Winter Projects

We have started the process of going through our accessories.  We have painted all of our tee markers and our practice area flagsticks.  Next we will resurface our course flagsticks and put on new bottoms so the sticks fit tight in the cup.  We will be cleaning, polishing and repairing our ballwashers, garbage cans, and bunker rakes. 

Two of the larger indoor projects we have left to do are to refurbish our benches and do the yearly maintenance on our equipment.The wood part of the bench will be sanded and restained and the metal frames will be repainted. For the equipment we go through each piece and change fluids and filters, inspect transmissions and brakes, replace worn parts, grind and install new bedknives or blades and rebuild engines if neccessary.

This photo below is a project to improve the playing surface of our greens.  This is a brush that will help groom the turf (lift it up) so the mower can do a better job of cutting.  This will cut the grass in a more upright position, which in turn will create a smoother surface.  The smoother surface helps putts to roll more "true".  If you have ever heard the term "grain" this is what we are trying to reduce.  If you haven't heard the term it is: the grasses natural tendency to lay a certain direction.  Often times you can have turf on a playing surface that will lie in varying directions.  This should to be a great improvement and we completed the project in-house for a fraction of what it would have cost to buy!

                                                                 

   

Winter Projects

One of the projects we have been busy with this winter is the removal of Buckthorn and Boxelder trees to the right of the Out of Bounds markers as you leave the Red tee on #9 and walk over to the Driving Range.

You can see the before picture below.

Below is the after photo.

The goal with this project was to remove the evasive Buckthorn and to open the hole up and increase the pace of play.  Now if your ball is hit to the right it will not be knocked down into the Out of Bounds.  You will also be able to see the flight of your ball and be able to find it quicker. It will be much easier to know whether you ball is still in play or not.

Project Update

Course Project Update:


Stump cleanup is complete.

Stump filling should be completed by Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Tee work- Tees on #7, 8, 12 have be sodded and seeded. We will have some finish work around the bases of the tees sod cutting an edge and adding a little more sod.  Irrigation on #3 tee will go in Monday and Tuesday of next week and we will be hauling in some topsoil.  They should be ready for seed and sod by the end of the week.  The banks to the right of the tee and behind will be sodded with Bluegrass and the left side will be seeded with a blend of native type Fescues.  This is the same type as we used on #4 Blue/Black tee.

Filling of low area off of #13 tee - we have installed drainage and will be adding more soil to raise the area a few feet. This soil will be hauled in starting next week.  As with all these projects it will depend on weather.

The height of cut on #6 and #16 green is currently at .135" as compared to .125" on the rest of our greens.  It will be brought down the rest of the way to match the other greens on the golf course by wednesday of next week.

Please feel free to contact me with further questions.

Project time

   With a shortened Holiday week behind us and the addition of some summer help we will be digging into our list of projects for the summer.  We will be continuing our stump work this week with a final round of grinding and cleanup.  We will also be filling holes and prepping for sod.  We started some preliminary work on the banks of the tees and will continue our work to get those ready to be sodded.  We will also be adding some better soil to the tee tops to prepare them for seeding.  Irrigation needs to be altered on the tee on #8 and #7.  We will need to re-install irrigation in #3 tee as the old irrigation is no longer useable.
   This week we will also be making our first application of growth regulators to our fairways and greens.  This helps to keep growth consistent and under control so we can get a better quality of cut and reduce our labor.  With the peat soils in our fairways, any time we get rain we get a release of nutrients that causes a flush in growth.  Often times you can achieve good speed in the morning but as the day goes on growth slows them down.  Applications to our greens help in keeping green speeds consistent throughout the day.
   Finally, with the loss of our Mechanic we are doing our best to keep the golf course conditioning at the level you have come to expect.  We will have set backs here and there but are committed to keeping the golf course conditions and your golfing experience our top priority.  We will do our best to complete our projects in a timely fashion and with the highest workmanship possible.  We appreciate your understanding.

Spring Is Here

As courses cleared of snow cover this spring many courses in the Metro area were faced with the death of some of their playing surfaces (greens, tees, or fairways). Dellwood was not immune as we found varying degrees of damage. While our tees and fairways came through the winter in good shape our most notable damage was to the 6th and 16th greens. Most of the damage on these greens seems to have occurred where the water drains off. To speculate on how it occurred can be challenging as these areas were under snow cover for a good 4.5 months. The damage could have occurred as a result of rain back in November, prolonged ice cover, or from a thaw/freeze event in the last 6 weeks.




As we can not change the weather events of this past winter it is of utmost importance to have a recovery plan. As the damage on these two greens was extensive and found throughout the green I felt it necessary to re-seed these areas. Our nursery sod supply is limited which also played a part in deciding to seed. We have gone into these greens and vertical mowed in three directions. This removes some of the dead tissue and creates a seed bed for the Bentgrass seed. Next we seeded the greens in two directions and followed with a brushing. We followed that with a sand/peat topdressing and another brushing. To finish we fertilized with an organic slow-release fertilizer and a soil amendment to aid in establishment of the seedlings. In order for the seed to germinate it requires two things, moisture and warm soil temperatures. Moisture is the easy part of the equation as our irrigation is already charged and operational. In order to achieve the soil temperatures we need we must cover the greens with a greens cover. This is a woven, breathable blanket that will create somewhat of a greenhouse over the surface. It is green in color and will absorb sunlight and warm the soils. Unfortunately it does very little to heat or retain heat in the soils at night, but there use could be the difference between playable surfaces by the middle of May or the middle of June.

We will be taking the greens out of play and using temporary greens while the grass is re-established. Although Bentgrass is a very tough and resilient grass type the seedling stage is very fragile and does not handle traffic. Our plan is to cover these greens until the seed germinates and gets to the point of needing to be mowed. This will most likely take about two weeks depending on the weather of course. We appreciate your patience in helping us achieve the best possible outcome, which is to have our greens back to normal playing condition before summer arrives.



Growing the Game of Golf

I'm sure we have all thought of how to grow the game of golf and how to make our club more healthy financially.  I recently came across this article in the Wall Street Journal that is out side of the box but is worth pondering.  Check it out:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576136270684216848.html

New Look to #3 Tee

This past Friday we were able to get all the soil hauled in (and rough graded) that was needed for our project on #3 Tee.  We are splitting #3 tee up into 3 tees by elevating the middle third of the tee 18" and the back third 36".  This is being done to break up the "Runway tee" and to allow sight lines to the pond from any where on the tee.  The final grading, irrigation installation, and seeding will be completed this spring and the back two thirds should open for play by early summer.
We will also be adding a new blue/black tee for #12 and a new forward tee to #7.  All of this was done with the money that was donated by Stan Hollen and Mike Hilliard.

Clearing snow from the existing tee surface.

More snow clearing and attempting to strip top soil (it was too frozen).

Staking, hauling soil and shaping the middle third of the tee.

View from the 12th tee box.

Finishing the shaping of the middle third and staking the back third.

Finishing the shaping of the back third and hauling in some top soil for the both back tiers.

View from the 12th tee.

Willow on the Corner #8

This video is of the removal of the large Willow on the edge of the pond on#8.  It is taken from the tee so it is a little harder to see than I expected.  It didn't help that it was so cold I was shaking.  Hopefully as I get accustom to adding video we can make a few tweaks to make it better. 

Tree Competition

This series of pictures illustrates what happens to trees that are planted too close to one another as they mature. 



In the first picture you can see trees that are bending (this would have been even more apparent if I had taken a picture more in line with the ground). These trees are seeking light which is necessary to produce the food the tree needs to survive. This is a group of trees to the left of the 11th green.   

These trees are to the left of the 3rd green.  You can see the 2 trees on the right are growing to the north and one of the trees on the left is growing to the south.

These are two trees to the right of #3 green.  Here again you can see they are growing slightly in opposite directions to increase their light intake.



These trees are too close to each other and you can see some strange branching that could be have happened in response to needing more light.



In addition to staying busy removing trees, Jeff, Kerry, Eric and our faithful member volunteer Gordy Eicher have been chipping brush and burning our brush piles.

Chipping brush #4 Green

It took three of us two days to chip most of the brush from the trees that were removed on the north side of the railroad tracks.

                                                                               



  

                  The burning of the brush piles in our 3 collection sites took us about 8 days to complete.  You may be able to see the reason for how long it took us in the photo below.  There was anywhere from 1-2 feet of snow on top of the piles.



Burning brush to the right of #4

 

Continued tree work

As we have continued to make a lot of progress on our tree removals this winter we find more evidence to show that some of these trees are "at risk" trees.  You can see in these photos the cracking and cavities that are present. 

There is no doubt that is has been a wise choice to remove these trees proactively.

In this photo to the left you can see all the rotten wood that surrounds the cavity.  These trees can be very unpredictable especially if they are softer wooded trees.  Another element that comes into play is the size of the tree.  Once trees get large they are impacted by the elements (wind, lightning, rain) to a greater degree.  They also become quite heavy.  I would compare this to putting a backpack on that is loaded down.  If you are not strong enough to handle the extra weight it will effect your stability much more.  Obviously this is a slow process and at what point in the thinning of the trees trunk will failure occur, I don't know.  I have not heard of a definitive way to predict trees failure in this instance.

Golf Course Opening and Closing Stats

This is an e-mail I received from the National Golf Foundation that I thought would be of interest to you readers:

NGF 2010 Openings/Closures Summary - Market Correction of Supply/Demand Imbalance Continue



NGF tracked 46 18-hole equivalent golf course openings in 2010 vs. 107 closures, for a net negative of 61, the fifth consecutive year that closures have outpaced openings. The total net loss of 220 18-hole courses from 2006-2010 represent roughly 1.5% of the total supply. The 2010 net loss of 61 courses in 2010 represents less than one half of one percent of total supply. Considering the severity of the recession, one could argue that golf has held its ground reasonably well.


These are some of the details emerging from NGF's Golf Facilities in the U.S. report, 2011 edition, which will be released in early February:


There were openings in 29 states.


Of the 46 openings, more than 60% were daily fee


There are currently more than 80 U.S. golf course projects under construction (excluding renovations)


States with the most openings in 2010 were Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina and Texas


The region with the most courses currently under construction is the South Atlantic with 16.5 courses.


The total facility count at the end of 2010 stood at 15,890, 167 less than the all-time high of 16,057 in 2004. And the current number of 18-hole equivalents is 14,904.5, which is less than the number of facilities due to the large number of stand-alone 9-holers (4,382).


Please contact NGF with any questions or inquiries.

Tree Removals Winter 2010-2011

At the Dec. 9th Greens and Grounds meeting I presented the list of trees to be removed this winter.  After reviewing the list the Committee did not feel there was a need to approve the list as it only included trees that needed to be taken down due to conditions or was part of the on-going Management Plan that was done by StrataPoint Inc.

The list below has two categories.  The first is trees that need to be taken down due to their condition.  The second is a list of trees that were recommended (Tree Management Plan) for removal.  I have also included the page or pages from the Plan where the recommendations can be found.

Tree Removals Winter 2010-2011

At Risk Trees
#1 Willow left of fairway bunker (decline and splitting/Plan pg.103)
#4 Willow near creek (closest the green) (damage and splitting)
     Oak behind green (dead)
#5 Cottonwood left hillside (lightning)
#8 Willow and Silver Maple left of tee (damage and splitting)
     Willow left of fairway next to pond (damage and cavity at base)
     River Birch right side past irrigation controller (dying/dead)
#10 Willows (2) right off of forward tee (damage)
#16 Silver Maple right of cart path by tees (multi-stem cracking)
       Willow near pond closer to #11 (damage)
#17 Willow near forward tee (cavity)
       Pine (2) past bunker (storm damage)
#18 Oak (4) left of tee (Oak Wilt)
Clubhouse - Buckeye next to small parking lot (splitting)

Other Removals Based on Tree Plan and Turf Condition
#1 Ash and Pine behind green (Plan pg.53 pgs.16-18&29)
#2 Ash next to cart path at green (Plan pgs.16-18&29)
     Cottonwood (6) dieback (out of play)
#4 Ash left of approach (Plan pgs.16-18&29)
     Linden and Oak behind green (Turf Conditions/Plan pg.75)
#6 Silver Maple right of green (Plan pgs88-89/Turf Conditions)
#7 Silver Maple and Pine between green and cart path left side(Plan pg.92/Turf Conditions)
     Pines behind green (3 of the 5) (Plan pg.93)
#10 Silver Maple next to fairway bunker (Plan pg.107/Turf Conditions)
#12 Ash (2) left of green (Plan pgs.16-18&29)
       Silver Maple right of green (Plan pg.116/Turf Conditions)
       Linden (2) right of fairway (Plan pg.117)
#13 Ash (6) between green and #14 tee (Plan pgs.16-18,29&122)
#14 Ash (9), Tamarac (2), and Silver Maple (1) behind green (Plan pgs.16-18,29&132/Turf Conditions)
#15 Silver Maple (2) left off of tee (Plan pg.134-135)
       Pine left of approach (Plan pg.134-135)
#16 Ash (5) right of approach and Ash (4) and Silver Maple (1) behind green (Plan pgs.16-18,29&140/       Turf Conditions)
#17 Ash (3) left of tee (Plan pgs.16-18&29)
#18 Ash (2) and Oak (1) left of approach (Plan pgs.16-18,29&150)

I will continue to keep you post on our progress.

Going for a Spin.

 

Some of you may not be aware that we had a car drive down the 13th fairway across the green and then return to the tee.  Fortunately, the damage was not too severe and we were able to fix the green fairly quickly.  I think the fact that it has been so dry the last few weeks helped.  The green still has some blemishes on the left front of the green but for the most part it hasn't affected playability.

 

Fairway aerification



Fairway aerification using a walking aerator.



We have been very fortunate to have the long stretch of dry weather the past few weeks.  This allowed us to complete fairway aerification before the remainder of our crew was done for the year.  It was very important for us to get that completed as we were not able to this past spring due to weather and the golf calendar.  Aeration is a practice that is done a number of reasons but for us the most important reason on our fairways is to remove organic matter.  This allows for gas exchange and for water to get into the soil.  Organic matter is the dead grass blades and roots that have not decomposed.  They can create a barrier to water and air movement.  Our Bentgrass also loves to grow horizontally and aeration helps decrease grain (the laying over of turf) by severing the leave/stem tissue.

Dragging the fairway to move the soil back into the turf canopy.

   This year our process started with aerifiying the fairway.  Most of this was done with a roller type aerifier (similar to the ones used on home lawns, only much larger) but we did use a walking unit for some smaller fairways.  After that was completed we vertical mowed the fairway.  This was done for two reasons: the first was to help break up the plug or break the soil off the thatch and second to again sever the leave/stem tissue.  Our plan is to ramp up this practice in spring and fall when the stress to the turf from heat and humidity are not present. We hope to see if we can impact the graininess of the playing surface.  We follow this with a dragging using a large piece of fence, which removes any remaining soil from the thatch.  We finish the process by blowing the thatch into the center of the fairway and cleaning it up.  









Things not as the seem.

   Although I am not thoroughly convinced that skunks were not involved in the damage that took place this Fall, there were definitely others that were.  I spent a couple unproductive nights and a few early mornings doing some scouting for what was to blame for the ravaged turf.  In the end our live trap produced 3 Raccoons and 1 Oppossum.  For now it appears the damage has stopped.  I am not sure if that is because we have gotten rid of the offenders or if the food source (grubs) has moved down in the soil to over-winter.  Next year we will be dealing with the problem through preventative insecticide applications to get rid of the grubs. 

Skunks

Some of you may have noticed lately that something has been tearing up rough areas as well as the edges of a fairway.  At this point the damage has been near the fairway bunker on #4, behind the green on #5, behind and to the left of #13 green, some on #17, and the fairway and bunker edge on #18.  As best as I can tell this is being perpetrated by skunks.  They typically pull chunks of turf out and root around to find grubs that are under the turf.  As you might imagine this problem poses a few challenges.

These grubs are Japanese Beetle larvae that were laid back at the beginning of August.  We have seen an increase in the number of mature beetles on the golf course over the last two seasons.  Long-term we will have to look at making preventative insecticide applications if we are going to avoid turf damage from the grubs and from predators.  We have made some insecticide applications to get rid of the grubs but dealing with the skunks is a problem we will have to address delicately.  Stay tuned! 

Greens recovery

The greens are recoverying and we have returned to walk mowing and are starting to lower our height of cut back down now that most of the sand is gone.  We have also fertilized greens which will help the greens to recover completely by the end of the weekend.  The down side of this is that with the rapid recover we will continue to have slower green speeds through the weekend.  We are very close to our normal height of cut but the fertilizer and hot, humid weather this weekend will really push growth especially in the afternoon.  This morning the speed was just bearly 10' after rolling.  We will continue to roll but I do not expect it to get our speeds back into our ideal speed of between 10' and 11' on the stimp until next week. 

What is that stuff?

This is Dollar Spot (turf fungus) that is been growing rapidly in rough areas.  This is the tee bank along the 16th tee box.

 

This is what Dollar Spot looks like on a fairway.  We have seen some severe disease pressure and fungicide efficacy has been shortened.

This is a picture of Brown Patch.  A number of these diseases we have seen very little of in the past few years.  This is primarily because of the quantity of pressure and the severity shortening our spraying windows/schedule.

Why are covering that green with soil?

That is a green that has been topdressed with a layer of sand and is in the process of being cored.  After the green is cored we drag the sand and cores to fill the holes in the greens back up.

These are pictures of #7 and #12 right after we received that 1.5" rainfall.

Enough with the Heat

   We have been able to complete greens aerification in spite of the 1.5" of rain we received Sunday night. We were delayed but finished up the remaining greens Monday. The 4th and 6th green were very saturated and have not cleaned up well.
   We have completed some of the tees but feel it is best if we wait to complete those until after this bad spell of weather ends. We are in the midst of a bad weather week. Temperatures are staying between 85-90 degrees, the humidity if very high and we have continued to receive additional rainfall all week.  So far the golf course is doing alright and we do have preventative fungicide applications down but with disease pressure this high the fungicides efficacy will be reduced. We have been scouting for signs of break through and have made spot applications to help us through this intense pressure.  The good news is there is a break in the weather pattern coming Sunday. 
  Unfortunately golf is played on a playing surface that is constantly changing and the weather plays a key role in that. We are going to do our best to keep it in the most playable condition we can.  That is why we have closed the course for cart use a couple of times this week.  We did not want to stress the turf out more and invite pathogens to infect the turf.  We are hopeful green speeds will return to normal next week as the greens dry out and begin to heal.