Seasons Greetings from the HMGC Maintenance Staff

The maintenance staff is off for the holidays, but we would like to wish all the members, guests, and friends of the club the best this holiday season.  We will be back, and the blog will continue after the new year. 

Here's looking forward to a great 2011!

December 10th Green Section Record

The top article in this weeks USGA Green Section Record is a nice look at doing projects 'in-house' versus hiring outside contractors. This is something we always debate when considering upgrades or improvements. It's often a delicate balance between saving money and getting things done properly in a reasonable amount of time.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--December-10--2010.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=M-88R_ZhjOs

Winter work continues.

With the course covered in snow and frigid temperatures, the staff continues to deal with the indoor winter tasks.  Needing to use up the remainder of their paid time off, the staff will be on vacation by the end of this week.  We take advantage of the shop being empty for a couple of weeks to clean, de-grease, and paint the shop floor.  This makes it much easier to clean, more functional, and bright for the long winter months spent crawling around on it.  Also, Gary has begun the arduous task of refinishing each and every tee marker.

Jason prepping the floor for paint.

Floor is prepped and shiny.  We will paint our way out of the shop the very last thing Wednesday.  No doubt someone will forget their car keys and have to repaint their footprints.





Ratty marker first gets sanded down.

Freshly sanded and ready for stain.

Re-stained and prepped for the color paint on the ends.

Voila!  One down, only 160 or so to go!

Freak accident on a golf course in Florida that we can learn from.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/florida-golf-club-worker-dies-from-injuries-suffered-1073887.html

Was browsing through my usual industry-related news headlines, and stumbled across the above article from Florida.  A worker on the course was struck by a golf ball and ultimately died.  This may seem like a 'freak occurence', and rare, but it made me think about things I see every year.

There are many times when I am on the course and need to stop for players.  Lo and behold, there can be workers in their line of play, and often times, I see the players make a conscious decision to hit, even though the employee is in range. 

We train our employees to be diligent and aware of where play is, and put it on them to get out of the way.  Every now and again, a worker will get so into their work that they might forget to check for golfers.  MOST members I know will whistle, yell, or even drive their carts up to make sure the employee is aware of them before they hit.  From time to time, however, I see members deliberately hit into the unsuspecting worker.  We try hard to be aware and put the blame on the employee when they say they almost got hit.  Every now and then, we need a little help from the players to keep ourselves safe.  We will work hard to make sure something like what happened in Florida will never happen here.

USGA Green Section Record December 3rd

USGA has an overly descriptive article on ball-mark repair and some other interesting articles in this weeks newsletter. Also some good articles on how some courses are trying to be more 'green'.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=g3PM0n_dtYc

The winter work has begun

  Probably the #1 question I get asked this time of year is "what do you do all winter?"  Well, this year, I plan to answer that.  I will document your maintenance staff operations this winter and occasionally post pictures and information to give a little insight into how we keep busy while the golf course hibernates. 
  We are 90% finished with our end-of-season pesticide applications, but we need weather above freezing for the sprayer to function properly. With temperatures at or below freezing for the next week or so, the staff has been forced inside to begin the winter chores. 
  Basically, we break up into two groups.  Under the watchful eye of my shop/equipment manager Art, the assistants Dave and Jason begin tearing equipment down and replacing all the necessary wear parts such as bearings and seals, while doing oil changes and servicing all units big and small, right down to the last weedeater.  The second portion of the work is prepping and refinishing all the accessories on the course such as tee markers, ball washers, stakes, and benches.  Here's a few pics to show where we are at currently.

Once all the utility vehicles are serviced, we start with the walking greens mowers.  Here, Jason has removed the engine for grinding purposes and is changing the oil.

All the greens mower engines ready to be serviced.

Here's Dave grinding the 'bedknife' or the blade on the bottom of the machine that stands the grass up before the 'reel' clips the grass.

Dave is now grinding the reel to ensure a sharp outer edge on the blade.

To grind the top edge of the reel blades, we put the mower on a machine that I believe is older than the golf course itself.

In our makeshift painting area, all the tee markers are assembled for stripping and refinishing.

Ball washer bases have been pressure washed and painted.

Gary has started on the always exciting task of cleaning and painting every single hazard stake on the course.  He often tells me how much fun he has while he is doing this. 

Greens Closed Tomorrow

Unfortunately, I am closing the greens effective Wednesday, December 1st.  The recent heavy rains combined with the cold temperatures coming will leave the greens difficult to play and succeptible to damage.  Aside from that, we also need any openings in the weather to finish applying our end-of-season fertilizer and sand topdressing.

Many people lament the closing of the greens, but I assure you that giving them the winter off is the way to go.  Foot traffic during winter on greens will not recover, and could potentially do damage to root systems if the ground is partially frozen.  Also, it ensures we hit the ground running in springtime with nice, playable surfaces without ball marks and footprints.

As always, we will be placing temporary holes in front of the greens just in case a little break in the winter allows us to dust the clubs off, hit a few shots, and surely remind us why we put them away in the first place!

Have a great winter.  I will be posting photos and blurbs through the winter with insight into just what the heck it is we do in the winter time.  Please check from time to time.  Thanks for visiting!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

My parents and In-laws flew all the way from Washington State to visit me and my wife this week.  We've had a full house, but have been constantly reminded what to be thankful for this year.  I hope everyone is as fortunate as I am to be surrounded by friends and family. 

I will resume blogging next week and begin a series that will hopefully give a little insight into what we do when the weather turns.  We are getting near the time when we need to close the greens and put them to bed for the season.

The november 19th USGA Green Section Record

A couple of interesting articles related to the North-Central region. Just because the snow flies doesn't mean we pack up and go home. Issues persist year-round.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Green-Section-Record---November-19--2010.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=FzNCqfREPPA

Smartphones for Supers - Blackberries

Smartphones for Supers - Blackberries

An odd and interesting stump perhaps with a drinking problem.

While we were continuing to remove dead trees, we were forced to remove the unusual tree on the south side of #10 creek. (Some locals referred to it as a swamp willow, but that is inaccurate).  It had been in declining health over the past couple of seasons and we took it down after it produced almost no leaves this year.  It left behind an unusual stump formation from the odd growth habit.  There was an empty Busch Light can that probably dates back to the 1980's or sooner that was lodged in the crotch of the tree somewhere. 

This can was found in the tree and looks to be at least 20 years old.  Hopefully alcohol wasn't to blame in the trees demise.

A little brush clearing.

 We've spent some of the last week or so getting control of some of our brushy areas.  Here's the hill below #11 tee.  Every year, we battle to keep this under control so it won't obstruct the view of the green from the black or blue tee on 11.  There's nothing here but woody brush and weeds, so the view from 12 tee is also unsightly.  We also cleared brush behind #5 green in order to increase air circulation around the greens complex.

The view of 11 hill from 12 tee before. 

All the brush gone after.

The obstructed view from 11 tee.

The view of the green is much more clear after the brush is removed.  We will try to keep this knocked down and establish some grasses in these areas over the next couple of seasons.

Tisk Tisk!

With the great late season weather, it's great to see the golf course has been quite active for this time of year!  Unfortunately, with the late season fervor, there have been a few hooligans stepping off the mats and using the grass tee.  Our tee is extremely undersized for the amount of play we get, and any divots taken now will not have a chance to grow and heal until probably May.  We do everything we can to get grass on this thing, and we need the help of the membership to do it.  Please stay on the mats, and if you see anyone hitting on the grass, feel free to give them a 'friendly reminder' to get back on the mats.

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LET THE BLOGGING BEGIN!!!

I never thought I would ever 'Blog' about anything.  After careful consideration and looking at what other superintendents are doing to keep their members in tune with what's happening at the course, I figured I would give it a try.  I'm not quite sure how often I will post, but count on me to periodically share pictures, articles, links and thoughts that I hope will give members and any other interested parties a look at what goes on behind the scenes here at the golf course.  Please comment, complain, and participate as you like.

USGA Green Section Record November 5th

Interesting articles about the past summer and how tough it was to manage bentgrass this year in certain regions.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Green-Section-Record---November-05--2010.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=Nps5qqNlNtE

As usual, a few trees to remove in the fall.

Each season, we continue to remove the dead ash and pines that litter the golf course.   We also chose to relocate a few trees to places where they will have a greater impact.

This spruce behind #2 tee was struck by lightning during the late summer and didn't make it.  Weeks before, during a wind storm, the top 15 feet of it blew off.

This dead ash next to 12 tee had to be dropped into the creek and retrieved with a boom truck.

Digging the hole for the tree with a large mechanical spade.

Removal of the sycamore headed towards its new home. This sycamore on the corner of #14 dogleg was planted way too close to the fairway and would have been far too large for that spot.  Before the tree grew too large to move affordably, it was decided to move it farther into the rough, where it can become huge without making the hole unfair.

Placing the large tree in its new setting.

Replacing the biggest divot I've ever seen.

Fall fairway cultivation. A heavy de-thatching and some deep holes.

After years of pulling the same cores from the same depth, it has become evident that the fairways here at the club are in need of some different attention.  To manage thatch, we performed an aggressive 'de-thatching' using an old seeder attachment.  This machine removed much more material from the thatch layer than core aerifying. 

The fairways have developed a 'pan layer' which is a compacted zone just below the surface at the normal coring depth.  To alleviate this compaction and allow for better water and root penetration, a 'deep tine' cultivator was used to poke and heave the subsoil. 

Our old Rodgers Seeder attachment ripping the fairways six ways from sunday.  Look at the thatch fly!



The thatch mess left behind by the vertical mower.

 

The 'deep tine' machine punching holes 5-6+ inches deep and 3/4" in diameter.

Fall Greens Aerification. A little different this year.



After careful consultation with my agronomic consultant and other superintendents, we elected to perform our fall aeration a little differently.  Instead of removing a 'core', we instead applied sand first and used 'solid' tines to punch the sand into the profile.  It was very successful in getting the needed fresh material into the greens profile to continue diluting organic buildup and ensuring good drainage.

Vertical mowing removes thatch from the turf canopy and creates openings for sand to get worked in.

Blowing off the mess from the verti-cutting.

The results of the verti-cutting and cleaning.

A heavy sand topdressing.



After the sand dries, we punched it in with solid tines instead of pulling a core.

Much of the sand went into the holes as soon as we punched them.

The first brushing with our greens groomer brush.  It takes about 4-6 trips across a green to get most of the sand into the holes.

The crews favorite part.  Hand brooming the rest of the sand in to ensure all the holes are filled.

Finish it off with a good rolling, and the results were pretty good.