Yep its Weather, Getting Dirty/TIlling Deep, Zoning Out, and Early Range Shutdowns

 Its been a while since I've made a blog post. If you follow me on other forms of social media you've seen a regular plate full of details regarding the work our hard working staff are accomplishing on a daily basis.

Weather

First and foremost, lets talk about the weather, especially the colder than normal temperatures we have experienced in late April and May. The average temperatures in April were a couple degrees above last season. Now, May 2021 is a different story. We are currently 8 degrees behind average in both daylight highs and night lows. Last May we were actually a degree above normal. More importantly, our soil temperatures have dropped since the first of May to 63 degrees.

Soil temperatures at this level are excellent for our rough grass(cool season) and greens. Our bent grass likes temperatures to be slightly warmer, especially at night but they are in full production of energy which contributes to root growth and adds to storage within the plants. 

It is most difficult for our dominant short grass zoysia, especially our tees and areas of fairways with heavier cart traffic and additional shade. We've cleaned up our zoysia mowing only weekly at this time due to the lack of growth. Some of our weaker areas we will keep the mowers away completely. It appears we might begin to see some increases in heat over the weekend and into next week. We can't force the plants to grow. The systems within the plant currently are slowed because there is not enough energy to produce growth.

It is very important during this time that membership operating carts reduce traffic in fairways as much as possible. Using a 90 degree angle from the cart path to your ball in the fairway reduces traffic in the fairway. Once the ball is struck, move the cart back to the rough and cart path when possible and proceed to where you ball is located. We are still seeing a tremendous amount of traffic going from the teeing ground area directly through the rough off of the tee and into the fairways and then driving another 50 to 100 yards down the fairway. Your assistance is greatly appreciated to reduce this type of activity.

Soil and Sod 

Stumps from a few trees removed were ground a few weeks ago, remnants cleaned out and this past week they will filled with soil. Yesterday and today, our staff edged the existing filled areas and laid sod to cover the spots. Six in total were cleaned up. Our contractor will be out in the next couple of weeks to grind the remaining stumps that we have on property so we can get them cleaned and covered for the summer.

Sycamore and Sweegum that were in the club lawn to the right of 9 cart path were covered with sod. Also, 9 tee, a pine tree in the club lawn and in the triangle between 5/7/main drive.

 

Some additional soil work was completed along some seriously compacted cart path edges behind 11, green, at 13 green and at the curve just short of 15 green by the 16th tee. We used a heavy duty tiller going as deep as 6-8". We added some black gold compost from St.Louis composting and covered with fescue sod. These areas will be kept very moist over the next week or two so it is important that we do not step into the 20" width of sod that are next to the path. Access to the green areas are still available at the top end of these renovated areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No8JNhqkE78

From the 11th cart path going up the hill to 12 tee. We have this section roped off and are asking cart to proceed to the top of the hill at the circle turn for the 12th tee to enter the 11th green complex. This area has been very problematic because of the severe slope and the large Pin Oak that keeps this area  depleted from moisture and into heavy shade. Hopefully this extra work will finally keep this area in better shape.

This area leads up to 13 green. We tilled from just above the left tee up to the top of the hill in the bottom picture. You can access the green from below or above the section. Some can step across the sod without issue but please be reminded this area will be kept wet for a week or two to help it root properly. We will also keep the tees up on the upper tee of 14 for a week or more so more the reason to pull up to the top of the sodded area.

No pictures of 15 but this area will be roped off and will be obvious for our golfers. Carts can stop short of this area and or proceed to the circle for 15 green/16 tee.

Drop Zones

We have one established drop zone at the club which is the red teeing area of hole 9. As play has increased, so has the wear and tear to this teeing ground. It is also a fairly small tee with an extension that was added a few years ago that frankly speaking needs to be renovated. Teeing grounds are not the best locations for these drop zones so a couple of changes will be occurring over the next couple of months. 

On hole 9, we have rough graded in a new drop area beside the 9th red tee. We will be covering this with zoysia over the next week. Later this summer,(after July 4th, we intend to close the red tee and blue tee on #9. We will strip the sod from the tees, enlarge the red tee forward, to the right and a little off the back. We also will strip the blue tee and will extend its teeing ground to the right. We anticipate these tees will be ready for play by August 1st with the heat of the summer pushing a quick grow-in. In the meantime, we will utilize the new drop zone for the red tee/drop zone and the white tee will have the blue tee added.

New drop area to the right of 9 red tee. We still have some work to complete on the slopes and some leveling but its roughed in. We anticipate the red tee to split the different between the existing tee and the new drop zone.

        

The golf committee and green committee has been in discussion regarding a potential drop area to be established for the 15th hole. We will be placing a drop zone about 35' from the cart path about 10' from the Egan's Lake. It will be mowed at a reduced height of cut and a circle designating the area will be put in place. 

Driving Ranges

There are signs at each driving range that mention the range will be closed early on Thursdays. This must occur so that all balls can be removed by the pro shop staff and readied for our staff to mow before the first golfers whom arrive on Friday morning at 7 am. This program is usually implemented in late April and runs into June and or until the grass begins to slow its growth. Its important that the grass be cut twice a week so staff can see the balls and remove them so they are not chopped up by the mowers. 

On event day Mondays, our staff usually picks the ranges clean and mows after the groups begin play. The pro shop staff assists us with as much removal before dark on Sunday evenings. We do not close the ranges early on Sundays so our membership are not inconvenienced by our necessary operations. We appreciate your understanding during this time.

I hope you get a chance to get out and see your golf course over the next couple of weeks. Ball roll out has been pretty good I hear and hopefully the rain starts falling at night and leaves our weekends free to play golf.

 

Blues, Stimulation, and Getting Tight

What a whirlwind the last two months have been if you are a sports fan in our fair city. Great run for our St. Louis Blues as Pierre Laclede can attest outside city hall last weekend!!! #LGB

Speaking of stimulation which our Blues did plenty, we have finally been turning to the good side of weather over the last few weeks even though Friday and Saturday have been wash outs for the most part.

Glen Echo is a warm season golf course. Our largest area of fine mowed turf are our fairways and tees which account for almost 30 acres of warm season grass, mostly zoysia. The bermuda grass which I have a love/hate relationship with is required to help round out our course and fill in where we have voids in cool season fescue, poa annua and bent grass which invades our rough. The long cold winter has slowed its emergence in higher traffic areas but warmer temperatures are beginning to help it fill in where we need it.

There were enough gaps in the rain during Stanley Cup winning week so we could apply fertilizer on the fairways/approaches which will improve green up and also begin to help the turf fill in as needed. Most areas where we have needed to replace turf in fairways occurred from some of our bermuda eradication work last fall and some winter kill of both bermuda and a little zoysia. Also we experienced a few thin areas in north to east facing slopes 10 and 12 approach and also from excessive shaded conditions.We still have a few more places to do some sod patching on fairways, intermediate, and a few green approaches and surrounds. As temperatures increase which increases soil temperatures, this will also speed up growth of our warm season grasses. We did modest fertilizer application around the greens to improve fill in of the bermuda and give the cool season turf just a bit of energy to fight through the rest of the summer. We will do some additional spray-able and granular apps along weaker fairways and around all fairways in the first pass of the rough.  This will improve color and thicken the rough for the summer. Oh joy he's going make the rough rougher, yes, yes I am.

I think overall our rough is about in the best shape I can remember since arriving in August of 2008. Still fighting some weeds in various parts but are getting some good kill throughout the property. applications.


We had hoped to begin aerating fairways on Monday but it appears we will be too wet. We will try next Monday on our closed day which allows us to get a full day in. We will also do some individual fairways this upcoming week if we begin to dry down.The fairway aeration program should improve the turf in a number of ways:

1. Reduce thatch through increased microbial soil activity
2. Increase water penetration and drying down in wetter areas
3. Assist with disease management including fairy ring
4. Stimulate turf growth
5. Reduce compaction in our fairways soil
6. Breaking of the cores will help to fill in small imperfections in  surface areas.

Russ mowing 2 fairway.

From behind #2 green

The course continues to tighten and improve as we work our way into the first week of summer. Tree trimming, tree removal, sodding, aeration, and just general clean up of all areas are ongoing 

 I've included a Countdown Timer on the main page of the blog for the upcoming Invitational Member/Guest coming up in July. Amazing to think we are less than 30 days away from this great event.

Storm Damage 5/11 Tree Management Plan

Limbs and leaves down everywhere. Spent a significant amount of our day on fallen Red Oak near 4 tee into the cemetery. Details below. Will be working throughout the day on Friday trying to clean up more material. Its pretty wet  so it is going to be difficult for us to clean up leaves and things on Fairways without doing damage so they will stay where they are for now.

https://youtu.be/0AoVxWBwe4U




https://youtu.be/s-jdxSGHkDQ

Cleaning it up

Threw in the total group except Hort and Mechanic

Getting near the end

Hope there is no damage

Leaking Water Line, Sod Laying, Mulch Spreading, Zoysia Grass Greenup, and Stump Sodding Oh My!

A number of items to cover as we go into this weekend. The weather has been really kind to us with average temperatures 6-7 degrees above normal for March. That means our warm season grass has awakened early this year. Normally we mow fairways around the 20th of April give or a take a few days. Might be a little early this year but will evaluate a little further early next week. No promises but we are looking at it closely.

The staff noticed the other day a water stream above the 14th tee water fountain. Skip has investigated and believes the leak is coming from under the cart path. Sure, lets make it real difficult. We plan to cut the cart path next week and dig up the leak. The line feeds the water fountain on 14 so it is shutoff for now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The view looking down from the cart path on 14 tee. Red dots are the water line. We believe the water line is leaking from under the path. Water line comes from Lucas & Hunt. It feeds the Field Bar, goes cross country to the pro shop and to our building. This was the original water line that fed the old clubhouse at the tennis courts.

Free is always good when it comes to our department. We try to think of ways of doing things that do not require additional expenditure. One of these ways is using oak chips from the tree trimming and of course when an oak is dropped we chip those limbs as well. Its not the fanciest mulch but it works well enough in our shrub style beds like along Wallingford Drive along the short range and especially #9 Woodland Garden. We would probably need another thousand dollar load of regular mulch if we used it on these areas. Along with mulching comes continued removal of sweetgum balls. Alphonso worked all day today on about 8 different trees picking up and hauling away gumballs.

Nice sized pile for us to use. You would be surprised how quickly it goes.  Latrell and Randy spreading product along Wallingford.

The staff spent most of the day Wednesday and part of the morning on Thursday sodding the ground stump areas on the course. We still have a few spots that we will seed in the next few days. 

This worked involved hauling dirt which was discussed the week before, packing it and then cutting out the edges and laying the sod. I will circle these areas in the next couple of days to allow you for a free drop from this new sod as well as warning you when driving your carts so that you will not drive over the top of them. It will take a few weeks for them to become solid and to become fully rooted.

Becky came up with the idea to make some additional planters out on the course from the hollowed trees that were removed this winter like she has been using at the Field Bar the last few years. Should be a colorful addition to a few tees on the course this season.

                                                        10 tee with 3 new planters

Last but not least. Greens are healing well from aeration. They were brushed and rolled today after Wednesday evenings rain. We don't do much to them except brush and roll when they are dry. 

11 days since our first and 4 days since the second. If they grow enough over the next few days, we will put a mow to them next mid-week. Biggest issue effecting growth is the fact that we are in the middle of growth regulator time because of seed head development as well as trying to keep the poa annua in a stunted position with another regulator.Yes the greens are a little extra sandy but as they begin to grow through the sand this should give us some excellent smoothness to our surfaces. I would expect the greens to be in great condition for opening day coming up next Saturday for the Men and the following Tuesday for our Ladies.

Course Work This Past Week

The staff has been busy this past week finishing some of our approved tree management work. We've also been picking up a great deal of limbs, raking up sweetgum balls and other debris on the course. Becky has returned to begin work on bed clean up and other horticulture activities.

Interesting information, went back to a September 2009 PowerPoint I did for the green committee and 7 of the 20 trees removed in main play areas this year were mentioned by me as trees to watch. Well, we watched them and their structure continued to worsen creating a hazard and time to remove. Two were Silver Maples near the tennis courts and one Sweetgum which was removed so that we could then replant 1 tree in an area that would allow for full, proper and mature growth instead of compromised, leggy and weakened structure. The staff were also working down along 3 fence line where some dead trees were removed near the tee area to prevent damage to the fence and protect staff and golfers from debris dropping.

I also finished the remaining spraying of our fairways/tee areas for pre-emergent and non-selective weed killer to kill poa annua which has been popping up over the winter.

As mentioned in the blog post yesterday, I was able to get our seed head control out before a big warm up this week and rain. Wind came up pretty fast this morning and a flat tire on the spray rig but finally got it completed.

Hollowed  Silver Maple that was removed.

An even larger Silver Maple that was compromised even more.

This Sweetgum was near the other two trees and was tall and thin and was removed to allow a new tree to be put in place of the three trees.

This was the area in question along #18. We will get the stumps ground out and then place a tree somewhere in the area near the stump on the left. There are large Pin Oaks to the right which you can see the outline of limbs coming into this picture.  

Stump Grinding Completed Today

Tim Crews from Crews Grinding Services from Springfield, MO came in today and ground the stumps from the trees we have removed so far this winter. We still have a few more trees in play areas to remove and a few along 3 fenceline that we will be saving to last. It took Tim a little over 3 hours to grind about 12 smaller stumps and 12 others that were pretty large(3' up to 8' in diameter). We will use some of the dirt material to throw back into the holes and will remove the parts that are mostly chips to reduce the amount of settling within the hole. Over the next few weeks we will cover them with topsoil and then sod so they will be healed in by the time the summer heat arrives.

We removed a couple of the smaller ground stumps this afternoon. The crew will work full speed ahead tomorrow trying to get the remaining material picked up before the rain and snow comes in overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Wet and packed soil is much harder to deal with than the loose material we have right now.

Interesting note, Tim was going to a couple of other clubs after Glen Echo where he was going to be grinding over 100 stumps between the two clubs by the end of the day tomorrow.

Did a little slow motion action on the grinder at the 8' diameter tree along #4. Kind of a cool look at the chips flying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmtgAqPSts4

Tree Management Follow Up #2 Two Leader Pin Oak

The fellas dropped the two leader tree Pin Oak along #2 this afternoon. One leader if it fell or split apart would have gone directly perpendicular across the cart path/into the fairway and the other into the rough. When the men dropped the remaining 12' of the tree, it popped open like a watermelon. The cracked area was at least 6' long. This tree looked healthy on the top but both myself and one of our areas top arborists said it should come down. You brought me here to make the tough and correct decisions. I am relieved this evening that this tree is on the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD481t4ATD0

Tree Management Program

Additional tree management work is taking place this week and over the next few weeks as we move through our list of approved removals. We will also be involved in pruning lower limbs on trees to raise canopies as time allows throughout the late winter and spring.

Our work this week concentrated along #2 fairway and #3 tee. We have two severely compromised Silver Maples and a Pin Oak dual leader tree that has cracked and is being removed. We will be spending $ 1,000 in April on cabling two other Oaks to slow their potential development of a large crack which will require their premature removal for safety purposes.

We will be placing a tree along #4 near the large Pin Oak that we finally removed once the stump is ground in the next few weeks. What I mean by finally is that I've had major pruning completed on this tree since I arrived 8 years ago in an effort to not remove it or an attempt to delay the inevitable. With my contractor/arborist out evaluating trees with me a few weeks ago, he said that tree was the worst he saw on property in a high traffic area and we should not wait any longer. 

I understand the concerns of folks who think trees are more important that about anything else but when it comes to hazard trees, we are left with no other option but removal. My efforts are to eliminate the potential for tragedy as well as completing the work in the proper time of year. The proper time of year saves us time and money for our operation. Large removals during the growing season increases the cost of removal by at least 25%-50% which includes increased contractor fees and lost time of my staff who should be managing turf. In the end, the biggest inconvenience is to our membership and guests.

Additional removals are planned with a couple of Ash trees and three planned for removal on 18 in which two are hazardous Silver Maples and a Sweet Gum nearby. Once these 3 are removed, a new hardwood tree will be planted in their place. We will also be adding trees in our planned nursery behind 17 green as we move closer to spring.

Stump grinding will be completed in the next few weeks once we get further along in our removals. Grinding stumps a few at a time would increase our costs by two to three times since we don't own our own grinder. I did just speak to our contractor and told him I wanted this work completed much earlier this year than in the past so we hopefully will have everything ground before the end of February.

The dual leader Pin Oak near the red tee on #2

Same tree with limbs removed. Stub will be removed later today. Tree is 300 yards from green.

Crack that was 3' long in the dual leader.

Silver Maple about 50 yards past the Pin Oak.

Yes, tree was hollow.

Trunk of tree

This was a very large upper limb that was nearly eaten through by carpenter ants.

All the upper limbs were hollow.

Staff working on cutting up the remnants that were dropped by our contractor.

#3 tee Silver Maple. Back side limb hanging over fence died last season.

Topping of tree by contractor. we will pull it over to prevent it from falling on the fence.

Additional trees along 3 tee that will be removed during the winter. This is an example. Removal will prevent personal injury as well as destroying fence if it fell onto it.

Tree Management Plan

Three large trees were identified for removal this fall due being severely compromised(dangerous) and or near death. Time for their removal. Two of these trees were a Sweetgum and Pin Oak along the roadway at 10 tee and a third tree Oak on the left side of 4 near the 5th tee area. These trees first had to be topped by our contractor due to their size and then we removed the totem pole and hauled out the material.

This work took nearly a week to accomplish. Some of the material was chipped and will be used on property, the oak that we can handle will be split and used for shop heating and sold to members for firewood. Stumps will be ground in late winter when our contractor comes in and completes them in a couple of hours. The oak on 4 was nealy 7 feet across from flare to flare.

Oak on 4 near 5 tee. Large crack in upper left limb. Been watching tree for last couple of years. It was time to remove.

Gamma Tree Service removing all the upper limbs making it easier for our staff to drop the stub to the ground for removal.

Topping Tree Video

Three guys notching and now near the end cut ready to drop to the ground.

Safe and sound and on the ground.

Sweetgum along the Pearson Lane with large wound on trunk and crown was compromised as well. Very hazardous and time to come down.

Chain Saw Melody Link

Sweetgum is down, now working on large Oak near 10 tee. Beautiful tree but lightning strike with huge wound in main trunk and over 1/2 the tree last season had no leaves. Time to go to rest.

Gamma finishing off the top. 

New Year,Excellent Videos on Trees and the Golf Course

A nice balanced video from the USGA regarding trees on the golf course. Also a second video which I've posted before on the blog. It discusses the need for light and air movement on our main play surfaces(greens) and the negative impacts that can be placed on this most important surface from trees planted in the wrong location.

Beginning next week we have contracted removal of a few trees that are hazardous and too large for us to drop without first having the limbs trimmed off. This will then allow our staff to remove the totem poled main trunk safely. We drop the logs and haul them to our maintenance area for splitting or placed in our dump for grinding in the future. This work will begin on Monday and Tuesday(for the contractor) and will probably take most of next week for our staff to get the logs removed, area raked and material hauled away. The staff have been involved in splitting and stacking tree parts that were removed during the season to make room for the trees that have been approved for removal by the Green Committee and Board.

Trees and the Design of #3

In the last couple of years, there have been discussions regarding Hole # 3. Most of it has centered around the use of trees in the right rough between the fairway and the cart path. Their has also been discussion with Kye Goalby the designer and architect who did our bunker renovation so deftly about some minor routing changes of the hole. Allow me a moment to give some back history.

A few years ago, a large Oak tree on the right of the cart path near the top of the hill lost most of its top and fell in a thunderstorm. When it fell, it damaged an Ash that is on the fairway side of the path in a narrow area between the fairway and cart path. I left the tree in place knowing that it would need to be removed a few years later. Well, that time has come because the tree has a split in it and must be removed. Earlier in the year, we removed a severely compromised Ash that was in the narrow area between the fairway and cart path at about 185 yards from the green. Pretty far from the green but in this same narrow rough area. Some think that if there are trees in a spot, no matter how inappropriate the location in regards to design and play-ability of the hole, another tree should be placed back in the same spot.

Part of my discussions with Kye have evolved from the design of the hole and how an architect helps to route a hole to give players the proper direction the ball should travel and the best location for it to rest if struck properly.

As you can see from the picture below, once the fairway goes up the hill it falls to the left. The red arrows show the fall line from the center of the fairway to the left. The current fairway boundary on the right side moves in that direction as well. One of the things that was done years ago which Kye and myself agree was that trees were inappropriately planted along the right side between the fairway and cart path. If your ball lands in the narrow area between the fairway and cart path, you were forced to either go over or around this tree. If you were too close to the tree, it forced a play to the left which is not the direction the hole should be played because the ball will roll off the left side of the fairway due to the slope. If the hole was being designed today, the fairway shape would be more to the right. A properly routed hole leaves areas open so that if a ball is properly struck will be in decent shape for its next shot or will be on the green. All the great architects in history speak strongly against the placement of trees too close to the line of play not allowing a ball to be advanced forward. Of course, how close is too close to the line of play is in the eyes of the beholder.

The picture below shows this hole. You can already see how narrow the rough area is anyway. The green lines my interpretation of the potential changes that Kye and I have spoken about regarding changing in the fairway/intermediate. The right side of the hole toward the top is flatter and much better for a ball to land than the left side which falls off drastically into the rough and left tree line.

This gives you a little idea of the thought process that goes into tree removal and the potential to not replace what I would consider a mistake made from our past. I think not learning from our past and now trying to move past these type of issues is a mistake. It makes the course play truly unfair, reduces the opportunity to advance a ball forward, disrupts maintenance such as mowing around objects that should not be there and take time and creates problems for future. Some would say you've made it easier, it can be easier for someone who strikes the perfect stroke to a uphill green where you can only see a flag and hope that your shot does not go off line more than a few degrees or you will be in a bunker. It plays at least an extra club or maybe two depending upon your length.

A little winter season discussion regarding tree or not to tree, that's a pretty big question??

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!!

White Pines Losing 2nd Year Needles

If you look out in your backyard or have been out on the course, you are beginning to notice the annual dropping of 2nd year needles of the white pines. This is a natural occurrence and nothing to be alarmed about. But if you see the tips of your branches or all needles turning brown, your tree is experiencing some other more serious issue. Contacting an arborist in this case would be recommended. 

As the turf mowing has been slowing, we have been in the process of removing some very weak smaller ash trees and other damaged trees I've identified to The Green Committee. My seasonal staff only have until the end of October until they are finished for the season. We are utilizing them to help with this removal while our year round staff are involved in turf renovation work. 

White pine beat 12 tee. You can see the inner needles turning brown.

2nd year needles at the red arrow. New growth at the tip on the right.

Golf Course Update

A number of things are happening on the golf course so below is your update.  I've done this in video format with a little music so enjoy the update.  This took a few hours to complete but will be much quicker in the future as I become more familiar with the set up.  I hope you've enjoyed the weather as much as we have on the grounds staff.  We are beginning to dry a little around the edges but we have been able to hold our water costs well below budget over the first two months of summer which is a good thing.  Of course that can change in just a few weeks if the rain stops.

I do need to mention a equipment hydraulic leak which many of you might have noticed if you've played over the last few days. Our surround mower which cuts our rough around our greens had a leak in a rear hose.  The operator went around 6,8,9 and 14 green before he saw the leak.  My hope is that since this is in mostly taller turf, we will have some damage but mostly just leaf die back and no suffocation type damage where the crown of the plant is saturated with oil.  The lines were probably less than an inch wide initially but did expand when he began to make some 3 point turns which caused more additional fluid to drop to the turf.  I would expect the heat over the next few days to bring the damage out more. If necessary, we will cut out any major loss of turf.

Tree Planted

We planted a new Sugar Maple in the area near 15 tee and 10 rough where the Siberian Elm had died this past season.

It is planted a little further from the tee so it will not encroach on the growth of the tee.

Nasty Day/Work to be Done

A nasty weather day with dropping temperatures but work must get 

done.  Stick removal and leaf mulching of the club lawn. Only .35" of rain, not enough but helpful.  We will take what we can get going into winter.

First big leaf drop

Our leaves appear to be a couple of weeks behind in changing colors.  Along with that comes the clean up after they fall.  We've had some clean up over last couple of weeks but have a large under taking over the next few days with the lead drop from the rain.  It's a little wet in areas which prevents us from using our wide area mowers right away.  We are trying to get the green and tee complexes cleaned up first.  The staff will spend their weekend work time doing some wide area mowing and blowing to help clean up the course more thoroughly.  We appreciate your patience during this time.  Also, a majority of our seasonal help are at their lay off weekend so we will be reduced by 3 additional staff members beginning next week.

Leaves next to 3 tee and 2 green.

Stump and mower erosion repair areas

The staff have spent parts of the last two days repairing the tree stumps that were ground earlier in the spring.  There were also ruts created by our rough mower as it would go around trees.  Some of these spots had soil in them since late last falls bunker project when we had some extra soil.  The areas were leveled and edged with the sod cutter and then sod was laid over the top.  There are still a number of areas that we need to repair.