NJCAA Prep

Looking forward to a few potentially rain free days to get ready for the NJCAA Championship next week and get the rough back under control for the members by the end of this week.

We are stepping up our mowing schedule this week in an effort to get to the conditions we normally enjoy at the end of May.

We are also changing cups less this week to save a few location for next week's NJCAA Championship.

To say it has been tough going this spring is an understatement, but keep in mind that we at least have the opportunity and desire to play golf. Those in Joplin, MO and in the flood zones have much more important things to worry about and our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

#6 Lake green is now cleared off and the power lines reconnected. There is quite a bit of damage from the branches poking into the ground, but it will be ok after a little TLC.

The new pump station is fantastic! The variable frequency drive (vfd) is even gentler on the pipes than I imagined.

Down Tree

Came to work this morning to find there was no power to the pump house and, after checking, none at the pro shop or community building either. The reason, a tree down on #6 Lake green that also too the power lines down.

There doesn't appear to be significant damage from the power lines burning the turf, but it will take a couple hours to repair the damage left by the tree itself after the power company is able to remove it. If you look closely to the picture below you will be able to see a small pile of ashes left from the power lines. I expect there to be a dead area under the pile that will need to be plugged out and replaced.

The initial start up of the new pump station went well today. I got some funny looks as I drove around turning on sprinklers on an already saturated golf course.

Next step is to get the remaining lines filled and get the leaks buttoned up.

Location:Pump Station Success

Mow, Mow, Mow

We're mowing like crazy today to try to get caught back up. The mowers are still leaving a little bit of mud tracks but it is only going to get worse if we don't get it mowed now.

On a side note, we will be firing up the new pump station for the first time today. We're pretty excited.

New practice of an Old practice

I was walking the greens the other day and noticed the leaf blades of the turf on our greens were getting a little wide, something unacceptable for good greens.

We have been verticutting regularly enough that I didn't think this would happen, but obviously it still did. So, we've restarted a new, old practice of dragging a brush across the green before mowing to stand the wide, grain-causing leaf blades up. The mowers can then clip off the longer, wider leaf blades. This will thin the greens for a period of time allowing new shoots of finer bladed leaf blades to fill in where the wide blades were. The result is quicker, smoother, more consistent greens that also happen to be healthier. A win-win the whole way around.

Brushing does not replace verticutting, but will be used in conjunction with it as another maintenance tool to keep us where we want to be.

Washout!

Monday morning provided a little excitement out on #5 Lake Course. Assistant superintendent Bill Peterson found water bubbling up out of the ground in the left rough about 30 yards from the green and a closer inspection found a nice 3 foot deep sink hole about 15 yds down hill from there.

As it turned out the two incidents were unrelated, but in the same area. The water coming out of the ground was caused by a plugged overflow pipe coming from the pond. Bill pulled a couple 8-10" chunks of log out of the pipe, along with the debris caught behind it, and the water was flowing well again.

The sink hole was caused by a rotten piece of galvanized pipe. As you can see in the picture, a good portion of the pipe had rotted away leaving the soil under the pipe exposed to some erosion. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.

Culvert Repairs

Assistant superintendent Bill Peterson was able to take advantage of the nice weather and repair both culverts under the cart path on #14 Lake Course. Both were so short that the pavement was starting to break away on the edge causing safety issues. One was removed and taken deeper in the ground and one was lengthened on both ends. The first picture shown is an example of the problem. The second picture is from a point part way through the project.

After a week of great weather the course has dried and we were able to catch up on our mowing and trimming to have the course ready for the GBO tournament this weekend. Hope everyone has a chance to get out and play.

Drying Out

It looks like the April showers have finally subsided, at least for the moment. With several consecutive days of warm dry weather we have been able to get some more mowing done. We are certainly behind for this time of year, but expect to be caught up with our mowing by the end of the week.

The constant rain has also slowed our process with some of our projects. We are repairing/replacing some of the culverts under our cart paths and haven't been able to get the equipment out to them due to the unstable and soggy ground. It is now dry enough and assistant superintendent Bill Peterson is able to start up again.

You have seen that we replaced the culvert under the path on #2 Lake Course a few weeks ago, but have not been able to do any finish work with all the rain. We will be able to complete it this week.

Bill is currently on #14 Lake Course replacing/repairing the two culverts between the tees and the fairway. With any luck, he will complete them this week as well.

This is a picture from the same tee at roughly the same angle but not set as deep in the turf. What hole?

A Different Point of View

This picture sums up the perspective from the maintenance staff early last week. It had rained for what seemed like 100 straight days preventing any real on course maintenance other than picking up sticks and debris and the forecast was calling for several more inches over a two day period. We were incredibly fortunate and missed 90% of it and we were able to get out and get greens, tees and fairways knocked back down to a manageable height and the course was quite playable for the weekend.

The picture was taken from a tee on the Lake Course at grass level. The grass on the tee isn't as out of control as it appears. Tees are mowed at 1/2" and only have a couple days growth on them. The camera lens nestled down into the turf canopy for the picture. Can you guess which tee? If I wasn't the one to take the picture I wouldn't have been able to name it.