Minor Details

Busy short week.
All Bull's Eye bunkers have been edged.  Now on to Tri City.  Not bad for a week with rain outs and a day lost to a Holiday.

All greens were spiked or double spiked so that we could inter seed weak areas before the heat of summer prevents this work.  The window of opportunity is closing.

Greens were top dressed and because of a heavy rain that moved the sand nicely into the canopy, they were top dressed for a second time as another round of rain is in the forecast.

You will notice we reinstated the Fairway/Rough collar.  This intermediate cut was eliminated when the mower dedicated to this job broke and the repair costs were twice what we paid for the mower.  Currently we are using our bank mowing equipment to complete the task.  As a result you will not see the second collar cut around the green collar as was in place previously.  _Mk

Four short weeks, The Spring 2013

I was recapping the spring of 2013 in my mind for the purpose of this blog post when it dawned on me that the course has been open a mere four weeks.  Can't explain why it seems we've been open a lot longer; it must have something to do with June 1 knocking on the door step.  

Week 1.  The grounds crew was busy getting both courses open and ready for play.  Raking, blowing, sweeping. Opening bunkers, setting out course accessories.

Week 2. We found ourselves busy filling, pressurizing,testing and repairing the irrigation system to the point that we could trust it to water the course without fail.  We discovered one failed head that would have caused significant damage (washout) had we not tested the system before hand.  The system was filled slowly and the systems plumbing was allowed to "warm up" to thaw the pipes as several feet of mainline was still buried beneath snow pack.

We took a chance because in Week 3, approximately three acres of winter injured putting green surfaces were inter-seeded requiring irrigation. Winter injured fairways and roughs were also inter-seeded.

Week 4 has the crew edging bunkers, an annual task that is done as soon as all hands are on deck.

Last week I was in Lawrence Kansas having been selected to serve on the Membership Relations Committee for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.  It has been my privilege to serve the GCSAA on so many committees over my tenure of being your golf course superintendent.  I've meet and spoken to so many superintendents from around the country and enjoy coming away with new perspectives.  On this trip I learned the height of cut was so low on a recent PGA tour event that greens were syringed with water (lubricant) immediately before mowing to prevent the bedknive from tearing the turf! In essence the bedknive became a skid shoe!  Jeez,  I guess you can do those things when you have a budget north of 2.5 million dollars!  (5.68 years for us and they don't have to take care of Tri City!)

The rains have been very timely this Spring.  It seems like we've been blessed with an all day soaking rain every five days.  I know that hasn't been good for the farmers, but it sure has been good for the mosquitoes.  It has been a bumper crop the likes we haven't witnessed since the 90's.  The little bastards are buzzing about my head as I type this.

While last year is a painful memory, I can say without hesitation I'm most proud of this.

While several greens are struggling to overcome the latest round of winter injury, your "DOA" fourteenth green is a picture of beauty nine months later. _Mk

Your Reststop is Open for business.

The restroom between 5 & 8 is now open for business.  We planned on opening it as soon as we could turn the water back on, but that was the problem, no water.  The water pump was running, but that was the problem, it wouldn't shut off!  We had a leak in the water main line that was found beneath the asphalt in the Greens Section parking lot.  Diggers Hotline was called and all under ground utilities had to be marked before we could make repairs.

Go figure, it was a repair coupling that failed when the new gas line was installed to service the warehouse.

It was an easy fix one the pipe was located.  The asphalt served as a cap lid and the water emerged from a crack a good ten feet from the point of the leak.  The asphalt had to be cut before excavation.

The leak was found basically under the operators seat.  With that said, you are now good to go! _Mk

Water in its many states.

I lifted this from the March edition of SUPERINTENDENT MAGAZINE that I thought you might like to read and enjoy.  This is a poem written by Michael Forsberg and I quote:

"Water is a lifeline that sustains migrations and drives the rhythm of the seasons, it quenches our thirst and strengthens our resilience.  It promotes diversity.  It is a force that encourages restorations and renewal.  It seeps into every nook and cranny.  It rages in torrents.  It whispers.  Water is an enabler and transporter.  It builds cloud towers and drives our weather.  It sculpts our landscapes.  It cycles nutrients in our soil.  It makes frogs sing.  Its character is in almost every story on the prairie, sometimes the hero, sometimes the villain.  Water gives, and it takes away.  Water fills us with wonder.  We pray for it and we curse it.  It makes us hurry and then forces us to wait.  Water is the silvery thread that knits us together with the land in a perpetual circle of drought and flood, hot and cold, life and death.  We fear having too much of it or, more often, not enough."

When I read the poem above my mind immediately "flashed" to your golf course. Water is what killed the turf be it in the liquid or solid state.  In other area's it was the lack of water in the air that desiccated the turf.  Both Crown Hydration and Desiccation within feet of each  other!

One possible solution:  To limit damage like that pictured above is to invest in turf covers that are both impermeable and are insulated.  They need to large enough to cover the green bank so that melted water is diverted away from the putting surface.  They are not cheap as cost is based on size and they last only a handful of years.  Costs range from $2000 - $3,000 apiece.  Handling and storage presents additional issues that will need to be addressed as well.  Somthing to think about. Mk