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.

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.  

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

Link to the grinding process video

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. 

Fall Aerification

Not to sound hokey but "It's that time of year again".  Aerification.  We have completed the aerification of the greens and they have recovered for 2 weeks now and they are looking great.  I went on vacation for one week and they have almost healed completely.  I am terrifically thrilled at their progress this season.  We have had some great weather since poking holes, 80's in the day and 60's at night.  I have created another "flip book video" from my trail camera to observe the process on #4 for the last 2 weeks.  I was hoping to get a better comparison of aerified greens to healed greens, but that didn't translate as well as I had hoped.  most of the physical processes were recorded and are subtitled in the video.  some of the processed were missed such as fertilization and watering.  But, please remember that a lot of hard work goes into this process.
Here's the "Flip Book"

Aerification Video Link on YouTube

I hope that you can see the progress as well as I can.  Again this is still a new process of documenting these types of events, and I learn something new about it every time I try. 

What a difference a year makes

Well, Summer's here again and the temperatures are starting to heat up.  Yesterday was our hottest temp so far this year at 94 degrees.  I know it sounds hot.  Just remember where we were one year ago.  We were just starting the heat wave of 2013, we were getting ready to see temperatures we had never experienced before in this region (19 degrees warmer than yesterday) and we were in the 6th week of a drought.

Last year we were so busy with the drought and the fairways and the tees were in such poor shape that we did not aerify either one of them.  Shortly after the heat wave we got a massive amount of rain for a few days.  the fairways and tees turned out to be great through the end of the season.  Well we have had an ample amount of rainfall this season (no droughts here), and the temperatures have been moderate.  So we have gotten to perform some cultural practices that we couldn't do last year.  We have completed the fairway aerification plan and we are in the process of wrapping up the tee box aerification plan.

Our tee box aerification plan is almost identical to our fairway aerification plan with the exception of the machine that we use to pull plugs and the hole size.

Our tee plan we use 5/8" tines on a 2.5" spacing.  Fortunately, our tees for the most part were constructed with a sand cap.  This means that when we pull the plugs and let them dry for a few minutes, when we hit them with a metal drag mat the sand breaks off of the plant and works back in to the surface.  This leaves only the leftover plant material to deal with.  we simply take a turbine blower and push the leftover vegetation into the roughs.  A little bit of water and were done.  Below is a short video of Spencer running the aerifier on #16 Tees.

Our Fairway plan is slightly different, same process (core, drag, blow).  We use an old fairway aerifier that we pull with a tractor.  the holes are 1" on a 6" spacing.  The soils in our fairways are clay.  so they have to have some moisture in them to be able to break up with a drag mat.  We have to wait until the day after a rain event so that the clay is not rock hard when it comes out of the ground.  After they are out of the ground we drag them and blow off the vegetation.  I kind of like our old fairway aerifier in our heavy clay soils.  the way it works the tine goes in the soil at about a 10 degree angle and it comes out at the reverse 10 degree angle,  so it has to fracture the areas around it due to its movement below the surface.  So the effected area in the soil would be closer to 2.5".

I know that everyone hates the dreaded "A" word.  but it really does make us have a better playing surface in the long run, and who knows, maybe one day we will get to backfill the holes in the fairways with sand.

USGA Visit

As you have read in my last post our greens are not in good shape.  I explained the reasons for the decline in the last post also.  I recently had an Regional Agronomist, Chris Hartwiger, from the USGA visit our course to help us through this issue.  I received his findings over the weekend.  Here They Are.

Opening Statement
On behalf of the USGA Green Section, it was a pleasure to return to Indian Hills to discuss the golf course maintenance program.  This was my first visit to the course in many years and I was interested to be brought up to date on what is happening at the course.  The major focus of this visit was the current Condition of the putting greens as well as future options.

This USGA Turf Advisory Service visit consisted of a tour of the golf course in which numerous topics were discussed.  The main topics of discussion will be reviewed in the report.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments after viewing this report.

Putting Greens
Observations

1. During the month of July, the putting greens experienced a rapid loss of bentgrass due to summer bentgrass decline.  The same summer bentgrass decline has occurred at numerous golf courses in mid Tennessee and northern Alabama over the last three weeks.  The catalyst for the decline was heavy and frequent rainfall accompanied by 90 degree plus temperatures.  At Indian Hills the conditions were simply too much for the turf and the grass was overwhelmed. 
2. We discussed recovery strategies for this August and Fall to restore the bentgrass greens to good health. 
3. Future life support tools to promote better summer survival were reviewed.

Recommendations

1. Most of the greens will recover with cooler nighttime temperatures, fertilization, Some areas will need help with seed sod or plugs.
2. At the time of the visit, it appeared the rapid decline of the bentgrass had stopped.  There were signs of some green leaf tissue emerging through the weak areas.
3. As soon as the weather breaks, implement a grow-in fertility program.  The Andersons Contec products would be good options.  They can be put down in rates as low as 1/4 lb N per 1000sq. ft. with good uniformity.  They also dissolve readily with irrigation which reduces any burn potential.  Select one of the products that such as the 19-0-15 that has appreciable quantities of potassium given the recent heavy rains you have received.  A possible protocol for you is to apply 1/4 lb of N from a contec every week on the greens needing to be grown in.  As,  the weather cools the rates can be increased to 1/2 lb N per week.
4. Vent the greens again as soon as possible to improve gas and water exchange through the rootzone.  Now would be a good time to use one of the heavy hitter fungicides such as Insignia or Heritage.
5. I would not core aerate the putting greens this fall with 1/2 inch of 5/8 inch tines.  The grass is too weak and likely will be some significant damage done to the greens.  Instead consider using either hollow 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch tines sometime in late September to mid- October when the putting greens have recovered.  This will help to open them up a little bit and allow a maximum flow of oxygen into the rootzone.

Conclusion
It was a pleasure to visit Indian Hills to discuss the care of the course.  The maintenance staff does an excellent job of developing a maintenance program that balances the agronomic needs of the turf with the expectations of the golfer.
While the report summarizes the main topics of discussion during the tour of the course from a practical standpoint, it is impossible to detail every suggestion and observation offered.  Therefore, the Green Section agronomists encourage those who play to join us on the visit. 
Besides providing a service free of bias from affiliation with any product or manufacturer, the USGA Green Section is the largest supporter of turfgrass research in the world.  this research effort is critical to ensure the future of the game of golf and the industry of turfgrass maintenance.  The thrust of this research is to provide superior turfgrasses that play better and are easier to maintain while insuring golf courses remain positive influences on the environment.  Your club's membership in the USGA and support of the Green Section makes this research effort possible. 
Thank you for your support of the Turfgrass Advisory Service.  Please do not hesitate to call my office should you have any questions concerning this report, the research efforts of the USGA, or any matter regarding the maintenance of your course.

Sincerely,
Chris Hartwiger
USGA Green Section



We have already put some of these suggestions in place and bugun the healing process.  Unfortunately it will take time and patience to fully heal from this years damage.  Thank you for your paitence and continued support.

Current State of the Greens

I haven't created a post on here in quite some time.  Primarily because I have been so consumed with the course this summer.  I don't know a P.C. term to describe our greens condition right now, but it's definitely not "immaculate".  We have endured a lot of different weather patterns this season; Early spring, Late frost, 90+ degrees for 2/3 of May, Heat that hasn't stopped all summer, Record breaking heat wave, Drought conditions, One of the wettest July's in a long time, massive amounts of rain fall in a short period of time.  All of these conditions turned into my worst nightmare. 
We were doing great through June into the first of July.  I recall checking root depths on the 5th of July and having a solid 4" of root mass.  Remember the 11 day stretch of 100-113 degree days.  We were good through that period, sure we had a few stress areas but we were okay.  Remember the massive amounts of rain that we got right behind the heat wave.  I think it was about 5" over a week.  Well, the 5" of rain was our downfall.  I was checking root depths shortly after the rains and we had about 1.5" of root mass.  It is a misnomer that greens only look bad when they are in need of water.  When they receive too much water they go through a process called "wet wilt".  You may remember they turned yellow and then thinned out, that was the wet wilt in process.  The plants essentially drowned.  Once the yellowing presented itself I immediately aerified the greens to get some oxygen in the soil.  Turned out, too little too late.  We had better weather patterns for the next 2 weeks.  This weekend we got hammered with 2.5" of rain.  I had our greens aerified again Monday.  But I fear it's, too little too late again. 
Hopefully, most of the damaged areas we will be able to "push" really hard with fertilizer to get them to fill back in.  There are some areas that we will have to reseed; #4, #8, #12, PG.  This will be a long process of regaining turf.  I am doing everything that I can to keep you playing on the correct playing surface.  I am hoping that the greens do not get any worse, because we may be looking at temporary greens if they do.  hopefully we can push through the remainder of the year get them back playable for next year. 
Please understand that it pains me terribly to have to work on something that reflects poorly on myself.

I was asked a great question

I was asked a great question this morning.  "Why aren't you watering fairways?"  In all honesty, I have not altered any of the fairway programs from last year.  We water fairways on a 3 day a week schedule for which they receive 20 minutes of water per irrigation day.  It has been very dry lately and our weak spots are showing.  Unfortunately, we have a lot of weak spots in our fairways.  Our Irrigation system is close to 30 years old, and just like a 30 year old car it breaks down a lot.  We fix the plumbing breaks as quickly as we can.  But, we also have electrical breaks to worry about.  Every irrigation head on the golf course has 2 wires running to it(a hot and a ground).  Each head also has a solenoid that tells the head whether or not to operate.  These are two of the problems with our irrigation system.  Priority #1 is to keep the water contained in the irrigation system.  Priority #2 is to make sure that the water is distributed through it properly.  I believe that we have 50 of 54 zones of the irrigation system live with water,  The 4 zones that are not live with water are scheduled for repair.  On to the electrical problems.  the most inconsistent areas that we get irrigation to are our fairways.  We have some holes such as 3, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 that get what I would consider adequate coverage (over 50% of the irrigation heads come on because they receive an electrical signal).  We have holes such as 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 18 have what I would consider inadequate irrigation (less than 50% of the irrigation heads get an electrical signal).  Then there is #12 fairway that receives no water due to electrical failures.  As I stated earlier, faulty wiring and solenoids are usually the culprit for an irrigation head not coming up electrically.  The problem is trouble shooting the electrical issue  for 1 irrigation head can take up to 4 hours to determine the problem.  My priority for Irrigation control is in the order of Greens, Tees, Fairways and then Roughs.  That is the order of priorities for fixing things on the golf course.  I'm not trying to say that we don't work on electrical issues on the golf course, because we do.  Currently we are working on electrical issues with #6-7 greens heads.  After we fix that area I want to work on #13 Tee area that gets 0 water. 

This is one of the many jobs that we do on the course other than mowing the grass.  But, first things first we need to get the water to stay in the pipes. 

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask them.

It's Winter

Well it appears that the almanac was wrong. All I heard this fall was how the winter was supposed to be mild this year. That appears to be a load of hogwash. Between some of the bitter cold temperatures we have had and the last snow fall that lasted for 8 days we really haven't been able to accomplish much outside. We are supposed to be spraying roundup and a pre emergent herbicide on the course right now. Usually I start this practice on Jan. 1st, but, thankfully, I had our Chemical Technician start spraying Tees and Fairways back in December. since January we have only had 2 days that we have really been able to spray. For those two days we spent our time cutting in the greens edges, slopes and other tight areas on the course with roundup. Below is a picture of us cutting in #1 Green.

We have also had the chance back in December to start working on the Bunker Elimination Project. We have back filled the following bunkers; #2 green side, All of #3 fairway bunkers, the front right and back green side bunkers on #10. We have also started to define the bunkers that we are going to rebuild;#7 #10 front left green side, #12 green side, #13 green side.

Jim Mcelyea and I have created a kind of "Storyboard" that shows the projects and improvements that we would like to make to the course over the next few years. Hopefully this is a helpful communication tool for us both. It is located in the Golf Shop by the counter for anyone who would like to view it.

I have a few pictures posted below of the work we have been doing lately.

The future shape of # 7 Bunker.

The future shape of # 10 front left Bunker.

The future shape of # 12 green side Bunker.

The future shape of # 13 Bunker.

This is the result of our fescue natural areas that we planted back in September on # 3 and #4.

Respect The Course

As I was walking the greens the other morning I came across some points of damage on #14 green. I thought this would be a good time and place to address this. There was a divot taken out of the green where someone swung at it with a wedge, and a drag mark where it appears that someone gouged a putter into the playing surface. These actions are inexcusable. Yes, it is legal to pitch the ball off of the putting surface if it is necessary, but we have very few greens where that play is called for and definitely not on #14.

When this type of damage occurs we have to spend time repairing these areas. This is lost time for us, time we could be spending working on other areas of the course as planned.

This is not the first time this has happened, and I seriously doubt that it will be the last. My hope is that with effort and good etiquette we can great a good playing surface for all of our golfers. Just rember to leave an area as you found it, if not better than you found it.