Course Update 1/31/21

We were able to work outside 4 days last week and finished clearing at the beginning of the fairway on Grove 1.  We then proceeded to clean up dead trees and other undesirable vegetation along the retention pond left of Grove 1 fairway.  We finished the week by starting to remove the group of Poplar trees along the guard rail on Grove 2 near the gold and blue tees.  The snow storm moving thru today will delay us a day or two, but work will resume on Grove 2 as soon as we can safely get to the area with our equipment.

The overgrown mess near the beginning of Grove 1 fairway.

Here's the same area on Grove 1 after removing the unwanted vegetation.  We now have full access to the irrigation satellite box, and the rough in this area will be much better from increased sunlight and less competition from the trees and brush.

Here's a view of Grove 1 from the white tee.  We kept the large Oak tree on the corner because it's in good health, but removed numerous trees and related brush to the right of it to allow full view of the fairway.  We'll monitor this area throughout the season and determine if additional trees need to be removed to further improve sight lines.

The staff is cutting down dead trees and cleaning up debris on the ground along the retention pond left of the fairway on Grove 1.

Looking back towards the beginning of the fairway on Grove 1.

We're removing this cluster of Poplar trees near the gold and blue tees on Grove 2.  This will provide more sunlight on the tees and surrounding rough, especially in the fall, when these areas stay wet most of the day due to the lower sun angles.

Course Update 1/22/21

 The staff has been busy outside the past two weeks continuing to remove brush on Lakes 5 & 9 and Grove 1 & 8.  A rental excavator is scheduled to be delivered next week which will allow us to begin removing the larger trees on the holes that brush has been removed.  We plan to have the excavator for 5 weeks in order to complete our list of tree work this winter.

Clearing brush on the left side of Lakes 5.

Overgrown vegetation on Lakes 5 doesn't allow for healthy turf and limits visibility during play.

Lakes 5 after brush and small trees have been removed.  Still have some larger trees to remove that requires the excavator's pushing and lifting power.

Removing brush on Grove 8.

Visibility of Grove 8 fairway and green will be much better from cleaning up this area. 

We started removing overgrown vegetation to the right of the cart path near the beginning of Grove 1 fairway.  We anticipate needing another couple days to complete this area.

Dense, overgrown vegetation on Grove 1 choking out the turf adjacent to it.  The entangled mess of vines and jaggers is also visually unappealing.

Course Update 1/8/21

 Happy New Year!

We had a full week of tree work and our focus was on Lakes #7 & #8, specifically areas that still had stumps from previous tree removals.  We also cleaned up a lot of downed branches and dead trees scattered throughout to improve the aesthetics in these areas.

Our arsenal of equipment currently being used

Ground stumps near the water cooler station at Lakes #8 tee

We walk the areas first to locate the stumps and mark them with orange paint

Stump grinding and removing dead trees right of the cart path on Lakes #8

Stump grinding on Lakes #8

Course Update 12/31/20

 We had another short week due to the holiday, but continued working along the right side of Orchard 4.  Looks like one more day and we should have the first phase of tree work completed, which involves removing the trees and larger shrubs that are overhanging the rough.  The second phase is to remove and cleanup the smaller brush and debris with a hydraulic flail mower.  We anticipate that work beginning late January or early February.

The staff getting after it!

Most of the larger brush is growing near the stream approximately 20' from the edge of the rough.  We first have to clear a path to access it then drag the material up to the chipper.

Course Update 12/23/20

 The snowy, wet conditions prevented us from completing our planned tasks on the courses this week, so we began tree work in easily accessible areas.  The first area was near the clubhouse and bag drop where several River Birch trees were removed for safety reasons.  The trees were in decline from what we suspect was a compromised root system and were constantly losing branches during summer thunderstorms.  The second area we began working on is the right hazard on Orchard 4.  A lot of undesirable growth has occurred down the entire right side of the hole and is hanging out into play.  This creates weak turf from the constant shade along with penalizing golfers who get too close to the hazard line.  Our plan is to remove the larger trees and brush first then come back with a flail mower to clean up the small brush and any remaining debris.  There is a significant amount of work on this hole and we anticipate it taking a couple weeks to complete.

Removing Birch trees above the cart parking area behind the clubhouse

Removing Birch trees near bag drop

Grinding stumps

Cleaning up the right side of Orchard 4 starting at the green

Looking towards the tees on Orchard 4 showing dense vegetation that needs to be removed

Course Update 12/9/20

 Please be aware that the course restrooms have been winterized and will remain closed until the temperature consistently stays above 32 degrees in the spring.  The buildings are not insulated and we cannot risk the water lines freezing which would lead to broken pipes and significant structural damage.

Also be aware the staff has removed all tee markers, temporary signage, and ropes/stakes from the courses in preparation for refurbishing these items.  Every winter the staff cleans, straightens, repairs, and paints course accessories to have them looking their best next season.

Course Update 11/12/20

 We wrapped up a late season greens aerification earlier this week thanks to some extraordinarily nice weather.  As with previous aerations, we used a .25" diameter coring tine on a 1.5" forward x 1.5" lateral spacing that produced 72 holes per square foot.  We prefer this tine setup this time of year because the small holes don't affect putting as much as larger ones and they will heal faster.  Following aeration we cleaned the cores off the putting surface and applied 50 tons of topdressing sand.  Once dry the sand was then dragged and brushed to fill the holes and the greens were rolled to smooth out any imperfections created during the process.  The turf isn't growing as fast this time of year due to cooler temperatures and reduced sunlight, so it will take a couple weeks for the putting surfaces to fully recover and the sand to disappear into the canopy.

.25" diameter cores on a 1.5" x 1.5" spacing

Putting green after removing cores and blowing debris

Applying topdressing sand

Dragging/brushing the sand to fill the holes

Putting surface after dragging/brushing

Final step is to roll the greens to smooth out any imperfections

Course Update 10/31/20

 Our plan this week was to aerify and topdress approaches prior to aerifying greens next week.  That didn't work out so well given 1.73" of rain we received over 4 days.  On Monday we topdressed then core aerified Orchard 1-9 and Grove 9 approaches, knowing we could clean them up if the weather cooperated.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen and we have only been able to drag the plugs once due to how wet the ground is.  Normally we drag the plugs a couple times in different directions to separate the organic matter from the soil then blow off the debris.  We will finish cleaning up the approaches on Orchard and Grove 9 as soon as possible, then aerify and topdress the remaining holes as the weather allows.

So why are we only aerifying approaches?  Normally, approaches are aerified with greens using our smaller, light weight machine because of the undulations and areas that are too tight for the larger fairway aerifiers and tractors to maneuver around.  This year, we felt the approaches had become softer (spongy) than we'd like due to an increase in thatch (organic matter), and the small .25" diameter tines used on greens don't remove enough material.  The best way to reduce thatch is through aggressive core aerification and topdressing, so we're using a .5" diameter tine that removes more thatch and creates a larger hole that will accept more topdressing sand.  We'll re-evaluate the firmness of the approaches next spring, but this may be a process that we need to continue for several years to achieve better playing conditions.

Just a reminder that greens aerification is scheduled for next week, 11/2-11/6.  The rotation will be Lakes, Orchard, Grove with only 9 holes closed per day.  Please check with the Golf Shop for more details.

Orchard 9 approach topdressed, aerified and dragged once.  The sand looks a little heavy but will be worked into the turf canopy with additional dragging and rain events.

Orchard 9 approach after several rain events.  The ground is very wet, but most of the sand has been washed in.

Here you can see that most of the holes are filled with topdressing sand after the initial drag.

Course Update 9/25/20

Fairway aerification was completed earlier this week and besides a later start two days due to frost, the weather was perfect.  We used the same contractor as in previous years and the process went very smoothly since they're familiar with the property.  Because we only closed 9 holes per day the contractor didn't need their entire equipment fleet, but still used three tractors, two large aerifiers, and one recycling machine with a total value of $180,000.  They charge us $275 per acre to core aerify and recycle the plugs which comes out to $11,000 for our 40 acres of fairway.  The aerifiers were setup with 48 hollow tines that removed a 3/4" diameter core 4" deep, which created 24 holes per square foot.  That equates to 41,817,600 holes across all 40 acres of fairways.  That may seem like a lot of holes, but it only affected 5% of the total surface area.  The holes should be healed over in 7-10 days given our current weather conditions and hopefully we receive a little rain.

Aerification is an important and necessary practice in providing great playing conditions.  CLICK HERE to learn more about the process and why we do it.

The contractor uses two large aerifiers that each have a 98" working width for maximum productivity.

Once the plugs (cores) dry out enough they are broken up with two heavy steel drag mats that go over every fairway several times.  The goal is to separate the soil from the organic matter (thatch) so the soil can be worked back into the holes.

Once the fairways are dragged the contractor uses a recycling machine hooked to another tractor to pulverize the soil and thatch into finer pieces.

The debris on the surface of this fairway is thatch that was left after the recycling process.  Thatch is found in every turfgrass area and some thatch is needed to insulate and protect the plant.  Too much thatch is a problem and causes playing surfaces to be soft and spongy.  It also holds onto excess water which leads to more disease.

The final step in the process is for the maintenance staff to blow the thatch and any remaining debris off the fairways and then clean off irrigation heads, yardage markers and drains.  Here all five blowers are working together on Orchard #8 to clean off the lower fairway.

Here is the end result after aerifying, dragging, pulverizing, and blowing.

Frost Delays

This morning we experienced our first frost delay of the fall season after the temperature dropped to 34 degrees last night.  Frost is common this time of year and can even occur when the air temperature is above freezing, as was the case last night.  Frost will usually be evident at sunrise, as the air at ground level is warmed it becomes lighter and rises.  Colder, denser air will take the place of the warm air and can be 5-10 degrees cooler, thus creating frozen turf.  Frost usually "burns off" quickly in direct sunlight, but certain areas of the course are heavily shaded and take longer to thaw.  The maintenance staff monitors specific areas throughout the property on cool mornings to determine whether frost is present, and the decision to allow play is based on when those areas will be frost-free.

Click Here To Watch A Short Video From The USGA On Frost

The picture below is from two years ago on Orchard 1, but it's a good example of what happens when you walk on frozen turf.  You can clearly see the black footprints in the rough and fairway which indicate dying grass.  When out for your morning walk, please stay on the cart paths and sidewalks.  This also applies to your pets, as dogs can damage frozen turf the same way humans do.