Tree-mendous Challenges

It appears the drought is finally over and we’re getting an early dose of November rain.  We received a total of 1.4 inches last week with more expected early next week. Ironically, we had only received 1.4 inches within the previous 66 days during the drought.

In the past month we have encountered multiple challenges due to trees. The constant leaf litter, sticks and limbs are one topic, but it has actually been the roots wreaking havoc.  Trees are important to the identity of BHCC and they are constant work.  There is a lot of various tree maintenance on tap this winter.

Distinct border line of yellowed turf in the root zone of trees during the drought.  Trees are more efficient at pulling  nutrients and moisture out of the soil than turf.

An irrigation leak caused by tree roots pushing and moving an irrigation pipe.

The best for last...

Cypress tree root knots surfacing in #14 green! They were cut out and turf replaced. We will be root pruning behind this green this winter.

The Big One!

Have a lot of information included in this one, but the first topic I want to discuss is the one that’s most exciting! The cart ruling has changed for the season and we are now allowing carts off the path! At this time we are going with a “no restrictions” ruling which allows members to drive in both the fairways and the roughs. Please still enter at 90° to your ball and exit the fairway and rough at the blue exit stake.  We have also initiated our hole location rotation on putting greens for the season.

Last week we completed greens aerifiaction during a two day event. The event was extremely successful and the greens were left in very good shape upon completion.  Greens were left with a moderate sand top dressing layer to help with the smoothing process. We then also vertical mowed the greens on Thursday, thinning out the canopy and continuing the smoothing process. The greens are already rolling great and should be filled in within another week or so.

In other news, we have been keeping bunkers raked and started mowing areas of rough but will start mowing in its entirety this week. Fairways and tees are starting to green up but probably won’t see their first mow for another week or two. Compost has been flying into beds and flowers will be on order soon to start providing color around the property.  The area behind number eight green has received grass seed and straw. More plants will be installed this spring in the area. A lot is going on but we are rocking and rolling on the golf course.

New Year Update

The sun rises on a new year and the maintenance squad is still going strong.  A day before the ball dropped we winterized our irrigation system.  Using a large air compressor, we blew out all the water from our irrigation lines to prevent possible damage from freezing.

The old “smokehouse” building at the corner on #6 tee had its brick wall demolished.  This wall began collapsing on its own so we had to take the rest down for safety concerns.  We intend to secure the metal paneling once the wall is cleaned up.  Eventually the building will be brought to the ground and replaced by a new section of fencing.

Most recently, today the tree at #1 green was cut down.  This tree was really inhibiting the tee shot to #2 green from the blue and black tee and there was no reasonable way to trim the tree in a way to save it and gain playability.  New shaping and landscaping will follow this winter.

Before

After

Heart Transplant!!

Today we received and installed our new irrigation pump station!  The pump station is the heart of the irrigation system. It draws water from our retention pond and displaces it throughout the golf courses  irrigation lines like veins.  Our old pump station was replaced because it was near its life expectancy of 30 years. Preventative maintenance is key, the irrigation system is arguably the most important part of golf course management during the season.

Raising the roof!

This project called for some heavy equipment. A crane helped with the process.  Preparations were made in previous days to free up the entire roof from our pumphouse building. After some final disconnections this morning we raise the roof! The roof was removed so that we could then take out the old pump station. As they say, out with the old in with the new! It took a few hours to precisely lineup and install new pump station in the old building. We completed the days work by lifting and placing the roof back into place!

Bunker Update

Pictures, pictures and more pictures!

Turn Over A New Leaf

After a couple rough months of summer weather and a weeks worth of demanding tournament conditions our putting greens really need a break.  And a break we received, some great weather and a day without golf on Monday. We timed our growth regulation application on putting greens perfectly for the tournament. Only a few days after the final round our plant growth regulator diminished on our putting greens.  They are glowing and growing, pushing out new leafs to help recover some thin areas on multiple greens.  This growth response will result in slower green speeds for a handful of days. Once recovery is complete we will apply growth regulator again and green speeds will rise back up to normal.  Greens were vented Monday allowing cooler air into the soil.  Wetting agent was also applied Monday to help cure localized dry spots from the Bogey Hills Invitational.

Aside from our putting greens we are also making the final push to repairing poor areas and fairways and around the greens.  Zoysia sod is nearly complete and will leave the fairways and collars on the golf course flawless!

Assistant superintendent Steve Luebbers raising and leveling a sprinkler head

Blow Out!

Wow!  What a day!  It’s absolutely amazing what we accomplish on a day without any golf play.  Tees, fairways and collars were mowed in their entirety.  Rough mowing got a healthy head start.  Multiple bunkers were “fluffed” and worked over.  Focus was on holes 7, 9 and 12.

Not all was good though, we started the day by discovering an impressive irrigation blow out.  The picture does no justice as the irrigation was already in the process of being shutdown at the time of snapping this shot.  By noon, the leak was exposed, cleaned, repaired, backfilled and Pressurized.

All the greens were vented as well!  Fresh oxygen exchanged to the plant while harmful gases are released out of the soil profile.

Finally, if that’s not enough... we had our tree guy on the property removing dangerous dead wood from various trees and opening the gap up at #18 tees.  Cleanup efforts will continue tomorrow.  More tree work will continue when we have the opportunity.

Wetter Water?

Monday we took advantage of having no golf outing at BHCC.  We vented greens as done regularly through the season.  We also applied a wetting agent on to the greens and watered it into the soil profile.  Then we watered and watered and watered some more. Without any substantial rains in the past couple weeks it was necessary to rehydrate our soil profile.  We use wetting agents through the summer to help with surface tension and hydration of the profile. This helps us stay in control of our moisture content which we check daily with moisture meters.  The greens surfaces will be a little softer for only a few days.

So how do we make water wetter?  Check the link out below for the answer!

Great article to understand wetting agents! 

Throwing Sand, Mulch and Water

Today we took advantage of not having a Monday outing.  We spread a moderate topdressing across of all our greens to help in aiding the last push to heal aeration holes.  Directly behind the sand, we applied pre-emergent for crabgrass and goosegrass combined with a plant protectant against fungi and watered it all in.  This application calls for a high dose of h2o so it was nice to have the golf course to ourselves to successfully irrigate throughout the morning.

Topdressing sand being thrown by our machine while water is being thrown in the background.

We also got started on the annual mulching of landscape beds.  This year we decided to go with compost instead of mulch.  Compost breaks down much quicker and results in a richer soil medium for plant growth.

Lost Files From Last Week

There were multiple accomplishments that didn’t make the blog this past week.  For that reason I wanted to do a quick recap and also make a disclaimer.  The battle against leafs seems to be peaking.  Bare with us as the next two weeks will be prime time for falling leafs and cleanup.

#15 Red/Yellow Tee was stripped, leveled and re-sodded.  This particular tee was labeled as one of the more poorly graded surfaces on the property.  A little soil pushed around and it’s now as good as new!

Retaining wall outside of the cart barn was replaced.  The old railroad tie wall was falling apart and needed some major improvement.  So it was out with the old and in with the recycled.  Stones saved from the old clubhouse landscaping were refurbished and used to make a new wall.  Past assistant superintendent Josh Wilcox and his gang installed the wall for us.  He left BHCC to manage his own lawn and landscape company called PRIME LAWN CARE LLC.  They do great work, give them a call at 314 335-9655!

Finally, not as glorious but very important, an irrigation fix was made last week as well.  A minor wet area was inspected and turned out to be 4” main line.  Undetected or neglected this could have turned into a big mess!

All Work, No Play

With no Monday outing today we jammed the day packed with tasks, projects and a little moral booster!

After a long week which included tournament golf and a true summer warm up, the putting greens needed a little TLC.  Low humidity, warm temps and high winds really had the greens drying out.  Today we mowed, sprayed a "wetting agent" and followed up with venting with needle tines on our aerifier.  Finished with a whole lot of H2O to rehydrate the greens.  The wetting agent helps with surface tension and water retention within the soil profile.  The venting poked very small holes about 4" deep to help allow the water to infiltrate and move through the soil profile.  It also provides an empty chamber for gas exchange and oxygen for the plant.

Video of our venting process.

 

If this wasn't enough we started eliminating the "old" cart path on #11.  The path was excavated and soil was replaced to bring back to grade.  Fescue sod was laid today and will be finished tomorrow.  The last section will also be removed and zoysia sod will be laid to extend the current fairway to the new cart path.

 

  

As a token of appreciation, we fired up the BBQ pit for the boys.  We have a great crew and they have been really working their tails off to get the results we have made our standard.