Drain/Cover, Restrict/Educate and Pound Sand

 Well, it appears we are coming out of winter in pretty good condition generally speaking. All of our turf has not awakened but I am seeing a tinge of green in some of our zoysia areas. We still have to see if some high traffiked areas are damaged from foot and or carts. More on traffic later.  

DRAIN/COVER

The drain and cover part our blog would not have occurred without some dry weather at the first of the month. This allowed us to make great progress on the drainage project from 6 cart path all the way down to 8 cart path. We finished installing of our small drain lines and covered as much as we could in sod. Over 1,800 yards of zoysia and fescue were laid in various areas. The front of 6 green approach and 8 fairway were covered in zoysia. The left rough on 8 and a few strips along the drain line in front of 7 tee were covered. The remaining areas still need some additional soil and a little bit of settling time.

Laying zoysia sod in front of 6 approach. 30 yard rolls.

After adding some additional soil to the left of 6 green Skip is smoothing it out. Still need to add more dirt to the area and more grading once the rain has stopped.

Some finish soil to help smooth out 8 fairway drainage site.

Skip grading on 8 fairway.

We used the forks on the box to break up the soil surface. We then graded with the box blade finished graded with our bunker rake. Our sod producer who was one of the owners of the company complimented us on our finish grade work. Sorry, for some reason didnt take a finish grade picture.

Big roll sodding 8 fairway.

Almost complete, had to bring in more zoysia the next day with the fescue.

Looking from the green side of 8 across the zoysia.

Big roll fescue going in on the left rough.

From 8 cart path looking across toward 7. Just waiting on some drier and warmer weather weather to get this area opened. It will need to firm considerably before we open it for play.

Signage and ropes asking you to avoid these wet areas at the bottom of 3 green.

Looking across 8 near the intersection of 7 tee cart path. With exposed soil above the newly sodded area, we decided to put some hay bales across to catch the soil from washing down on the new sod until we can get it covered with grass. Bottom right foreground are a few stips of fescue we had left over from 8 rough that we laid on solid ground that was not disturbed except from construction traffic ..

RESTRICT/EDUCATE

With the warm weather comes an increase in cart traffic. With increased cart traffic comes the need to restict cart traffic to slow the potential damage to emerging turf which is slow to awaken from its winter slumber. I made some soical media posts regarding cart traffic and the damage that can be caused from excessive wear. I thought it would be important to include it as a part of the blog post for those of you who do not follow our social media accounts.

We have various areas of the course which have springs coming out of them until the summer. There is of course just regular water weeping for short periods of time after heavy periods of rain from slopes into lower lying areas like illustrated below on 3. We have cart signs and ropes in areas on #3, #12 and #13 at this time. There could be other areas that develop over time that we will monitor and might have to place additional restrictions.

3 Fairway directing carts around wet areas next to hill side.

We have a number of holes that have permanenent stakes and decorative rope to force traffic to stay on the path until arriving past the starting points of the fairway. In most cases, carts should be driven on the path and then turn 90 degree into the fairway. Going directly from the teeing ground straight through the rough into the fairway creates signicant wear and tear at the beginning of the rough and fairway. 

Many are using these areas like they are interstate on ramps. 

We understand if you hit a shot that is short of the fairway. Its okay to take your cart to the ball and then move to the fairway. Golfers in carts are kind of like cattle and or dogs, They walk or drive the same trail, walk along the fence the same place without thinking of the damage that is occuring. Excess wear and tear costs money and time in renovation and makes the course not look its best. 

This is a pirme area of concern off of 3 cart path. The path comes straight down the hill and turns to go alongside of the fairway. The area at the bottom of the hill has a tendency to be a little wetter than other areas as well. You should not drive straight through to the fairway. 

No means NO CARTS proceed through this area. Carts should remain on the path and then turn left somewhere past the drain area to go across to your ball laying in the fairway. If its over in the left tree line, you can still cross the fairway at a 90 degree angle from the cart path.

Area at the start of eight fairway is roped off to reduce wear and tear. We have also roped off areas on  four, five and seven. As you might not be aware, this takes time away from 

the mowing team as they are mowing the rough. You have to get off your mower, take the stakes down, mow through and then get back off the mower and put them back in place. At times, a manager will be doing other things and will stop in and help remove the stakes but it takes time. I like the natural look of a course and don't like to have to put up stakes and signs but this is something we are forced to do if we want these areas to look good.

Please assist us this season in reducing cart traffic issues by following a 90 degree rule as often as possible.

POUND SAND

No, were are not saying get lost. We are pounding sand into our greens to improve the overall growth of our greens both above and below surface. Our contractor arrived on Tuesday and used three machines to do this work. Cloudy and wet conditions slowed our process but we were able to complete all nineteen greens by the end of the day. 

Dry sand is injected into the surface of the greens with a bead of water with a force of 2-3000 psi. The work is completed on 3"x3" centers. It takes about 10-15 gallons of sand for each pass on the green. Our staff had to move about 40 tons of sand in 5 gallon buckets at a time to fill the sand hoppers on the units. We normally brush and roll the greens but we had to wait until Wednesday to complete this operation. There area a number of benefits in doing this process;

• Opens the surface of the greens to improve infiltration of moisture into drier areas and allows wetter areas to dry more quickly
• Allows sand to be injected into the green mixing with the thatch and assisting in its control
• Provides new pathways for roots to grow and branch/spread
• The sand expands out wider than a normal 1/2" aeration hole as it reaches the 4-5" range of depth
• There is not a lot of excess sand on the surface which is a positive of the process. The remaining sand is brushed into the canapy which improves protection of the crowns of plants and also helps to smooth the greens surface.

Below is an illustration from the Dryject website on how it works. Further down the page is a quick video of the process. We also intend to deep tine our greens to about 8" if the rain ever stops. We might be forced to do this over a number of days and do it when we are open. We will do everything we can to not inhibit play  I wll keep you informed as time goes by when this process will begin. This double aearation process is necessary to help improve the drainage in our greens.

Extra Cart Traffic

With concern for our members and guests health during this difficult time, the use of single cart riders has been recommended for non-household related players. With an increase in total carts being used, additional wear and tear is occurring on various areas of the course.

There are a few tips I would like to remind those using carts which will assist in reducing wear and tear to our zoysia turf which is coming out of dormancy and is not actively growing. I made a video 6 years ago which will explain the pattern cart operators should use to protect our playing surfaces.

Also a reminder that there is a green post positioned 20-30 yards from the green which directs all carts to go back to the cart path. This improves turf quality on our approaches and reduces traffic away from our green surrounds.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D7xEFr4GGYU

Carts should enter the fairway perpendicular to the fairway. This not only
reduces wear and tear on our rough grass before the fairway but also reduces traffic
on our zoysia fairways. It also improves the aesthetics and overall look of the course.
This is a picture at the bottom of #3 but translates to all cart path to fairway access areas.

A Visit From Lady, One of Her Pet Peeves, Where Carts Should Be Entering Fairways!

Time for Lady to make an appearance again. Hello my beautiful girl!  We continue to have carts using walk paths as goat paths from the tee areas to the start of fairways instead of entering the fairway from the side. A video from 3 years ago and current picture of what we are asking are below. This is a pretty simple request that will improve our turf, reduce watering and wear and tear in these areas. 

Carts should enter fairways from the sides as the top 2 arrows demonstrate. Entering from the bottom looks terrible at the least plus look at the wear and tear and weaker turf conditions.

Disappointed, Cart Etiquette or Lack Thereof

I was having a great morning mowing fairways this morning until I came upon Hole 3 and saw the remnants of a cart driver with poor cart etiquette and lack of concern regarding the rules for the day.
A majority of people who play at this club follow the rules and do what is asked in regards to the etiquette golfers should use in playing the course. I'm very lenient and prefer to side on the let's play normal than forcing cart path issues all the time but when we have rain for a couple of days straight the expectation should be that we will be on paths. I'll let the video explain it all. By the way, I left this video with a comedy label. I had a few other choice words I could use but I will leave that up to your imagination!

https://youtu.be/5p0GKlWo0Z4

Weather Stats for March, Water Line Repair/Cart Path Repair, Ornamental Bed Rejuvenation and More

The very nice weather stats for March.

MONTHLY RECORDS

9TH WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD

TIED 2ND LEAST NUMBER OF OCCURRENCES OF MINIMUM TEMPERATURE LESS
THAN OR EQUAL TO 32 DEGREES

DAILY RECORDS

3/8...RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 63 PREVIOUSLY 62 IN 1974

3/15...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 82 PREVIOUSLY 81 IN 2012

Temperature
                                    Observed      Normal Value    Departure from Normal  Last Year

High                                 62.5                   55.9                           6.6                            57.2
Low                                  43.6                   36.6                           7.0                            35.6
Average                            53.0                  46.3                            6.7                           46.4

Precipitation

Rainfall                             2.29"                3.32"                        -1.03"                       3.0"

Snowfall                              .3"                  2.3"                          -2.0"                          .6"



The short range grass tee is now open. Long range tee will be another week or so. Short range tee is built on sand which allows it to warm quicker and begin growing and repairing itself a little faster. Long range also sits in a hole and its definitely colder down here but it is looking good.

The staff repaired the water line for the water fountain on #14 yesterday. The leak was directly in the middle of the cart path. They cut the asphalt out and were able to locate the leak about 15" underground and made the repairs pretty quickly.

Tom and Jason down to the dirt.

Leaking metal line on the right side of the picture.

Skip touching up the new asphalt patch.

Russ packing and smoothing the newly laid asphalt.

At the top of hill of #7 about 50 yards from the green  significant bump that developed over the last year or so in the cart path. The boys cut out the asphalt and patched the area to make it smooth again. Also at the main road and 7 cart path, we have had the little path blocked off that goes up the right side of the hole. We are eliminating this cart road because of the wear and tear it creates at the beginning and up the right side of the fairway for at least 50 yards. Excessive cart traffic weakens the zoysia. We used the asphalt saw to cut a small walk path for our walking golfers to continue to use. We will be picking up the asphalt next week and will fill the area with soil and fescue sod next week. We will be placing Ornamental wood stakes with rope along the main road to block cart traffic from entering this area. We are requesting that carts use the left path and then cross the fairway. 

Russ tamping the new repair on hole 7.

Finished

The arrows point to the new path that will be for walkers only. Rope and stakes will be used to direct carts to the left path on #7 near the red tee. Excessive wear at the beginning of the fairway from cart traffic is the reason for the changes.

Becky has designed a new planting scheme for the Bubble Ornamental Bed. The existing bed was a bit overgrown and tired and was in need of some attention. I pulled the plant material out today, we will be tilling the area, adding soil, changing the shape of the bed, adjusting irrigation as needed, till in compost for the new bed and plant it all hopefully within the next week. Some of the perennials she planned are still growing in the greenhouse and will be delayed in their installation until they are mature enough to plant.

Plants removed and now empty.

You will notice some additional sod work was completed by the staff early this week. Areas repaired include the drive off near 8 green just short of the bunker. The left fairway bunker on #5 needed some replacement. There was an area to the ornamental planting as you come down the hill toward the first tee. Trees have been removed in this area but rough mowers and roughed up this spot pretty significantly over the last few years. This area had soil added and new sod. A few other spots were completed as well like the walk off area near 17. We used 480 yards of fescue sod in the last 2 weeks. 

Fairways and all tees were mowed early in the week. Yes it will be cold Friday night but I don't expect the temperatures will be cold enough to stop the green growth in our warm season grass.

Greens continue to heal but these cold temperatures have not done us any favors. I did roll a few balls on the putting green today and our ball roll is improving noticeably since we have been able to mow a couple of times this week. We mowed and rolled today and will roll the greens again in the morning if the frost stays away and greens aren't damp. Warmer temperatures next week with early week rain should continue to move them in the right direction.

Late Fall, Winter Play

As the weather is changing, time for discussion regarding late fall and winter play rules.

This season we will allow carts off the paths as long as conditions are dry enough to do so. It does not take a lot of rain and or snow to place carts back on paths so when dry conditions and temperatures are comfortable, you should take advantage of this situation. A little golf, a couple cocktails and a lunch or dinner makes for a great day and helps the bottom line of the club. As freezing and freezing/thawing cycles begin to occur more frequently later in the season, cart path restrictions might become more frequent.

Also a part of our winter rules is for the practice ranges to be on mats only. I understand the desire to hit off of the ground but if we allowed play all winter on the zoysia, that area would be destroyed because of its inability to heal. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

I would expect frost to be on the increase as we move later into November. As a reminder, we will not allow play onto the course until the frost has lifted. One of the things we will face later into winter is frozen ground/frozen turf blade conditions from harder freezes. I don't worry as much about the ground being frozen as long as the grass blades are soft and pliable. One of the things I'm most concerned about later in the season is when the ground is frozen beneath but the surface begins to thaw. It might be a warm day above ground but this type of condition can create serious root shearing issues for us and damage our greens with every step. This type of condition will force us to remain closed until the freeze has lifted our of the green and allowed the surface moisture to drain away. I will discuss this problem in greater detail when our winter thaw occurs.

In the meantime, the staff has been busy blowing leaves everyday. From green's surfaces, tees, fairways, rough and bunkers. We also use our mowers to help grind them up once they are placed in winrows on the course. We will be breaking out our vacuum as well during the heaviest period over the next few weeks. We haul this material to the dump in the back of the driving range.

We are down to 5 hourly(Nick, Russ, Tom, Jason and Randy) Hort Becky, mechanic Dave and Skip/myself. We lose Randy after this week and Becky and Nick at the end of November. Still a lot of leaves to come off the trees. We appear to be 10-12 days behind in leaf drop so we will be deep into fall before most are down.

Come out and take advantage of this great weather over the next couple of days. It should be fun!!

Cart Entrance to 7 Fairway, Bermuda Spray in Rough and , Caution! Construction Trucks On Property

Video below discusses the reasons for the rope across the right path along #7. Path is going to be removed this fall. It will be kept large enough for walkers but that is all.  All carts should use the left path in front of the red tee to enter along the fairway of Hole 7.

https://youtu.be/olrxkPQV6Xc





Our Bermuda eradication spray is beginning to show up in some of our rough. See the picture below.

The arrow on the left side is pointing away from the right of 12 green. This area was sprayed with a lighter rate of Pylex onto the collar and the first cut. You can see the darker green color.  The two arrows on the right shows the effects at full rate on the Bermuda after only 2 days. You will see this in a few  areas around greens and in some of our main rough. The left side of #11, around 13, 7, 10, 17 and 18.  Along fairways 1-4, 10, 16-18.

Mark Matteson who works for Clayco has located  some dirt for us to fill in the old tennis court area and for some other uses on the course. There will be some construction trucks delivering soil to the back parking lot and the long range. I expect this will begin next week but have not actually spoken with the hauler. We will also be using our dump truck to move the soil to the tennis courts during this time. I just wanted to warn you regarding these large trucks entering and exiting the property.

Cart Traffic #3 and Other Holes

The picture below illustrates how carts should proceed on a hole from tee. #3 has Bermuda that is slow to establish from last falls spray and also is usually wet in the spring. Our efforts are to get zoysia back into all of these spread of fIrway which requires less traffic. All carts should enter fairways from the side and not straight on from the tee like a highway ramp. Excessive wear occurs plus the look of the course is effected by tire tracks from the tees. We appreciate your cooperation.

The arrows demonstrate the path carts should take. It's is also helpful if carts take different paths to the fairway to reduce excess wear on the entrance paths.

This is another area that should be avoided. Bottom of 10 just past the right cart path. Many land below and too the right. Easy to do, drive around it. Allow it to heal. Created by shade and cart traffic.

Asphalt work completed

Fontana Paving was out yesterday to patch a couple of small areas on the course. Next to 3 green and at the bottom of 4 near the red tee.  106 feet of asphalt was pulled up, rock placed down and 3" of asphalt laid. We have these areas roped off for a couple of extra days.  The areas are roped off to keep cart and equipment traffic away from these spots.  Remaining funds from the bunker project paid for this work. The area on 3 was damaged during construction of the bunkers.  We still must do some dirt work and grade changes around these two areas.

Asphalt removed and rock being laid in place near 3 green.

Asphalt  being finished up before rolling.

Finished

#4 Finished

New cart control measures

If you've been out to play the course in the last week, you might have noticed some stained posts along the cart trail of #4. In years past, we've had some small green stakes with 3/8" green rope which served its purpose in restricting traffic from driving straight from 4 tee cart path to the fairway but looked rather hideous.  Over the winter, the staff prepared the posts that are now out on #4.  We've purchased some 1/2" thick nylon rope which will direct traffic to go down the cart path and up the hill before entering the fairway.  We have placed inserts in the ground that will allow us to remove the stakes during the winter season and during trimming.  We have made the two end section ropes removable so we can spread the wear and tear from cart traffic.  We will have walker access points in their appropriate place.  We have stakes set up for #8 as well to push cart traffic around the corner before entering the fairway.  I hope we can get this work completed before the holiday weekend. A big tip of the day, on every hole carts should enter from the side of the fairway and not the beginning of the fairway.

Looking back toward 4 red tee from top of hill on #4.  The two end ropes can be removed as needed to spread wear and tear from traffic.

Ladies Opening Day/Luncheon, Carts off fairways beginning Tuesday, April 16th

With the warm days and especially warm nights, we plan to allow carts on fairways beginning with the Ladies Opening Day on Tuesday, April 16 as long as conditions are dry.  So for those of you who weren't going to play because of cart path only, this restriction should be lifted as long as the rain stays away  70's are in the forecast for early next week so join the ladies already signed up for golf and the luncheon afterward.  If you don't play golf, Chef Terry will have a great dinner planned.  Guests are welcome at the luncheon.

Cart traffic issues

With the early heat, dry conditions and increased play, traffic patterns involving golf carts have been emerging that are placing extra stress on our turf and quite simply do not look good and detract from the beauty of our golf course and the hard work of our staff.  From our teeing areas, walk paths are created for our walking golfers to help reduce the amount of dew that they must walk through to get to their golf balls, hopefully in the fairway.  These paths should not be used by golf carts.  The turf is cut at a height of 1.25" and cannot handle the stress of the carts driving onto these paths.  Also, the areas in front of the tees are sometimes large expanses of turf which area stripped by our rough mower and look very good without golf carts creating traffic patters throughout the area.

Proper entrance into a fairway should be from the side of the cart path that runs along the fairway, not directly off the tee area.  This is a large area that can help reduce the amount of wear and tear on our rough.  Also, if you see wear patterns emerging, take a different route to get back to the cart path.  Golf carts seem to travel the same path like cattle do out to a field, the only difference is our members and guests can make a choice from the knowledge that changing patterns will help reduce wear and tear by altering paths from time to time.

In the picture below.  The proper way to enter the fairway would be up along the tree line on the right background where you could drive directly across to your ball.  Any opportunity to keep the cart on the path encourages better turf conditions and will save our operation money as well as improve the looks of our great golf course.

The walk path leading to 15 fairway.  The cart path tracks are ugly and unsightly and create added stress to the turf.  This requires more water and fertilizer to help the turf  recover.  We have placed cart directional arrow signs at the entrances of these paths to discourage use of these areas by golf carts.  Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Carts on Fairway/Long range grass tee open!

Before the big rain arrives this evening into Thursday, we are allowing carts on Fairways and the Long Range grass tee is open.  The Long range grass tee will be open on Wednesday, Friday-Sunday when conditions are dry enough for use.  Tuesday and Thursday all weather mat tees only.  We must reduce the use of the grass tees during the season because the tee is not large enough to handle six day a week use and have grass during the full season.

The short range zoysia tee still needs another couple of weeks of active growth before we open it

Tom mowing in front of the green of #2.  The beautiful cherry trees blooming in the background.

Fairway mowing and CARTS OFF PATHS

For those of you who have played in the last couple of days, you've probably noticed that the fairways are a little shaggy in some areas and you are probably wondering when will we allow carts off the paths for everyone.  We plan to begin mowing early next week and will allow carts off paths once we have started the mowing process.  During the season, carts will be asked to remain on paths because of rain.  There are occassions that red flags will not be allowed off of the paths as well.  Once it begins to dry, we will check the course and will notify the pro shop when red flags are acceptable again and when all carts can be off the path.

We have not mowed and let carts off paths because the turf/soil is still slightly soft and I felt we needed a couple more days of warm, dry weather before both my equipment and carts could go off paths without causing injury to our zoysia.

We appreciate your cooperation during the dormant period of the season for our zoysia fairways.  There could be some areas that will not handle traffic for the next few weeks where you might be directed by signs or stakes and rope for you to remain out of these areas.  Roped areas are set up to protect the turf and our members.  No carts including red flaged carts should enter a roped area. 

Areas which could potentially be excluded could include:

• Bottom of the hill on 3 to the pull off area.
• Approach of #8 on the north side of the road.
• The bottom of the hill on #10 to the green.
• #12 at the start of the fairway and around the 150 yard mark to bottom of the hill.

Remember, carts are to stay in the fairway only except for your return to the cart path.  Also, some areas of the rough are extremely wet this time of season.  The rule is to stay in fairways only but we know that some might stray a little off center.  Be warned that if you drive into some of the areas listed below,  you will get stuck:

• Right side of the trees on #2.
• Right of the cart path on #3.
• The entrance to the fairway in front of the red tee on #4.
• Left of the cart trail on # 7 along the tees to #5. 
• Right side of #8 approach in the trees.
• #10 in front of white tees to the lake and on both sides of  right cart path until it crosses the lake.
• Right side 10 rough  before 15 tee next to the lake.
• #12 between red tee and fairway and the bottom of the hill at about 125 yds from green on both sides of the fairway.
• Far right side rough #12 along prairie grass area(I've been stuck mowing)
• #13 bottom right of the fairway which we hope to address in the next few weeks.
• Between # 15 & #16 once you cross the dam for about 75 yards on the right.
• #16 to the lower right of the green approach.

Cart Traffic

Motorized equipment create wear and tear on the golf course. We have been lucky to have a mild summer and some nice rain over the past 3 months. As summer comes to an end and fall begins, our turfgrass is transitioning as well. It has been mowed and been driven upon thousands of times by our maintenance equipment and golf carts. We attempt to reduce this wear and tear with the various cultural practices we perform on the turf. We also attempt to reduce mechanical wear and tear by changing our routes, not mowing during wet conditions and utilizing a lighter weight piece of equipment.

On the course, we use different items to help us control cart traffic.

• We keep carts on paths during wet conditions
• We restrict carts to fairways to help reduce damage to the rough.
• We have the green and yellow stripped exit posts in which we ask our members and guests to not drive their cart past these stakes toward our green approaches and proceed to the cart path.
• We use directional signs, ropes and stakes to reduce wear patterns and keep carts out of wet or damaged turf areas.

The picture below illustrates some wear from golf carts coming straight down the hill on #3 and using the walk path to drive onto the fairway. Sometimes a ball might be at the bottom of the hill just at the beginning of the fairway. It would be best if all carts entered from along side of the fairway and not from the tee side of the fairway. The area is much longer along the side and can distribute the traffic patterns in more appropriate way. It is also more visually pleasing to see the hole without cart traffic driving straight through the rough and directly into the fairway. Bring the cart more perpendicular into the side of play improves the overall playability and look of the hole. Walk paths should be avoided by carts because they are cut at 1 1/3 inches which is half the cutting height of the normal rough height which makes it more susceptible to damage from cart traffic.















Also, another thing to keep in mind when you are operating carts is to attempt to drive from the fairway to the cart path in a nice area of rough instead of following the path of other carts. We attempt to move our stakes, ropes and signs on a regular basis but on a busy day, 50-60 carts could be potentially driving over the same area. Driving 15-20 feet in a different direction would be much appreicated by our tired old grass.

No doubt there will be some wear patterns developing in some areas. With our traffic control efforts and our members knowledge of how to reduce cart traffic damage, our turf should be able to withstand the pressure that motorized equipment can create.

Thanks