It's been awhile since my last post, but honestly, I can only talk about leaves and fertilization so much. Fortunately, there is some nice progress to report on the water project.
Over the last few weeks, the walls have been erected, the directional boring has been completed to install conduit across the golf course for electricity, and Toledo Edison has made an appearance to begin their work. A few snapshots of the progress below.
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| It took just a handful of workers about a week to get the basic walls in. |
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Beam being set for the large range house door. This was a bit dicey at first balancing a 700 lb beam on a couple of scrap blocks on my light duty skid-steer, but it got the job done.
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| The "bones" complete, By the way I got a kick out of watching you all sweat thinking we were going to paint it white. |
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| The roof went up over the weekend and a refreshing coat of paint set to match the rest of the facility. |
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| With the bones complete, the electrician was able to begin his work. |
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| Edison setting the service pole for our new electrical lines. Thanks to former member Doug Bahrs for not pitching a fit when I told him they were going to put it in his back yard. |
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| Had to help this equipment onto the course to pull wire from the splice box to the pole. |
The coming weeks will see the concrete floor poured, the transformer pad completed, and the rest of the installation by Toledo Edison. Next week will begin the pipe installation. Heads up to expect closures of the driving range while this work is going on.
With all this going on, it has been a busy month on the golf course. Winter is fast approaching, and it is the time of year where we take a little focus off of daily conditions and try to prepare for the long dormant season. Mostly we are trying to assess and correct any issues that could impede maximum root growth and plant health. Through this process, we also gather information that guides agronomic planning and strategies for next season.
Before we punched the greens early this month, I have a soils and fertility guru independently evaluate our soil and turf conditions. Through extensive chemical and physical testing, we can make assertions on the success or failure of our current cultural practices. We get answers to many important questions: Are we developing thatch? Are we accumulating too much organic matter in our profile? Do we have sufficient air space (aeration) in our soil? Does water infiltrate our greens surfaces sufficient for plant and soil health? Do our mowing, rolling, and fertility schemes cause plant health issues? All of these questions and more are important to answer on a regular basis. My hope is that we are constantly moving in a positive direction. We have to improve a little every year in order to make the greens better, firmer, faster and healthier.
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| A close look at our soil profile. We are looking for several things here. 1. Aerification holes are completely and properly filled. Proving YET AGAIN that using a solid tine instead of "pulling a plug" is adequate to incorporate sand into the profile. 2. The depth of sand layer is increasing from year to year as we religiously sand topdress. Sand is a much better media for greens to grow in due to increased water infiltration, soil oxygen and root penetration. 3. Look at the nice "puncture" at the bottom of the sand channel. Our aerification process is doing a great job fracturing lower soil layers. |
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| The tools of the trade from left to right - 1. Soil infiltrometer measures water infiltration, 2. Agronomic consultant 3. Firmness meter |
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| This is the first time I have used a firmness meter on our greens. Simply put, this thing makes a ball mark on the greens and measures how deep it is to evaluate how firm the greens are. Our greens were of a firmness of a tour event on this particular day. |
The results are in and I am pleased. Overall we have made great progress in amending our soil pushup greens to perform at a higher level. They are firmer, faster, and healthier than they were when I inherited them. Our regular topdressing is paying off and our unique aerification strategies seem to be working great to increase the sand in our profile. We will stay the course next season with a few chemical tweaks and continue to monitor.
Finally, thanks to all that attended the "evening with the architect". It felt good to put our golf course master plan back out for consideration by the members. While there was some errr.....passionate concerns, I am confident that the improvements and plans we have in place will be an absolute success. I intend to prove this with the #14 bunkers we are doing this fall which should begin next week weather permitting. I'm sure I will have more to babble about as that project moves forward as well.
Enough from me for now. See you on the course. Bring a leaf blower.
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