Mercy!

A look around the golf course would make you think it’s been a productive week or two... greens successfully aerated, bunkers getting raked, started mowing roughs, grinding stumps, back filled and sodded, #14 trench sodded, compost spread in landscape beds, etc. But the truth is we or maybe just me is extremely frustrated.

This time of year is crucial for a laundry list of important chemical applications.  Granular crabgrass control treating 80 acres of roughs, chickweed, henbit and clover broadleaf control in roughs, preventative large patch control treating 17 acres of zoysia surfaces, granular fertilizer on greens to help heal from aerification, poa seed head suppression application and spring preventative disease control on greens too!  All of these applications need to get done within a 7-14 day window and all have the same restrictions.  THE WIND!!!! We need wind speeds of no more than 5mph to do granular fertilizer on greens and less than 10mph for all other applications.  It’s been either too wet or too windy for 2 weeks straight.  We have started and stopped applications multiple times this week, trying desperately to sneak in a greens fertilizer in the morning before the wind picks up.  Over a four day period we have completed 12 of our 19 greens.  We hope to finish the last 7 on Monday. 🤦🏻‍♂️

If you have read this far it probably appears this is more of a rant than an exciting blog, and I suppose you are correct. 😂 But geeeez, just another example of how challenging golf course maintenance is being at the MERCY of Mother Nature at all times.  When things get dicey or not executed perfectly I use a term with my crew, “it will buff out”.  Growing up around cars it’s my go to, and I guess I can apply it to this situation.  We will be fine, we will adapt and overcome, it will buff out.  Thanks for all the support, it’s great seeing everyone back out on the golf course!!!

Winter Projects/Spring Cleaning

From 0-70 in a flash, temperature that is!  Last week the ground was frozen solid and covered with 6+ inches of snow, this week mild and pretty dry all considered. That’s the MO we know and love, kinda...

We successfully completed the installation of the new practice facility netting.  This will retain mishit golf balls, saving the club resources.

Creek stabilization got a good start, but a few areas were too dangerous to do under snow cover.  This will be continued when the ground is firm.

Moving on to this week, we mowed greens for the first time in months and raked half the bunkers(once they thawed) on Thursday.  The other half will be completed today(Friday).  Hole locations and markers were moved this week too.  

We are also wrapping up our annual warm season turf clean up.  We apply pesticides to eradicate non desirable cool season grasses while also applying pre-emergent herbicide to keep warm season weeds from encroaching during the golf season.  We use blue tracker dye to help with visualizing coverage.

Knocking Off The Rust

So I will be the first to admit that it has been too long since my last blog entry. To be honest with everything going on I have lost interest and motivation in some things. We have been working strange hours and in my time off I have been trying to be a homeschool teacher and it’s just been tough to get in a routine. Soapbox aside we have continued to work and have a good product out on the golf course. We are going to pull the crew back together for a regular schedule starting next week and we have summer help already starting to show up!

While state guidelines are starting to loosen up some allowing the club to reopen, We will continue to have no bunker rakes, ball washers and trash cans on the golf course.  We changed our hole set up to the pool noodle method and will keep flag sticks in the hole. 

Project work has started back up again! The right side of number one green surround is taking a new shape. Dirt moving was done on Monday before the rain and finish grade, sod prep will be done Wednesday with sod showing up on Thursday!  A large amount of our annual flowers will be planted this week! So look out for a lot more color around the property.

Before

After

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.

Doom and BLOOM

Tough times right now with covid-19 affecting everyone in one way or another.  As of now, the grounds crew is still working and trying to go about business as usual.  We have took extreme measures in assuring each other’s safety and health.  From now moving forward we have split our crew into two teams, staggering shifts.  This will ensure that in a worse case scenario of a positive testing staff member and forced quarantine, we will still have one team isolated from the other able to perform at a minimum capacity on the golf course.

Going to try to do more blogs during this time to distract from what’s going on currently.  The main topic of this post is although we are pausing some routines in our lifes, Mother Nature is going to keep on going!  The plant, forsythia, bloomed on our golf course late last week.  It is easy to spot as a flowering yellow bush at this moment.  In the turf industry we use this bush as a phenology indicator for crabgrass prevention applications.  Simply meaning once the forsythia blooms it is time to get your preemergent down!  We finished our application in roughs today! So if you haven’t done so yet, it’s time. It’s recommended to time applications before a rain and is essential to be watered in with a half inch of water before it’s activated in the soil. 😉

Here is some more information for the turf nerd or just someone bored.  Missouri University has a very involved turf department that works closely with our golf industries needs in our area.  Dr. Lee Miller puts out a routine e-blast with good info for us.  Some home owners could benefit from some of the info too!  Here is the link!

Missouri Turf Disease Report 3/4/20

Take care everyone!!!

Week in Review

Wow, what a great week we had last week! Doesn’t look like a repeat is likely this week though.  For the first time in months we skipped a precipitation event and had some dry soil to work with. We quickly broke ground on a few projects that we had been waiting on. The ladies tee box on number 12 was refurbished. We stripped all the zoysia sod off of it and placed to the side to reuse. The tee was raised almost 2 foot to give a better perspective to the fairway.  

While working on #12 we knocked out another tee renovation at the same time.  A new tee was constructed on hole #13.  We used the leftover sod from #12 for the tee top.

During the week of construction we also managed to do service work to other tee boxes, mow greens, rake bunkers, and cleanup debris.  It’s was a really good feeling to know spring is near but I think I can speak on behalf of myself and team members in saying we were all whooped after last week, haha.  Looking forward to the season and more improvements at BHCC!

Spring Sprung?

The past weekend showed signs of change in seasons but is it here to stay?  As anticipated we had a lot of rounds of golf  and we were prepared. Friday we mowed greens for the first time in months, cleaning them up. Saturday morning was frozen solid but thawed out later in the day. Sunday morning was greeted by pleasant temperatures and allowed for us to roll greens and rake green-side bunkers!

With spring in the air we are running out of time for our dormant zoysia grass applications.  Luckily, the drier conditions allowed for us to spray tees Friday and green surrounds Monday putting a wrap on this seasons winter pre-emergent application.  We will put out crabgrass preventer in roughs starting around April 1st.

Dodging rain this week is allowing us to get started on some overdue projects that will bring more updates through the week so check back!

Beauty and the Beast

The golf course was absolutely a thing of beauty this weekend for the club championship!  We delivered premium tournament playing conditions that challenged all the competitors!  Congrats to all the winners!

...but while the members were still battling for victory we brought out the beast!  Greens aeration began on the front nine late this afternoon.  The rest of the course we be completed on Monday.  More details will be held for the next blog entry so stay tuned!

Fast and Firm

We have been grinding out the last couple weeks with the loss of our summer staff.  Been stuck in overdrive preparing the course for golf play.  Routine maintenance has been the theme, keeping the golf course as consistent as possible rolling into this weekend.  Speaking of rolling... the greens are rolling fast and true!  We have consistently been stimping between 10-11 for the last 10 days.  This week we have been a 10.75 and will stay true through the championship!  Good luck to all the participants!

Some random pics from the last few weeks! Enjoy!

Picture Perfect?

We are well into the golf season and it has become evident a new golf rule is becoming a problem.  It is ruining our wow factor and making your putts harder...

This picture wasn’t taken at Augusta National and it didn’t take their three man team to change it either.  This was taken after Steve prepped hole #1 this morning...before golf started.  We take great pride in providing the best playing conditions while getting the details down to perfection.  So this is what each hole looks like each morning of each day.  A crisp edged circle, smooth surroundings and a glowing paint job.  Do you remember the last time you actually had the pleasure to witness this work?  Probably not unless you were the first or second group of the day.

Most of you get to see this and then have to try to hole out a putt in this non-regulation sized hole.  This picture is also hole #1 but at 12:30pm. Notice the damaged paint job and more importantly the damaged edge.  The new rule allowing to keep flagsticks in place during putting is a problem.  Not directly, but the main issue is now dozens of golfers each day pull their golf ball out of the hole while the flagstick is still in.  And they do so without enough caution to not damage the hole.  The result is putts that will lip out and a paint job that I would be ashamed to show a guest.

Please remove the flagstick before retrieving your golf ball.  Take caution and care so we can preserve the integrity of the hole and everyone will make a couple more putts in the process 😉

Green Up and Clean Up

We were forced to prioritize some tasks late in the week and over the weekend.  We apologize for the short comings.  First, our sod arrived much later in the day than usual on Thursday.  This forced us to work through Friday to complete the task.  Because of this we did not mow tees or collars and they were a little harry this weekend.

Areas prepped for sod on hole #5

Lastly, we had a huge limb down on Saturday morning we had to clean up.  The good news is no one got hurt and it also so happened to be limb I’ve heard multiple members complain about.  The clean up of this monster took 3 crew members 2 hours to clean on Saturday morning.  This caused us to get a late start on raking bunkers and wasn’t able to rake holes 1-5.

Monster limb down over #7 fairway

Dagger

After the golf course was in excellent tournament form with greens rolling a solid 11 on the stimp, we were hit with a low blow.  Between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning we received 2.5 inches of rain.

After over an inch of rain Friday, the best team in town rallied and put bunkers back together till dark Friday evening.... only to receive another dagger to the heart in the shape of a thunderstorm Saturday morning.

Efforts were then restricted to only changing hole locations and squeegeeing greens off Saturday afternoon before the main event.

Fast forward to today and despite being challenged with a double shotgun start at 8am and 1230pm we once again proved our will to succeed.  We pulled off mowing and venting Greens despite having all odds against us.  This venting is important in allowing oxygen gas exchange with current water logged soils.

Week In Review

We saw all fours seasons last week with a frost and some light snow flakes on Monday!  That gave way to a 50 degree temperature change in 36 hours with temps in the mid 80s on Tuesday.  Spring rain and mist by Thursday with a chilly autumn feel on Friday.  Gotta love Missouri!  All this just means we were forced to get creative throughout the week to get tasks completed and present good playing conditions on the nice days.

A side note and moving back further than a week, I had the privilege to attend The Masters for the first time and it didn’t disappoint!  What a wonderful experience and motivator to start off the season!

A heavy topdressing of sand on greens before the 1.1” rain Thursday will aid in the final push for holes to close up the rest of the way!  We are really close to dropping the hammer on putting greens and dialing them in for the season!

Finally, the team really out did themselves on Friday. That 1.1” rain total from Wednesday night  tallied up in only 3 hours which resulted in some minor washouts.  They worked hard and got all the bunkers back into playable condition in one day!  This also pays tribute to the result of our bunker renovation!  Our old bunkers would have demanded at least two days of work, pumping standing water and pushing up sand from major washouts!  Kudos to the club for their commitment to improve the golf course!

And... can I get a LGB?!?!

Scratching The Surface

Wow! What a great weekend!  After a long holiday break the blog is back!

After an impressive leaf cleanup effort Thursday and Friday, members were greeted with a much cleaner golf course this weekend!  A fresh cut on greens and new hole locations were also completed Friday.  But then, big plans were altered for Saturday’s setup.  Greens and bunkers both actually had a thin frozen layer at the surface.  This did not allow us to rake bunkers or roll greens.  Sunday, was better as new cups and a smooth roll on greens were completed.

 Frost burning off on #3 green at 9am on Saturday. Once the frost was gone, the surface was still frozen up to 1/16” thick in places.  All greens and bunkers quickly thawed out by noon.

Bunker surface pealing away in frozen layers about 1/4” thick Saturday morning.

Back to bunker work this week!  Crossing our fingers to avoid significant rainfall Monday so we can make a run to the finish line!

Check back for more updates!!!

"How Do They Do It?"

What a beautiful day to kick off the 2017 Member/Member Memorial Tournament.  A great golf course welcomed golfers today for a 9am shotgun start.  Same start time tomorrow where the course will be found even better.

So how do we prepare an entire golf course in just a few hours?  It all begins with a "dark and early" starting time.  By 5:30a.m. all five team members including myself, have shown up and are ready to leave the shop.  Off to the races, we begin each element of the mornings setup covering our 100 acre property.  By 8:30 we had finished mowing and rolling greens, changing hole locations, moving tee markers, collecting trash, raking bunkers and blowing debris from tees and greens.  Tomorrow will bring a new challenge as we will need to add spot watering greens to the list.

Rolling up to the shop at 5:08am.

Equipment is staged and we begin to roll out at 5:27am.

It's 5:34am and #13 green is nearly finished being mowed by Roberto as I start the smooth roller up.

At 5:41am Rob is using his golf carts lights to help with the hole location process.

At 6:44am Jeff and Brendan are raking bunkers on hole #11.

From hole #13 we bounce from hole to next closest hole, connecting greens like dots.  We work up the east side of the property till reaching PG/18/9. We finish by running down the west side of the property ending on #5 and back at the shop.  Obviously this path only works for a shotgun start and is our most efficient working order.

Just another day at the office, back at it "dark and early" tomorrow.