March Madness!

Well, just when we thought winter was over for 2012/2013, we get hit with another 4 inches of snow, 4 days after the official start of SPRING!

As annoying as this snowfall can be when we are all busy with preparations for spring, it is difficult to deny the beauty in a picture like this one!

 

The plow was mounted one more time, hopefully, to help with the clearing of the clubhouse grounds.   

 

 



Drainage Installation Continues...

#2 fairway at Greystone is the perfect example of what we refer to as an area having "micro-climates."  On one area of the fairway closest to the approach to the green, we have one of the driest areas on the golf course.  Several factors contribute to this dry micro-climate such as the slope of the fairway, soil type, wind flow and absence of trees.  This area of the fairway is managed as a dry micro-climate.  Some of the strategies we employ in this dry area are deep watering using wetting agents, constant aerification to create channels in the soils for water penetration, and frequent syringing of the turf during periods of heat stress.



 

Conversely, the tee-side portion of #2 fairway experiences a wetter micro climate.  The first 75 yards of this fairway are flat, tree-lined, shaded and sitting on a heavier, clay soil.  In order to manage this type of micro-climate, we employ management conducive to providing a healthy growing environment, with consideration to this climate. 

 One of the long-term strategies that we are beginning to employ in some of our wetter micro-climates is the installation of internal drain systems.

 

By removing the heavy, clay soils and installing gravel, perforated pipe and a sandy growing medium over trenches, we can begin to remove excess water from these areas.

Some of our goals are to provide playability, healthy turf, an aesthetically-pleasing vistas and access to the golf course.  Installation of drain systems like this one on #2 fairway will help us to achieve those goals for our customers. 

 

 

 

We are working to complete this system as I am writing this blog and are expecting to be complete by the end of the day on Friday.  Next week we will be moving the operation to #6 fairway.



Drainage Installation

Even though we are starring in the face of a snow storm that could bring 6"-10" inches of accumulating snowfall to our golf course tomorrow, we are still trying to take advantage of the warmest weather of the season.  We are fortunate to have a mini-excavator on rent and we have plans to install over 1,000 feet of drainage in the next four weeks.   We began with a small area behind the chipping green that was not draining properly. 

 

Last winter we installed drainage around the back side of the driving range tee and underneath the newly installed ornamental beds.  The outlet from that drainage system was left at the slope behind the chipping green, and this area became a problem during the golfing season.

We used 3" diameter perforated drain pipe layed on top of 3" of gravel and topped with 6"-8" of additional gravel and about 6" of and 80/20 mix containing sand and peat moss.

 Surprise!  We found and 8" drain line that runs from the upper practice putting green into a larger drain system that eventually finds its way to the upper pond on #9.  We ran our drain right into the larger 8" drain and started backfilling.

 The sod we removed on Monday was returned and placed over the drain.  We work off of plywood to protect the existing turf.

 

 

 

The sod is tamped with a plate tamper and touched up by hand. Hopefully, you cannot even tell that we were here.  Depending on weather, we plan to begin installing drainage on the right side of #2 fairway this week.

Golf Course Closed - Will Open on Friday

 Wednesday morning we arrived at the golf course to find a nice frost. 

Thursday, we arrived to a blanket of wet snow.  We had about two inches of snow on the ground. 

Much of our winter projects thus far have been completed inside the maintenance facility.  Looks like our staff is just happy to be outside!

Strange Weather

We could all agree that the weather patterns we are experiencing this winter of 2013 are a bit out of the ordinary.  We have seen temperature 24 hour temperature fluctuations of as much as  45 degrees and now we have seen a storm dump nearly 4 inches of warm rainfall and rip 50mph winds through our golf course in the middle of winter.  I even heard some rumbles of thunder at my house last night.  It is shocking to think that with colder temperatures, this storm could have produced over 3 1/2 fet of snow in our area! 

One casualty caused by the combination of high winds and soft ground was this 40 foot red oak tree along the right side of #15.

Our staff was able to make fairly quick work of this fallen tree. 

When you are trying to dry soil in a pond, even small rain events can be frustrating.   It may take more than eight hours to pump the pond down this time. 

 We are able to capture this rainfall and transfer it into our main irrigation pond on #9.   This will be enough to fill this pond completely and will be a welcome sight in the spring when we are looking to start irrigating the golf course.

Course Open - All 18 Holes!

The golf course is open again.  We opened this morning with a few holes remaining closed.   With the temps in the 50's, all of the snow/slush has melted off and we have now opened all 18 holes.

Golf Course Closed Again

Greystone is closed again with about 2" of fresh, powdery snow. 

We Are Open - For Now...

Yesterday's high temperature of 27 degrees was just enough to melt the dusting of snow that covered the golf course.  We are open for play today.   We will see what today and tonight have in store for us with 1-2 inches of snowfall in the forecast.



View of #10 green from just outside of our maintenance facility.





Closed with Snow Cover

Course closed today with a light dusting of snow covering all of the putting surfaces and cart paths.

The freezing temperatures we are experiencing are some of the coldest that I can remember in several years.  And even though we don't always like it, the cold weather benefits the golf course.  One of the main benefits of cold weather is the suppression of insect activity and fungal pathogen activity. Mild winters similar to what we have experienced over the last two winters, have allowed these pest populations to grow.  

 At #6 tee, you can see evidence that it has not been cold for long. 

Frost Delays - Explained

"Frost is essentially frozen dew.  Ice crystals visible on the outside of the plant can also form on the inside of grass blades.  The grass plant, normally resilient to footsteps or cart traffic, becomes brittle and fragile when ice crystals form.   Under the pressure of traffic, ice crystals puncture living plant tissues and rupture plant cells.  Damage will not appear right away, but it will show up in footsteps and tire tracks the following days as the plant is unable to repair itself and begins to die.  Frost damage can occur on any turfgrass, mowed at any height, but is amplified when the plant is mowed low, as on a putting green.

Keep in mind, a foursome typically takes several hundred footsteps on each green, so even allowing just a few groups to play when frost is present can be very damaging to the greens, and the rest of the golf course for that matter.  For this reason, golf facilities are wise to delay starting times in the morning until frost has completely melted."

Ty McClellan, USGA Green Section

 #18 tee surround

Some pictures of frost damage to turf on #18.  These pictures were taken in 2011 after a golf cart was driven through frost covered turf.  This turf was able to recover in the spring.  This is turf-type tall fescue mowed at a height of 2 1/2 ".

This picture of #17 approach was taken in 2011 as well.   This is creeping bentgrass mowed at 0.5"   This turf was slower to recover and this damage was evident into the spring. 

Creeping Bentgrass Nursery Update

Maintaining 39 acres of creeping bentgrass in the Mid-Atlantic transition zone can be challenging at times. Heat stress, drought stress, severe weather, foot traffic, golf cart and maintenance equipment traffic, pest pressure from weeds, insects and disease, are the main causes of stress on this cool-season turfgrass.  Having a bentgrass nursery on site, enables our staff to use small amounts of sod as needed to make small repairs to the turf.    A nursery also provides fresh healthy turf that can be used during various projects.   For example, last winter we installed over 1700 linear feet of drainage in fairways.  Some bentgrass sod was needed to neatly close up the trenches.  Our turfgrass maintenance team at Greystone has been hoping to have time to construct a bentgrass nursery on the property for a few years now.   This year, we were able to make it happen. 

We began prepping this area behind the grey tee on #16 for seed in mid-September.  The first step was to apply a non-selective herbicide (Round-up) to the existing turf.  We then stripped and removed the dead sod and began importing soil.  We used 83 tons of greens construction mix as the root medium at a cost of about $49/ton.  The mix we chose consisted of 80% sand and 20% sphagnum peat moss and is identical to the mix that supports the bentgrass on all 19 putting greens at Greystone. 

The mix was then graded, leveled and rolled.  We dimpled the mix with the knobby tires on one of our machines to create a seed bed.  We then seeded the nursery with Penncross creeping bentgrass, to match the existing stand, in two directions, applied starter fertilizer, Milorganite, gypsum and calcium.  The nursery was seeded on September 19, 2012 and this photo was taken 6 days later.  If you squint, you can see the new bentgrass seedlings emerging from the soil!

This photo was taken yesterday after the turf blanket was pulled off and the nursery was mowed.  While working on  this nursery, We fielded many nervous questions from our customers concerned that we were constructing a new tee!  I am sure many will be relieved to know this 250+ yard shot will not be part of the par three #16!

With this blanket in place once again, soil temperatures can remain 9-15 degrees warmer than ambient temperatures.   This will help the nursery get a jump start on the growing season this spring. 

#8 Pond Renovation

Some may have noticed that the water level in the pond directly to the left of #8 green has been low for quite some time.  This pond has been leaking for as long as anyone can remember.  After careful tracking of the water levels in this pond, the determination was made that we were losing approximately 45,000 gallons of water per day!  We have been working closely with an engineering firm and a certified contractor to determine the best means for repairing the pond.  After quite some time and careful planning, we are fortunate to be able to say that we have plans and permits in hand to enable us to begin the process of installing a liner in the pond.  

Most of us can remember the pond at #8 looking something like this.   The goal of this project is to bring the water level back to this level with an impervious liner. 


 


The pond level was especially low in the hot, dry summer months.  At full capacity, this pond will store more than 2,000,000 gallons of water that can be used for irrigation when conditions like these arrive!




We began pumping the remaining water in the pond with this 6" diesel pump.

We pumped the water from #8 through this filter bag, into the main irrigation pond on #9.  We were able to save much of the water from #8, while removing the sediment from the water at the same time.

We were able to install this sump into the base of the pond.  This is a 6' long piece of 15" corrugated drain pipe wrapped with poultry wire.  We drilled holes in the pipe and then back-filled around the pipe with about two tons of gravel.  This will allow the water-filled sediment in the base of the pond to drain over time. 

  In order to get a proper estimate for the water content in the sediment in the bottom of the pond, we needed to take a sample of the sediment and dry it to remove the water.  We chopped and dried over a period of about 2 weeks and then packed the soil inside of a 5-gallon bucket with a sledgehammer and tamper to mimic the compaction of construction equipment.

The dry soil was returned into the same bucket and measured.  We calculated that the soil sample consisted of about 31% water and 69% soil.  This is useful information to be used during construction.  

We are all excited and feel fortunate to be able to have this work done.  We will keep this post updated as these plans are carried out.  



"What Does the Staff Do All Winter?"

The most frequently asked question we get this time of year from customers is always "what do you and your staff do all winter.  The grass does not need mowing, right?"  Well, one of my first responses is always that we get some time away from work.  After a grueling golf season, most of the staff is ready for some time off with family, friends, or simply away from the course.  Some of us are fortunate to have plenty of accumulated vacation time to use that we do not get a chance to take during the season.  We will use that time liberally during the winter months when the golf course is typically getting a break itself and is not in need of daily monitoring and maintenance.  

After the holidays, we are always anxious to get started on our winter projects.   One of the most time-consuming projects we undertake annually is the task of refurbishing our golf course accessories.  The list of accessories in need of attention includes 27 aluminum ball washers, 18 wooden divot mix containers, 20 wooden trash cans, 4 wooden cooler/trash can enclosures, 200 bunker rakes and 180 custom-made tee markers.  This can be a daunting task with a staff that is now down to 4!

Ball Washer Refurbishing





All 27 ball washers are disassembled, cleaned, repaired and prepped for a fresh coat of paint! 




One of our four cooler house/ trash can enclosures gets a full renovation.  This one needs more work than the others with some rotten wood being replaced.  This particular enclosure came from #3 tee.  We believe that this one tends to need more in-depth renovation because of its close proximity to irrigation cycles throughout the season.  We will then prime all of the wood and prepare for fresh paint.



This is an older version of our tee marker that we used two seasons ago made from clear cedar.  All 180 markers were designed, cut, sanded and finished by our staff.  The only part of this marker that we purchased was the medallion that we fixed to the center.  These markers took us 6 weeks to complete.  To buy a marker similar to this one pre-built out of a catalog would cost anywhere from $45-$55 a piece.  Simple math tells you that we cannot afford to buy something like this! ($45x180=$8,100)  We were able to build these markers in-house for about $6 each.  We really wanted to replace the older style mini-bowling ball markers with something with a bit more refinement.  I think we were able to do that with these custom made markers.



Of course this is just the inside work.  In the next post we will look at some of the winter projects that we look to get completed when the weather permits.  We will look at doing some tree work, drainage installation, sodding, and landscaping among others.  I will also discuss some of the excitement on hole #8!