Course Update 11/29/19

It was a short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but we took advantage of several days of nice weather at the beginning of the week to aerify Grove greens.  We utilized the same process from Lakes and Orchard; topdressing, coring, cleanup and brushing.  The greens are in excellent condition and health going into winter.  Snow mold fungicide applications are one of the final steps in preparing the putting surfaces for stressful winter conditions, and will be completed in the next few weeks.

In addition to aerifying Grove greens, the staff finished topdressing Orchard fairways and spent a considerable amount of time cleaning up leaves.  Fortunately, most of the leaves are down, but there are still certain areas of the property that will require several more days of cleanup.

Course Update 11/21/19

Orchard greens and both practice greens were topdressed and core aerified this week.  We experimented with topdressing first to help work the sand down into the turf canopy during the aerification process and the layer of sand also made cleanup easier allowing the plugs to slide across the putting surface with less friction.  Core aerification occurred later this year since the greens were DryJected in August.  This new schedule provided great playing conditions all fall, while still achieving our goals of removing/diluting organic matter and creating firmer putting surfaces.

Topdressing the greens first with kiln-dried sand.  The dry sand settles into the turf and leaves very little on the surface.

Core aerifying the greens using .25" diameter tines on a 1.5" x 2.0" spacing.  This setup creates 48 holes per square foot.

Here is the end result after the plugs are cleaned up and the putting surface is brushed once.  More topdressing sand will be applied after we spray the greens with a winter fungicide.

Course Update 11/14/19

Due to the cold and snowy weather this week we decided to winterize the irrigation systems.  Every fall all the water has to be removed from the irrigation systems to prevent ice from forming and damaging critical components.  As water freezes it expands and ice is much stronger than plastic pipe.  I've even seen ice cause steel pipe to split open.  The first step in the process is to shut down the three pump stations, open all the drain valves, and let gravity remove most of the water.  Once the water has drained out a large air compressor is connected to the irrigation systems and air is forced through the lines at a high volume, but low pressure.  Too much air pressure can damage pipe and irrigation heads the same way high water pressure does.  The staff will then split up into several teams and go to every satellite control box to systematically turn on approximately 1,300 irrigation heads to blow out any remaining water.  After all the heads are blown out we will go back to the areas that tend to hold water and run through those heads for a second time.  It usually takes 4 full days to winterize both irrigation systems.

In addition to the two irrigation systems on the golf courses, the maintenance staff is responsible for winterizing the restroom facility on each nine, along with miscellaneous landscape irrigation and a water line in the driving range building.

We rent a 900 cfm air compressor that connects to the irrigation systems through a 2" hose with special fittings.  We have to install a pressure regulator on the compressor's discharge line to lower the operating pressure from 150 psi down to 50 psi to prevent damaging the pvc pipe.

Water is pushed out of the irrigation lines by the compressed air and we run the irrigation heads until only mist is coming out.  The irrigation heads are manually turned on from the control satellites throughout each course.

Course Update 11/6/19

We recorded 6.94" of rain over 12 days in October, which is 4.27" above our average for the month.  Year to date we've received 47.24" of rain versus our average of 32.6", or 14.74" above normal.  Heavy rains this time of year have a greater effect on course conditions and areas tend to stay wet longer.  This happens because of shorter days and less sunlight that doesn't evaporate the excess moisture as quickly as it does during the summer.  There's also reduced turf growth that doesn't require as much water so the plants aren't using the soil moisture as quickly.  It's not uncommon to lose .20" or more of moisture during a hot, windy day in the summer to evaporation and plant uptake.