. We have had over 6"of rain so far in December which we normally have about 4.5". The holes that have been completed are #'s 10-18. The pipe wire and heads are in the ground with the exception of the PG and a out of play area around the irrigation pond.
We are getting close to completing the B-9 and switching over to the F-9. We have a few projects that are still lingering before we do that though; re pouring cart paths, burying spoils that are too rocky to reuse, seeding the water diversion construction area, removing a few stumps, rolling all of the trench lines, and some sod projects.
We are still waiting on the last section of our wet well to be delivered so that we can start working on the pump station. hopefully we will have it up and running by the end of January. Our head count should be close to about 800 installed currently.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Irrigation installation progress report week 3
The goal for week three was to complete the section from hole #10 through hole #13. I believe that that goal was reached. #13 is about 85% complete but the crew was able to get all of the main lines trenched and laid on n#14 which was not in the projection. That trade off leads me to believe that the target was met .
We were getting ready to start on the wet well structure last week but a chance of rain came in and delayed the start of that project. Thanksgiving didn't help the timeline either. And now we have serious chances for rain this week, which we need desperately. We may not get to dig for the wet well until late this week.
The crew really hit a stumbling block on #10 with all of the rock. Without that issue I think that they would have blown their timeline out of the water. They should be in good soil for the remainder of the back nine so it should move pretty rapidly.
This morning our consultant,Trevor Holman, is laying out the head spacing on hole #14. He will probably finish marking the back nine holes this week
We were getting ready to start on the wet well structure last week but a chance of rain came in and delayed the start of that project. Thanksgiving didn't help the timeline either. And now we have serious chances for rain this week, which we need desperately. We may not get to dig for the wet well until late this week.
The crew really hit a stumbling block on #10 with all of the rock. Without that issue I think that they would have blown their timeline out of the water. They should be in good soil for the remainder of the back nine so it should move pretty rapidly.
This morning our consultant,Trevor Holman, is laying out the head spacing on hole #14. He will probably finish marking the back nine holes this week
Monday, November 21, 2016
Irrigation renovation progress report Week 2
Finally we have moved on to hole 11. I'm not sure who was happier the construction crew or me to move out of the rockiest soil on the course. Sure enough as soon as we passed the teeing area on 11 the large trencher started eating soil like nobody's business. I watched it trench about 70 yards of 3 foot deep trench in about 10 minutes. It had previously taken us a day to get that far. So conditions have gotten much better. We are still running into a boulder here and there but they are to be expected by looking at the surface indicators, lack of grass or droughty looking area.
The current location of the crew with mainline is #12. The lateral crews are wrapping up the fairway on the 11th hole.
The machine appears to be gaining some steam. I hope that we start to see about a hole and a half completed per week. When I use the term completed I am referring to pipe in the ground with heads in place. There is still work to be done on the completed holes. Debris piles must be removed, boulders removed, cart path cuts have to be re-poured, plow lines have to be rolled out, and many other cleanup projects must be completed.
Projections for next week. I hope to see #12 Tee, Fairway and Natural Area completed. Also I am hopeful to see some work done on #13 Fairway and Green also. This is a large completion list for our progress so far but the closer we move toward #14 the higher quality the soil will be.
Also I am sure if you have visited the course in the last few days you have noticed the pond on #18 getting very low. We are pumping it down in order to install the new wet well and intake line that are the base for our awesome new pump station.
The machine appears to be gaining some steam. I hope that we start to see about a hole and a half completed per week. When I use the term completed I am referring to pipe in the ground with heads in place. There is still work to be done on the completed holes. Debris piles must be removed, boulders removed, cart path cuts have to be re-poured, plow lines have to be rolled out, and many other cleanup projects must be completed.
Projections for next week. I hope to see #12 Tee, Fairway and Natural Area completed. Also I am hopeful to see some work done on #13 Fairway and Green also. This is a large completion list for our progress so far but the closer we move toward #14 the higher quality the soil will be.
Also I am sure if you have visited the course in the last few days you have noticed the pond on #18 getting very low. We are pumping it down in order to install the new wet well and intake line that are the base for our awesome new pump station.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Week One of the Irrigation Renovation
Week one is in the books on the irrigation renovation project. We decided to start on hole #10 and work toward the pump station. The plan is to have 4 holes completed by the time that the pumps are ready to go.
#10 has a lot of rock in the ground close to the surface. Our construction company, Nutt Irrigation, has been having some trouble with the rock and the first week timelines are a little behind. Hopefully we will make up the ground as soon as we get out of the rock.
They are about 3/4 of the way through with #10. I have hopes that in the next 2 days we will be out of the rocks and plowing along smoothly. #10 has generated some nice large boulders that we may be able use around the course. The 2nd rock wall on #10 could be extended on both sides to really finish that wall Some of the smaller ones have been taken to the drainage ditch on #8 for use as water breaks. during heavy rainfall events, which we need, water rushes so fast down that spillway that it can take out the rip rap base. These small boulders will help slow the water momentarily and help prevent washouts.
#10 has a lot of rock in the ground close to the surface. Our construction company, Nutt Irrigation, has been having some trouble with the rock and the first week timelines are a little behind. Hopefully we will make up the ground as soon as we get out of the rock.
They are about 3/4 of the way through with #10. I have hopes that in the next 2 days we will be out of the rocks and plowing along smoothly. #10 has generated some nice large boulders that we may be able use around the course. The 2nd rock wall on #10 could be extended on both sides to really finish that wall Some of the smaller ones have been taken to the drainage ditch on #8 for use as water breaks. during heavy rainfall events, which we need, water rushes so fast down that spillway that it can take out the rip rap base. These small boulders will help slow the water momentarily and help prevent washouts.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Irrigation Time
Well, it is finally time. We have come very close a couple of times in the last couple of years, but this is the year. That's right we are installing a new irrigation system starting Nov 1, 2016. It is going to be a monster of a job. Fortunately we have a great product representative, fantastic installers and a great consultant to work with.
Our old system was installed in 1985 and had 850 sprinkler heads in the design. It was a pretty good design for the time. It had some quirks like having pvc lines that dead ended at every greens head and irrigation lines that ran under greens. The pump station was adequate for a long time. Over the last year we have brought it to its knees. It originally had 2 50hp motors and 1 30hp motor. As of the other day the last good 50hp motor died so we are currently operating on a 30hp motor only. This is just about enough water availability to water greens only. Like i stated earlier it was built with about 850. Over time with mechanical failures cost cutting measures and countless other reasons there are probably only about 200 heads on the course that operate. There was an upgrade made about 9 years ago to add new control satellites to the system. While it was well intended it was not a step forward.
The new system has been judged by 2 irrigation consultants and has been deemed worthy of our needs. It will have 1,775 sprinkler heads on the course and complete landscaping plans ariound the club grounds. There will be a central control that is the "brain" of the system that coordinates the flow patterns and tells heads when to turn on and off. There will be no more green control boxes on the course that we operate from. They are coming to be replaced with tablets that we can operate the system from anywhere in the world as long as there is a cell signal. We will also have the ability to check the system for trouble and not wait until it shows its ugly face by loosing grass. Our new pump station is going to be on of the nicest in the state with 4-100hp pumps, 1-25hp pump and 1-10hp pressure maintenance pump. The system parts are manufactured by the Rain Bird corporation the largest name in the field of irrigation.
The course will be nine holes at a time when construction starts on Monday the 7th. We will start on hole 10 and work through the back nine first. About 3 weeks in the new wet well wnd pump station will be installed.
We are really excited about the project and hope that our customers are also. If you have any questions about it feel free to stop me when on the course. Also follow me on twitter for more updated and blog links @bradmarcy and @indianhillsgolf.
The course will be nine holes at a time when construction starts on Monday the 7th. We will start on hole 10 and work through the back nine first. About 3 weeks in the new wet well wnd pump station will be installed.
We are really excited about the project and hope that our customers are also. If you have any questions about it feel free to stop me when on the course. Also follow me on twitter for more updated and blog links @bradmarcy and @indianhillsgolf.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
The Color of the Greens
You may have noticed some "mood swings" in the color of the greens this winter. They have lost a lot of their color and all of a sudden they will be back to the nice green color that we all like to see.
During these colder weather patterns and low daylight periods the bentgrass can actually get close to a dormancy period if nothing is done to keep it active. Over the last few weeks we have had horrible weather for our area. It has been exceptionally cold and wet. If it is wet than that means that there was probably overcast conditions. Which means that the greens can't get the proper amount of sunlight that they need on days with limited windows of sunlight. when these conditions occur we will start to lose color.
We get the bounce back by applying a fertilizer combination. Typically I will apply a nitrogen based fertilizer with iron. The nitrogen gets the plant up and moving a bit. The iron is responsible for giving the nice green color back to the plant.
So, if you notice the greens starting to dull in appearance, just wait a bit I'm sure they will be green again before you know it.
During these colder weather patterns and low daylight periods the bentgrass can actually get close to a dormancy period if nothing is done to keep it active. Over the last few weeks we have had horrible weather for our area. It has been exceptionally cold and wet. If it is wet than that means that there was probably overcast conditions. Which means that the greens can't get the proper amount of sunlight that they need on days with limited windows of sunlight. when these conditions occur we will start to lose color.
We get the bounce back by applying a fertilizer combination. Typically I will apply a nitrogen based fertilizer with iron. The nitrogen gets the plant up and moving a bit. The iron is responsible for giving the nice green color back to the plant.
So, if you notice the greens starting to dull in appearance, just wait a bit I'm sure they will be green again before you know it.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
What do you do in the winter?
My kid's pediatrician asked me the other day, "What do you do in the winter at the golf course?" Kind of caught me off guard with the question, just because I wasn't expecting to talk turf while taking my kid to the doctor. The answer slid out after a moment of brief hesitation. But then I started thinking how much I get asked this question come Fall, in different forms. "Y'all staying busy out there?", "Too cold to be working today right?"' "What are y'all doing today?", "There can't be much to do over there in the Winter?" and many other forms of the same question.
Well, it's the week of Thanksgiving and I'm currently on vacation with my family at the beach and I still can't stop working. I am taking a break from creating my budget for 2015 right now. That is one of my big tasks for the month of November. This also involves the process of early ordering chemicals for 2015, which means that I have to have an agronomic plan in place for 2015 by this point. I'm not going to go too deep into what I, personally, have to get done.
I will come up with ideas of things that I would like to change all year long. Hopefully when I have that idea I have my trusty voice recorder with me so I can make a "note to self" and remind myself later. Some of the things that we work on are carry over jobs that are just too big for our staff to complete in one season. We also have repeat jobs that we have to do the same at a certain time every winter.
I will try to outline the jobs that we will be doing this season excluding keeping up the golf course, which does not stop getting done,
Single Season Jobs
tree work
debris removal
opening up the traffic areas on #6
building new tees on #11 and #17
converting the monument Tee signs into flush in ground tee signs
fixing the maintenance shop ceiling
cut back the bradford pears in the parking lots
relocate and identify the correct teeing areas from the score card
adding new heat to pump station
Carry over jobs
clearing out the riverbank on #8, 16, 17, 18
rebuilding bunkers
repair poor sections of cart path
Repeat jobs
spray roundup and pre emergent on entire course
repaint all tee markers on course
repaint all hazard markers on course
repaint all OB stakes on course
leaf removal in late fall/early winter
re seal wood products out on course benches, cooler stands, trash cans
reorganize the maintenance yard area
clean out and re insulate bird houses huts and nesting areas
working on repairing faulty wiring in the irrigation system
repainting the pump station
I know that I am missing a few in there but even with the amount of repeat jobs we have a lot to accomplish in an off season with a limited staff, not to mention working on the interior of the club house when it needs attention. And I know that I will come up with more stuff that I want to complete because I do suffer from my eyes being bigger than my stomach frequently.
With all of that said, that's what we will be doing this winter.
Well, it's the week of Thanksgiving and I'm currently on vacation with my family at the beach and I still can't stop working. I am taking a break from creating my budget for 2015 right now. That is one of my big tasks for the month of November. This also involves the process of early ordering chemicals for 2015, which means that I have to have an agronomic plan in place for 2015 by this point. I'm not going to go too deep into what I, personally, have to get done.
I will come up with ideas of things that I would like to change all year long. Hopefully when I have that idea I have my trusty voice recorder with me so I can make a "note to self" and remind myself later. Some of the things that we work on are carry over jobs that are just too big for our staff to complete in one season. We also have repeat jobs that we have to do the same at a certain time every winter.
I will try to outline the jobs that we will be doing this season excluding keeping up the golf course, which does not stop getting done,
Single Season Jobs
tree work
debris removal
opening up the traffic areas on #6
building new tees on #11 and #17
converting the monument Tee signs into flush in ground tee signs
fixing the maintenance shop ceiling
cut back the bradford pears in the parking lots
relocate and identify the correct teeing areas from the score card
adding new heat to pump station
Carry over jobs
clearing out the riverbank on #8, 16, 17, 18
rebuilding bunkers
repair poor sections of cart path
Repeat jobs
spray roundup and pre emergent on entire course
repaint all tee markers on course
repaint all hazard markers on course
repaint all OB stakes on course
leaf removal in late fall/early winter
re seal wood products out on course benches, cooler stands, trash cans
reorganize the maintenance yard area
clean out and re insulate bird houses huts and nesting areas
working on repairing faulty wiring in the irrigation system
repainting the pump station
I know that I am missing a few in there but even with the amount of repeat jobs we have a lot to accomplish in an off season with a limited staff, not to mention working on the interior of the club house when it needs attention. And I know that I will come up with more stuff that I want to complete because I do suffer from my eyes being bigger than my stomach frequently.
With all of that said, that's what we will be doing this winter.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Winter is around the corner
We have now had a couple of light frosts so far this month even though our temps have been awesome so far. But, those light frosts are a sign of things to come. I am hearing forecasters predicting weather patterns that mimic last winter. We all remember the trouble that we had with the tees and fairways this spring, and we don't want a repeat of that scenario next year.
One of the things that I will be doing is reducing the amount of cart traffic that we will be allowing on the turf during dormant periods. We may even see some of the holes get restricted back to cart path only if the weather patterns get bad. I encourage some of our members to partner up on personal carts to decrease the amount of cart wear during the winter months. I know its nice having everything in your cart where you want it but may be pile in with your playing partner once in a while to help the course be better in the spring.
As you know, Hole #9 is now cart path only all of the time. I have had people comment to me lately "did you over seed that hole". The fairway on #9 looks so much better and greener because of the reduction in cart traffic, so the proof in in the pudding so to speak.
We have also fertilized much heavier in some of the areas that were hit hard last winter. The height of cut is currently up to 3/4" on the fairways and tees. 3/4" is our normal HOC in the fall. I just made sure that we got to it a little sooner this year. Both of these issues should help our chances of getting through the winter in a bad season.
In the end I have learned that it is my job to understand what Mother Nature is throwing at me and know how to react to the conditions. I cannot change the weather I can only react to it.
Just remember when it seems like its dry in the winter but its still "Path Only" that I am trying to protect the turf better than I did last year.
One of the things that I will be doing is reducing the amount of cart traffic that we will be allowing on the turf during dormant periods. We may even see some of the holes get restricted back to cart path only if the weather patterns get bad. I encourage some of our members to partner up on personal carts to decrease the amount of cart wear during the winter months. I know its nice having everything in your cart where you want it but may be pile in with your playing partner once in a while to help the course be better in the spring.
As you know, Hole #9 is now cart path only all of the time. I have had people comment to me lately "did you over seed that hole". The fairway on #9 looks so much better and greener because of the reduction in cart traffic, so the proof in in the pudding so to speak.
We have also fertilized much heavier in some of the areas that were hit hard last winter. The height of cut is currently up to 3/4" on the fairways and tees. 3/4" is our normal HOC in the fall. I just made sure that we got to it a little sooner this year. Both of these issues should help our chances of getting through the winter in a bad season.
In the end I have learned that it is my job to understand what Mother Nature is throwing at me and know how to react to the conditions. I cannot change the weather I can only react to it.
Just remember when it seems like its dry in the winter but its still "Path Only" that I am trying to protect the turf better than I did last year.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Fairway Recovery 2014
It's been quite a while since I put anything on the blog. I have been busy with many different facets of the golf course the last two months.
The last post I had was dedicated to the fairway damage from Winter Kill. We tried seeding the fairways with Bermuda grass. That was a big dud. As soon as we finished seeding it rained for like a week and a half. All of the low areas that were damaged from holding too much moisture continued to hold too much moisture. My best guess is that the seed was either covered by debris and couldn't find the light of day, or it simply rotted in place. After that experiment failed we decided to aerify a couple of the fairways and push the cored to the bad areas and use that vegetation to regrow the areas. This was a successful method, very labor intensive but successful. We had our worst fairway on #3 that had no grass on the front half of it, so aerifying was not an option. We started cutting sod in house from rough areas that were going to be converted to native this fall. This was even more labor intensive but at the same time productive. In August we ran out of time and labor for cutting sod in house so we got 6 pallets of Bermuda for the biggest areas on #3 fairway. Finally today we are laying the last few small spots on #3 to finish it up. I am glad that the weather has been as cool as it has been this season. The greens have been easier to maintain in this weather so that we could focus more on the fairways.
I think that one good thing has come from the Winter Kill. We have seen what Hole #9 looks like when it has no cart traffic. We actually have rough on the inside of the dog leg. We have decided to keep the hole cart path only for the long haul to protect the character of the hole.
I know I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hope never to go this long again without posting on this forum.
The last post I had was dedicated to the fairway damage from Winter Kill. We tried seeding the fairways with Bermuda grass. That was a big dud. As soon as we finished seeding it rained for like a week and a half. All of the low areas that were damaged from holding too much moisture continued to hold too much moisture. My best guess is that the seed was either covered by debris and couldn't find the light of day, or it simply rotted in place. After that experiment failed we decided to aerify a couple of the fairways and push the cored to the bad areas and use that vegetation to regrow the areas. This was a successful method, very labor intensive but successful. We had our worst fairway on #3 that had no grass on the front half of it, so aerifying was not an option. We started cutting sod in house from rough areas that were going to be converted to native this fall. This was even more labor intensive but at the same time productive. In August we ran out of time and labor for cutting sod in house so we got 6 pallets of Bermuda for the biggest areas on #3 fairway. Finally today we are laying the last few small spots on #3 to finish it up. I am glad that the weather has been as cool as it has been this season. The greens have been easier to maintain in this weather so that we could focus more on the fairways.
I think that one good thing has come from the Winter Kill. We have seen what Hole #9 looks like when it has no cart traffic. We actually have rough on the inside of the dog leg. We have decided to keep the hole cart path only for the long haul to protect the character of the hole.
I know I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hope never to go this long again without posting on this forum.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Bermuda Damage
As a golf course superintendent every season brings new challenges, and that is one of the primary reasons why I love my job. I always have a new challenge to face. No two seasons are alike. It can be too hot, too cold, too dry. too wet, too cloudy, too sunny, too windy, too stagnant, too humid or not humid enough. Mother Nature gives us all kinds of battles to fight.
Well we had an extraordinary battle this winter. Remember the Polar Vortexes? The way we went into the winter with the Bermuda turf I would never imagined that we would have had a problem coming out. But, unfortunately we are having a problem. We have some areas that are struggling to survive. This mornings 29 degree frosty start is not the best way to help them climb out of dormancy. I say climb because I'm not exactly sure how deep the grass is coming from under the soil. I have checked a lot of areas on the course and I am still finding good roots in the soil, they are not all good but there are good roots out there. I'm sure in some cases its 3" deep to find a good rhizome. Most of our damage appears to be in the tightly mown areas, Tees,,Fairways and Collars. It may just take some time for us to see some green grass poking its head through but I know that there are some areas on thees that received excessive wear this winter that the turf will have to be replaced.
This post is going to be littered with pictures to show specific areas that I am concerned about. I guess that I will start with an example of what a Fairway should look like right now.
#13. This Fairway (Large Par 3 Approach) faces South and has a pretty good soil medium for our course. It has been responding pretty well to the warmer weather that we have had. Oh, and it is supposed to get no cart traffic.
#1. This is just an example picture of the effects that traffic can have on dormant Bermuda turf. You can clearly see a distinction where carts are allowed and where they are not.
#3. This Fairway is probably the worst one that we have. It is pretty flat, but it has rock within 8" of the turf. Rock holds and radiates heat and cold. It is kind of like having a large ice cube in a soft drink, it helps keep it cold.
#4. This Fairway slopes North. That is not the easiest way to green up. The canopy on this fairway has always been thin and provides little insulation to the soil.
#6 During our first warm up of late winter I started to see some green coming out in this fairway but it cooled off again I'm hoping that that did not hurt it too bad. This hole has a solid clay hard packed soil base. and just as #4 is, the cart path is routed to the wrong side of the hole and forces the carts to use the fairway as the path of travel.
#8. The Tees on this hole have been used as a temporary teeing area this winter due to the construction project behind #1 Green. They are small and have simply been over worked.
#9. We need to put more drainage on this Fairway. The landing area of this fairway is actually a bowl. Whenever we get a big rain the area turns into a pond for a short while. The drainage that we have will remove the surface water relatively quickly, but the soil will stay saturated for quite some time in this area.
#9 Tee. This Tee is in between 2 mountains so to speak so It gets at least 4 hours less light than a normal area of the course. It is also very narrow so the traffic is concentrated into a small area.
#10. The first Fairway has a lot of the same problems that #3 does with shallow rocks in areas of the fairway.
#16. This Fairway is tree lined and the soil medium is an old gravel drive in movie theater parking lot, so it is really tough to get a good fairway on this hole. The turf is always thinner on this fairway with the shade and soil problems.
#17. The Tees on this hole are tiny. I have no Idea why they are so small. They do not resemble any other teeing surface on the golf course. They simply got over worked through the winter.
I have decided on a firm plan of action for this problem, I am still in the wait and see mode. I am going to give them a couple more weeks to respond and if they do try to fertilize them out of their current state. We did use Ronstar as a pre emegent herbicide this Winter, so if we do need to sprig into or sod areas the chemical will allow rooting of the new turf.
Hopefully the cold winter and the isolated conditions of these areas have just slowed down the Bermuda and not completely killed it off.
After going out and pulling some profiles in the damaged areas I am confident that most of these areas in the fairways will come back. I was seeing some good rhizomes remaining in the soil. I am able to tie the problem directly to soil composition, Winter weather patterns and cart traffic stress. I will be a little more aggressive with Cart Path Only restrictions in the near future. Please remember I do this for the betterment of the course not to piss you off.
Well we had an extraordinary battle this winter. Remember the Polar Vortexes? The way we went into the winter with the Bermuda turf I would never imagined that we would have had a problem coming out. But, unfortunately we are having a problem. We have some areas that are struggling to survive. This mornings 29 degree frosty start is not the best way to help them climb out of dormancy. I say climb because I'm not exactly sure how deep the grass is coming from under the soil. I have checked a lot of areas on the course and I am still finding good roots in the soil, they are not all good but there are good roots out there. I'm sure in some cases its 3" deep to find a good rhizome. Most of our damage appears to be in the tightly mown areas, Tees,,Fairways and Collars. It may just take some time for us to see some green grass poking its head through but I know that there are some areas on thees that received excessive wear this winter that the turf will have to be replaced.
This post is going to be littered with pictures to show specific areas that I am concerned about. I guess that I will start with an example of what a Fairway should look like right now.
#13. This Fairway (Large Par 3 Approach) faces South and has a pretty good soil medium for our course. It has been responding pretty well to the warmer weather that we have had. Oh, and it is supposed to get no cart traffic.
#1. This is just an example picture of the effects that traffic can have on dormant Bermuda turf. You can clearly see a distinction where carts are allowed and where they are not.
#3. This Fairway is probably the worst one that we have. It is pretty flat, but it has rock within 8" of the turf. Rock holds and radiates heat and cold. It is kind of like having a large ice cube in a soft drink, it helps keep it cold.
#4. This Fairway slopes North. That is not the easiest way to green up. The canopy on this fairway has always been thin and provides little insulation to the soil.
#6 During our first warm up of late winter I started to see some green coming out in this fairway but it cooled off again I'm hoping that that did not hurt it too bad. This hole has a solid clay hard packed soil base. and just as #4 is, the cart path is routed to the wrong side of the hole and forces the carts to use the fairway as the path of travel.
#8. The Tees on this hole have been used as a temporary teeing area this winter due to the construction project behind #1 Green. They are small and have simply been over worked.
#9. We need to put more drainage on this Fairway. The landing area of this fairway is actually a bowl. Whenever we get a big rain the area turns into a pond for a short while. The drainage that we have will remove the surface water relatively quickly, but the soil will stay saturated for quite some time in this area.
#9 Tee. This Tee is in between 2 mountains so to speak so It gets at least 4 hours less light than a normal area of the course. It is also very narrow so the traffic is concentrated into a small area.
#10. The first Fairway has a lot of the same problems that #3 does with shallow rocks in areas of the fairway.
#16. This Fairway is tree lined and the soil medium is an old gravel drive in movie theater parking lot, so it is really tough to get a good fairway on this hole. The turf is always thinner on this fairway with the shade and soil problems.
#17. The Tees on this hole are tiny. I have no Idea why they are so small. They do not resemble any other teeing surface on the golf course. They simply got over worked through the winter.
I have decided on a firm plan of action for this problem, I am still in the wait and see mode. I am going to give them a couple more weeks to respond and if they do try to fertilize them out of their current state. We did use Ronstar as a pre emegent herbicide this Winter, so if we do need to sprig into or sod areas the chemical will allow rooting of the new turf.
Hopefully the cold winter and the isolated conditions of these areas have just slowed down the Bermuda and not completely killed it off.
After going out and pulling some profiles in the damaged areas I am confident that most of these areas in the fairways will come back. I was seeing some good rhizomes remaining in the soil. I am able to tie the problem directly to soil composition, Winter weather patterns and cart traffic stress. I will be a little more aggressive with Cart Path Only restrictions in the near future. Please remember I do this for the betterment of the course not to piss you off.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Another Aerification Article
Yep, We aerified the greens again. I was trying to think of a different way to communicate this topic because I'm sure that I've beaten it like a drum in past posts.
My staff and I have aerified, cleaned off cores, picked up cores, sanded, fertilized twice, brushed, and watered all day long. This was my 13th time aerifying the greens here at IHGC. The 27th time for my career. Over that time period it gets pretty difficult to change your methods. However, I did change some of the chemical and fertilizer methods that I used to hold true to. I won't bore you with the details, but the generalities are, something to make the greens more firm and more fertilizers of different varieties.
Normally on Aerification day we are still plugging away (literally) at the greens until 5:30 or 6:00 PM and wouldn't finish topdressing and dragging until noon on day 2. But, my staff was clocking out at 4 PM because everything had gone so smoothly. Still not exactly sure where the reduction in time came from but I like it.
I will be posting a video of the process on my youtube channel before too long so that you can better see the whole process in action.
We punched 4.6 million holes in the greens. That's just shy of 250,000 holes per green on average.
My staff and I have aerified, cleaned off cores, picked up cores, sanded, fertilized twice, brushed, and watered all day long. This was my 13th time aerifying the greens here at IHGC. The 27th time for my career. Over that time period it gets pretty difficult to change your methods. However, I did change some of the chemical and fertilizer methods that I used to hold true to. I won't bore you with the details, but the generalities are, something to make the greens more firm and more fertilizers of different varieties.
Normally on Aerification day we are still plugging away (literally) at the greens until 5:30 or 6:00 PM and wouldn't finish topdressing and dragging until noon on day 2. But, my staff was clocking out at 4 PM because everything had gone so smoothly. Still not exactly sure where the reduction in time came from but I like it.
I will be posting a video of the process on my youtube channel before too long so that you can better see the whole process in action.
We punched 4.6 million holes in the greens. That's just shy of 250,000 holes per green on average.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Stump Removal
As you know from Playing the course or my previous posts on the blog we have removed a substantial amount of trees from the golf course for various reasons. I'm not going back into the reasoning for removing the trees that was a different post. The last part of the job was removing the stumps that were left behind. The options were to dig them out with a loader and then fill in a large coarse hole on the course, or have someone come in and grind them up for us and leave a nice little compact hole to repair. We removed about 35 stumps yesterday and got them all covered back up today.
We used a company by the name of Stump Pro out of Jackson, TN. The owner Shawn Westacott is the golf course superintendent at Jackson Country Club. He did a great job. The only problem was that I forgot 1 stump on #9 that was covered by a pile of wood. So, we missed one.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Roundup Application
Some of you may have noticed the blue/green dye around the greens and in the club grounds. This is a dye indicator that shows where our chemical application was made with the spray hawk bordering the greens. We used the dye this year to try to make us more efficient this winter. When we spray with the standard spray rigs we use foam marker to show where we have gone. 20 min later the foam is gone and no one knows that we were ever there. The Spray Hawk device does not have a foam marker there fore we cannot see where we sprayed chemical very well. We added the dye this year to reduce overlapping of chemical and missed areas in between passes. I think that it really made the operation much more smooth. The operators doing the spraying loved it. I am still not loving the color left behind but I am a fan of the process being more efficient.
Coincidentally, If you do have a yard that is Bermudagrass or are looking to start the process of cleaning up the weeds in your yard now is the time to make that roundup application. You have through February to finish this task.
Coincidentally, If you do have a yard that is Bermudagrass or are looking to start the process of cleaning up the weeds in your yard now is the time to make that roundup application. You have through February to finish this task.
Just an update for those of you who are interested in Indian Hills information or golf course agronomy information. I have recently discovered the world of Twitter. I love getting my news feeds there; I also get a lot of different industry news there. I am trying to put out additional information concerning golf course agronomy or Indian Hills information. So, if you are interested in that kind of thing you can follow me @BradMarcy on Twitter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)