Maintenance Update 08/07/12

I would like to give a quick update on what we did on the course while we were closed yesterday:

• The greens were verticut twice, mowed and topdressed again.  While they will be a little bumpy for the next couple of days, we will continue rolling daily to smooth them out and keep the speed up.  With the high temperatures and need to water nightly, the greens see a lot of growth during the day, making it difficult to maintain quick green speeds.  We will continue with weekly applications of growth regulator as well as continue the process of verticutting and topdressing to help keep them more consistent.  As the nights get longer and daytime highs start to decrease, the leaf blades will get tighter and we will be able to maintain a little quicker green speeds.
• The approaches were aerified with 1/2" tines, cleaned off and mowed.  The turf in the approaches and green surrounds is very thick and we have not been getting a very good cut with our mower.  The plugs were allowed to dry then we used a metal drag mat to bust the soil and incorporate it into the turf canopy.  This should not inhibit play and we should be seeing a much better cut with our mower.
• The hot weather continues to dry the course out.  We have been limited with our water, but we have been spot watering dry areas of the fairways daily.  Inevitably, with high temperatures and low humidity, areas are going to dry out and go off color.  We will continue to do our best to hold on to what we have, hopefully for only a few more weeks until relief.

Thanks for all of the positive comments and hang in there for hopefully a few more weeks!
Chuck McCaskill, CGCS
aggieturfman98@gmail.com

Maintenance Update 07/27/2012

It hasn't taken long to jump right in to 100 degree days.  We have been very busy maintaining and improving our golf course.  Here is a rundown on what we have and have had going on:

• The greens were aerified and verticut this past Monday.  As is typical this time of year, there is a great deal of grass on the greens.  Leaf blades are thick and succulent and it is difficult to keep the greens at a consistent speed.  Aggressive verticutting and aerification help to thin the turf, minimize grain and, coupled with sand topdressing, help to maintain a firm surface.  Since the course is free of play next Monday, we will topdress again to help smooth the surface.  We have been mowing and rolling daily since aerification to help with speed and smoothness.  I have no doubt they will be rolling quite well for the Club Championship next weekend.
• The course was also fertilized this past Monday.  This slow release fertilizer will feed the turf for the remaining growing season.
• Fleetwood Services has moved in equipment and started erosion control on the creek in front of #2 green and in front of #17 green.  They will use a combination of gabion baskets (like what is on #10) as well as rip rap (placement of large stone like what is behind #8 green).  Upon completion of the erosion control, they will then work to remove the gravel bar settled in the center of the creek.  All of this material will be moved to the large depression on #18 side of the creek.  Depending on weather, they anticipate finishing by the beginning of September, or shortly thereafter.
• We are currently in the process of re-building the green tee on #1.  We completed shaping the complex yesterday and will have sod delivered next Monday.  We will also be re-sodding the back tee on #12, re-sodding the center of #2 tee and shaping/re-sodding the back of #7 tee in the next couple of weeks.  Currently, #12 has diamond zoysia.  This type of turf creates a very tight surface, but does not hold up to overseeding and divots very well.  We will be sodding #12 and #7 with xeon zoysia which should recover a little better from divots.  I am working on plans to re-shape the tee on #2, so at this time we will just place sod in the center utilizing bermuda.
• We are currently in the process of really pushing the growth on the tees.  It has been hot enough for all of last year's rye to burn out leaving just bermuda.  We are using a combination of foliar and granular fertilizer, along with a soil penetrant (aids in water penetration) to help push the turf.  We may very well look at giving many of the tees a break on overseeding this year and just spread rye on a select number of tees.
• The week following the Club Championship, we will begin aerifying the approaches and green surrounds.  This will be a timely process and will likely take the entire week to complete.
• Next Monday, I will be making an application to the green and tee complexes to control goose grass, crab grass and nut sedge.
• I have also designed and ordered new flags for the course, which should be put into play in the next couple of weeks. 

As always, I appreciate any and all comments and/or suggestions.  Shoot me an e-mail or flag me down on the course!

Thanks and have a great August!
Chuck McCaskill, CGCS
aggieturfman98@gmail.com

Maintenance Update 05/30/2012

We received some much needed rain over the last couple of days.  This past Monday night we had right at one inch and this morning a quick shower dropped about a tenth of an inch.  Unfortunately this morning's storm had some really high winds and there are a lot of dropped limbs along with an entire tree from between #10 and #16.  We will be working diligently to get the mess cleaned up along with the trimmings from Mr. Lockman's work between #1 and #18.

The course was closed yesterday to allow us to verticut and solid tine aerify the greens.  The processes went quite smooth, as we aerified, verticut four times, and lightly topdressed with sand.  The aerification process will help to relieve compaction as well as aid in allowing gas exchange in the root zone (allowing oxygen into the root zone).  Because of the topdressing, the greens were only rolled today and not mowed.  We will resume mowing on Thursday.  After aggressive verticutting, the greens may not look the best right now, but they are still rolling great and should recover very quickly.

With the recent rains, the rough has gotten very thick.  We are now using two rough units to get all of the rough mowed this week at 1.5".  The mowers are leaving quite a bit of clippings behind and we will also work to get this cleaned up.  I may need to look at raising the height a bit to 1.75".  I certainly realize the difficulty in having the rough too deep, but it may be necessary depending on the weather.

I have done some rotation to the cart path only holes.  #1 is now 90 degrees, with some traffic control left in some of the thinner rough areas.  I will be making a portion of #3 and all of #17 cart path only for the next couple of weeks.  Please remember to keep carts on the path around the teeing areas and away from the green complexes.  Holes #1, #3, #7, #8, and #17 tend to get the rough beaten down the most so I will be maintaining a rotation of keeping some of these holes cart path only at all times throughout the year.

The bunker crews added sand to the final bunker on #18 yesterday evening.  They have just the drain pipe to finish in front of that green and the process will be complete.  Before the drain pipe was replaced, we cut the sod from this area and used it to repair the right side of #10 fairway.  This area is now roped off so please keep carts outside of the ropes on this hole as well. 

I understand hitting shots out of the new bunkers can be quite difficult, given the night and day difference from what we had before.  We will continue to work on our raking practices and, over time, they should become more firm.

Thanks and have a great rest of the week!
Chuck McCaskill, CGCS
aggieturfman98@gmail.com

Maintenance Update 05/21/2012

Good morning! 

It has been a very busy spring for our department at the club and I apologize for not updating in some time.  Here is what we have going on at the course:

• Greens aerification.  We last aerified the greens on April 16th with 1/2" coring tines.  It took quite a bit of sand to fill all of the holes.  As soon as we aerified, we saw a streak of very cool mornings and high temperatures below 80.  This, coupled with the aggressive aerification and the amount of sand, the grass essentially shut down for quite some time.  It took a very long time for the holes to heal over and for the surface to smooth out.  While there is still evidence of the aerification, I feel they are much smoother and are at a good pace.  We were able to get out last Wednesday afternoon between groups and apply a light sand topdressing, which aided in smoothing them out.  We are currently scheduled to aerify again next Tuesday, May 29th.  However, with the length of time it took for the last recovery, we will not be pulling a core.  Instead, we will utilize a solid "star" tine, which will help relieve compaction and aid in gas exchange at the root level.  There will be minimal disturbance on the surface.  We will also be verticutting and applying a light topdressing.
• Bunkers.  We are nearing the completion of the bunker project.  As of this morning, crews were digging the drain lines out of the chipping green bunker and will then move to shaping the bunker on #18 (yes, the bunker will be staying on #18).  The crews will also be removing and replacing the drain pipe running from the cartpath and across the fairway.  Finally, they will be shaping and grading the drainage ditches between #8 and #9 as well as the area between #7 and #8.  These areas will be dug out, brought to proper grade, and then Portland cement will be utilized (much like the bunkers) to create a stable bottom.  In the event of flooding and silt deposit, we will have a solid base to be able to clean out any deposited mud. 
• Tree Trimming.  Mr. Harold Lockman has been very busy trimming up tree canopies over the last several weeks.  It has been a challenge keeping everything maintained on the course along with cleaning up the limbs.  We are working to keep limbs picked up in the field of play so they aren't too much of a hinderance.  Mr. Lockman will continue focusing on the canopies along the fairways.  This should help tremendously in areas where shade lends to a thin stand of turf.
• Cart Traffic.  As evident on holes #7 and #8, limiting cart traffic can do wonders for the quality of turf.  I will be putting more holes into a "Cart Path Only" rotation.  For example, the right side of #1 and the right side of #17 are severely compacted from cart traffic resulting in a thin stand of turf.  My plan is to make these two holes cart path only, but remove the ropes from #7 and #8 allowing carts onto these holes.  I know having the starting hole cart path only makes it difficult to maintain tee times, so I will start rotating these holes more frequently.  I also removed the ropes from #12 and #16, but please keep in mind that all par 3's should remain cart path only.  Also, as a general rule of thumb, carts should remain at least 30 yards from the greens and remain on the paths around the tees.

Thanks and I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day!
Chuck McCaskill, CGCS

Maintenance Update 04/19/12

Good afternoon all,

I just wanted to give a quick update on all the happenings on the golf course:

• This past Monday, the greens were aerified.  Since the greens tend to get more compacted over the winter (especially with the rainfall we've had), I decided to pull a 1/2" diameter core by almost 4" deep.  This is a little bigger than normal and we had to apply extra sand to make sure the holes were filled completely.  With the cooler mornings and heavy dew, we are limited by what we can get done on the greens in the mornings.  The dew causes the sand to stick to the roller and mower and creates quite a mess.  We have been going out, once everything dries, and mowing in the afternoons.  While quite sandy now, the greens are still quick and smooth.  Keep in mind with sand on the surface, the greens will not break near as much!
• The entire course was fertilized the past Monday as well.  If we catch some of the rain expected on Friday, the turf will really respond.  This application should carry us through most of July.  At that point, I will make another application to carry us through the rest of the growing season.
• The bunker crews are still hard at it.  The bunkers on #6 and #17 have been sodded.  The bunkers on #16 and #4 have been shaped and approved by the architect.  The crew is currently in the process of adding the Portland cement to these three bunkers.  The final bunkers on #5, #12 and #13 have been marked.  The architect painted out a new fairway bunker on #13, thinking the old one would be removed.  After discussions with George, we are keeping the fairway bunker where it is. 
• Utilizing the excess sand from the bunkers, we are constructing a new tee box to the right of the path on #17.  This will be used for the green and red tee markers.  We are also raising the green tee box on #15.  The plan is to make subtle improvements to other teeing areas as we continue to progress through the year.
• A new landscape bed was added around the water station by the driving range tee and one of the beds behind #1 and #10 tee was substantially expanded.
• A growth regulator and weed pre-emergent was applied to the fairways on Wednesday.  I saw great success last year utilizing the pre-emergent just in the fairways with regards to keeping them relatively free of goose and crab grass.  This year, we will be including the perimeter of the fairways as well as the green surrounds.  The growth regulator works to slow down the vertical growth of the turf and force a more horizontal growth.  It helps to "tighten up" the fairway turf, cuts down on clipping yield and suppresses bermuda grass seed heads (which wreak havoc on allergies this time of year).  This is the start of a monthly application we do throughout the growing season.
• I am about 3 weeks in on a weekly application of an organic acid soil amendment to the tee boxes.  After using straight well water most of last year, the tees became quite compacted.  The high salt index of the well water along with elevated levels of bicarbonates tend to "tie up" the soil particles, creating a compacted environment.  The organic acid amendment, with the help of rainfall, helps to decrease the salt index and remove the bicarbonates.  The end result are tee boxes which you can finally place a tee in.

As always, I appreciate any and all comments.  I can be reached by email at aggieturfman98@gmail.com.  Also remember to check me out on Facebook at Diamond Oaks Golf Course Maintenance and on Twitter @aggieturfman98.

Thanks and have a great weekend!
Chuck McCaskill, CGCS

Maintenance Update 03/21/12

We received 5" of rain from Monday evening through Tuesday morning.  The creek flooded holes #1, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 18.  While areas of these holes are a mess, the south side of the course is ok.  We will keep the course closed today to concentrate on clean-up and should have the course back open for play on Thursday. 

On Monday, we were able to get nearly all of the course aerified before the rain started.  I used a deep-tine aerifier to aerify holes #1, 7, 8, and 10 as well as all of the high traffic areas between the fairways and cartpath on the rest of the course.  This aerifier is able to penetrate down around 8" and has a "fracturing" effect to greatly alleviate compaction.  We used our normal fairway aerifier for the rest of the fairways.  We added close to 500 pounds to this unit and were able to aerify down to about 4".  I am anticipating the south side of the course will be dry enough this afternoon to get mowers out and clean up the tufts of grass.  Also, with the rain and the course being aerified, we will be cart path only the remainder of this week to allow time for recovery as well as allowing all of the wet areas to dry out without damage.

Also with the recent weather, we have seen some pretty substantial growth in all of the turf.  We will be raising our rough units to 1.5" to minimize the amount of clippings.  Last year, we were able to stay at this height throughout the growing season, granted we were also in a drought.  The previous year, we had to raise the height to 2.25" because of the clipping yield, which greatly affected the rate of play.  We will do what we can to maintain the roughs at 1.5", but I will continue to make the determination as we continue to head into the growing season and the amount of clippings.  It takes us approximately 5-6 full days of mowing to get around the entire course.

The bunker crews have remained busy.  The trap on #1 was completed last Friday.  We are waiting on area sod farms to have a decent supply of sod before adding sand to the other bunkers.  As of last week, sod farms were only about 10% green.  We took delivery of 6 pallets of sod last Wednesday, but I didn't think it was the quality I wanted to see.  We took sod out of the fairway on #16 to place around #1 bunker so it would be ready for the weekend.  Hopefully with the warm weather, sod farms are seeing a quick green-up and we will be able to get the bunkers on #7, 8, 6 and 17 completed next week.  After 5" of rain, no sand was washed from the face on the new bunker on #1.  The water level had risen into the bunker, with some settling of silt on the surface of the sand, but this was removed Tuesday afternoon and fresh sand was applied.

Maintenance Update 03/13/12

The bunker renovation process continued yesterday after a weekend full of always welcome rain.  The crew has finished shaping the bunkers on #1, 7 and 8.  New drain lines had to be installed in both bunkers on #8, which led to some clean-up work in and around the pipe from #8 to #7 to allow for proper drainage.  The timing to which Portland is mixed on these two holes depends on how much they dried out since the rain.  As of yesterday, the floors were still too wet to get the tillers in for mixing.  The greenside bunker on #8 had as much as 18" of sand in the bottom and up along the face, as you can see from the photo below.  Much of this lip was lowered down to the native soil line to allow for a smoother transition to the green.

 

With the warmer weather, I felt we were ready to verticut the greens and get out our first topdressing.  We spent the entire day yesterday on this project.  I thank you all for your patience in allowing me to close the course for the day to ensure we were able to adequately finish the project.  The vertical mower has blades that run vertical to the turf and are able to be set at variable depths.  Vertical mowing helps tremendously to remove old dead materal from the turf canopy, smooth the surface, and reduce grain.  The following describes our process:

• We verticut in 4 different directions.
• The material brought to the surface by the vertical mower was then blown off the green.
• Walk mowers were used to mow the greens and also help smooth the surface.
• Once the turf was completely dry, we mowed again with the tri-plex mower to pick up even more material.
• We then topdressed with sand lightly and swept the sand into the surface.
• Today, the greens will just be rolled and swept again.
• The following photo shows Mario verticutting #8.  Notice the amount of material being brought up at the cutting units.

Maintenance Update 03/07/2012

Bunker project is going smooth so far.  Crews had the bunker on #1 shaped by Monday afternoon and are now on #7.  The plan is to knock out the bunkers on the north side of the creek first.  Once the first few bunkers are shaped, they will go back to #1 and add the portland cement.  The plan was to have sand in this bunker before the weekend, but the schedule is greatly dependent on the upcoming weather event we are expecting.  Forecasts currently call for rain moving into the area this evening and lingering until Saturday.  Let's all hope for slow and steady!

We are also replacing the old 3 cup rotation on the greens and going back to the 1-5 numbered system.  We started this on Monday and finished up Tuesday. 

Notice the big trench behind the clubhouse?  A new drain is being installed behind the cart barn to allow for more proper cart washing procedures and this drain is connecting behind #1 tee.  They hope to be wrapped up this week!

Maintenance Update 03/05/2012

Well we have breezed through February without too many hiccups and the weather has been kind.  The grass is greening up and we are off to, what I hope is, a great golfing season.

With all that is going on around the club, I would like to introduce you to the many ways I plan on utilizing social media to keep everyone updated.  The first is this blog.  When I update this blog, I can only prescribe 10 email addresses to receive the update.  Lyndsey then emails my update to the membership.  One way you can receive it automatically is to become a follower.  There is a link in the top right hand corner which allows you to follow.  Click and enter your information and you will receive the updates automatically.  Second, I have created a Facebook and Twitter page which will allow me to more readily upload pictures and information from my cell phone.  The Facebook page is www.facebook.com/diamondoaksgolfcoursemaintenance and the Twitter feed is www.twitter.com/#!/aggieturfman98.  Simply click "Like" on the Facebook page or "Follow" on the Twitter page and have updates readily available.  With all of the projects we have underway, I will be updating all of these forms of communication on a regular basis!

That being said, the bunker renovation is set to begin today.  This project has been a long time coming and I'm excited to finally have it underway.  Here is a quick rundown on the scope of the project:

• work will begin on the greenside bunker on #1.
• the fairway bunker on the left side of #8 will be moved to the right side of the fairway.
• the greenside bunker on #17 will be make into 2-3 smaller bunkers to allow easier access from the green.
• drainage will be installed in all bunkers.
• there will be a liner system installed in all bunkers to help prevent contamination from the native soil.
• the liner system will include the addition of Portland cement incorporated to a depth of 8-12 inches, which will be wetted, packed and allowed to sit for a couple of days to set up.
• a clean, white sand will then be added to a depth of 4 packed inches.
• the plan also calls for removing the 3 bunkers around the chipping green and creating a new bunker on the left side of the driving range tee.  This will allow for more area around the chipping green to be utilized for chipping. 
• the plan calls for the renovation to take 6 weeks, but with a little help from Mother Nature, I would not expect it to take that long.

In other areas, Olden started an erosion control project behind #7 tee and #8 green.  The creek bank in this area has slowly moved closer and closer to the cart path and the "rip-rap" addition should prevent further erosion.  Once they are done with this area, they will move over to #10 and begin replacing the failed wall in front of the tee.  The new wall will be re-engineered to be able to handle flood waters that flow over the top in that particular area.

As far as the golf course, we are off and mowing.  I went out last week and painted the edges of the fairways and approaches and will continue to paint them on a weekly basis until we establish a line.  Typically this time of year, I move the fairways down as low as possible to remove the dormant material and allow for new growth.  With the many complaints I've heard about thin grass in the fairways, I will be leaving the height a little higher and will work to generate a little "cushion".  Once the weather shows we are in the clear of any more freezing, we will aerify the fairways and help relieve compaction.  Some areas (in particular #7 and #8) will be aerified several times.  The height of the rough is starting out at 1-inch.  The tees will be moved lower to help promote bermuda grass growth.

Finally, as time allows for me and my staff, we will begin creating new and updating existing landscape areas to help with aesthetics of the course.  This will not happen overnight, but I hope over time you see an improved look around the golf course.

As I mentioned earlier, please take a moment to subscribe to one or more of the many different ways I plan on keeping you updated with the golf course.  And as always, I can be contacted anytime at aggieturfman98@gmail.com!

Chuck McCaskill

Maintenance Update 01/31/2012

Good afternoon all!  I just wanted to give an update on the status of the golf course after the heavy rains last week.  We received a total of 5.25 inches from last Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning.  On Wednesday morning, the creek rose out of the banks and covered much of the golf course.  Fortunately, it had receded by Wednesday afternoon.  However we were left with quite a mess!  The following is a list of items we are currently in the process of tackling:

• There was debris (sticks, logs, leaves, grass clippings, trash, etc) washed over much of the course.  It has been quite a while since we have seen flood waters (September 2010)  The majority of this has been cleaned up, particularly from tee to green.  There is still some debris in some out of play areas and we will get to this as time allows.
• Flood waters did not reach any greens.
• Holes #2, 6, 7 and 8 had substantial silt deposited, as well as several other isolated areas.  We are currently in the process of cleaning this up as best as possible.  We are using a large hose tapped into our irrigation system to blast as much as possible.  While most of the course is dried out, #7 and 8 are still quite wet and will remain cart path only.
• We have moved the rough mower down to 1 inch.  We started mowing the roughs today and this will help chop up much of the smaller debris.  I typically lower the height of the roughs once we start spring green up, but with the amount of clutter left behind from the water, I felt it was necessary to go ahead and drop the height now.
• The gabion basket erosion control on the south side of the creek on #10 in front of the tee failed and the wall has fallen.  This type of wall is engineered to protect from erosion from flood waters travelling parallel to the wall.  The water was so high that this area became a spill-way and water was flowing over the top of the wall.  The water started eroding behind the wall and it was just a matter of time before it collapsed.  We are in the process of looking at our options to get this area repaired, including rebuilding the baskets with a concrete cap to protect the baskets from the perpindicular flow of water.
• The bunkers are still a mess, as we have not had the manpower to start their repair.  Once we have a better handle on getting #7 and 8 back in better playing condition, we will start pumping and moving the sand around in the bunkers.

As I mentioned, most of the course is dry enough to be under the 90 degree cart rule.  Please use caution when driving outside of the fairway and watch for wet areas.  Areas that will remain cart path only include: #2, #6, #7, #8, #12, #16 and around #17 green.

Thank you all for your understanding and patience while we get the course back in shape!  Here are some photos I took Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Cart bridge on #10

#8

#17 green

#2 green and bridge

View from Putting Green

#4

#6

#14

Front of #2 green

#8

Failed wall #10

#17

Maintenance Update 01/17/2012

Good morning and Happy New Year to everyone!  2012 is off and running and we have had some great weather to start the year.  We were fortunate to receive about 2.5 inches of rain with the last storms over the course of three days.  The creek rose quite a bit, but the rain was slow enough for it to fortunately stay in it's banks. 

Cart Traffic

Unfortunately, this time of year, any rainfall we do receive means we will need to be cart path only for several days.  While this was the case last week, I appreciate everyone's efforts in staying on the paths while we were on them and watching out for wet areas once we went off.  Cart traffic through wet areas can make a mess and the tracks can and will be evident for some time.  Just a few reminders concerning cart traffic over the next couple of months:

• Be aware of wet areas, either from rainfall or irrigation, and keep carts out of these areas.  These areas are primarily around tees and greens and fescue areas under trees.
• Please keep carts away from tee and green complexes.
• Holes #7 and #8 will remain 'cart path only' through the winter.  If you take the ropes down to play a shot, please replace it.
• Traffic control ropes are going up in many areas where necessary.  Remember the turf isn't growing this time of year.  Once an area gets trampled down, it will be that way until green-up.  Carts should use varying entrance and exit points to and from the fairway and not use the same 'trails' through the roughs.

As we head into the spring, Nathan and I will be discussing new traffic control methods as well as an alternating schedule of having holes cart path only during green-up.

Hole Locations

The Ultimate Scramble has been re-scheduled for this Saturday morning at 9am.  We will change one of the hole locations to the 'Ultimate' spot on Saturday morning for the event.  So afternoon golfers won't have to play these locations, the pins will be rotated to a normal spot at the conclusion of the tournament.  We will then change all of the locations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Weed Spraying

I started our annual winter weed control application on the fairways and roughs last week.  However, to continue, the wind can't be blowing over ten miles per hour to avoid any drift.  I will continue as the weather permits and plan on completing the project within the next two weeks.  I will also be making a separate application to the greens to control the small population of poa annua.

I hope you all have a chance to come out and enjoy the forecasted warmer temperatures coming up.  See you on the course!

Chuck McCaskill, CGCS

Maintenance Update 12/16/2011

Good morning all,

Well it hasn't taken much time (just some much cooler weather) for the grass to go dormant and the leaves to finally fall.  The last couple of weeks of sub-freezing nights robbed the turf of the rest of it's color.  And after this summer's drought forced trees into hibernation (causing them to hold leaves longer than normal), they have finally shed their leaves.  Unfortunately, with the wet weather we've recently had, we have been unable to get out and pick up all the leaves.  We have worked to keep the greens, tees and fairways blown off, but any wind just scatters them back out.  We will resume picking them up as soon as we can get the tractor and sweeper back on the course.

Tomorrow's "Ulitmate Scramble" marks the end of the 2011 member tournament season.  If you haven't played in it before, it can be quite a fun time.  One of the highlights of the tournament (and why I call it the Superintendent's Revenge tournament) is that I get to put hole locations anywhere on the putting surface.  This includes any and all areas that would otherwise be deemed 'not legal'.  I know there are often times that my set-up guy puts a hole location in suspect spots (and I diligently work with him on this), but imagine all 18 hole locations in the middle of slopes or too close to edges.  Nathan and I went out this week and picked all of the hole locations and, with the current speed of the greens being rather quick, will have to invoke an automatic three-putt rule.  As of this morning, there are only nine four-man teams signed up.  Without a few more entries, Nathan will cancel the event.  While it's going to be a little chilly at the start, the skies will be clear and it should be a beautiful day to have the event.  Contact the pro-shop today to get signed up!

With the turf on the greens going dormant and the final tournament passing, we will be going to the three-hole cupping system next Monday.  Weather permitting, we will change one hole Sunday, one hole Monday and the last hole Tuesday.  Two of the three cups will have covers and we will rotate them based on the amount of play.  Also based on play, after two to three weeks, we will change all three cups.

We are also entering the time of year when it may be necessary to cover the greens.  My general rule of thumb is that if the temperatures are going to remain at or below freezing for more than a 24-hour period, we will cover the greens.  We have already seen overnight lows in the lower 20's, but the highs the previous and following days were in the 40's.  If the situation arises where we have to cover, I will be sure and let everyone know on this forum.

This week we made an application of iron to the fairways.  While the turf is dormant, there is little delineation between the fairways and rough.  The iron does nothing more than "stain" the turf a darker color so that the fairways stand out from the roughs.

In closing, it's been a tough year for golf courses all over the state, but I feel our staff has provided a good product throughout the year.  We do the most with what we have to keep the conditions as consistent as possible.  While we are still about ten inches behind normal precipitation for the year, we are hopefullly nearing the end of one of the toughest droughts in decades.  As Christmas and the New Year approach, I hope you all enjoy time with your families as well as safe travels.

Happy holidays!
Chuck

Maintenance Update 10/18/2011

Howdy all,

I sincerely apologize for not getting any updates out in a while.  It has certainly been a whirlwind past couple of months. 

With the recent changes in weather, it looks as though we will be heading in to the winter with relatively healthy stands of turf on the entire golf course.  Just as it was looking pretty grim, we seemed to receive fortunate and opportune rainfalls.  We received a small amount just before Diamond Cup, which really helped to green a lot of the course up for that event.  We have received right at about 6" over the past 10 days, with the last half-inch coming in late last night. 

Here are some of the things we have and will be working on:

• We repaired the cartpath entering the bridge on #10.  The old slab had sunk about 10 inches, pulling the rebar out with it.  We broke the old section out and drilled new rebar into each adjoining side and re-poured.  Certainly makes for a much smoother entrance.
• I recently re-painted the edges of all of the tee boxes.  Using ropes and stakes, I was able to make sure the edges were straight and the front of the tee was as wide as the back of the tee.  Some tee boxes were made a little wider, some a little smaller.  I also corrected the alignment of many of them so they are directed toward the center of the fairway.  We are currently in the process of verticutting them and anticipate spreading overseed this Thursday.  We will also be seeding the driving range tee and target greens much like we did last year.  Once the seed is down, we will be running watering cycles a couple of times during the day, as well during the evening, until the seed is established.  That being said, the teeing areas will be a little wetter than usual during the next couple of weeks.
• Once the seed comes up on the tees, we will begin mowing at roughly 5/8" and slowly move the height down to 1/2" over the winter.
• We will be changing out all of the flowers around the club this month with cool season color.
• As the cooler temperatures come around, the leaves will be falling with a flurry; especially with the dry conditions we had all summer.  We will work diligently with the blower and sweeper to keep the course as clean as possible of leaves and debris.
• I will be spreading the fall pre-emerge fertilizer this week on the majority of the golf course, excluding areas where we plan on spreading seed.
• We will be marking areas under trees to re-seed with fescue in the coming weeks as well.  Once we put the seed in these areas, we will put ropes around them to keep cart traffic out until the seed is established. 
• The current mowing height on the fairways is 1/2"; intermediate rough is 1" and primary rough is 1.5".
• The mowing height on the greens is 1/8" (.125).  Depending on the weather outlook for this winter, I may adjust a little higher.  Right now the greens are very thick and dense and I feel we are very healthy going into the winter.  The green speeds are a little slower than I would like, but the recent rains have created some fat leaf blades and its difficult to increase the speeds without lowering the height and/or verticutting. 

Again, I apologize for the delay since my last update.  As always, if there are ever any questions, concerns or suggestions you may have, don't hesitate to contact me.

Have a great rest of October!
Chuck McCaskill, CGCS
aggieturfman98@gmail.com

Maintenance Update 08/17/2011

Good afternoon all,

What a blessing we received this last weekend in the form of a half-inch of rain.  While it's not very much, it was over the course of about four hours and was able to soak in nicely.  It was also enough to fill up the creek and give us some much needed irrigation water.  Hopefully we are nearing the end of the brutal summer heat!

We succussfully aerified the greens this past Monday for the last time this year.  I know it seems like we do a lot of aerifying, but it is very much needed and very beneficial.  When I started last year, the greens had an incredible amount of thatch and grain.  You could run your hand one direction across the surface and they would feel smooth, but go back the other direction and it was just the opposite.  By aggressively aerifying, routinely verticutting and topdressing, we have managed to get the grain and thatch under control.  My staff has been doing an incredible job staying on top of the greens this year.  I have done what I can to teach them that you can't treat all 20 greens the same.  Each one is in it's own little micro-climate.  One may need a little extra water; one may need a little less; one may need a little extra sand; one may or may not need to be verticut.  They have taken very well to this idea and have done a great job of doing what is necessary on each green.

We will be closed this coming Monday (Aug 22nd) to aerify and verticut the approaches.  Having to water the greens and surrounds every night, the approaches have become very thick.  Aerifying and verticutting will help thin the stand of grass so we will be able to maintain our mowing height.  I asked that the club be closed while we do this so we will be able to accomplish it all in one day, instead of dragging it out over the course of a week.  I would expect the approaches to be healed in just a few weeks.

We will be opening all of the newly sodded tee boxes this week.  We rebuilt the green tees on #9 and the white tees on #14.  We placed new sod on the red tees on #1, the back of the tee on #7 and the red tees on #10.  I realize there are several other tee boxes with bare areas.  I will be marking and measuring these areas so we can get more sod to repair them.  I hope to have this process completed in the next two weeks, depending on when we can have some sod delivered.

I have also received questions about the bunkers and if we are going to be adding more sand to a few of them.  In my opinion, the bunkers have plenty of sand; it may just be in the wrong place.  I will be looking at each bunker and checking the depth.  If sand is excessively deep in some areas and thin in others, we will move the sand around.  If I determine that sand needs to be added, we will do so as well.  I realize that two of the three practice bunkers around the chipping green are literally unplayable.  The drain lines exiting both of these bunkers are completely sealed up with either tree roots or mud or both.  I hope to be able to tackle this problem in the near future.

With the extremely hot weather, my staff has started working at 5:00 a.m. each day.  This has helped us get the course ready prior to play (for the most part) and enables my staff to go home before the major heat of the afternoon.  I realize some early birds may catch up with us mowing and changing cups and I apologize for that.  Some days we have a lot more going on than others and we are just doing what we can with the resources we have to provide the best conditions possible.  If we end up getting in the way, I appreciate your understanding.

I had a member make a comment to me about the yardage markers on the driving range tee, mentioning that they were difficult to read.  We responded quickly and re-leveled and re-painted all of the them.  Like I always say, I appreciate any and all comments and if there is anything we can do to remedy a situation, we certainly will!

Hope to see you on the course!
Chuck

Maintenance Update 07/26/11

Good morning all,

We are right in the middle of what is turning out to be a scorching hot summer.  I believe we are in a stretch of 20+ days of seeing temperatures over 100 degrees with this week being the hottest.  We have not seen any measurable precipitation since early June.  The golf course is holding up relatively well to the conditions.  We have been relying heavily on the two wells to produce our irrigation water.  One well has been producing about 120 gallons per minute and the other around 60 gallons per minute.  The tee and green complexes are watered each evening, but the rest of the course only gets watered every two or three nights.  I have eliminated irrigating the out of play areas and am concentrating on keeping the tee to green corridors in good condition. 

One negative impact of using well water for irrigation is what it does to the soil.  Based on the chemical composition of water pulled from the Paluxy aquifer, which provides water for most wells in this area, compaction occurs much more easily.  Despite the amount of water we apply to the course, it is still quite hard.  We have been treating the greens and tees via mechanical and chemical means to combat this. 

Here are some things we've been doing over the last couple of weeks:

• All of the tees were aerified and holes filled with sand.  The sand will help aleviate some of the compaction along with gypsum applications.  After we aerified, the remaining ryegrass from this past winter died, leaving several bare areas on the tees.  We totally rebuilt the green tee box on #9.  It was elevated about six inches with sand and we coated it with aerification plugs from a few of the approaches.  It has started greening up nicely and we should be able to open it back up in the coming weeks.  We have also resurfaced the entire red tee on #1, the back of #7 and the entire red tee on #10.  Depending on the materials we have left, we will do some modifications to the white tee on #14.
• The greens were aerified one week ago today and have healed up very nicely.  We removed 3/8" cores and filled with sand.  With the extremely high temperatures and the need to water frequently, the turf on the greens tends to get quite "puffy".  Before we aerified, the walking mowers were causing some scalping so we turning to just using the tri-plex.  After aerifying and aggressive verti-cutting, we are back to using the walking mowers.  We will continue an aggressive verti-cutting program along with topdressing with sand to combat the scalping.
• This past weekend, we lost a big tree on #4 (which happened to be one of the most penal trees on that hole).  With a little bit of wind, the trunk just snapped.  This is quite common under extreme drought conditions. 
• Mowing heights are as follows:  Greens are at .120"; Approaches, fairways and tees are at .450"; the intermediate rough is at 1"; the primary rough is at 1.5"; the fescue is at 3". 

I have heard a lot of great comments about the course.  I always appreciate hearing that and I certainly pass it along to my staff.  As always, please contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Thanks,
Chuck

Aerifying Tees 06/28/2011

This morning, we started the process of aerifying tees.  The process will be much like the greens.  We will aerify, blow the plugs off to the side, topdress with enough sand to fill the holes, and drag the sand in with a metal drag mat.  Since the sand is still very wet from the rain last week, we will need to let the sand sit on the surface for a few hours to dry, which will allow it to be dragged more easily.

Since we will be doing this while play is occurring, we will only do about 6 holes per day.  We are doing our best to impact play as little as possible.  This morning, we aerified 4, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17 and 18.  Wednesday morning we will aerify 1, 2, 3, 10, 11 and 15.  Thursday we will finish with 5, 6, 12, 13 and 14.  Friday morning I will be spreading fertilizer on the tees and watering.

Again, I apologize for any detrimental impact to play we may cause, but this will be very beneficial in helping alleviate the "hardness" of the tees.

Thanks,
Chuck

News and Notes June 24, 2011

What a great week it has been!  Mother Nature blessed us with almost three inches of rain over Monday and Tuesday nights.  After the rain on Tuesday evening, Fossil Creek rose to just over the bridge on #10, which means it came out of the banks onto #'s 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 18.  The damage was minimal, as there was just some debris washed up and a little bit of mud washed into some areas, but the fairways are open and the majority of the mess has been cleaned up.  While we were fortunate to receive the three inches, I spoke with the Superintendent at Fossil Creek and he mentioned they received five inches, which explains why the creek rose like it did.

I have received lots of comments about the "hardness" of many of the tee boxes, particularly the green tees.  I can assure you this is not from lack of water.  Of all the areas of the golf course, the tees receive the most amount of irrigation.  The problem with many of the green tees is that the majority of them are just cut out of the rough, meaning they are composed of pure native soil, which has a very high clay content.  With the hot and windy weather we've been seeing, it's very difficult to keep this soil wet.  The rain helped out immensely.  To combat this, we will be going out next week and aerifying all of the tees.  We will clean off the cores and topdress heavily with sand to fill all of the holes.  This will be a tedious process and will more than likely take several days.  I apologize in advance if it will be an inconvenience, but it should be a great benefit.  As modern golf courses are constructed, tee areas are shaped with native soil and capped with four inches of sand, which prevents them from getting overly hard.  We will continue to do what we can with what we have to provide the best playing surfaces possible.

The greens are really doing great and are rolling very well.  Since they have healed nicely from the last aerification, we will be double verticutting them every week, including this past Wednesday.  This will help keep the canopy thin, keep the surface smooth and hopefully keep the speed where it is.  We continue to use a combination of walk mowers and the tri-plex riding mower.  One thing we have added to the walking mowers is an out-front broom.  The tri-plex is already equipped with this.  As the mowers go across the greens, the brooms help to stand the grass up before being clipped and we see a much better cut.  This will also help to knock down worm castings prior to mowing as well as keep the grain down to a minimum.  Our mechanic was able to take the head from a standard push broom and attach it to the bucket of the walking mowers.  The picture below shows his handy work:

All other areas of the course continue to do well.  There is a large population of dallis grass in most of the rough areas of the course.  I have been spending as much time as I can spot spraying each plant.  Dallis grass is very difficult to control.  As the plant gets mowed, almost any part of the clippings can create a new plant, which is why you seldom see just one plant by itself.  The chemicals used to control dallis grass have a burning effect on bermuda, but will not kill it.  Therefore there will be many brown spots in the roughs where I sprayed.  In a matter of a few weeks, the dallis grass plant will disappear and the bermuda will fill the void.

The following is a list of our current mowing heights:

• Greens height is set at .110"
• Tee height is set at .375"
• Approach height is set at .375"
• Fairway height is set at .450"
• Intermediate rough height is set at 1"
• Primary rough height is set at 1.5"
• Fescue and native rough height is set at 3"
• Note 1/8" = .125; 3/8" = .375; 1/2" = .500

The extended forecast looks like we are in for much of the same of what we've been seeing: hot, dry and windy.  I hope you get a chance to come out and play early to beat the heat and enjoy the course conditions. 

As always, have a great weekend and don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Chuck
aggieturfman98@gmail.com

Maintenance Update 05/2711

Good morning all,

I apologize for not giving an update in some time, but my blog host has been down and I have not been able to access the site.

We have had a lot going on in the past several weeks.  Mother nature has been very kind to us and blessed us with some much needed rain.  I believe we recorded just over two inches this week alone.  While it was necessary for us to be cart path only for a couple of days, the course handled it well and the grass is really growing.

We have started to get pretty aggressive on the greens.  I realize they have been putting slow, but with the weather the way it has been, they are really growing.  To combat this, we have verticut twice this week as well as run the brush and groomers on the tri-plex everyday.  In addition to the tri-plex, we have been mowing a second time with the walk mowers each day, essentially cutting the greens twice.  Hopefully you have noticed they are much smoother and the double cut each day provides a little more speed than just a single cut.

We are scheduled for our second greens aerification on Tuesday, May 31st.  Much like we did last month, we will pull a core with a half-inch coring tine, clean the debris, mow, fill the holes with sand and apply a granular fertilizer.  I realize the club championships are quickly approaching and we will do everything we can to ensure the greens are ready for those events.

On May 17th, I fertilized the entire course with our annual granular fertilizer application.  This was a unique product in that it was coated with a polymer and the fertilizer is slowly released over the year based on temperature.  Looking at the annual temperature averages for our area and with the amount of fertilizer we applied, this application will last through the entire growing season.  So regardless of the amount of rain we receive or do not receive, the fertilizer will still be hanging around for the next several months.

Also with the recent rains and fertilizer application, the roughs have really started to thicken up.  We got around this week with the rough units set at 1.25".  Next week we will raise the unit to 1.5" and keep it at that height through the summer.  We also started mowing the intermediate cut around the fairways, bunkers and greens at 1".  That height will remain the same.  Once the roughs fill in at 1.5", we should see some great definition between the fairways, intermediate and roughs.  The fairways have been raised to just under half an inch and will remain there as well.  Tees and approaches are still at 3/8", but will be raised in the coming weeks to match the fairways.  And finally we are mowing the greens at .120, which is where we will keep them.  An eighth of an inch is .125 so we are just under that height.

Finally, we will be pulling the rope up from holes #1 and either #7 or #8.  One of those holes (7 or 8) will remain cart path only at all times and we will rotate between the two on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  I also plan to keep up traffic rope on #1 to keep the usual areas under the treeline from getting too worn out.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the great weather along with the course conditions.  Please contact me anytime with any comments or suggestions.

Thanks and have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Chuck

Greens Aerification

We successfully aerified the greens today and had some great weather to get everything done.  We used a small 3/8" diameter aerification tine to pull a core so the healing time and disruption to play should be minimal.  The following is the series of steps we employed to ensure a successful process.

Step 1.  The greens were aerified with our Toro Aerifier.  This process provides four main benefits:  compaction relief; thatch and organic matter reduction and removal; gas exchange; and root zone modification.

Step 2.  Using our pull behind blower, the debris brought to the surface was blown off.

Step 3.  Using the tri-plex mower with the brush attachment in the downward position, the greens were then mowed.  The brush helps to "lift up" the grass blades for a smoother cut.  This also helps to remove any remaining debris.

Step 4.  We applied sand in a criss-cross pattern.

Step 5.  Using a drag brush weighted with a pallet, the sand was worked around the surface to fill all of the aerification holes.

Step 6.  After the sand was worked in, we applied a granular fertilizer and watered everything in.  This is the finished product.



We will water the greens pretty heavily tonight.  Tomorrow I will determine if we need to add more sand.  We will only be rolling the greens Tuesday with our tri-plex roller and, if all looks good, will be back to walk mowing on Wednesday.  Given we only pulled a 3/8" core, I would anticipate the greens will be back in great shape in a short period of time.

City of NRH to Begin Creek Work

On Monday, April 11th, the City of North Richland Hills will begin work on lowering the water line in the creek in front of #10 tee.  This is the large blue pipe that is currently exposed.  A path will be made to allow access just to the right of the ladies tee.  The blue pipe will be cut and a new section put in place to lower the elevation of the pipe.  Once this is completed, the rip-rap rock will be extended from its current position to beyond the blue pipe, so no further erosion can occur in that area.  I have asked the contractors to remove as much of the unused abandoned pipe as possible.  I'm not sure of the extent by which they plan to modify the creek floor, if at all.  But I applaud the efforts of the city of doing away with what has been an eyesore for some time. 

The contractors have 45 days to complete this project.  Depending on the weather, they expected to take not much more than two weeks.  During the phase of repair, I will need to place the tee markers on the other side of the creek.  I will get with Nathan and we will decide if it will be better to play #10 as a par 3 or place the tee markers at the beginning of the fairway so it can still be played as a par 4. 

This is a "before" picture of the project.  I will keep you updated with their process.