Drain/Cover, Restrict/Educate and Pound Sand

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

DRAIN/COVER

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

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

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

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

Skip grading on 8 fairway.

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

Big roll sodding 8 fairway.

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

Looking from the green side of 8 across the zoysia.

Big roll fescue going in on the left rough.

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

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

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

RESTRICT/EDUCATE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

POUND SAND

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

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

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

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

Extra Cart Traffic

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

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

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

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

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

Disappointed, Cart Etiquette or Lack Thereof

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

https://youtu.be/5p0GKlWo0Z4

Late Fall, Winter Play

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://youtu.be/olrxkPQV6Xc





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

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

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

Whatcha Been Doing Lately?

Whatcha been doing lately, I know there has not been a lot of golf ball chasing going on. At least the US Open is on to take up some of the time waiting for the rain to quit.

Well, luckily or not so lucky my men and woman have been out in the rain doing what they can on the golf course. Lightning has stayed away and the rain has been steady but not drowning except for today.

We were able to mow some rough on Tuesday and were able to get 3 mowers out yesterday before the heavy rains came. A little tracking but we figured it would get washed away by tropical storm Bill. We had to skip mowing greens on Wednesday and Friday. Were able to mow greens Thursday and I'm hoping tomorrow morning. Five greens were sprayed yesterday, especially a couple of our worst with algae including the practice and #11.  Most tees were cut and our tee and green surrounds got some sort of trimming in the last couple of days. We have not been able to mow fairways since a week ago Friday. Maybe Sunday or Monday if not dry by then. The staff has been going weed eater crazy trimming trees, structures, lakes, ornamental beds and etc. Becky has been still planting, mulching and pulling weeds while fighting off dive bombing mosquito's.

Yesterday afternoon, the crew switched to cart cleaning mode beginning the process of giving a nice refreshing to our carts. With the tropical storm zeroing in on us, Fridays work involved a big time congo line of clean up work. A full 8 hour session from 9 staff members with Skip leading the charge. The work included the following.

1. Spray the rubber floors with a product called Purple Power. Let it sit and then scrub with a brush. Power wash off. 70% of these were completed on Thursday.
2. Use 3000 grit sanding pads to the body of cart and start scrubbing. Smooths out imperfections and cleans.
3. Step 2 is a Meguiars Cleaner rubbed in.
4. Step 3 is a Meguiars Polisher to shine them up.
5. Then use a cleaner on the black plastic areas of the cart.
6. Plexiglass cleaner and tape remove for the windshields(Still need to do a bunch of these)

Guys got all the floorboards  cleaned, We have nearly 30 polished and plastic trim shined up. Will try to do more as we can.

1/2 and 1/2 cart. A little different from one side to the other side.

Aged carts dress up pretty well. 

Cart Club Rain Cover Repairs

As you know, the velcro straps that hold the rain covers in place on days where we do not have rain have aged to the point of not working. We found some commercial grade snaps which we hope will solve the issue. Fairly easy to work and they do seem to hold fast in place. I've attached a video which demonstrates how the snaps should be used. The strap must be pulled from the front to the back or it will not come off. We will get all carts completed by early next week. Eight carts were changed today.

https://youtu.be/PXU7inXccM4

Carts are off paths for the season

Carts are off the paths for the rest of the season unless wet conditions occur. We've also changed policy on driving carts. Ask that you use 90 degree but carts can go in rough. I will elaborate further next week in an email blast to the membership. Come see us this weekend, need to end em the fiscal year with some good momentum going into the new year.

Asphalt work completed

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

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

Asphalt  being finished up before rolling.

Finished

#4 Finished

New cart control measures

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

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

Carts Off The Paths

Carts will be off the paths and restricted to fairways only effective Friday, April 18th as long as the rain stays away tonight. Please follow signage which will direct you away from seasonally wet areas.  Have Fun!!