Ladies 3 Day Club Championship begins today

The Ladies 3 day Club Championship begins today. Good luck to all of our participants. Course should be in great shape for the event!

Joe Wachter
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Great rain for the course

We received our first significant rain at the course since the middle of June, 1.6". Sorry for the tournament going off today but this is one day I don't mind having the guys pump the bunkers. Lake was shutoff Saturday with hopeful anticipation of it filling up through a rain event and it did. Lake fill will remain off at leasr through midweek which will give us 8 days off out of 16 for this billing cycle, a much better trend.

Joe Wachter
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Drill a well instead of using city water?

Over the years, it has been my understanding that well water could not be used by most district club operations inside the 270 corridor due to its high salt content.  Brian Kohnen, a member at our club did some investigating and got an official version of that story from DNR in the letter below.  Also, even if the water was in good condition to use for turf, one of the things I had forgotten was that the volume of water that can be received from drilling a well is way below what is necessary for us to recharge our system daily.  The output in our area from a well is under 25 gallons per minute 36,000 gallons a day.(36K gallons is nothing to sneeze at and would be helpful but the water is not usable because of the high salt content).  We are in need of 10 times that amount during our heaviest usage periods during the summer.  Wells can run between $ 15-20,000 to drill.

Mr. Kohnen,

The location you provided was not quite as accurate as it needed to be (usually three or more digits after the decimal place are helpful).  However, it was close enough that along with the two logs you referred to I was able to get a good general location.  It appears the golf course you are interested in would be either the Glen Echo or Normandy course (?).  I looked at the geology across the general area of those two golf courses, and the information below is a summary.

There are major issues with getting a well to the desired yield in this general area.  Unfortunately even with 150 acres to utilize, the problems extend well beyond that distance.  Based on all the data available, I would have to say that the chance of constructing a well capable of producing over 200 gpm of useable water is extremely poor.  We had discussed the option of multiple wells feeding into a reservoir, but that may not be cost effective given the low yield of the wells that produce useable water in this general area.  That is something I suggest you discuss with your well drilling contractor and course manager.

This area has a very low yield in the bedrock between ground surface to approximately 400 to 500 feet (depending on ground surface elevation).  The yields produced generally ranges from 1 to 10 gallons per minute (gpm).   While there is considerably higher yield available in the bedrock below this depth, the water quality degrades very quickly.  There have been very few wells drilled in this area over the years, due to the conditions mentioned above.  I have looked at the water analysis from the wells of record closest to your location.

The well closest to your location was drilled to a total depth of 460 feet.  The water quality analysis done reported the following levels (in parts per million, ppm): Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 532, Chlorides 27, Sodium 148, iron 2.09.  While the iron level could be problematic, overall the water would seem to be of a useable quality.  The main problem is that the well yield was estimated at 1 gpm.  None of the surrounding wells I researched that produced from this ‘zone’ were in excess of 7 gpm.

All the data from deeper wells indicates the water quality degrades very quickly below that depth.  A well to the west of your location had unusable water (TDS over 6,000, Chlorides over 3,000) by 500 feet.    

Data from two wells approximately 1.5 miles south of this location (total depths 825 and 850 feet) indicated the yield was still less than 75 gpm.  At this depth the TDS was over 5,300, the Chloride levels were over 2,500, and the Sodium levels were in excess of 1,500.  

I’m not sure what quality of water you could still find useable for your purpose (greens irrigation).  You may wish to consult with the county extension office in your area or your greens expert as to what levels of mineralization the grass you use can tolerate.

Please see the attached map.  This is the area reviewed, if it is not correct please let me know and I can revise the review area as needed.  I’m sorry there is not better news concerning water quality and quantity in your area, if I can be of any further assistance please feel free to contact me via any of the methods listed below.

Sincerely,

Matthew Parker, RG

Division of Geology and Land Survey

Geological Survey Program

Wellhead Protection Section

P.O. Box 250  Rolla, MO 65402

573/368-2170

573/368-2317 (fax)

email: matt.parker@dnr.mo.gov

Club Championship Saturday

Congratulations and good luck to all our participants in the Club Championships today. I hope we have a good test of golf set up for you today. Congratulations to Mr. Lockhart who played his match yesterday.

Joe Wachter
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Greens back to regular height.

Are greens are being mowed at our regular height for the rest of the season. With rolling, grooming topdressing and brushing, ball roll and smoothness should improve.

Joe Wachter
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Slight Scalping in the intermediate fwy cut

As you are aware, we aerated our fairways and intermediate cut around the fairways this week.  The fairways cleaned up nicely and were completed by Wednesday afternoon.  Thanks to some of you who played through out work.  Our intermediate does not clean up quite as well due to the turf being 2 1/2 times longer than the fairway.  Today, we ran the drag over the intermediate to break up some remaining dirt and used our rotary mower that cuts around our greens and tees to cut the intermediate.  We lowered the height and off we went.  Normally, we use a reel mower like we cut our fairways and greens with but it is a very difficult mower to sharpen once dulled so I decided to use the other unit.  Being a rotary and since the rough was dragged with a metal mat and it stood up the turf, it scalped in a few areas.  The area below is the short fairway of #8 and the scalped area is a very fine bermuda grass that has been scalping slightly on the fairways.  The scalped areas will regenerate new leaves over the next few days and will be looking good again.

Our fairways are still drought stressed and are in need of a flushing rain.  Some spots on our fairways are very moist and have actually become muddy from over watering.  We are monitoring these areas closely and are changing our programs on a daily basis to increase the dry areas and decrease the wet areas.  I probably spend 45 minutes on irrigation changes each day.  The area most problematic for us has been the approach on #10.  I've actually turned off the left and middle row in this area in an effort to dry this area down.  I've also turned off heads nearby and then run them manually in the morning to insure that extra moisture is not moving into the already saturated area.

Looking toward 8 green.  Probably the worst spot on the course with the scalping.  It is a fine bladed bermuda that has actually been scalping out in the fairway.  This time of year it is growing out of control.  Scalping occurs when grass plant lengthens excessively and there are less leaves exposed after it is cut.  This gives the washed out look.  The intermediate cut scalped from the dragging and the rotary unit was mowed a little tighter than the regular reel unit.

Fairway Aeration

The front 9 was completed on Monday and we will work in the holes on the back as play allows over the next few days.  I was considering not aerating at all this season due to the drought and high heat but a reduction in the temperatures over the last 10 days and an open golf course on Monday for the first time in 3 weeks gave us the opening we needed to get well over 1/2 the fairways completed.  We lose a great deal of time during the morning with heavy dew/wet conditions.  The total process takes about 1.5-2 hours per fairway when the ground is dry but can take as much as 3 hours during the early morning hours.  Even though we used our rough aerator and did not use a close spacing fairway unit, we will still get some benefit from this aeration..

Our process included the following:

• Aerating the fairway.  
• A flail mower is used to break apart the cores.  The flail unit is fairly descriptive in how it works.  Paired spinning blades drive over the cores breaking them apart. 
• A drag is then used to break the remaining cores and help spread the dirt throughout the fairway.
• Tractor blower than blows the tufts of grass and excessive dirt across the fairway and into the rough.  
• We then finish the job off with mowing.

Aeration plugs lying on the fairway.  Normally we would have twice as many holes from 3"x3" spacing but our rough aerator is 6" x 6".

Skip using the flail mower to break up cores.

A view under the deck showing the multiple rows of small  2 3/4" blades in pairs staggered and spaced  to break up the cores.

Reggie dragging the remaining cores that do not get chopped up all the way.

 

Finished fairway after mowing.

Chef Rob

I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to thank Chef Rob on his last day of work for his 13 years of service to our great club and the last four years to widening my food appetite and the expansion of my waistline.  We hate to see you go Chef but are happy for the new adventure and opportunity you have been given.

Chef Terry will be taking over the reins of the kitchen and I believe she will do a great job.   She has worked with Chef Rob for over 9 years and has learned from the best.  She's one of the hardest working members of our staff and  I look forward to eating a lot of great meals prepared by Chef Terry and her staff!

Needle Tine Venting Greens

We are needle tine venting our greens for the ladt time this season until our fall solid tine deep aeration in late October. This will help our greens exchage gases, oxygen entering and carbon dioxide exiting. It will alao allow them to accept water in drier areas which routinely show up in the low humidity air of late summer and early fall as well as allowing wetter areas to lose or evaporate excess water.
Joe Wachter
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Fairway Aeration

We were not able to complete our normal fairway aeration after the member guest due to the extreme heat and drought conditions. With the change in temperature ans some added rainfall, we are beginning our aeration today. We are using our rough aerator which has only about half the spacing as our fairway aerator. Due to the dry conditions, large number of fairy rings, and heavy reliance on city water that is of pour quality for turf, we have a number of areas that have localized dry spots. The soil has become hydrophobic and repels water. For the future health of our fairways, I did not want to go into fall and early winter with warm season turf not accepting water. This could lead to permanent damage
I will post additional pictures during the day as the operation proceeds.

Joe Wachter
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Countdown to Bunker Renovation added to Blog Home Page

I've added a countdown clock to the home page of the blog which identifies the beginning of the project on September 17th.  Kye Goalby and I will be going over some details with the Green Committee this Thursday as we move toward the beginning of this great project.  Thanks to all of our membership who participated in funding this project.

Donations are still being accepted for the project.  Please contact Club Controller Mary Martin if you are interested in donating.

Long Range Grass Tee Schedule Change

Due to the summers heat, the long range grass has never looked better since I arrived here at Glen Echo in August of 2008. Because of the great conditions, there will be no restrictions on the grass tee availability. It will be open 6 days a week except in cases of heavy rainfall. Once we get into fall and growth has slowed, we will make changes accordingly. Enjoy some cooler weather to practice and unlimited hitting from the grass tees of the Long Range.!

Joe Wachter
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Fall Has Arrived

Not really but the red maple near 18 green is reacting to the drought and hot weather as if the first frost covered the course a few days ago. As many of you are seeing from your own neighborhoods, trees are taking a pounding this year. If a tree goes from green to completely brown and drops it's leaves in just a few days, I would think it is done but if it changes to fall color, there might be some hope. Going into dormamcy is a good thing which is a survival mechanism for plants compared to permanent dormancy which is death.

For any severely stressed trees, you can allow a slow running hose sit underneath the canopy for a few hours a couple of days each week until the drought breaks. This will give it enough water to keep it alive. One way to check the viability of a tree is the snap off the end of a branch or two on opposite sides of the tree to see if it is still green and pliable. If the branches are stiff and brittle, its probably at the end.

Joe Wachter
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Redtail Posing

I was painting hazard lines on the tee side of 9 this morning when I ran across our juvenile redtail. Concerns me a bit that it allows us so close. Members have mentioned getting very close as well. It has been mentioned that the bunker rakes on 17 has caught its attention. Little difficult to fly away with it but I'm it has tried. Maybe it's trying out for the caddy pro. I could sure a hawkeye like that locating my errant tee shots in the trees.

Joe Wachter
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Splish Splash I Was Taking a Bath

I had to include a theme video and song for this post today.  Enjoy as you checkout the rest of the post below.



I was showering the 17th green this morning and had turned on some of the rough sprinklers under the trees to the left area short of the green.  A few puddles developed underneath the tree and our new juvenile
Red-tailed Hawk decided it was time to get his/her Saturday bath.

The Redtailed Hawk waiting for the sprinkler to make its way around again.

Standing up and ready to shake its tail feathers so to speak.

Greens update

What a great break in the weather. Still a few more tough weeks left in this record breaking summer but the trend seems to be improving.

We have been mowing greens
everyday this week and are beginning to roll 3-4 days with the mowing. This should improve the smoothness of the greens as well as ball roll out. We have also been able to topdress greens with sand which can improve smoothness and plant health.

Call your fellow members, bring your friends. It should be the best weather weekend in the last 60 days so come out and see us.

Joe Wachter
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Goats at Presidio(SF)

Brain Nettz who is the Certified Superitendent at the Presidio in San Francisco and a peer of mine who I worked with at Palmer Golf has 300 goats taking care of exotic plant species at his golf course and the park in San Francisco.  See the story below.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/slideshow/Goats-in-Park-Presidio-47214.php

Lady(Sammy's Stars)

What a great production for our club yesterday regarding two hours of news coverage live from our club on the morning show.  The Pierson Plaza and flame looked awesome right before sunrise.

 Also, a glowing father has to show off his girl on 'Sammy's Stars'.  Jennifer Blome showed off Lady this morning as one of Sammy's Stars.  As we all know, she is definitely a STAR!

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/331522/68/Sammys-Stars--August-7

Greens update

This past week, I raised the mowing height another .005" of an inch to .130".  This second increase gives us a total of 7.3% increase for the season.  I do not expect to make another increase unless the health of the greens would begin to decline.  We do have 3 greens that are being mowed at a height of .140".  Holes 5,6 and 8 are three of the most vulnerable greens on property based on their lack of air movement.  In an effort to protect these greens from damage from the severe heat, I made the choice to give them just a little more protection.  I had been noticing some weakness in #6 and was concerned that if additional steps were not taken, severe turf loss could occur.   So, we made the change.  This mower is also being used as our circle or clean up cut that is performed on each green every other day.  Greens become soft and especially the edges become very vulnerable to scalping.

We will be doing some light topdressing over the next few weeks to help protect the crowns of the plants and reduce some of the scalping that occurs from greens being soft.  We will also be monitoring our water more closely in an effort to begin to firm the greens up as the heat stress becomes less severe.  We will also increase rolling which will improve ball roll and help to smooth our surfaces.

I would expect that speed will begin to improve as temperatures begin to moderate over the next couple of weeks.

Mottled Fairway Look, Localized Dry Spots, Fairy Ring and lack of rain

Our fairways have taken on a mottled look in various areas based on lack of rainfall and other factors over the past two months.  One of the biggest factors is a condition called Localized Dry Spots or LDS.  I've discussed LDS in the past.  Click on the link for an explanation of LDS.  Basically, its an area of soil or sand that repels water or does not accept water as readily as other spots in a nearby surrounding area.  The pictures below show the difficulty in managing this problem.  We've sprayed a soil penetrant on our fairways to improve the soils ability to absorb moisture

Other factors include fairy ring which leads to LDS, sodium or bicarbonate build up from our city irrigation water, and irrigation coverage.  Also, in an effort to keep our soaring water bill costs reduced as well as being environmentally responsible, water has not been applied in judicious amounts.  As temperatures begin to moderate and more normal rainfall occurs, I believe you will see improvements in the overall look of the fairways.  In the meantime, enjoy the long ball roll!

The probe was only able to pull out a two" deep  plug from the LDS spot on #10 fairway.  Only about 1" of the plug had a fair amount of moisture.

Just 6" away, the area to the right of the spot above,  the probe was able to penetrate 6" with moisture throughout the plug.

Weather You Want To Know or Not, July Stats!

Average High 98.6

Average Low  77.5

WARMEST JULY ON RECORD 88.1 DEGREES PREVIOUS 87.4 IN 1901

IN IST PLACE MOST NUMBER OF DAYS (8) WITH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN
OR EQUAL TO 105 DEGREES PREVIOUS OCCURRENCE WAS 7 DAYS IN 1934

IN 3RD PLACE MOST NUMBER OF DAYS (15) WITH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN
OR EQUAL TO 100 DEGREES

IN 3RD PLACE MOST NUMBER OF DAYS (22) WITH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN OR
EQUAL TO 95 DEGREES

TIED IN FIRST PLACE MOST NUMBER OF DAYS (28) WITH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER
THAN OR EQUAL TO 90 DEGREES PREVIOUS OCCURRENCE WAS IN 1901 AND 1936

IN FIRST PLACE MOST NUMBER OF DAYS (2) WITH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN
OR EQUAL TO 85 DEGREES PREVIOUS WAS 1 DAY IN 2011 AND 1901

IN FIRST PLACE MOST NUMBER OF DAYS (11) WITH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN
OR EQUAL TO 80 DEGREES PREVIOUS WAS 9 DAYS IN 2011

IN 2ND PLACE MOST NUMBER OF DAY (21) WITH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN
OR EQUAL TO 75 DEGREES  The two records above are some of the most difficult for turf managers.  If night temperatures stay down, greens can cool more which assists the turf with recovery.

8TH DRIEST JULY ON RECORD (Our weather station only received .52" of rain in July which would have made the 2nd driest July on record.

THERE WERE 8 RECORD HIGHS AND 7 RECORD HIGH MINIMUMS SET DURING THE MONTH.  THE
RECORD HIGH MINIMUM SET ON JULY 25TH TIES THE ALL TIME WARMEST MINIMUM EVER
RECORDED IN ST. LOUIS. THE PREVIOUS WAS SET ON JULY 24 IN 1901.

JULY 25TH ALSO GOES INTO THE RECORD BOOKS AS THE 2ND WARMEST AVERAGE DAILY
TEMPERATURE EVER. IN 1ST PLACE 97.5 DEGREES ON JULY 14 1954