Parking Lot Trees

You may have already noticed but there has been some tree work going on in the parking lot, more specifically the cutting down of the trees we just planted last winter.  Lets take a step back and remind ourselves how bad of a winter we had in relation to temperatures. There was a lot of plant material that did not make it and this happens to be one area. Nothing is ruled out but there appears to be a number of factors that can happen to stress a tree. Once a tree is stressed apparently it puts out an alcohol smell that attracts insects that burrow into the tree. That then starts to damage the tree even more, when we inspected them they had all of the signs as to insect damage. The tree nursery is on the ball and we have started the removal process by first cutting them down and then grinding the stumps. All trees are covered by a warranty and we are looking to plant sometime in September or beyond.

Project Update

The pump house is now weather tight and we can begin the process of cleaning up inside and finish up a few trim pieces on the outside. The next step is to have our electrician wire up the pump station for power. While this is taking place the company is working on the outflow pipe section by installing the "Z" pipe and removing about 200 feet of 10 inch main line so we can enlarge this to 12 inch. Once this is complete the project will be finished and we can turn on the water.

The heart of the golf course

Outflow pipe reconnecting, yes its a mess down there with
old pipe and wires.

Starting to install the larger pipe, another 175 feet to go.

Bunkers made out okay this week with the sand removal from #7 green side bunkers almost complete. The status for #8 is 2 out the 3 green side bunkers are prepped for the polymer spray with minimal soil grading to finish. The third green side bunker was being used as our old bunker sand stock pile so they could still work. With the cold temperatures we have been experiencing the sand is frozen and virtually impossible to move at this time. The right side fairway bunkers are prepped for the Better Billy Bunker Spray and the left side fairway bunker is prepped for the drainage install. We are hopeful to have the spray team return soon but the weather has not been cooperating with us. We need at least a three day stretch of sunny dry conditions for it to be worth everyone's time for maximum efficiency.

#8 right side fairway bunker

#8 left side fairway bunker

#8 front green side bunker

#7 right green side bunker

Our tree project commenced again and what a slow process this has been to traverse the entire golf course one board at a time. But the effort and time will be worth the screening we will get from the homes. The staff has been busy mulching trees on the golf course and laying sod. It can be a big challenge to lay sod when the air temperatures are below freezing and when your sod is delivered it feels like one big ice cube. How we deal with this is by keeping them inside under heat to thaw them out, once they are ready they go out the door.

Last Zelkova for the parking lot.

#3 Tee Screening Project

Not easy to get back up there.

These were dug up and will be moved somewhere else
on the golf course.

Sodding behind #10 green

Keeping the sod warm under the heat

Course Update

It is no surprise that the recent snow storm that dumped over a foot in our area has slowed our bunker project down. I can say that they did a great job of working over this past weekend to Wednesday to almost having #8 complete with the gravel install and partial #7 fairway bunker. We also have started our annual painting of the shop floor again and we keep trying different coatings to see which one will hold up best for the traffic. Our second phase of tree plantings is under way and this will take us a little longer as compared to the first phase. They are being very careful using mats to get to the area with out disrupting the grass or creating ruts from the heavy weight.

#9 right fairway bunker

#9 back green side bunker

#9 right green side bunker

#8 shaping the front green side bunker

#7 fairway bunker

#8 right side fairway bunkers, small pot bunker has been
filled in.

Tree company slowly making there way to #3,
one mat at a time.

Approximately 15 Trees will go in on the left side to
screen the homes on #3 Tee box.

This is the mechanics office complete, next week we will
work the bathrooms and then the main bay.

Course Update and Golf Industry Show

This past week I attended the Golf Industry Show where I sought out education on specific subjects as well as see what new things that are being unveiled. In the next few paragraphs I will discuss the classes that I attended and what benefits we can see from using that information on the golf course.

My first initial class that I attended was called High Performance Golf Course Management, this class gave more insight on hiring and training so you can have an effective staff. Some examples were properly interviewing techniques and creating a strong hiring process with strict followed procedures. Other topics that were stressed were employee training and its importance, developing standards for the golf course and emphasizing that planning is very important in achieving your goals. Plan your work and work your plan.

After that class I hustled over to Selection, Establishment and Maintenance of Grasses for Native Roughs and other Reduced Maintenance Areas, we discussed a number of different native grasses that could be used in specific parts of the United States and what the benefits that you could see other than aesthetics. We also covered establishment and timing techniques to properly grow in and yes maintain these areas. Although native these areas would require some kind of maintenance to keep out invasive and exotic species and they are not maintenance free.

The next morning I prepared myself for Zero Waste Golf - A Low-Cost Model to improve Your Facility, We talked about ways that we could save energy through the use of LED lights, something that we have been doing at the shop for the past two years and our club house just this year. The importance of utilizing equipment through the highest efficiency possible, one example is switching all electric motors whether they power HVAC or our irrigation pump house to VFD. We do have a new pump station slated for install this month. What VFD stands for is variable frequency drive, and what this does is instead of using a fixed speed system, VFD will vary its speed according to the demands that are needed there by reducing electricity needed.  Other topics discussed were producing your own compost through discarded food and finding rebates in your state.

Next class, Preparing for and Managing Turf through Water Shortages and Drought,  this topic is more and more discussed as water is becoming increasingly scarce in certain parts of the world as recent news headlines have stated what California could be facing. Topics discussed were ways to communicate the effects of the drought to the membership that brown is okay and lush and green could be a thing of the past in some areas, using wetting agents to make water wetter or move into the soil profile more efficiently and developing emergency action plans if the government demanded water restrictions.

Finally as my week came to a close I had two more classes to take, The impact of your Spray Tank Water on Pesticide Performance, in a nut shell pH can be a contributed factor for reduced efficacy of certain plant protectants and generally having your water tested on a regular basis so that hardness and other contributing factors keep the plant protectants working properly. The last class, Fundamentals of Foliar Fertilization discussed the movement of nutrients into the turf grass plant via foliar applications. A good example is a granular product that is broad cast applied to the soil and eventually taken up through the roots while foliar applications is spraying the nutrients onto the plant to be taken up through the leaves and roots if lightly watered in. This way can more efficient at times by applying light amounts on a regular basis.

During the week of my absence the staff was busy installing trees to screen the fence on 18, picking up limbs on the course from the recent ice storm and preparing our wash pad to meet the Audubon standards that we have achieved recently. They also took the time to organize the shop on inclement weather days and continued to work on their selected projects. Our bunker renovation was held up again but at the end of the week they picked up again working on #8. The question that I have been asked is will this be ready by April 1st?  Honestly its just a little early to predict that, but we are hopeful if we can get a good two week stretch with out weather related delays this could put us back on track.

wash pad prepping

December 13th Update

With the recent snow storm the course received about 3-4 inches of snow cover and has put the brakes on our bunker renovation. I am hopeful that most of this may disappear next week as the temperatures creep into the lower 40's. After plowing the parking lots and side walks we began to plow the cart paths so that we could continue our work and knock off our winter agenda items. But first we had to go through the entire golf course picking up branches left behind from the ice storm we had recently. This mostly effected our pine trees with nothing of any significance, natures way of pruning. The staff is hauling all of them to a central location where they are being chipped.

All 11 zelkovas have been planted in the parking lot with one more tree we are waiting on to finish up that area. This should take place on Monday, weather permitting.

January 2008

December 2013
When these get bigger its going to change the look
of the parking lot, even next year when the leaves appear.

Course Update

Yesterday was a very busy day for all of us on the greens staff.  We had a great meeting with the Steve from Rees Jones on the progress of the bunkers as well as our next move going forward. The new bail out behind #13 has been approved and we will be laying sod this Friday if the weather cooperates. The area on #13 Tee that we were stock piling first is being turned into a Tee expansion. Two reasons for this, the first is this Tee is to small to handle the rounds that we do and second this was a great place for the soil to go. The soil is coming out of the bottom of the bunkers to make way for the Better Billy Bunker drainage system.  We will do a few more additions through out the golf course. 

The tree spade is almost half way complete in the front entrance native area and our landscape company has already started to plant the screening material to the left of #4 green. 

Left #4 Prep

The polymer for the bunkers also arrived.