Water project update and fall testing

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.

It took just a handful of workers about a week to get the basic walls in.

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.

The "bones" complete, By the way I got a kick out of watching you all sweat thinking we were going to paint it white.  

The roof went up over the weekend and a refreshing coat of paint set to match the rest of the facility.

With the bones complete, the electrician was able to begin his work.

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.

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.

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.

The tools of the trade from left to right - 1. Soil infiltrometer measures water infiltration,  2. Agronomic consultant 3. Firmness meter

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.

Aerification Update

Greens aerification began yesterday.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't get my email and decided to rain on our little parade.  In an effort to get this unfortunate task out of the way, we began sanding and punching yesterday morning as planned.  Relative to years past, it hasn't gone quite as well so far, but we did accomplish a few things.  13 holes are de-thatched, sanded and punched, and the north side of the golf course (1, 11, 9, 17,18, practice greens) remain only dethatched.  

First of all, the below-average temperatures combined with continuous cloud cover made getting our sand dry nearly impossible.  Greens with more shade and less air circulation (4, 5, 15, 8) did not dry out at all while greens in full sun got a much better result.  By 2 pm, the light rain began and pretty much ended our day entirely.

We can aerify in clouds and even cold weather, but the key for us is being able to get the sand to dry once it is spread on the green.  Moist sand does not get swept into the holes and tends to clump on our brushes and brooms.   Yesterday our sand was far more appropriate for sand castles than for topdressing greens. 

There were little bursts of blue sky that gave us scant amounts of hope for some decent results so a-punching we will go.  Ben and Dave working in tandem to speed the process.

Normally the first brushing would get most of the sand in the holes.  As you can see here the wet cool conditions prevented a good drag.  We continued to work them as the day went on.

The wet sand just "bridged" the majority of holes but did start to smooth out a little better.  Drier early afternoon air did allow us to get most of the sand in later with mixed results.

The greens with more shade and less air circulation dried out the least leaving less than perfect results.  YET ANOTHER reason too many trees around greens can be a problem.  This is #4 right side which is quite shady.  We will rework the sand on these greens as soon as it dries out.  Hopefully no later than wednesday.

Greens with good air circulation and less shade fared much better.  Near perfect hole fill and a smooth surface.  This is #13 green which is in full sun and gets great air circulation.  Go figure.

A little rolling to smooth things out for play and lots of hand work to be done.  Not as good as past years but not awful.

Unfortunately, the weather today looks even worse.  Storms are headed our way and will be in our area around lunch time.  In order to ensure we get good results on our remaining greens, we will not sand or punch the remaining greens until Wednesday.  The golf course will remain open, but expect to skip around us at least once during your round.  We will do our level best to try to get things finished and playable as soon as possible.  

Thank you in advance for your patience.

-D