Pond Issues

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.

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. 

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

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.

Home Lawn Care

The heat is here and those of you with Bermuda yards are probably loving life with all of the rain that we have received this year.  The temperatures have been pretty average so it's been a pretty decent year for Bermuda so far.  During these summer months you want to make sure to fertilize your yard with about 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 ft2.  The analysis of the fertilizer should be something close to a 25-0-7 (N-P-K). An easy calibrating method would be to look at the number on the bag as a percentage of a lb/Acre.  If you have a 1 Acre yard you need 4 bags of 25-0-0 to get 1 lb of Nitrogen.  Really all you Bermuda people need right now is N, our soils in this area are naturally rich in P.  I like to put out 1 lb of fertility per month when the Bermuda is actively growing with August be the last application.  

If you really love your Bermuda you will aerify it NOW.  Aerifying you yard helps with water infiltration and gas exchange in the soil.  

For you Fescue people.  Now is usually the time that your yard is hating life and you are usually praying that your yard will make it through the next month.  Which is the same mindset that I have most of the time in the summer about my greens.  Some of the things that you can do to make it easier on your Fescue are: Watch out how much water you are using.  When it's hot out too much water is worse than too little water.  Try to only irrigate in the early morning.  As the day goes on and the temperatures rise the moisture level needs to be low, not non-existant but low.  If you are seeing some greying of the plant that is wilt.  It means you need a little more water in that area.  If you see any yellowing that is wet wilt.  It means that that area is getting too much water and in all likelihood is about to die.  There are some specialty fertilizers that you can buy at the lawn care stores to help your Fescue through the summer.  Also, make sure your cutting it at 3.5-4" tall the taller it is the more drought resistant it will be.  

I hope that these are some helpful summer stress tips.

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.

State of the Union Address

It's been a while since I posted any information on here this year. I apologize for the delay. We have had a really busy year on the golf course, the season is by no means over but it is on the decline. We have had many things going on with the course this season, both good and bad. We also have some changes that are still in progress.

The new bunkers that we built last winter were finally opened this spring. It is so nice to hit out of some actual sand when you get in a bunker. We have had nothing but compliments on them. We are getting ready to start working on some more of the problem bunkers on the course by either removing them or rebuilding them. I hope to redo 3-4 bunkers this winter and remove about 5 more. Hopefully one day we will finally finfsh the bunker project.

Irrigation has been a large headache this season. If you have ever spoken to me concerning our system, I probably said," It's our system and it is what it is". This is not a negative statement, we have a 25+ year old irrigation system, and that's what we have. It is not going to work like a brand new one, but it will get the job done for now. I spent the majority of the first part of the summer chasing heads around the course trying to get them to shut down or come on. I ended up replacing about 22 old sprinkler heads this season with new ones. We still have a few to go (850 heads on the course, replaced about 115 = about 15%).

The ponds on #11 and 12 have been an issue again. The fountains have been turned off. They are too small to operate in water that dirty. I wish they were the answer but they are not. There is a question to ask, why does #12 look so bad and #13 look so good? The answer is pond construction. The ponds are attached and #13 is filled with water from #12. #12 Pond is about 4 feet deep and #13 pond is at least 10 feet deep. In the deeper a pond it is less likely that sunlight will reach the bottom floor of the pond, and create breeding grounds for algae. I do not know if we will be able to fix the problem with #11 and 12 without starting over with new ponds.

We are in the middle of creating new natural areas. We have about 6 acres of new natural areas in the initial growth stage on #'s 8,9,10,11,12,13 and 18. The seedlings are just emerging from the seed, and we are getting ready to fertilize these areas. Most of the areas are irrigated. We are running programs with our irrigation system to make sure that these areas are watered thoroughly and have plenty of moisture for grow in. The bulk of these areas are on #11-13. When these areas have matured this area of the course will not play much differently, but will be more vsually appealing from the tee. Please keep all traffic out of these areas, and play them as ground under repair for the time being untill we establish a hazard ruling on these areas.

We have just finished aerifying the greens for the fall. I am really happy about the sand application that we made. I believe that it was the perfect amount. I played 9 holes the day after we finished, and truthfully thay are not bad to play on. Putts were not jumping around and breaks are minimal. Remember that aerified greens make your short game much better. We are already mowing the greens for the first time since punching them. I think we will get a great heal out of them.

I know this was a lot of information for one post, and there weren't a bunch of happy pictures to look at. I will do my best to get some pictures next time. And I will do my best to get more information back out to you the golfer.

Our New Water Source

I'm sure almost all of our membership knows that we are now accepting reclaimed water from the Pillsbury plant across the river. The main comment that I get from our golfers is something along the lines of, you won't have any problems putting out water now. In some respects this is true, but using reclaimed water has its draw backs too.

Reclaimed water sources typically have elements in it at unwanted levels. Typically the problem sources are pH, Bicarbonates, and Sodium. They are present in natural water sources also, but usually at an acceptable level. I have some numbers to show acceptable levels, our previous water source and our new water source below.

Acceptable Levels

pH- 6.5-7.0

Bicarbonate- 0-111 ppm

Sodium- 0-70 ppm

Calcium- greater than Sodium

Old Source

pH- 7.2

Bicarbonate- 144 ppm

Sodium - 13 ppm

Calcium - 42 ppm

New Source

pH- 7.5

Bicarbonate- 451.4 ppm

Sodium- 259.17 ppm

Calcium- 50.91 ppm

As you can see the numbers drastically increased in every category with the exception of Calcium. Unfortunately Calcium is the only part of that list that we want to be really high. What this means is that we will have to make more chemical applications and Calcium applications to combat the higher numbers of pH, Bicarbonate and Sodium.

So, yes we will be able to put out more water, and get water to areas on the course that haven't seen anything but rainfall in a long time. At the same time we have to monitor the levels of water that we put out. Sometimes too much of a good thing can turn bad. Hopefully as we can get more of our irrigation system operational, we will be able to get ample amounts of water to the turf within the scope of the irrigation system.

Also, we were able to get some national exposure for the club with the reclaimed water project. Golf Course Industry Magazine used our project as a case study in water management practices in its September 2009 issue. Here is the link for anyone who is interested in reading it.

http://golfcourseindustry.texterity.com/golfcourseindustry/200907#pg38