Buttoning up projects

The last few weeks have been busy ones as we finish up all of our projects before Memorial Day weekend. The bunkers are all finished and look really good. They are still a little fluffy but once we get a few good rains on them they'll firm up and play just like the other ones do. We finished work at the range and the new driving range mats were installed too (we had nothing to do with this, but it's worth mentioning). The mats will really help to reduce the beating the range tee takes from outings. With this warm weather the course is really greening up, leaves are filling in the trees and we're starting to look like a golf course. The focus moving forward will be getting all the detail work done and transitioning into maintenance mode. It's looking like it will be a great Memorial Day weekend!

New plantings at driving range.

Artificial tees.



















Ian

Bunker work, seeding, range parking and tilapia.

We are getting very close to finishing all the bunker projects we've been working on the last few weeks. We finished the bunkers at #4 and #7, are almost done at #6 and have to put in capillary concrete in the bunker at #9 fairway. The biggest hold up is the rain. We cannot pour the concrete if there is a chance of rain and it seems nearly every day there are rain chances. We've worked around it as best as we can and will soon be done. The new bunkers do look great and while they are a little fluffy right now, after a few rain events they'll soon firm up.

While we're on the bunker topic, we've started using new rakes that will allow us to hand rake all the bunkers every day. We'll still use the mechanical rake after heavy rain events to help fluff up the sand however, on a daily basis we'll hand rake. This will help keep the bunkers more consistent and reduce the damage done to bunker banks by the machines driving in and out.

Bunkers at #7.

As we wind down with all the projects we have started to seed the areas where we've been working. This means there are a lot of roped off areas on the front nine. Please do your best to stay out of these areas as it will help the young grass fill in and it will keep mud, seed and hydra-mulch from clumping up on your shoes.


















The range parking lot has been poured and I believe the artificial tee will be installed early next week. Now that we have parking at the range we ask that you utilize the spaces and not park on the actual tee. The tee is showing signs of wear from all the traffic and as we get into the season it will only be worse. Thanks a lot!

Finally, the tilapia arrived today and are in all of our ponds. All together we received a little over 1000 fish from Ripple Rock Fish Farms and placed them in every pond on the property. It will be interesting to see how well they work. We're hoping they do a great job however, if they don't we'll always be able to handle the weeds the way we have in the past.

Counting out fish.

Tilapia adjusting to new surroundings.

Ian 

New chipping area, sod work and algae.

The new chipping area is sodded and will be ready for play in a few weeks. We were able to take the sod from the fairway on #7 and re-use it as the fairway at the chipping area. We also laid some rough sod around it to speed up the time until this practice area can be used. The rooting should take place in about two weeks so we should be able to open it sometime in late May.

I'm sure you've also noticed a lot of new sod in different spots on the front nine. As part of the Nicklaus plan we narrowed the fairway at #7 and then we also replaced some areas of rough on #3 and #5 that were bad stands of grass. We ask that you stay out of these areas (you can walk in to retrieve your golf balls, but please don't hit out of them) until they are rooted, which should only be a few weeks. The weather has been very nice for sod the last few days and that, along with the fertilizer we applied to the soil, should have the roots quickly establishing.

#3

#5

#7.

Roots from sod at #6. It's only been a week and they're already starting to knit into the soil below.

Finally, you may have noticed that we haven't yet done anything about the algae developing in some of the smaller ponds. This is not an oversight on our part, in fact it's intentional. We want to have some algae in the ponds so that when our tilapia show up they have plenty of food to eat allowing them to prosper, multiple and then continue to control our algae and aquatic weeds all summer long. We had planned for the fish to be delivered on the 5th but the pond water is still a little too cool for them so we are pushing the delivery back to the 11th. This will give the ponds a few more days to warm up so that our fish are happy when they arrive. It will be interesting to see how this works. If they are not keeping up with the weeds and algae we will still be able control things as we have in the past, but we are hoping not to. For more information on the fish, I covered them in more detail here.

Fish food.

Oh and it's almost May!
Ian

Capillary concrete, sod work, fairway extension at #1 and drainage.

The capillary concrete bunker liner has been installed on #5 green side bunker and sand added. The process is similar to the Billy bunker system however, the concrete is a solid 2" layer once it has dried. It should be a great bunker base and we look forward to seeing how it performs. The concrete comes in a truck and after we've moved it into the bunker, we spread a 2" layer evenly across the floor of the bunker. After that we covered it with a plastic sheet so that the concrete doesn't dry out too quickly because, if it does it can become brittle and crack. Once it had a day to dry we uncovered it and tested it by turning on an irrigation hose and dumping water in the bunker; it took every last bit of water very quickly. Finally, we added sand and now you guys are able to play out of it. Now, we just have to repeat it on the remaining bunkers that we have prepped.

Spreading the concrete. After it was spread we rolled it to smooth the surface.

Finished product after a day of dry time.

Sand added.

We were able to get all the sod work done around the back of #6, leaving just the bunker to finish on that hole. Right now we are done with #5, and all the other bunkers on 4,6,7 and 9 just need to have an edge cut and they'll be ready for the capillary concrete. We will do our best to finish these bunkers next week.

Sod at #6.

The rough at #1 has been mowed down to fairway height and, while it still looks a little different, it is now all fairway. The longer it is at fairway height and has a chance to fill in the more it will look like the old fairway. It should make the hole more playable and I think it gives the hole a better look.

We've also been trying to add drainage to spots that are consistently wet. We started in high traffic areas like #3 and will continue to add more when we are able. The goal is to get the area in front of #4 tee, right of #14 fairway and a few other spots like that this spring and summer if possible.

Beginning of #3 fairway. We'll run laterals off of this line toward the fairway.

Left of #3 fairway before the bunker. This drainage was actually already in the ground, but the soil on top wasn't allowing the water through to the drains so we cleaned them off.

Ian

Dryject, irrigation at #7, artificial range tee and course pests.

Despite the frigid weather the last two days, we were able to get dryject greens, which we are doing instead of our normal aerification. One reason for this is because of the soil tests we had last fall showing organic matter at just above 1 percent. That is a little low, so instead of pulling out more organic matter with a traditional aerification, we decided to inject fresh sand into the profile. The other reason we went with the dryject was because we wanted to punch a channel of sand through the layer of organic matter at the top of the soil profile and the dryject machines are able to go deeper into the profile than traditional aerifiers. We will still get all the benefits of aerification (increased water movement, air exchange, microbial activity, firmness) and it's a less invasive procedure than aerifiying, so the greens will heal quickly. 

Dryject machine. The company that did this for us was great. They worked with us to make sure our greens were complete before the rain. And their day isn't done, as I write this they are now at a course in Chardon, working until dark trying to finish that course before it rains tomorrow night. 

Channel of sand. Notice how it is past the layer of darker soil at the top. 

Finished greens. Not too messy and most of this should wash in with the rain coming in the next few days. 

Part of the work at #7 green included adding some irrigation heads to the left side of the cart path by the green. The rough on the left side of the green often dries out in the summer because it doesn't get sufficient irrigation so we decided while the hole was under construction it was a good time to add a few heads. These will be very helpful moving forward and the healthier rough should increase play-ability around the green. 

Adding heads. 

A few quick notes. 

This is a picture of the finished concrete for the artificial tee. We will add a stone border before the grass is installed to protect the tee from mowers and golf carts. 

Geese are laying eggs and it seems that our harassment techniques are working. We are down to three nesting pairs (that I know of) on the course. If you see a goose, feel free to harass it! If you see a nest, feel free to tell me! Thanks for you help. 

Annual bluegrass weevils are coming out of dormancy. We will keep an eye on their population levels this spring and to see if our late season treatment did anything to reduce their spring levels. 

So small. So destructive. 

Ian

Driving range, mowing, seed heads, pond at #9 and Mark's big win.

This week we had a company come in and pour the concrete base for the new artificial tee that will be at the back of the driving range. They were a pretty impressive outfit to see. They showed up Thursday and set the form and put down a base layer of gravel and today they poured the concrete. This will be a very nice addition to the practice area and should maximize use of the range regardless of the weather. Below are pictures of the form with the gravel base layer. Today, after they poured the concrete, they covered it with plastic to trap the heat and I wasn't able to get a picture of the finished product. I'll add one in the next post.

This week we also mowed greens and fairways for the first time of the year. Obviously, this means that the grass is coming out of dormancy and starting to grow. It also means that we're getting close to seed head control; in fact we sprayed greens on Wednesday to control poa and will spray fairways, tees and rough next week. The warm weather we've had so far means that we're about 3 weeks ahead of last year, which probably means you'll be golfing before you know it!

First mowing on greens and fairways. The lighter grass has been mowed.

Some seed heads showing up on greens. We sprayed early enough that we should get great control.

If you haven't seen it, the pond at #9 really looks great. We put topsoil on the hill by the parking lot this week and will seed that area early next week. It really is quite an improvement over the cattails and will be a great source of irrigation water for us.

Finally, Mark's lucky streak continued (he was a partial winner of the NOGCSA reverse raffle earlier this month) when he won Barrington a free bunker. Capillary Concrete is a company that does bunker linings similar to the Better Billy Bunker system we have used in all the other bunkers. Barrington will receive a 1200 square foot bunker lining installation for us to compare to the other bunkers we've done with the Billy Bunker system. It should be very interesting to see how they hold up against each other and it saves us some money on this project! Annika made Mark's day!

Happy Easter if you're celebrating this weekend.

Ian

Early warm up.

It seems the mild winter is giving way to a warmer than average March. Yesterday, we hit 70 degrees and a few of you were out on the course getting in some early rounds. While it's unusual to be this warm, it is allowing us to pick up where we left off at the end of last year; we are ahead of schedule and should continue that way so long as the warm, dry-ish weather continues. We've already started hiring people for this season and are anxious to wrap up the winter projects and get into the season.

For those of you who have played, I'm sure you noticed the pond left of #9 green had some work done to it. What we are trying to do here is give ourselves a bit of a water reservoir in case of a drought. We added some depth to the pond and installed a valve which will allow us to transfer water to the irrigation pond between #10 and #18. We are able to feed this pond (at #9) with wells located at the driving range so, if we ever do drain it, we will be able to refill it within a few days. Beyond the function, it will also be much more aesthetically pleasing, offering a better view of the course from the clubhouse.

Coming out of winter the course is in pretty good shape and considering how mild the winter was, this is no surprise. We had a little microdochium patch develop on two of the fairways but, outside of that, things look pretty good. Once the weather warms up a bit the grass will quickly outgrow the damage from this disease, just like it has in past years. Besides that, there is a fair amount of tree litter we need to pick up, but overall we are in good shape. I'm not sure if you guys would notice this, but there is less tree litter every year as we removed the unhealthy and dead trees that are dropping their dead limbs.

#14 Fairway

If this warm weather continues, and based on the forecast it will, we're going to be pretty busy pretty quick. As the course starts to break dormancy, so do the pests and weeds that we try to control with our plant health products. A lot of these weeds and insects show up after so many days of warm weather and a measurement has been developed called Growing Degree Days. Some of these pests have been found to show up after a certain number of GDD and MSU has a website that helps us track them. This GDD Tracker helps us time applications for insects, weeds and diseases that we are trying to control. It's a nice tool and one you can use too for anything you're trying to control in your home lawns. This is one of the tools we use along with traps to monitor annual bluegrass weevils, soil probes, moisture meters and daily scouting for any problems that may be developing. Spring is a busy time of year for us so, the more tools we have to help us time our applications for maximum efficacy the better.

Weevil Traps. Annual bluegrass weevils overwinter in leaf litter. This trap allows us to monitor population levels as they exit the woods and head toward the course. As populations peak, we spray to maximize effect of the application.

Ian