It's That Time of Year!

      2019 has provided some of the best fall golf we've had in years.  In contrast to the beginning of the season, it has been a relatively warm and rain-free couple of months.  September was the firmest we had been all season and October has provided some spectacular colors at the course and the hills around Chautauqua Lake.  I LOVE FALL GOLF!!!!

     But,as is always the case, Mother Nature will soon catch up to us with a reminder that we live in Chautauqua County.  We have been busy preparing the course for winter for a couple weeks now.  Final mowings have been done, irrigation system winterized, leaves are being cleaned up, course accessories are being brought in, and our winter fungicides are being applied.  Always a bittersweet time of year for us on the grounds staff as we love our jobs but also look forward to some well-earned time off to hunt, fish and spend time with our families.

    We do have hopes of tackling some projects this fall/winter if the weather cooperates.  New red and gold tees on #7 and #9 Lake need to be constructed and, of course, tree removal is always on the list of to-do's.  With some luck, we'll be able to get some of this done before to much snow flies.

Enjoy what is left of this fabulous fall weather and get out to play as much as you can!

The soggy start to 2019 has disrupted more than a few days of golf for everyone.  It has also disrupted the ability of the maintenance staff to get on a regular program and get started on projects.  Bunker maintenance, cart path maintenance, repairing bare spots, etc have all been delayed due to the weather.

With a little luck, the drier weather pattern is here to stay and we can begin chipping away at these important tasks, with focus on the Lake Course to get ahead of the NJCAA Championship next week.  Hill Course will be tackled the following week.

One of the few small projects we have been able to tackle was the expansion of several aprons on the Lake Course, with green expansion in mind later on.  These are all part of the master plan developed last season.  Expansions of major significance are on 2, 4, 10, 12 and 17 where we will "regain" several pin positions down the road.  I say "regain" because, looking at existing contours, it is quite likely that these areas started out as part of the greens when the course was constructed 100 years ago.  In the picture below, you can see how far out the apron has been expanded on #10.

The expansion on #12 Lake will remain mostly apron on the upper side and rear of the green to provide golfers with the option of letting a strategically placed shot trickle down to the tricky green rather than hang up in the thick rough.  The picture below shows this expansion.

A Problem for Every Solution

It is said that a negative person has a problem for every solution.  A very true and accurate statement.  Sometimes a well meaning individual can become negative and present a problem for a solution.  And, sometimes, the well meaning negative individual isn't even a person at all.

The evidence to back up this statement is happening right now at the site of our drainage project on #1 of the Lake Course.  Assistant superintendent, Bill Peterson, began exploring the area and found that an existing drain tile had been completely plugged by well intended trees, causing the water to back up the drain line and create a fine mess that has grown to include part of the fairway.  The row of evergreen trees has become a problem for the solution to the wet area that was remedied decades ago. 

Bill is nearing completion of the project, but the well-intending, but negative, trees will have to be removed, bringing the more positive thought of there is a solution to every problem back into the picture.

Early May Update

With the warmer, and relatively drier, weather last week, the course started to dry out and firm up allowing us to mow much more of than in previous weeks and we are beginning to look like a golf course again.   Some wetter areas of the course are being mowed for only the first time this season and some have yet to be touched.  After yesterday's storm, I doubt they will be mowed this week.

It feels like we are behind from a maintenance standpoint, and this is likely due to the mild, although wet, start to the year.  But the reality is that we are right on schedule, and maybe even a little ahead.  All greens have been aerified, the Lake Course two weeks ago and the Hill Course last week. With the warmer spring, the soil temps are almost 20*F warmer than last season resulting in quick healing of the greens.  The Lake Course greens are almost fully healed and the Hill will be roughly one week behind them.

As we head into the first of May, all sets of tee markers are being set out, bunker rakes are placed at each bunker and maintenance begins to be a little more routine as the weather gets better and our staff size increases.  Golf season is here!

The next week, weather depending, will see fertilizer applications, weeds treated, and leveling of #4 and #17 Lake tees, which will begin as soon as we dry out a little bit.

To Cart, Or Not To Cart

THAT is the question!

And, for the near future, the answer is a resounding, no.  The rain from the last 48 hours has pushed us back over the saturation point making navigation difficult throughout the course.   Next week looks great for golfing, but the forecast for the next 2 days is not encouraging.  Flood warnings and impending snow fall (6"-11" possible) will make carts out of the question for the weekend and maybe the first part of next week if the snow does not melt quickly.

Making the decision on carts is one of the least favorite parts of my job.  I have to balance between making the customer happy and protecting the course from the inevitable damage, and there is a lot of grey area in deciding.   How wet is it?  What is the forecast?  How much play are we expecting? Will we likely lose a day of strong revenue?  Will it be superficial surface mud brought up, or will there be ruts and large scale damage near greens and tees?  Will my staff have time to repair damage or tow out a stuck cart?  These, and more, are all questions to be asked, and I have to calculate all these answers into one simple "yes" or "no". Golf is a service industry and we want to keep our customers happy, but allowing carts on a soggy 50* day in early April could have a negative effect on your more enjoyable 70* round in May.  

So, the next time you get an answer you're not happy with, please understand that the simple "yes" or "no" is really not that simple.  

And the Crystal Ball Says............

As we head into late March, the Crystal Ball is a little cloudy as to when we will be able to open for the season.  Last year, although temporary, spring came early and allowed us to mow greens on March 17th.
With the heavy snowfall last week, 2017 won't be a repeat.  Today we still have good snow cover, but the long range forecast looks a little more promising with temperatures in the low 50's most days and some rain to speed up snow melt and thaw what little frost we have in the ground.  If all goes well and the forecast holds, we will likely be mowing by the end of the first week of April.  BUT, we are dealing with the very unpredictable WNY weather which keeps the Crystal Ball obsolete.

Regardless of when we are able to open, we are excited to get the season rolling and look forward to seeing everyone when weather permits.

If you haven't renewed your membership for the 2017 season, please contact Troy in the proshop.  He'll be more than happy to assist you in any way possible.

Watch That First Step

With the floor sinking a little bit every year, causing cracks, a severe slope, and unsafe footing, we have decided to remove the concrete floor in the Ladies' restroom at #5 on the Lake Course to find a solution and make it safe and comfortable.  A crew from the CI Buildings and Grounds department was in yesterday with an air hammer making a lot of noise and dust.  Today we will inspect the sub floor to see if we can determine why it keep sinking on this side but not on the Men's side.  We will then remedy the problem, add a new sub base and pour a new concrete floor.  The floor will not be painted this summer as the concrete cures over that time, but we will add mats for safety.

In the meantime, please use the Men's room on the other side and watch your step around the building.

Early May Updates

We're still in the "Herd of Speeding Turtles" mode here in WNY.  All greens have been aerified and topdressed but recovery has been slow due to low soil temperatures.  We have finally crept into the low 50's for soil temperature and should begin to see the fertilizer kick in to accelerate recovery.

The bridge on #15 Lake is nearly complete with only the stone work, landscaping, paving and staining to be completed.  As part of the project, we were able to both make the bridge wider and eliminate the abrupt ramps on each end of the old bridge resulting in a quieter and more comfortable ride.

As we do every spring, we are renovating a few bunkers in advance of the NJCAA National Championship.  Assistant superintendent, Bill Peterson, has already completed #9 Lake and is currently tackling the greenside bunkers on #2 Lake in an effort to improve drainage.

If you have been out to play lately, you may have noticed some white lines and arrows on the paths.  These indicate sections of paths that are scheduled for repair and another coat of blacktop for a smoother ride.

Hmmmmmm, Something's Missing

With the nasty weather we've been having, you probably haven't been out by #15 Lake in the last week, but if you have, you may have noticed that the bridge is missing.

No, it wasn't stolen, nor was it swept away by all the rain and melting snow. We have been wanting to renovate it for several years, but the right time never presented itself. Thanks to a generous gift from the Connolly family, that time is now. Improvements will be a wider, flatter and much more aesthetically pleasing bridge as well as a wider pond bank on which we will be able to add some nice landscaping.

As with any project, there will be a temporary inconvenience. Our inconvenience will be a re-routing of golf cart traffic around the other side of the pond. When taking this detour please be considerate of people teeing off at #16 and be careful of the wet areas. We will have a pre selected route marked out for you, but it will still be a little wet regardless of where you drive.

Thank you for your patience during this and all projects. You will like the finished product.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Off Like a Herd of Speeding Turtles

It has been an unbelievable start to the golf season in 2016.  Cups changed and greens mowed twice before April 1st for the first time ever.  Golfers have burst out of the gates and some had several rounds played by the end of March.  It's always great to see the course being used at normally slow times.

The turf, on the other hand, hasn't been told that golf season has started.  The soil temperatures are still cool and well under what the grass prefers for growing, just now starting to green up and grow a little.  And that growth is about to come to a screeching halt if the 10 day forecast holds true.  Highs in the 20's and 30's and lows down to the teens early next week.  This should serve as a nice reminder that it is only early April here in Chautauqua County.

Good golfing weather will be here again before you know it but, for now, we are just a bunch of speeding turtles going nowhere fast.

And so it begins......

Today we were able to get our first roll and mow of 2016 done on the Lake Course.  That would make it the second earliest first mowing during my tenure here at Chautauqua Golf Club, trailing only March 16, 2012.  I thought we might have had a chance to beat that mark but last week's 24 hour soaker set us back several days.  Today was the perfect day for it.  The season is coming upon us quickly.  Are you ready?

One More Week

On the eve of this year's NJCAA Championship, I feel as I always do, "One more week."  One more week to get all the little things done to provide these fine young men, and occasional young lady, with the golf course they deserve for their championship.

The reality of it is that everything will be playing just fine come tomorrow morning and usually the little things are the odd tree that was missed by the trimming crew or the flower garden that didn't get edged or weeded again last week.  But this year is different, the little things are a little bigger with our drainage project still being in the repair stage.  The course will still play as well as it ever has for the tournament, just with a little more white paint for ground under repair, and the "one more week" would have only provided a more finished look as these areas would still need to be played as ground under repair since it would not be fully healed yet.

So, as we embark on another week of the NJCAA Championship, I would like to wish all competitors a sincere good luck and hope you enjoy your experience here at Chautauqua Golf Club.

ROAR!!!

And we're back to lion status with the weather.  28*F and a good covering of snow this morning.

 Fortunately, this hasn't slowed progress of the drainage contractor.  He is currently working on #16 Lake and will be heading to #14 Lake and #9 Lake respectively after that.

Lots of flow in the trench yesterday.  It will have even more after the laterals are installed today.  Looking forward to drier conditions on these holes.

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb?

As March begins we had a nice freezing rain yesterday afternoon and overnight.  Crummy weather to be sure, but at least that means our temps are warmer than they have been.  I'm not sure if this qualifies as "in like a lion", maybe more like "in like a bobcat".  The forecast looks promising with a slight warming trend at the end of the 15 day outlook.  If nothing else, there is room for optimism that perhaps this eternal winter may indeed end some time in 2015, preferably "out like a lamb" and sooner than later.

In case you may have forgotten, this is what summer looks like.

February Update

Bill and Dan have already breezed through winter maintenance of our four fairway mowers and are half way through our eight green and tee mowers.  So far there have been no unexpected repairs and our main mowers look like they will be in good shape heading into the 2015 season.  

This is in large part due to our increased capital budget over the last few years.  We have made a commitment to upgrading our replacement schedule and it has shown.  This doesn't necessarily mean that we have a greatly increased capital budget.  We have been strategically mixing new with used, buying fairway and trim mowers just coming off a three year lease when we can find them.  Yes, we'd ideally prefer all new equipment, but in today's economy that's not an option.  This year we are considering a new greens mower, a used trim mower, a used sprayer, with the possibility of a used greens mower if the chips fall right.  All things considered, not a bad year.

We are also committing a portion of our capital budget to tackle the drainage issues on #9,14 and 16 on the Lake Course by bringing in a contractor to complete the project quickly and completely. Currently we have bids from two reputable companies and are considering the pro's and con's of each.  This is scheduled to be completed in late April to early May in order to have the fairways healed before the NJCAA tournament in June.

January Update

As we head into mid January, we find ourselves right on schedule with our winter equipment maintenance.  Bill and Dan have completed our roughly 140 golf carts and are now on to our mowing and maintenance equipment.

Each machine is given a thorough inspection with special attention given to parts that receive high amounts of wear, such as reel and roller bearings and pivot points of cutting unit lift arms.  All reels are inspected, repaired and sharpened while the machines themselves have all oils and filters replaced.  This is time consuming and relatively expensive, but it ensures a smoothly running fleet of high quality mowers and greatly extends the overall life of each respective machine.

In Bill and Dan we have two excellent mechanics, and this shows in the improvement and reliability of our maintenance fleet over the last several years.  This allows us to keep the course in the great condition in which you have become accustomed.

All Green, All Season

At this time every year I reflect on and evaluate the past season.  Some years I'm thrilled to be done with the past season and in some I'm thankful it was a good one with good weather and lots of productivity.  This year presented a mixed bag of emotions.  On one hand, everything was green all season.  On the other hand, everything was green all season.  This all green, all season has its obvious upside but also has a down side.   

The obvious upside was a fully green golf course that looked and played great throughout the entire season.  The non-irrigated rough didn't go into dormancy as it normally does in mid summer as temperature increases and rainfall decreases.  In fact, we had so much rain that we only ran our irrigation system twice, and one of those was a short test run to make sure it was still working properly.  From a superintendent's standpoint, it was nice not to have to fret over whether or not to run an irrigation cycle or if a little hand watering was the best course of action.  Ma Nature took care of that for me.  Thank you!

The obvious downside was the affect all this rain had on the playability of a few holes.  #14 and 16 on the Lake Course to name a couple.  The not so obvious downside was the impact it had on our budget and, at times, the morale of my staff.  With all season green comes all season turf growth which leads to increased mowing, which, in turn, leads to increased labor, fuel, equipment maintenance/repair costs, and time not spent on projects.  Crew morale had nothing to do with the green grass, but rather the constant process of moving sand back to the bunker edges after each and every rainfall.  It wears on a person after a while.

What will 2015 bring?  A hot dry summer as in 2011 and 2012?  Another washout like 2014?  Or, perhaps, one of the rare years of perfect weather?  Only time will tell.

I sincerely wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year.

Trevor

Frequent and untimely rain has been the norm this spring, even more so than normal.  Not only does it keep you away from the course, but delays the maintenance staff's scheduled maintenance and projects as well.

The most obvious to the golfer at this point is the lack of topdressing on our newly aerated greens.  Mother Nature was kind enough to give us a window for getting greens on both courses cored, but not kind enough to provide enough time for getting our topdressing down.  What does this mean for the greens?  Its not the end of the world.  The aeration still accomplishes the goal of alleviating compaction and diluting the thatch layer, and we will still be performing routine topdressings.

What does this mean for recovery of the greens to their normal state?  Not much here either.  As I said, we will still be topdressing even though not much of it will find its way into the holes.  The larger issue concerning recovery time will be the cold ground temperature which is limiting turf growth. We need a stretch of warmer days to get things popping.  Once this happens, the holes will close up quickly and our smooth greens will be back.

So Close........

yet so far away.

The beginning of the 2014 season felt so close late last week I was watching the long range forecast.  We were beginning a warming trend with several days forecast in the 50's, a few warm rains, and 2 days of 60* to start this week. Then it all changed in a heartbeat.  6" of new wet snow and most forecast days in the low to mid 40's. Welcome to Chautauqua, NY.

Today's sunny 45* and tomorrow's 63* should help get rid of this weekend's snow, but we were definitely set back a few days.  Our average first mowing of the greens is April 7th and, while it is quite possible the thaw will happen quicker than expected, the best case scenario would be to have the greens mowed by next Friday April 11.  The snow will be gone by then, and maybe even the frost from the ground, but we will still need a day or two to get the debris cleaned off and get them rolled before they can be mowed.

In reality, April 11th isn't that far away and is only 4 days behind normal, but after a winter like this it seems so far away.  THINK GREEN!!!!

Thinking and Hoping Green

Despite this morning's chilly 5*F, I find myself thinking green, and not because it's St Patty's Day.  Hoping for green is a more accurate statement.  After a winter of severe cold dappled with a few incomplete, ice layer making thaws, my concerns are on the survival of our fine turf areas, particularly greens.  Will they green up as soil temperatures warm up?  Or will they stay brown and develop the smell of turfgrass death?

With the snow beginning to slowly recede, I hope to get a peak at some greens this week.  The few bare areas on tees and fairways look really good so far, but these aren't the typical spots I need to be concerned with.  Theses spots are normally raised, windswept areas that melt off first during a thaw and don't collect standing water.  Greens and low lying fairways do collect this water, which turns to ice as cold weather returns. Ice is a wonderful form of water when chilling a nice single malt, but to fine turf it can mean a slow tortuous death if it remains for an extended period of time.  And this has certainly been the case in 2014.

Some of our greens and fairways have potentially been under some kind of ice cover for about a month and a half, or more.  Poa annua, the predominant species on our greens, can only handle about 50 days of ice cover before it starts to suffocate. We have never had any ice damage here at Chautauqua that I know of, but if there was ever a year, this will be it.

A good question to ask would be "What can be done to prevent ice damage?"  Our best course of action is to continue to improve drainage in our greens and fairways.  This is done through aerification and topdressing on our greens, and aerification and adding drainage to the fairways to allow the water from thaws to drain through the profile rather than accumulate at the surface.  Some of my peers at other courses remove the snow at certain periods of the winter to facilitate ice melt in hopes of preventing such damage.  This works for most, but it's my opinion that, for several reasons, this would not be the best solution for us.  For starters, we have neither the staff nor the budget to be able to quickly and effectively clear our 44 greens when weather allows.  These windows are often small and time is of the essence.  Secondly, clearing greens of snow subjects them to other potential turf killing conditions (low temp kill, chilling stress, crown hydration, and desiccation to name a few) that may be more hazardous to our greens than taking a chance with ice.  Remember, although there is a first for everything, we have never had ice damage at Chautauqua Golf Club.  We have had damage from crown hydration as recent as 2011 and desiccation on the edge of #14 Lake green as recent as 2009.  Our annual snowfall of just under 200" has always been a nice protective blanket for our course and I see no reason to unnecessarily subject it to conditions that would be abnormal.  This is not to say that my fellow superintendents who remove their snow on a regular basis are wrong in doing so.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  Every course has its own set of micro-climates that it has to deal with and if in their situation I would likely do the same as them.  But here at Chautauqua it is a risk and I will happily play the percentages that favor our turf's survival through any ice problems.

Happy St Patty's Day!  And here's to a green and happy spring.