Catch-up

There has been much to talk about on the maintenance side of the club over the last couple of weeks.  Record heat, storms, fence, have all added up to a lot of busy bees down here.  While spending my time nursing the course through the last couple of weeks, I haven't had much time to blog, so I will try to play catch-up.

As you all know, the storms that rumbled quickly through our area late last week left a lovely mess.  #5 green was the victim of a large oak tree as was #16 tee.  We have been hard at work to repair and patch that green to get it in the most playable shape possible for the remainder of the summer season.  With such a large impact, there were "dimples" in the green up to 6 inches deep as well as one large limb that poked a hole 3 feet deep into the green profile.  We will continue to patch, roll, and sand the affected portion of the green to get it smooth.  It will take time, but eventually I expect a good recovery.

This oak was about 80 or so feet tall and alive.

Just what you want to see in your green!

Jeff couldn't reach the bottom of the hole the limb poked into the green

Some of the more superficial damage.

Tools of the trade - oyster knife, steel pipe, and a pitchfork did a good bit of the surface lifting.  Hex plugs and cups did most of the rest

One of the other aspects of the storm is that it dropped around a half-inch of rain in about 10 minutes.  While this didn't seem like much, it did more harm than good.  Most of it puddled and collected in lower areas of the fairways.  The extra water in the soil combined with cart traffic and the next three days of 100+ degree heat basically "cooked" the Poa annua roots in those spots.  This has resulted in some "burnt out" areas in the fairways mostly in high-cart-traffic and drain areas where the water collected.  "Burnt out" is not really appropriate since these areas did not suffer from dryness at all!!! This is a great example of traffic stress, extreme heat, drainage issues, Poa annua, and soil type can all combine to cause serious turf health problems.   Many people think these areas have "checked out" due to the drought conditions this summer when the opposite is true.  Too much water and traffic had weakened these areas to where they couldn't survive the record heat we have had.  You will also notice that the majority of these areas are where cart traffic tends to be quite "funnelled". 

3 fairway in front of the ladies tee where so many carts tend to drive.

These areas are unsightly, but in this example there is some bentgrass surrounding that will hopefully take over.

#1 approach on the right.  The exact point where most carts drive despite our signs and ropes.  A curious note on this picture is the green "lines" of turf that did survive in our verticut channels (that's why we do it!!!).  The patches that survived are either bentgrass or ryegrass.

Another cart traffic/shade area on the approach to #3 green.  The ryegrass in the step cut and bentgrass survived well while the Poa annua is either dormant or severely stunted.  It is important to note these areas were never dry during the heat wave.

Finally, the other project you may have noticed is the cart bridge on #18.  As many of you noticed, the bridge deck had become quite wobbly and unstable.  Years of floods combined with traffic and pure age had taken their toll on the wooden deck and required it be replaced.  We did the work in-house and used much sturdier treated lumber that should last for some time.  I'm pretty sure you could drive a Sherman tank across the thing now.  We are also trying to smooth out the uneven concrete approaches for a softer transition from wood to cart path.

We use a chainsaw to remove the end boards and then pop the deck straight off.

This wooden center beam was no longer supporting the center of the deck, thus the "flapping wings"effect when driving across.

Rot.  It happens.

The rusty beams were scraped and painted with rustproof primer and high-quality paint.

New deck boards being placed.

The thicker deck boards left us perfectly level with the northern concrete approach but a little below the southern approach.  A little concrete hacking and grinding was necessary.  We will rent another machine to soften further.

Getting the edge just right with a little "persuasion".

Update:  The fence on Erie St. is mostly complete.  Contractors will be back on-site to finish installing the service gate opening mechanism and the security fence down the hill within the next week or so.  The recent storm and heat wave have prevented us from seeding around the fence for the time being, but we will get something down here very shorty.  Bear with us as we try to get the golf course back together from all the recent trouble.

Busy Busy Busy......

As the summer heat and stress loom in the very near future (looks like 98 thursday - ugh) we are very busy dotting the I's and crossing the t's on a few projects.  For the next 6-8 weeks, the crew will set large projects aside and primarily focus on maintaining the golf course and keeping things alive during what already looks like another brutal summer. 

The largest of these projects would be the new aluminum fence.  Our contractor has done a great job installing, but we have had to do our part to correct some unfortunate highs and lows in the grade.  We have been filling, raking, and digging our way along the line so that the installer can get from one end to the other with minimal "humps and bumps".  There are several natural ups and downs that were unavoidable, but with the widening of Erie St. 10 years ago, there was some sloppy finish work we needed to correct.  With the installation almost complete, we will be seeding, hydro-mulching, and fertilizing the disturbed ground to get as much grass as possible to come back.  Keep in mind that our sprinklers don't reach the fence very well given the reach and the trees, and it will be all we can do to get a good stand of turf going during a hot summer.  We will do our best and re-seed in the fall if needed.

A fair amount of new soil was added to soften the slope from the sidewalk to the golf course.  Almost 50 tons!

It didn't help that there were vines and small trees growing through the fence.  The removal of the root mass left quite a few holes and uneven areas.

Also, you may have noticed some tree work going on this week.  With no outings this past Monday, I finally was able to get a tree crew out to do some pruning and cutting.  We had some "widowmakers" hanging from some tall trees on the course as well as some unsightly deadwood that needed removed for aesthetics as well as safety.  #5 green also had a large dead tree directly behind it that was in danger of falling on the putting surface that needed to be dropped.  Also, the locust tree next to the putting green was in desperate need of pruning to prevent interfering with the flagpole.  A side benefit will be increased sunlight exposure to the west side of the green.

The locust by the putting green was quite bushy with a lot of low-hanging limbs that shaded the west side.

Some low-hanging deadwood that was dropping debris on the green and just looked plain awful.

The tree all cleaned up and more symmetrical.

As you can see, we are a busy bunch.  Most project work will slow way down come July.  With summer stress upon us, we will need to focus on maintenance, hand-watering, and keeping our sprinkler system functioning well. 

A sight for sore eyes

After 30+ years as a blight on our beautiful property, the fence along Erie St. is finally being removed starting today.  For the last 8 seasons, I have driven past that thing every day with my head turned away from it to avoid the embarassment.  When I bring friends, family, or colleagues here to "show off" my club, it's hard for them to believe we are a healthy private club that hosts an LPGA event when they look at that nightmare (and the shape of the clubhouse too).   It makes me happy to see the club spending a little money to improve curb appeal on the fence as well as the clubhouse.

While I realize that spending this money was controversial to some who would like to see every available dime go to the course, I feel it was a very wise decision not only to replace the fence but also address some of the myriad issues with the clubhouse.  The best way to get money for the golf course is to get more members.  The best way to get more members is to make our facility shine.  We don't have the fanciest clubhouse or the biggest, but it will serve us well not to look like a complete dump.  Also, it enforces the perception that we are improving our facility despite the economy.  The city has asked us year after year if we were going to do something about that eyesore, and we are finally making an effort to beautify the community that provides the majority of our members and income.

Now, we won't have to look the other way.

All the posts were buried during the Erie St. Expansion.  Each one is being dug up to detatch the chain link.

The first rolls are hitting the ground.  Good riddance to bad rubbish.

A fall in the bike lane today would might warrant a tetanus shot

 

Get a Great Round of Golf and Support a Great Cause that Benefits YOU!

As a golf course superintendent, one of the most important jobs I have is staying up-to-date with technology, chemicals, regulations, and new best practices for managing turf.  To stay current and informed, turf managers in Ohio rely heavily on Ohio State University and the associated state and local extension agents.  These turf scientists rely on taxpayer dollars, private funding, and the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation to keep cutting-edge research and technical support available to golf course superintendents, lawn, nursery and landscape companies, municipalities, sports turf managers, and the general public. 

Unfortunately, the current state budget cutbacks resulting from the nationwide economic turmoil have put these important programs in peril.  Key extension and research people with years of knowledge and service are being eliminated to meet the tighter budgets.  This is not a good thing for our industry.

You may ask "why does this affect us?"  Simply put, it makes your superintendent better, your course better, your bottom line better, and your environment better.  With increased public scrutiny resulting from issues like algae in Lake Erie, water quality, pesticide bans, resistant weeds and diseases, increased demand for tourament conditions and shrinking maintenance budgets, the need for research and support has never been greater.  Also, these people are there for YOU!  Extension support is available to the public for lawn and landscape issues, soil testing, and unfathomable resources and information for the general public.

To answer the need for more funding, the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation has put together a fundraising effort called "Bucks for Turf".  There is a great website with lots of good information and more importantly, a fundraising auction including sports tickets, memorabilia, and rounds of golf at some of the best golf courses in the U.S.  How about a round of golf with Craig Krenzel at the OSU Scarlet Course?  Kirtland CC near Cleveland? (FABULOUS track), NCR?  Cog Hill Dubsdread Course?  Baltusrol?  CIC?  You could even bid on a round of golf at Highland with 4 tickets to the Jamie Farr!  There are too many to mention, so check out the sites below and get ready to bid!  The first items are up for bid starting May 28. 

You will get a crack at some unreal golf experiences and help a great cause.  It really is a win-win!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.  See you on the course!

Click Here for Bucks for Turf Website and Information
Click Here to go directly to Auction Site

Sustainability....ugh...not just another buzz word.

I spent some time writing my June newsletter article today. I figured I would give my blog followers a sneak preview.

Recently, I was at a turf maintenance seminar about “sustainability” as it applies to golf course and turf maintenance.  It would seem that the word “sustainability” has eclipsed “green” as the buzz word of choice in our industry.   Sustainability, as defined by the Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America is “the integration of environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic viability as a critical and never-ending goal.”  We are focusing not just on doing what is right for the planet and human health, but also keeping the golf and turf industry as a whole profitable and relevant.

In our corner of Ohio, the current state of the golf industry is no mystery.  The amount of money spent on rounds of golf and club memberships has declined steadily and dramatically over the last several years.   Along with that, the idea of golf courses as water-guzzling, pesticide-laden, environment-wrecking atrocities is still very prevalent.  The algae blooms in Lake Erie, drought in 38% of the US, phosphorus issues all over the great lakes and eastern seaboard, and a lingering negative perception by non-golfers all make for a public relations nightmare.  I doubt a government bailout would ever be extended our direction.

The other side of this is people like us in the grounds department that depend on the industry not for recreation but for a livelihood.  In a recent survey by the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation, the turf industry in Ohio alone accounts for $4.6 billion annually in economic impact and 42,000 jobs between golf courses, lawn care, municipalities, and public entities. 

From an environmental perspective, the maintenance of Ohio’s 4 million acres in turf also contributes greatly to the health of the planet.  While trees tend to get all of the press, turfgrass is also excellent at sequestering carbon.  An average home lawn can sequester 300 lbs of carbon per year, and a single fairway can grab almost 1500 lbs due to the increased density*.  According to the US Department of Energy, a 50-year-old hardwood tree only grabs around 127 lbs!

The trick on our end is to manage things carefully so we aren’t putting more carbon into the turf maintenance in the forms of fuel, fertilizer, shipping etc. than we are getting out of the atmosphere. Watching carbon closely benefits the club in controlling costs.  Here at Highland, new hybrid fairway mowers, filling unnecessary bunkers, unmaintained rough areas, reduced creek maintenance, more efficient watering techniques, use of more efficient chemicals and fertilizers, and many other small things have combined to get us started in the right direction.  New and exciting research, chemicals, fertilizers, sprinklers, techniques, and fuel-efficient machines are coming available constantly.  We strive each year to stay up-to-date with all of these and use what we can to move our facility forward environmentally while hopefully loosening up the bottom line and keeping the golf course in great shape.  

Sources:  *The Benefits of Turf, Pam Sherrat - http://buckeyeturf.osu.edu/, http://www.gcsaa.org/

The great irony of divot repair is that members trying really hard to do the right thing by filling their divots often end up doing more harm than good.  Below is an example of this from the edge of #9 fairway.  Underneath this pile of green divot mix is a perfectly rectangular and fairly shallow divot.  Instead of applying a nice layer of sand to fill the divot, a scoopful was simply dumped and left in place.

There are problems with this that members may not realize.  First of all, the time and money we spend blending the mix with seed, compost, sand, and green paint makes me cringe when it is wasted like this.  Second, this pile of sand, if not caught before hand, will be drawn onto our cutting units on the fairway mowers.  These precision machines are carefully ground and sharpened to cut our fairways at LESS than a half an inch.  Sand getting sucked into the unit can severly dull these blades and causing the quality of cut to suffer as well as stress the plant.  MOST importantly, the divot will not heal quickly or properly with such an excess of sand piled atop it.

When using our soil-seed mix, please apply just enough to fill the divot and smooth with your scoop, club, or foot.  It will help the divot heal more quickly and make me less likely to pull my hair out.  Check out the "helpful links" section of the blog for a USGA video on divot repair and filling. 

Sometimes less is more!

Something's a little different on 13....

If you have played golf in the last two days, you were probably wondering WHAT was going on in #13 fairway bunker.  If you played golf after today, you are probably wondering WHERE #13 fairway bunker went.  With approval of the grounds committee and board, and in concert with the master plan, we have filled it in.

There are several reasons why this was a "no-brainer" in my mind to eliminate this trap.  First of all, it is hidden behind the trees.  It offers no aesthetic value, and is not useful as a target for any reason.  Secondly, it is located well short of the normal landing area thus only punishes already very poor shots.  Third,  eliminating pointless traps is a great way to boost maintenance efficiency.

I know changing the course is often frowned upon, but Harold Weber, the course designer was not designing the course for todays longer hitters.  Also, there are many traps that have been filled in over the years that were out of play or "double hazards" so to speak.  You can see where bunkers have simply been filled on on #9, #14, #1.  Unfortunately, these traps were simply filled with garbage (some of them have asphalt, concrete, leftover materials etc...).  We are removing #13 entirely, with the goal that it look as if it was never there.  There will be some coloration differences with the bluegrass sod that we covered it with, but they will blend out over time.

While it is a change to the original design, I hope we can all agree that in the true spirit of the game, common sense, and course architecture, Highland is better off without it.

The trap was invisible from the tee.  Traps should offer aesthetic value, target value, or "risk-reward" value for agressive lines.  This trap only punished 165-yard slices into the trees, which is already punishment enough.



First we stripped the sod off of the mounding around the trap. 



From either angle, all of the bunker edges were smoothed out.  Unlike the other filled in traps on the course like #1 fairway trap and #9 fairway trap, we actually smoothed the grade so that it appears as if the trap was never there.

Punch punch punch....

With our small, early spring staff, we have been hard at work getting the most important tasks finished.  The wonderfully dry weather has enabled us to get a tremendous amount of de-thatching, aerification, deep-tine aerification, fertilizing, and spraying done. 

Today, we went out to finish aerifying the last few fairways.  Now while we usually deep-tine punch the fairways with solid tines, #18 fairway, #7 approach, and the bottom of #9 north fairway must be approached a little differently.  All of these areas sit barely atop solid bedrock.  To improve the turf in these areas, we can only punch very shallow holes to avoid destroying our equipment.  In order to make the holes more meaningful, we pull a plug to get the best bang for our buck.  We remove a little thatch, get some air exchange, and help the soil drain a bit better.  Pulling a core helps the shallow hole remain open a little longer than would a shallow solid-tine punching.  In time, the holes should grow over and fill with roots.

Core-aerifying 18 fairway old-school.

With spring cultivation activities nearing an end, we have finally had time to begin addressing other projects.  The huge mud hole on the right of #6 was the result of a drain tile that had been blocked by tree roots.  We got it dug up, cleaned, and will get the repair finished as soon as the mud hole dries up enough.

The crew getting ready to send water in to test the line.

Two sections were removed that were completely packed with tree roots.

Next week, we will continue knocking out these nagging projects.  Hopefully slightly warmer temperatures will allow us to get our weed control out.  Remember, it's best to wait to spray your spring weeds until you have nighttime temperatures near 50 for a day or two.  Otherwise, the plant may not take the material up as well, making it less effective.

Aerification complete! Now if it will just quit snowing...

Despite a sketchy forecast, we were able to get greens aerified on Monday.  Since I have changed our usual practices over the last few years, many people have asked what "type" of aerification we are doing this spring. 

The only difference for this punching was we did not use the large, tractor-mounted deep-tine aerifier.  Last fall, the deep-tine machine went over the greens immediately followed by our greens aerifier with 3/4" solid tines.   This resulted in too much surface disruption and poor putting performance for longer than I liked.  On the plus side, it also meant that we have done our job in maintaining greens with minimal compaction which promotes good air flow, drainage, and root growth.  To avoid excess surface disruption this spring, we skipped the deep-tine for now and only used our traditional aerifier with 3/4" solid tines to about a 3" depth.  We will be using the deep-tine aerifier this spring, but will wait until the greens have healed.  Don't be scared.  I will be using very small 7mm tines that will punch deep, but make very small holes that shouldn't interfere too much with regular play.  It will help us through the summer by providing rooting channels and increased drainage.   

The net result is we got more sand into our greens than we ever have.  We used around 40 tons of sand for just over 2 acres of green surface.  This is extremely beneficial to our soil profile and will promote great performance during the season.

The greens were verti-cut and topdressed heavily before punching.

The traditional greens aerifier with 3/4" solid tines at 3" deep.

The aerifier does a nice job of getting the sand into the holes.

After punching, a heavy dose of organic fertilizer is applied

Sand and fertilizer being drug into the profile with our heavy duty "ass kicking" greens brush.  The guys hate this one because it is heavy, but does a great job of moving the sand.

A finer brush and some hand work filling as many holes as possible.

A final rolling, hand broom, and soaking complete the job.  The greens actually roll decently!

Groovy

While this weird/lovely spring continues, we are getting a jump start on another planned maintenance practice for this spring - Fairway verti-cutting.  Those of you that have been out braving the wind and cold the last couple of days have likely seen our tractor out cutting little grooves in the fairways and bringing lots of brown stuff up.

Small disks ripping through the canopy.

Lots of brown "stuff"

Normally, this would be done in the fall along with our normal fairway deep-tine aerification.  Due to the extremely wet fall in 2011, we were unable to complete it.  So a hacking we will go this spring.  The upside is that the unusually high growth rate we are experiencing should help the fairways heal in a very short time.  If we have time this spring, we may do this again before the summer heat comes.

The reasons we do this are: 1.  Remove thatch from below the surface to firm up the fairway and provide avenues for water, air,  and nutrients to get to the soil.  2.  "Groom" the canopy to help stand the grass up for a better cut and a cleaner surface.

Once we acquire our new deep-tine aerator, we will punch deep holes in the fairways to help relieve compaction.  In the past, removing thatch and alleviating compaction was normally done with core-aerification.   I believe we acheive the same thing by doing the verti-cut and deep tine without all the mess, player disturbance, and soil brought to the surface.

So I will thank you ahead of time for your patience while we chop up the fairways.  If the weather stays dry, we should be done quickly.

What a lovely June we are having.

WHEW!  It has been a hectic couple of weeks to start the season!  I apologize for such length between blogs, but we have been quite busy down here in the grounds department.  For this weeks installment, I have a random selection of photos from the last couple of weeks that of the things that have been going on and some of them WAY ahead of schedule.

The unfathomably warm weather has jump-started the golf course in an unprecedented fashion.  Air and soil temperatures that we wouldn't normally see until April or even May have the turf "leaping" out of the ground and growing like mad.  With our limited late-winter/early spring staff, it has been 'all hands on deck' just to keep the mowers in motion.  As you can see below, our December "dormant" application of fertilizer has the greens lush and growing like mad.  The yellow rectangles are where we placed plywood to prevent fertilizer from hitting the putting green when we made the application December 3rd.  As you can see, the fertilizer has made quite a difference in our spring 'green-up'. 



This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago.  You can still see the rectangles today. 

Aside from keeping the grass cut, we have also been out applying our crabgrass control products.  To put things in perspective, the proper timing for this application would be somewhere around April 15th.  This season, temperature models and the blooming forsythia had us out as early as March 19th.  We are almost a month ahead of "normal". 

Coming into the spring, we had the least amount of 'damage' from the Canada geese that I've ever seen.  Perhaps they stayed home with the warm winter.  There were a few meandering about, but overall they stayed away.  Some even moved into the trees.  I assume they were tired of Hank chasing them.

There are two geese in the elm between 1 and 10.  The second is a little hard to spot.

I took some soil profiles from the greens today.  The root length and density are the best I've seen in the springtime for our old Poa/Bent greens.  Thank you for putting up with our greens aeration practices.  They are paying dividends that will translate into better overall conditions during the peak season.  Spring aeration is still scheduled for April 9th.

The roots are holding this sample together.  They are dense and long, which means we are starting the year with healthy turf.  Even the upper sand layer is holding nicely.  The best root mass I've seen in spring in 7 years here.

Overall, it is a startling start to the spring.  Bear with us while we try to keep up with the mowing.  The grass will be a little thick and messy in spots, but we should get caught up soon if the weather decides to get back to normal. 

Welcome back early.  It's been great seeing everyone out on the course so early in the season!

Opening a Little Early After All

It would seem that I will have to amend my prior post and say we are going to open at noon on Friday the 16th!  This is by FAR the earliest we have opened in the 7 years I've been here.  Continued record warmth and wind have managed to dry the course out just enough for play.  It's time to get out and enjoy the course!

Today, we rolled and mowed the greens for the first time and got several of the tees and fairways mowed.  We will be finish mowing tomorrow if the weather cooperates and have one decent cut on the whole golf course prior to opening.

That being said, even though the weather is great, the golf course will not be in mid-season condition by any means.  We may not have the bunkers in ready shape, but will give it our best tomorrow and friday morning.  11 bunker still needs a couple truckloads of sand from the winter flooding.  The greens, tees, and fairways are still quite soft from the inch and a half of rain Monday.  We also have not had time to get all the accessories such as tee markers, ball washers, and coolers out just yet.  We will be picking at those projects into next week.

Also, it is important to note the chance of rain.  As wet as the golf course is still, just the slightest bit of rain will get carts cancelled.  We will do our best, but this early in the season, it's best to err on the side of caution to prevent starting the season with lots of ruts and mud tracks.

I hope the rain stays away, and I see you all on the course this weekend!

Couldn't resist....

This has been floating around the industry for awhile and it made me chuckle.  Thought I would pass it along.

Course Opening and Current Conditions

As I expected, the unusually warm winter has brought many questions about the opening date for the golf course.  Historically, the average opening date is around April 1st.  In year's past, I have been able to open as early as March 22nd and have waited as late as April 5th due to rain.  This is what I consider our "normal" window.  While I believe that we will open on the early end of that "normal" window, I fear it might not be as early as some members would anticipate given the forecasted conditions next week.  I have had members suggest we open as early as this coming Tuesday. Given this understandable confusion, I thought I would elaborate on the two major criteria I consider before opening to full member play and update where the course is today.

1.  Firmness - The course must be able to sustain foot and cart traffic without ruts and prints that could take weeks to smooth out as well as permanently compact the soil. 

Currently -  the last snow melt was off Monday and the greens are quite spongy and soft.  We are not quite ready to put a mower or worse yet a foot on them.

2.  Growth - We need growth to recover from traffic and mowing as well as firm up the soil.  Normally, I like to have the grass mowed once or twice before we put golf on it.  Cool-season grasses grow with air temperatures of 60+ and soil temperatures of 50+.  While the winter was 'above average' in the 30's and low 40's, it still doesn't necessarily get the grass growing when we need temperatures in the 50's and 60's. 

Currently - Today was our first sustained day of air temperatures in that range and the soil is still in the low-to-mid 40's.  As you can see in the photos below, the fairway, green and rough are still dormant, brown and not really growing yet, and the soil temperature reading I took today in the top 2 inches is still in the low 40's.

All that being said, I think a realistic timeline for opening will be sometime the week of March 19th if the weather holds.  There is much yet to do before we are ready, but we all look forward to seeing golf again as soon as possible.  I hope to see you all very soon!

COURSE CONDITIONS

As I said above, we are still quite soft and wet in areas.  Overall, I have yet to see any major damage other than the bunker on 11 and some other flood debris and silt deposits.  The Poa annua in the greens is showing signs of waking up, but bentgrass in the greens, fairways, and tees is still wanting it to warm up a little more.  In the picture below, you can see the light green Poa versus the still brown-reddish brown bent that is just starting to wake up.  Not really anything to mow just yet.

From #9 green today.

Given the poa is starting, we will likely be mowing in the next 5-7 days to start cleaning up the winter fuzz.

Winter Mess and Snow Mold

One of the great upsides to the warm winter was the lack of snow mold disease pressure.  Even the rough, which we do not spray, is relatively free of disease.  I have not seen the course this clean to start the year in 7 seasons.

Even the winter mess is not too bad.  Coming off winters with ice storms and repeated flooding, there is only some debris left from our late winter flood and cleanup on 11 bunker.  A tree came down across # 4 tee with the last windstorm, but we will have to wait until things get drier to clean it up without making a mess of the tee.

Fortunately for us, it fell almost exactly between the women's and men's tee.  We couldn't have felled it that accurately!

New H-2B Worker Laws In Effect

As I have begun hiring for the upcoming seasonal staff, many members who were here during 2006-2008 ask about the Hispanic laborers we used from the H-2B Visa program under the previous superintendent Mark Mixdorf.  The program was designed to help businesses that couldn't attract a sufficient labor force from local workers.  It allowed us to bring 12 workers from Mexico into Ohio legally as seasonal laborers provided we could show that no local workers were willing to do the job. 

With the state of the economy in 2008 along with several changes to the H-2B program, we were no longer able to prove need for outside labor, which forced us to discontinue use of the program.  I have had no trouble finding local people or students in need of work to fill the seasonal positions we have available on my staff.  We are generally overwhelmed with applications whether I solicit or not. 

Four years later, I still get asked about the Hispanic workers and if we could get them back.  They did a great job and many members appreciated the hard work these guys did for the club.  I have kept in touch with a couple of them over the years, and they still speak fondly of their time here. 

Now, the government has overhauled the law again.  Wages, worker protections, job posting requirements and quotas have all been changed.  With these changes in place, combined with the continued robust unemployment levels, I highly doubt that our little club will ever be in a position to use the program again.  A great deal of clubs and other industries rely heavily on these workers to fill a gap in available labor, especially in industries such as resorts and factories.  While we have a steady supply of willing laborers, I am very happy to put Americans to work and hopefully help the local economy.

The link below outlines the details in the adjustments to the law:

http://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/H2BFinalRule/index.htm

A New Year, a New Look and a new mobile format!

The stable of nerds at Google have made it ridiculously easy for techno-idiots like me to make their personal blogs look and work much better.  Considering this is a free service, I am amazed at how much effort they put into making our experience better.

I figured that as the golf season nears, I would update the look a little and get ready for another year.  I even got a new picture of me that's a little more professional and a little less "Gorton's Fisherman".  If you are a new member or just new to the maintenance blog, I try to post pictures, links, or information from once to twice a week depending on how mouthy I am feeling in a given week or what all is happening on the course that may be of interest. 

Also, I have been able to format the blog for mobile device use!  Again a free service of Google Blogger.  Type the normal web address into your mobile browser and you will find a mobile device-friendly format for easy viewing.

A little knowledge from back home

As many of you know, I am originally from the Pacific Northwest, more specifically the greater Seattle, WA area.  As I was browsing some industry articles, I came across one from my previous USGA regional agronomist back home and was suprised to see pictures of Safeco Field (home of the Seattle Mariners).  After wondering what my USGA agronomist was doing looking at sports turf, I read the article and realized it carried a great message about shade. 

The amount of turf on a baseball field isn't very much compared to a golf course, but every inch of it must be perfect at all times (at least until the end of September since the Mariners can't seem to play baseball in October).  Even with the amount of time, money, and scrutiny they give the field, they still struggle mightily with shade from the grandstands.  Despite underground heating and cooling systems and perfect drainage and a retractable roof, the lack of sun will still kick your ass. 

As a result, the crew at Safeco is experimenting with portable lights to "sun" the portions of turf that have in years past struggled and required re-sodding.  This brings me to my ultimate point-shade makes growing grass difficult.  Even in a relatively controlled environment in a part of the country where summer stress doesn't really exist in most years, they can't grow it in the shade.

So please read the article, it's not very long.   Keep in mind the double-edged sword that are trees on the golf course, and maybe think twice if you see me thinning or removing tree canopy before cussing me out.

http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/northwest/Seeing-The-Light---January-2012/