Overlay, Holey Moly, Petri Dish, Renovation and Bye Bye Bye

It's been quite a while since I've blogged. three months, a couple Marathons and about 15 pounds less and pff its July. 

Mother Nature was not overly kind to us in the month of June but we survived. High temperatures and a big water bill toward the last 1/2 of June and into July will make for an interesting Financial Statement for the Grounds Department for July. 

We also had a little damage to a couple greens at the beginning of last week but things seem to be turning around and a majority of the spots are healing. We have others greens at various stages of funk and lacking beauty but generally speaking we are in pretty decent shape as we begin another hot stretch of weather over the next 7 to 10 days. 

We've been doing a great deal of hand watering in the mornings and afternoons and at time it appears we are taking a step forward and 2 steps backwards. Many times you think you see some disease, you pull the sample and you send it to your turf pathologist to tell you what you've contracted and what you need to spray. On many occasions there is not a great deal of disease in the sample but Abiotic Stresses are usually the #1 contributing factor in the sample. So Joe, what are abiotic stresses? Common examples of abiotic stresses are created by severe and or adverse changes in one or more of the following conditions: 

• Temperature
• Humidity
• Rain
• Wind
• Latitude
• Soil Composition
• Radiation(Sun)

So basically summer in the heartland of Missouri.

Your mind begins to wander as a grass grower during some of these stretches of severe conditions. "Am I seeing real issues or are we just seeing the effects of summer on living and breathing grass"? 

Your first thoughts are "I have to do something but experience has told me if you've done everything possible, the best thing to do is do nothing and allow the abiotic conditions to change to a improving plant health environment." 

Now don't get me wrong, you can't just give up just yet and say its abiotic stress and there is nothing we can do. One has to control water, continue to spray for plant health and be diligent in monitoring but patience is very important. 

CART PATH OVERLAY

Well, its that time again for some overlay on the golf course cart paths. Section 2 with the third coming next season. We will be laying roughly 12,800 feet of asphalt to over the next 5-7 days. Holes included in this run will be the completion of 4 from the Field Bar to the main road and 5-9. Also included will be holes 10 through 15 tee at the lake spillway.

• Our plans are to begin on Tuesday, July 19th on holes 5-6, 7 tee to main road and 8 approach fairway back around to #9 green and the main road.
• We will then pull out from the right cart path along 10 lake back to the main road. From the bridge on 10 approach back to the main road, 8 bridge tee back to main road. 
• 15 tee from the lake bridge back through 13 tee/12 green. 
• 12 green to the Field Bar, From Bridges at Field bar back to Cart path behind 7. Connect 4 and 7 back to the main road and we are complete.

I will make daily updates on Social Media and this blog.

Myself and staff members will be in the area helping to direct trucks and members/guests as we are working through the project.

Of course after the asphalt has ben completed, our staff will then begin the process of making smooth transitions between the new height of the path and the old grade along the side of the paths. This work will be ongoing through the rest of the summer and into the fall and winter as time allows. Of course cooler temperatures of fall and winter are more conducive to new turf survival but we will do what we can on the most severe drop offs to reduce the potential of accidents and or damage to carts or members in their carts. 

Just a reminder when operating the carts in the new asphalt areas, drive your cart at an angle so the cart wheels enter and exist with all tires hitting separately. This can reduce wear and tear on the new carts and protect our members and guests from injury. It would be wise to reduce your speed at entering and exiting the paths until we have opportunities to get these areas leveled. We will uses stakes and roping and or caution tape to alert you of any excessive differences in the height of the pavement and the exiting grade along the paths. 

 Asphalt Work July 2022 - YouTube

Contractor was out today grinding the areas that will have new overlay so they will butt up against them properly. This allows for a smooth transition between the new and existing asphalt.

HOLEY MOLY

We started fairway aeration a couple of weeks ago and has since been sidelined due to the aerator lift cylinder needing replacement. It has since been repaired so we will try to finish the remaining holes on the front 9, 1-3 and #7 over the next week or so as weather and work responsibilities allow for its completion. 

Below is a video of our aerator a couple of weeks ago. Many holes in those fairways and soil plugs pulled out onto the surface of the fairways. The rain on the weekend of July 9-10 helped clear up the soil on the back 9 and the Sunday  rain assisted to dissolve the existing soil back through the turf of the completed holes on the front 9. 

 Fairway Aerating - YouTube

PETRI DISH

This morning was a Turf grass Pathologists dream morning. High humidity, a layer of fog and warm. As I drove out the paths at Glen Echo this morning there were large patches of disease areas becoming active on the ends of the grass and down at the soil level of the turf. There were many plants with white mycelium which is where fungal disease is usually active. Its usually at the tips of blades due to guttation water coming out of the plants pores which is laden with nutrients that the fungus feed upon  Our superintendent text chain was lit up with photos of various levels of activity early this morning. 

One of the activities that assists in reducing this disease is the actual mowing of the grass and or rolling. These practices help to reduce the wetting time of the leaf which assists in reducing or stopping the additional formation of mycelium. Of course fungicides reduce this impact as well but we cannot afford or have the time to spray all of the rough to reduce this disease activity. We attempt to keep our greens, collars, smaller green and tee surround areas from infection which can look rather unsightly or weaken the plants.

Dollar spot on cool season grass. Phot credit LSU Ag.

TEE RENOVATION

The tee renovations of the blue and red tee on hole 9 and the special event tee for 17 made near the patio I believe turned out looking really good and were ready for play within about 18-20 days after completion. It appears they are holding up well and provide great playing surfaces for the future. We plan on expanding the drop zone tee at 9. Enlarging it slightly and leveling it in the next week or two. Our first effort was a bit rushed and was not the quality of work that we attempt to create when we renovated it last season.

9 Red tee

9 Blue tee

Bye, Bye, Bye

(9) *NSYNC - Bye Bye Bye (Official Music Video) - YouTube

Music and video by NSYNC.

Well, we aren't talking about NSYNC but we are talking bye, bye, bye to the continuous mulching of the walk paths to the practice areas with new brushed concrete coming soon. Moles, washouts from rain were just some of the problems experienced on these paths over the years.

We intended to complete part of the paths this week but the asphalt contractor was available to come a week earlier so that project will get priority and we are on hold. We also have high heat coming in again this week so we have to make sure we have enough staff available to keep an eye on our greens, maintain the course and assist with the asphalt project We hope to start this work next week.

The paths will be 5’ wide and brushed to assist in reducing slipping.

Top photo is short path at long range. Bottom left is long path at long range and bottom right photo is short range. 

Thanks for your time. Come out and see us when you get a chance!

Pound the pavement, Pound sand, You talkin about practice!

 Well, its been quite some time since I've made a blog post so let's get after it. 

POUND THE PAVEMENT

That's been my phrase since I became motivated to change my health regimen at the beginning of December. Thirty pounds lost with a goal of another fifteen over the next few months. Diet generally has changed with throwing wheat out of my intake. Pretty difficult initially when I consumed 6-8 servings a day which a majority of it included bread, donuts and cookies. Active here at the club and on my job but a lack of control and will power with food intake has been an issue forever for me. Hopefully, after discussing potential retirement in just a few years, its time for a permanent change in healthy eating and some regular movement away from the job.

POUND SAND

Over this past week we have brought in over 60 tons of sand to place on and or into our golf greens here at Glen Echo. We contracted with a company to perform the Dryject operation on our greens and begin to do our deep-tine solid aeration using our Verti-drain aerator. We used about 35 tons of sand in completing this operation.

Dryject machine injecting sand with a 3000 psi bead of water and sand into the green about 5". You can see the staff filling 5 gallon buckets of dry sand to load the machine. It takes about 2 buckets or more across the green before it will run out.

3 x 3 spacing after completion. Greens were brushed and rolled after this picture was taken.

We are planning on deep-tine aerating our greens on Monday, March 21st. We do not all of them completed in one day so decided to get some of the greens completed this week. We did greens 15, 17, and 18 on Wednesday and completed greens 5-6, 8-9 on Thursday. The aerating process included the following;

• Sanding greens ahead to reduce tire rutting
• Aerate greens
• Apply soil enrichment fertilizer
• Blow sand in holes
• Brush greens and change holes
• Roll greens and apply an organic fertilizer

Skip apply a heavy coating of sand on the greens before bringing the tractor on the green and punching hole. Takes about 2 loads of sand per green, approximately 2 tons.

Russ using our Verti-drain deep tine aerator on our greens. 3" spacing approximately 7-8" deep with 1/2" tines.

Staff using our new articulating blower and backpacks to move sand into the holes in the greens.

YOU TALKIN ABOUT PRACTICE

Pro shop purchased 8 new mats for long range wet, off season practice area. Our staff power washed the concrete, removed the old mats and installed the new mats. The mats accept a regular tee so you will not have to hit from the rubber tees. We are providing a rubber tee on the mat for anyone who does not want to tee as high as a standard tee. These will also be available for groups to hit from as well during our tournament season. I've included a video regarding the new mats as well as a discussion regarding when will be opening the grass tees. Probably will be at least a month or more. 

Thank you for being a part of this great club. We look forward to the upcoming season of golf here at Glen Echo. Remember you can follow regular daily updates on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook regarding the property we manage for you. I will give you as many details as you can stand.

 

The Future, The Past, The Present

 

This time of year brings about a time to be reflective on one's work and life. Immersed in the day to day grind of keeping the property at Glen Echo CC in the best possible shape during the main growing season, reflection gets put to the back burner until we get to the non growing months of winter. 

The Future

The past month or two I've reflected upon my career and the future here at Glen Echo. At the November Green Committee meeting I discussed with the committee a plan I envisioned for my future. Needless to say, these plans of course are at the discretion of my direct report General Manager Tim Grossman and the Board of Directors. Let's assume they continue to be for the most part pleased with me and our Grounds Department efforts. I discussed with the committee my desire to stay at Glen Echo until I reach full retirement. I enjoy the day to day grind of managing a course and everything that goes with it. I do not desire to find another type of green industry job selling or some other type of work. My intentions are to be at Glen Echo through the next three summers 2022, 2023, 2024 and then plan to retire by late fall/early winter of 2024 when my replacement has been chosen and is in place. Of course the particulars for this transition are a bit fuzzy but I believe a plan is important for all concerned.

In the meantime, we will put the pedal to the metal and continue at full speed. We have a great deal of  new projects that need to be accomplished to put the next Superintendent in position for success from an infrastructure standpoint.   

The Past

Since arriving at Glen Echo on August 18, 2008, there has been a tremendous amount of work completed on our beautiful property. From the first project documented, First Blog Post through 1146 posts later to this post. 

First and foremost, I wanted our membership to be the most informed and knowledgeable regarding what was taking place on their property. Ultimately the choice was theirs to read or not but I think I accomplished my goal in keeping our membership informed.

No doubt we've had some tough times on the business side but I take great pride in what work we have accomplished and the overwhelming support our department has received from our members and guests. Even during these most difficult times with the pandemic, a great future for our long standing club is happening as I type this message

The Present

There is a great deal of infrastructure work that is ongoing at Glen Echo. Old bones require rejuvenation and at times renovation. 

Probably most important is a Master Plan that is not Joe's plan but a plan that can be used as a guide for the future. A realistic document that prioritizes work, sets the financial requirements and lays out a plan for the future. This type of work does not come free and requires the input of a Course designer working in coordination with the grounds staff, Green Committee, Board of Directors and the Membership.

 From my perspective as course manager, there are key elements that should be a part of this discussion in no particular order of importance for this blog post; greens drainage, tee renovations, practice facilities, tree management plan, course drainage especially the 3, 4, 11, 12 ,13 corridor, lake dredging, maintenance facility renovations, bunker drainage and continued equipment replacement. Already a part of the discussion and in the plans are continued cart path renovations.

 On a personal note, I've joined a Weight Loss Challenge that came about on Twitter from a group of turf managers. We have some skin in the game but in the end for me its not about the cash. With my future lined out above, I need to make some physical changes for my current and future health. As you know I've been pretty active as a superintendent but the activity level can be affected by the dining table and some pretty horrible decisions being made in regards to what I put into my body..

I've decided to remove wheat from my diet which is a high impact on my current grazing habits. Of course with that comes the leaving behind of daily cookies, donuts, sandwiches, cakes, most pasta and pizza. I have medically controlled high blood pressure I've developed over the last few years and arthritis is beginning to say hello. My hope with increased exercise I can eliminate the high blood pressure and slow the effects that age and arthritis have on my body. My goal is to reach a weight of 170 pounds which I haven't seen  since 1999-2000. 

My Superintendent Challenge is for 8 and 12 weeks so hopefully the transition will happen throughout the winter and into the spring. The most important thing of course for me is to make this a permanent change in my life style.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to another year of making every attempt to kill as little grass as possible.  Happy New Year.

 

 

Aeration, Germination, Hibernation, Foundation

Its been a while since I've made a blog post. I'm making daily posts regarding course opening, carts and practice range restrictions or lack thereof on social media. Allow me a few moments to expand upon the work we have completed this fall so far and what there is to come.

We attempted to delay any aeration of main playing sources until we've gotten through most of our calendar of events in September and October. We began the aeration work around our greens using a 1/2" coring tine after slit seeding fescue around the greens to improve our coverage of turf grass. Our process included slit seeding, then aerating, spreading seed with a rotary spreader and then dragging in the material to make good soil contact and mowing. We should get seed germinating in the areas over the next couple of weeks and will then mature in the spring. We plan on using our rough aerator that makes a little bit larger hole a further out on the green surrounds over the next week or two which will improve its overall health as well.

We will begin to use our pull behind rough aerator in our rough soon as time and weather permits. Cores or plugs are pulled and we use a metal drag to break them up. This assists in reducing compaction and helps with stimulating new growth in our rough plants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4cVFB2DlRQ

Greens aeration will begin on Monday, November 1st. Depending upon conditions for the first day, it might take us a 2nd day or so to finish up the last few greens. We will use our deep tine verti-drain aerator and go about 7-8" deep. The holes will be filled with sand and surfaces brushed to smooth them

out.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ0xEew0b9I

Our warm season turf grass zoysia was fertilized with potassium in September to assist it with winter hardiness. It thickens the cell walls and improves water and energy uptake. As zoysia goes into dormancy, it is storing energy which assists it in fighting off excessive cold temperatures.

We applied fertilizer to our cool season rough grass in the past couple weeks which will assist in providing new energy for our turf. As temperatures begin to fall, it utilizes less energy and begins to store energy for the next season. Once cold temperatures arrive in late November and early December it goes into a form of dormancy even though it is fairly green. The stored energy then allows the plant to green up a little earlier than non-fertilized turf.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked our contracted tree expert Tim Gamma to come out on property and assist me in evaluating trees that have been damaged by the gall over the past year or two that should be removed. There are 35-40 trees that were identified for removal in which 21 are Pin Oaks. There are a few Ash, Siberian Elms and Maples in which some were damaged by this summer storms and or have been scheduled for removal over the past year which make up the total number of trees. Some of these trees will be removed completely by our staff but others will require assistance from our contractor. They will top them leaving a stub and we remove the large limbs that can't be chipped and the log. Our budget does not have the funds in it to remove all the trees. GM Tim Grossman and the Board are working through the finances to determine the number of trees we can remove with the available finances. 

We made our last mowing early last week on our zoysia tees, approaches and fairways. They might grow slightly over the next week or two and will then go into dormancy as our temperatures get cold enough for frost. We have also made our large patch zoysia fungicide application over the past few weeks to reduce the effects of the disease. The fall application of the fungicide assists in reducing the severity of the disease in the spring but we also must make another application in the spring to keep the disease under complete control.

Thanks again to the Foundation for the recognition of the work accomplished over the years here at Glen Echo by our staff.     

Part Deux, Puffy, and Overlayed

 As meteorological summer began in June, we thought we were in for a hot and dry summer. The end of June and into July brought copious amounts of rain.(As wise men once said it never rains in July). Along with the rain storms came tremendous damage to THEM things which created some issues for our staff but they stepped up and handled the situation as best could be expected.(As seen on Social Media I will not use the word Trees as I now refer to them as THEM. Its a coping mechanism so work with me here)

Well, Part Deux happened again last week but luckily to a smaller extent.We struggled a bit through some horrific weather last week but have made it through to the other end. We hope to have the rest of our mess cleaned up for the holiday weekend including getting some support posts put back up on the tennis courts to stop any further damage. The new wind screens are being removed for the season to reduce any further damage to the existing structure until we get it shored up and strengthened for next year.

 1 green after tree fell on irrigation system causing 2 heads to come on. I came back to turn off irrigation not knowing this had occurred. Happy I came back.

 Over the last few weeks, our greens have struggled from soft and puffy conditions. Temperatures have averaged more than 3 degrees above normal including that all important night lows which has not allowed recovery time of our turf. Consistent and regular rainfall on our greens which do not have drainage has led to soft surfaces and fat/lazy grass plants who do not like to give up additional ball roll out. We have been forced to not mow greens on a number of days because of the rain or damage which has occurred on the course. We have also had issues with scalping out in the middle of greens and over the top of our hole locations. We use a plate that we stand on which reduces the heaving of the greens as we pull out the 8" plug from the green but we continue to have issues. Also, with an inch or two of soil at the bottom of our hole this creates great suction when the greens are wet. We attempt to reduce this suction using various techniques but sometimes to no avail.

                              This has been experienced many times this summer at Glen Echo
 

 Heat and moisture leads to high microbial activity in our sub surface's and the release of additional nutrients for plants. We attempt to control this growth by the use of regulators but that has been very difficult for us to accomplish over the last few weeks. High heat shortens the window of the chemical's useful life and then chaos hits the course either in 1-2" rainfall and or high wind conditions and we've missed some of our windows for spraying. One of the chemicals is a product which has to dry on the greens and the other must be watered in which also creates its own set of issues. When you are already wet do you add more moisture and possibly make your greens sick just to control growth. Sometimes you just have to do nothing until the environmental conditions change. We anticipate with cooler weather the next 7 days to get back on track with sand topdressing, brushing mowing and rolling. 

 

We are looking forward to more of this!

  We had hoped to have some cart paths back filled with soil and sod added in the worst areas between 1 tee and 4 but have not been able to accomplish this to date. We hope to begin this process as time allows. To a man and women, we are much appreciate of the effort to clean up our cart paths. You can do all you can to have great turf but having your equipment banged around with heights of cut set at thousandths of an inch can lead to issues on our best surfaces. I see staff members driving down the middle of a fairway to avoid the rough nature of our paths. Some have mentioned, why not concrete? Well, if we had a choice of course we would go with concrete but the cost is astronomical in comparison. Our local superintendent has a text thread where we throw out questions or look for guidance. Been told by a reliable source that has been doing concrete over the years that replacement of asphalt and going to concrete would be easily into 7 figures. I would like to have the most modern bent grass on our greens and complete drainage in each green but it can't happen right now. 

                                                                 The old and the updated!

From November through March, we have a tendency to have some large equipment on our paths.Our dump truck is 7'10" wide. An 8' cart path leaves you no room for error. An 8'4" cart path basically the same but does give you just a little wiggle room. Our backhoe is over 7' wide and our lift is nearly 8' wide and heavy. We work in the winter during freeze and thaw conditions which is the norm around St. Louis since we don't stay nearly as cold. As we are driving on our existing roadways you literally see them flex up and down.creating more path repair work the next season. Kind of makes you sick to your stomach knowing to accomplish your work you have to tear up something and create more work. Over laying these paths will help to strengthen our existing surfaces and allow us the time to continue to improve our facilities to the best we can make them.

We of course focus our efforts on our daily work but our biggest event of the season if coming up rather quickly. The Invitational 2021 opening round is about 403 hours away. I anticipate you will see some ever changing conditions over the next 16 odd days. I hope you have pleasant day.

 

Cart Path Update

 Good progress on the cart path overlay today at Glen Echo.

The clubhouse circle was completed this morning and the operation was moved to the area of 3 tee and our contractor brought us to within about 200 yards from the first tee.

Thursday play will begin from the 10th tee to allow us some extra time to get through #1 tee. We will be asking members to go through the maintenance area to get to the driving range since we will be stacked with trucks along 1 and into the range area. Our road begins at the guard rail near the cart garage. We will then complete the long range road and parking area and then move out to #3. I anticipate 4 tee to the field bar road behind 7 green off of #4 completed on Friday.

The asphalt that is currently laid is ready to be driven upon. Once the asphalt is rolled a few times it will be ready to drive upon. In the meantime, if you are out on Thursday or Friday, we will provide some guidance in the area that we are working. I Thanks for your patience as we work through this project.

Areas ground on parking lot as contractor prepared to fill with new asphalt.

Rolling the newly patched area.

Laying asphalt in clubhouse circle.

Rolling the area smooth.

                                       Contractor using a paving machine to lay the asphalt. Staff firming up

                                        sides and smoothing out imperfections.

Steamy hot.

                   

Finished product after rolling from 2 tee to 1 green.

From 2 tee onward and up!

Asphalt on the high side of 1 will need some back bill and sod.

Area near the upside but on the low side with the same issue. Soil and sod to smooth out.

 This will prevent damage to equipment and reduce hazardous situations for carts and our members operating them. 

Cart Paths and Fairways

Over the next few days, there are a couple of large scale projects taking place on the grounds of Glen Echo CC.

Sunday evening we began to aerate our fairways. Skip and I came in once the last tee times went off and started pulling cores and then busting up the cores with a Flail mower that has spinning blades and chains and pulverizes the plugs. Today we will begin to drag the fairways with metal drags which breaks up any plugs that made it past the grinding. It will also help work the soil back through the zoysia canopy. We blow the remaining thatch and residue into the rough where it can be chewed up by the rough mower. Earth to earth and dust to dust. The fairways are then mowed. We anticipate this taking more than one day to complete all of our fairways. We normally have 3-4 fairways to complete usually on Tuesday and or Wednesday depending upon the weather conditions and anticipated play. 

Asphalt work will begin in earnest on Tuesday with the front clubhouse circle getting an overlay, Grinding along the edges of the crosswalks in the Pearson Plaza and near the portico will be completed and then a layer of asphalt will be laid in the circle area.We will begin asphalt on the course on Wednesday. The first work will be from the bottom of 3 hill all the way into the first tee and also the path that goes to the range.

Large dump trucks will be taken by our staff out into the field to assist in navigating through play. We will stage them in the parking lot and they will be brought out from there. They will also be brought back in once empty. Once the first section is complete, they will proceed to the second section which will be from the lowest point on hole 3 going forward through 4 tee to where it ties into the path behind 7 green. Those trucks will be staged  in the main entrance area, The new overlay will be 2" thick and we have a total linear footage of about 5,700' at an average width of about 8'.  

We anticipate this work to be completed by Friday. The asphalt will be able to be driven upon the next day. Depending upon weather, we will begin the process of back filling dirt in along the path and sodding fescue to help make a smooth transition with the new grade. We will do sections at a time to give us the best chance at growing the turf in properly since we are still into summer heat. I would not anticipate all the sodding to be completed before winter is upon us in December. Some areas might not need any back fill which will be helpful.

 

 

The sealing and striping of the parking lot is scheduled for Monday August 9th. Once the delays in the parking lot moved closer to our open window for the cart path overlay, the two projects were switched around so the sealing would not be damaged by the large asphalt trucks. This work should take 2-3 days next week.

We appreciate  your understanding during this time.Check you emails for updates and or social media for both the club and my personal accounts.

Instagram joewachter

Twitter jdwachter  Joe Wachter

Facebook  joewachter4

 

Spread It, Vertical It, Trim It, Fill It and Please DON'T Step Through It

 What a rollercoaster its been over the last few weeks with our work here at Glen Echo. This week we're reaching the peak and heading down the biggest drop. All of our grounds responsibilities are coming together to start all at once but our staff along with some pretty good weather I must say are knocking it out of the park with a couple twisty loops in between.

SPREAD IT

The pandemic has created some shipping issues with parts in repairing some of our needed pieces of equipment. Our spreader is down and with the onset of warmer weather our zoysia is hungry and ready to move a bit so we borrowed a spreader from the best Super I know, my brother and spread a couple tons on our fairways over the past couple of days. Little more spreading to do as well with a little nitrogen to go into the roughs to push a little energy into them for the summer stress period. Oh what a challenge it will be playing from it over the next few weeks! Hit em straight.

https://youtu.be/pXnd4mWMpLg

VERTICAL IT

Did a little vertical mowing on our greens the last couple of days. Its normally completed a little earlier in the season but timing has not been where I wanted.  You say vertical, what do you mean? Well, allow me a moment to explain. Greens mowers have a piece of metal that stretches across the ground and stands the turf up and the blades then come through and cut it off. We are talking about a setting of about 1/8" maximum which is about 30 sheets of typing paper. Pretty thin. Below are pictures of a normal mowing reel and a vertical mowing reel.

Regular mower with a straight bar across the bottom that stands the blades up and anything above the top of the bar gets cut by the spinning blade.

The vertical mower cuts down into the surface of the green. 37 blades across 20" spaced at about 5/8" apart. Its purpose is to cut any bent grass in its line that have bent over and grown laterally which is its nature.

Our vertical mowing only goes about 3/8" deep helps to manage the bent grass in the manner that I anticipate. We went front to back on Tuesday and today we went the opposite direction and made what appears to be a checker board pattern across the greens to insure we could cut many of the longest blades. Tuesday we did a light sand topdressing behind the vertical mower than brushed and mowed. Today we only brushed behind the vertical cut and mowed. The disruption of the surface lasts a few days but I would anticipate by this weekend the greens should be at their normal roll out.

https://studio.youtube.com/video/eIUkyFNgzjw/edit

  The arrow on the left is pointing to the shorter lime green poa annua.We have reduced its competitiveness with a growth regulator called Paclobutrazol in an effort to encourage the bent grass to out grow it. The arrow on the right/middle is pointing to bent grass plants which if you look at the length of their overall leaves are 3 to 4 times longer than the poa and much wider blades as well. We don't vertical very often because it can reduce the competitive advantage bent grass has over poa but a cut like this can stimulate growth of the bent and force it to push out more leaves from the crown(growth center of the plant). Ultimately it improves ball roll out for future rounds of golf. Now you can go to a depth of an inch or more but that's usually done much earlier in the season to allow for proper healing. Scheduling had not allowed us to get this process completed in the last few weeks but the timing of the cool down over the next few days works perfectly for this cultural practice. 

 

TRIMMING IT

The staff have been hitting the property with trimmers attempting to get all trees, fence lines and other structures trimmed up over the last couple of weeks. They are weekly trimming and hover mowing our bunker banks which is usually a 6-7 hour job for 3-4 people. Once the heat of summer arrives, there is a bit less growth which saves some time. 

FILL IT

Our grounds detail work as we've mentioned in the past are our tennis courts and pool. Continued clean up including painting the asphalt  area and getting the shade structure painted and cleaned. Cleaning  stored away furniture and existing furniture that overwintered at the pool. Becky's been hard at work getting the urns filled and the giant hanging baskets placed at the pool. Touch up painting of the pergola and attaching the sunshade to its roof all in a days work for our staff. 

 We removed some hanging baskets from the Pro Shop front area and have added some new baskets to the Field Bar. Becky planted those last week with Caladium, Sun Patiens, Asprargus Fern and Coleus. Six in total. Should be a good look this season.

 

Please DON'T STEP ON IT

Speaking of Becky and the work she does comes the last but not least of our blog. We have a couple of ornamental plantings that are in some high traffic areas, especially around the pro shop. They were put in place over the years to give a great back drop to our closing hole and to give cart and walking traffic a defined area to walk and or drive around. Last weekend, I happened to be up around the pro shop and saw with my very own eyes people walking directly through the bed area. 

Our walk on and walk off area at the practice green was an embarrassment for me and we have made great strides in improving this area. We improved the soil structure and increased the irrigation to small directed heads for this walk off area. We also placed stakes and roping that can be moved to spread the wear and tear. Every foot print through the ornamental bed compacts the area and does not allow water to penetrate properly and damages plants. We appreciate you walking a few extra feet to protect the work our staff has spent many hours completing.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your time and hopefully you get out and see  us over the next few days.

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.

 

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.