2 Tee Renovation and a Great Deal of Other Work to Discuss

March 22nd and 23rd we did the rough in of the new tees on #2. Due to the movement of a great deal of soil and wet conditions every 3-4 days, we are at a pause in work on this project.
I would hope if we can get dry in the next week or so we will get the surrounding area of the tee finished graded and prepared for sod. The teeing ground will be tilled and laser leveled by Schaefer-Meyer we hope within the next couple of weeks and then sodded so that the tee will be open for play by mid-May.

View from the front of the tee complex. Tees are now set up as 2 separate tee boxes.

From behind the tee complex. Sorry for the poor pictures, just looks like a pile of dirt from this level. Had my drone in the air the other day to take pics and crashed into a tree. Once I finish the repair, I will give you an overhead view.

Being the largest group of maintenance folks on staff at Glen Echo, our crew has been assisting in other areas. We spent about 20 man hours power washing the pool wall both inside and out. Also power washed all the walk ways in the front of the building and a part of Pearson Plaza. The staff power washed some of Limestone window sills that we did not get completed last season. The staff  with some able bodied assistance have also been busy inside the pool area removing some over grown shrubbery and pruning others. We we were in the process of mulching the upper wall bed when our loader broke down earlier in the week. Once it is back up, we will finish the mulching of this area. 

We will also be power washing the swimming area of the pool and installing new drain lids and plastering in new frames for the pool system. We will be managing most of the mechanical start up of the pool this season. I attained my pool operator certification for the pool over the winter.

The staff have also been involved in stringing the patio lights and moving equipment to the patio since warm weather is on its way.

Randy power washing the walk way in the front of the clubhouse

This week the staff have been extremely busy with sod work. Over 450 yards of old sod was removed and replaced with both fescue and zoysia. HATS OFF TO THE CREW THIS WEEK!! Our loader was broke down and we had to load the sod into carts and then unload it from the carts.  Normally we place the sod right in the area of work so double work for the guys this week because of the repairs taking place to our loader.

We first completed the tree removal stump repair and root removal on the old tree near 11 green. This was replaced with fescue.

Area to the right of 11 green. A large amount of roots had to be busted out by hand using axes and shovels.

                                                       The finished area off the front right of 11 green.

We then moved to #5 left bunker area. This area has a number of contributing factors to its look. Small area with a great deal of foot and equipment traffic. Last year we tried to resolve some of it with walk mowing the area. Significant shade and drought is the biggest reason for its decline. A large Pin Oak is growing right in the middle of this area and robs it of sunlight and much needed moisture. We stripped the old sod away, trenched in some new irrigation heads that will hit just in this area. We aerated it and put in a couple of yards of leaf compost. The area was then dragged with a metal drag to break of the dirt turds and move some of the compost into the holes. Sod was then added. Should see some improvement we hope with new sod and the other work we completed. We still have some additional areas to sod around the tree and bunker and will complete this hopefully next week.

Tree on the left is a beautiful specimen set back in the proper area on the hole. Tree on the right is being over shaded and basically is growing on one side. Leaves, acorns, and other material fall into the bunker regularly. The shade and moisture depletion is significant.

This is the trench that is about 15' deep and shows the network of tree roots from this tree.

Small 2-3" long turf roots have no chance in a competition for resources with these trees.

Aeration completed so that we can then add compost to improve the soil.

Compost added to the area.

After the area was dragged with a metal drag. Cores busted and some compost moved into holes.

Staff finishing up the sod work. You can still see the weakened turf around the tree. It will be replaced in a few days.

Complete

The staff worked on the 13th approach today and also did a smaller amount of work on the 18th approach. We removed the bent grass sod, repaired part of the collar on 13 and part of the collar on 16. They removed the rest of the material and then laid zoysia in its place. We also had some bermuda contamination and very weak turf in front of 18 approach which was pulled up and replaced.

 

                Bent grass sod being reused on collar on 13.

Finishing the removal. All of this work is being done by hand.

Zoysia sod being laid on 13 approach 

The finished area.

Jason Cutting the old material off of 18 approach.

The look from the left side bunker.

Same area but from below the area.

Finshed area looks great. Still some weakness in front which we will work on improving with aeration, compost and traffic control from our mowing units.

Collar/Approach Renovation and Bunker Work

The staff has had busy week. We removed the false front bent grass approach on #10 and used the bent for collar repairs on holes 3, 4, 5, 6, 18 and the practice green. Over the last few years we have been converting these approaches to zoysia grass.  There are a number of reasons that this is being done:

• Less chemical applications since the approaches are now zoysia. This will reduce our overall chemical use which is good for the environment.
• Zoysia requires less water which will make the approaches more firm and allows the ball to release forward onto the green instead of hitting the more heavily watered bent grass approach and stopping.
• Our collars are mowed with a walk mower which takes more time to mow than the riding mower we can use on the approaches. We have converted them to a single pass mow which reduces labor which can used on other areas of the course. 

We still have larger approaches on 7, 13, and 15 that will be completed over the next couple of weeks. We reduced the size of 2 and 11 a few years ago but they are still larger than the single lap collars we have converted. We will attempt to remove these if time allows. If we run out of time, they will be worked on this fall.

Laying zoysia sod on 10 approach. This sod was taken off of 2 tee and used for this new approach. Saved operation a full pallet of sod which costs about $ 300 including delivery costs. It does take extra effort to do it this way with cutting the sod, lifting it and laying it but its great to use turf in another area.

Staff continue to lay more sod on 10.

This is a before with the old bent grass being stripped off by the sod cutter.Tom is cutting the bent grass sod into pieces so it could used again on damaged collars.

Staff in front of 3 green on the collar removing bermuda infested and thin turf.

New bent grass sod in its place. We saved nearly 400 linear feet of bent grass to use on our collars.

The guys are finishing up the left side of #6 green collar.

This morning the staff began working on our bunkers. Currently they have completed edging and redistributing sand in bunkers on holes 1-8 and the 2 large bunkers on 7. We will attempt to get the rest by early next week. The work has included adding additional sand to each bunker as needed from checking depths. As a player, you should expect that the sand will be a little fluffy in the bunkers that have been worked. It will take some time for us to get the existing sand to be mixed in with the new sand. We will be taking our packing machine out after heavy rains to help firm up the surfaces over the spring season.

No, not a Fox digging holes. These are check holes to see the depth of sand in the bunker to determine if we need to add any sand to the bunker or distribute deep areas of sand to more shallow areas.

Bermuda grass the was removed from normally the lower side of each bunker. Over time the bunkers shirk in size due to this fast growing plant.

Sand waiting to be added to the bunker on #1.

Newly added sand being shoveled and raked on #1.

Completed bunker on the left of #6

Spring Greens Aeration 'DryJect'

Our spring greens aeration was completed today using a process called DryJect. We contracted with DryJect Tennessee who brought two machines to Glen Echo to do the work. The following process was used for all 19 greens at Glen Echo. Our staff did an excellent job in getting this operation completed today!

• Greens were mowed to create a smooth surface since we will not be mowing for the next few days to allow the sand to settle into the canopy.
• 5 gallon buckets of sand were placed in the hopper as it crossed the green and were continuously added as it crossed back and forth across the green until the green was completely aerated.
• The machine uses a bead of water shot at 3,000 psi into the surface of the green. Simultaneously sand is injected into the water. The sand fills the space created in the green subsurface to a depth of 4-5".
• Once the sand dried on the green surface, the greens were brushed and holes were changed.
• Tomorrow, we will rolling the greens to help smooth out any imperfections.

We expect the greens to heal over the next 10-14 days. The holes are completely covered and should not create a great deal of disruption in ball roll out.

This process improves water infiltration/drying of wet areas, root growth, thatch control, gas exchange, smooths the surface of the greens with the excess sand that was brushed around the surface, and helps to protect the crown of the plant which is the area where the roots grown down and leaves grow up.

Trailer used to hold sand

Closer view of the process on each green.

Aerial view of the operation on 15 green. Sand at each side of the green. About 25 tons of sand was used today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sand on top of the machine. The clear tubes allow the kiln dried sand to be injected under the machine and into the green subsurface. The process taking approximately 30 minutes per green more or less.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXLvEbNEi5c

Weather I'm Right or Whether I'm Wrong

Well, it appears the end might be in sight but I'm skeptical for this weekend. Course still has some snow cover and all greens are covered and frozen. I could not get a spike down past 1/2" in the surface on the greens. Predictions of 7/10" of rain and 60 degrees could give us the final push of snow going away as well as thawed greens.  We will alert you once the thaw has happened.

And by the way, Welcome Back Party in the clubhouse tonight so plenty of activity at the club even if it does not include knocking the little white ball around.

In the meantime, think ah yes

Weather Stats for February

Thought the weather of February was worse than it was but the first 

week of March has already made me forget about February. Just kind of

an average month of temperatures, a little below normal temperatures

and rain slightly above and snow slightly below. 18 degrees below

normal for the month of March so far. Heading up the scale to more normal 

in a few days, at least we hope. 

OBSERVED         ACTUAL            NORMAL  DEPART  LAST YRS 
                                   VALUE   FROM     VALUE
                                           NORMAL
.............................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)

AVG. MAXIMUM     43.4              45.0    -1.6     47.9
AVG. MINIMUM     26.1              27.6    -1.5     28.0
MEAN             34.8              36.3    -1.5     38.0


PRECIPITATION (INCHES)

TOTALS           3.56              2.24    1.32     5.25


SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
 TOTAL           23.5   1914
 24 HR TOTAL     15.6   02/20/1912 TO 02/21/1912
TOTALS            2.4               4.3    -1.9      0.8
SINCE 7/1        21.8              15.0     6.8      5.5

RECORDS

...MONTHLY...

TIED 8TH MOST OCCURRENCES WITH AT LEAST A TENTH OF AN INCH OF
PRECIPITATION (8 DAYS).


...DAILY...

RECORD PRECIPITATION VALUE OF 1.18 INCHES SET ON 02/06. (PREVIOUS
1.11 IN 1951).

2 Tee Renovation

Yesterday, we began the renovation process on #2 white/blue tee. We removed the cool season sod off of the tee surface. We left the zoysia sod on the very front of the tee to allow members to play from that area for a few more days. We have also opened the old winter tee that sits above the 2 oak trees next to the cart path. Once this next batch of cold weather has lifted, we will remove the zoysia sod from the front of the tee and begin to dismantle the front area of the tee. The top foot or more of the tee appears to be good top soil so we will cap the two new teeing areas with this soil. The clay soil underneath will be used to expand the white tee to the right slightly and will be used to fill the back of the blue tee to extend it back another 10 yards or so. The front 15-20 yards of the long runway tee will be removed making two separate tees similar to what we did last spring on #5.

We expect to finish grade completed on the tee and sod placed in early April and plan to open the tee sometime in May.

There are a number of improvements that this new teeing area will provide:

• Overall tee alignment will be pointed to the up hill side of the fairway and not down the right side of the rough.
• The surface will be all zoysia which requires very few chemical inputs to grow. It will require a bit more light. The first Pin Oak has thinned considerably and will need to be removed in the next year or two once it has passed on to help give this tee enough light for proper growth.
• The overall tee will be reduced in total size.
• The tee will be raised above grade so that water will go around the tee and not flood the tee as it does now after heavier rain fall.
• We will be able to get a few more yards distance out of the back tee for championship play as needed.

Sod cutter was used to strip off the turf.

Skip then used tractor to pull sod to the center of the tee for removal.

Piled up in the center and used the loader to move into the dump truck to remove from the site.

This is the front of the zoysia part of the tee. Still available for play for a few days until we remove it. Plan to use this sod if it holds together on some false front approaches on 7, 10, 13, 15 where we are removing the bent grass.

Sod removed and soil exposed.We dug a trench toward the back to allow water to drain through the tee. This same area will be larger as we reconstruct the tee but will be where the two tees are separated.

Red arrows pointing toward the temporary tee. The left to right players have had the advantage on this hole. Now, the right handed hook players will have there turn for a couple of months until the tee is ready. Time to learn that strong left hand grip for many of us!

The actual view from the temporary tee.

Between Now and April 1st We Must All Do Our Part

This has been one winter that has forced many of us to leave for warmer climates or dream of warmer climate if you haven't been able to leave the city. We've not been able to open the course on warmer days because of frozen conditions within our greens. We finally opened today for the first time in many weeks. We could have some additional course closed weather days before we begin to mow a great deal but they should be for much shorter intervals than what was experienced over the last month or so.There are a few things that our golfing members could assist us during the next few weeks until the turf begins to firm up and grow and we are fully staffed in April

Middle of 6 White tee concentrated divot wear. Please use the edges when possible.

• Greens will be very soft and repairing ball marks would be helpful.
• Divots on tees and fairways could be large due to the soft, wet conditions. Place your divots back in place, even if it breaks apart. Also, step down your depression which will reduce the exposure of roots to cold and or windy conditions. Your competitors would appreciate it as well in case a ball would roll into your smaller stepped down divot. Of course this is helpful during the growing season as well.
• Tee markers will be placed back on the tees in a few weeks but in the mean time use areas of the tee that appear more full of grass, especially the sides. Please don't place your ball in the middle of a heavily divot spot to make one more divot. Place your tee in an area of less damage.
• Carts will probably remain on the paths for the near future and I would encourage that you leave all wheels on the path instead of pulling partially off the path. I know if you are in a group with 2 carts, you have to go around a parked cart. If you do pass, it is always best to go on the side of the path away from the fairway so you do not potentially damage rough in the close rough/fairway area. Certain areas of the course are wetter than other areas, especially bottoms of fairways. It might be wise to wait for the group to move instead of burying your cart in a wet spot at the bottom of #12 cart path.
• Driving ranges are on mats through at least mid-April or later. Please refrain from hitting off the grass tee. If you must hit off grass, please go to another range until we can get our grass growing and open. I don't like to hit off mats as well but its what we have to do since our grass is not actively growing until late April. The less damage we do to our grass now, the quicker we can open in the spring.

Olympic Flame troubleshooting

There is a great deal of work for our staff to complete before we reach the month of April as well. Not a complete listing but some of the main work.

• Finish all the equipment repairs for tees, driving ranges etc.
• Clean up of all equipment and checking carts for the season
• Continued tree removal and tree trimming.
• Rake and clean up gum balls and other debris
• Blowing remaining leaves that have dropped and finishing fence leaf removal.
• Monitoring seed head production on greens and spraying.
• Dry-ject(aerate) greens March 18-19 45 tons of sand.
• Aerate rough and root prune trees
• Finish applying weed grass post and pre-emergent to fairways. tees. Walk spread pre-emergent around greens and apply by fertilizer hauler pre-emergent into rough areas.
• Repair greens surrounds with sod and other areas of course with sod and seed.
• Clean up tree stump grindings/sod
• Repair driving range netting by installing new telephone pole.
• Changing holes, moving tees a couple times a week as needed.
• Repairs to outside areas around the clubhouse including walkway lights, patio lighting, pool clean up and lawn areas.
• Asphalt repairs as needed.
• Growing all of the plants for this season and Becky will be busy cleaning up beds and planting spring pots around the clubhouse.
• Clean up in and around field bar]
• Rebuilding 2 tee
• Rebuilding the greens nursery
• Grass part of dam on #9.
• Divot filling

Repairing and painting driving range bag stands. These were all home made by the staff a couple of years ago.

As you can see, we all have responsibilities that are important for the overall well being of our grand old golf course. We of course first rely upon you to come out and visit us, first and foremost but while you are here, some player etiquette in regards to the course is always appreciated.