Irrigation breaks

This week was a very busy week with 4 breaks in our irrigation piping system.  Our pipe has been in the ground now 44 years and things are starting to get very brittle, dry, and any movement of the pipe or water hammer is leading to a break.

Quite the configuration - 23 fittings to feed 2 lines off of a 3" line

3" line break on #11

#11 - water ran all night toward the houses

Repairing #11

Follow Me and Thank you

For you regular readers that enjoy following my blog.  I have added a tab on the left side here where you can submit your email address and then every time I make a post it will be directly emailed to you.  That way you do not have to check the blog daily, and you can stay current on each post I make.

This is a good chance to say thank you to all my readers.  It is amazing to see how many people are actually following the happenings with the course maintenance of Lewiston Country Club

Enjoy the rest of your summer
Jason Habeck, CGCS

Topdressing 101

Many times I receive questions from members on why I topdress so much and what is the purpose.  The individual leaves on a grass plant only live for a short period.  You see in the picture below the lower leaves are brown and getting ready to drop or sluff off the stem and new leaves grow.  Many people think the grass plant maintains the same blades and you just keep cutting them off all summer, but actually new ones grow up and old ones die off.

Individual grass plant

 As these blades die off they add organic matter to the surface of a playing area.  We spread sand on the surface to dilute this accumulation of organic matter.  We try to match the growth of the plants with the quantity of sand applied.  The goal is to create a nice "matt" layer on the surface that is a mixture of sand and organic matter.  If we did not dilute this organic matter with thatch, then it would turn into a sponge layer on the surface. A sponge layer will hold excess water and nutrients, allowing the roots of the plant to stay right in the sponge and not grow down deeper.  When the sponge dries out in mid afternoon then the plants will wilt.  This sponge will create soft bumpy conditions.  Below you see a sample from a green.  A very nice mixture there of sand that keeps the surface on the greens very firm, fast, and smooth.    

Core sample from a putting green

You can also in the greens sample above that the upper 1.5 inches has more sand and more of sand color than the darker material below that.  The lower section would be from turf managers before me and you can see there is more sand in the division I have topdressed.  That would explain why people have said greens are firmer and smoother since I have been here, because of the increased sand topdressing.  The topdressing layer also protects the crown of the plant, which is the main heart of the plant, and it protects it from all the traffic we put on the greens with mowers, rollers, others equipment, and golfers foot prints.

Below is a sample from an approach.  Approaches were not topdressed before I arrived, so in 3 seasons we have built up a nice 1 1/4" sand layer on the approaches.

Topdressing on a soil based approach

Not only does the sand dilute down the organic matter, create firmer and faster conditions, but ti also all ows water to infiltrate into the soil creating less water on the surface which is also going to decrease our disease potential.  The sand layer also decreases worm casts as they do not like to burrow up through the abrasive sand rubbing against their cuticle.

Eggs - putting green

Remember 2 weeks ago I blogged about the vandalism to the putting green and the eggs that had been thrown on the green, Vandalism.  At the time I wasn't sure what effect that would have a on green.  We cleaned up the shells, watered in the eggs,and mowed and rolled the green like usual.  Now 14 days later we see the eggs provided a fertility benefit.

Green spots where we watered in the eggs

The morning after the eggs where tossed on the green, same location ow with green spots

I guess it makes sense, if fertilizer is chains of proteins and eggs are made up a high percentage of protein.  Maybe in the future, golf course maintenance will be mixing up several 100 eggs in a sprayer and spraying our greens.

Storm Damage

Friday evening we had a very intense wind storm.  It brought a lot of thunder and lighting, wind gusts up to 45mph, and just a few drops of rain.  The lighting sparked a wildfire nearby, and the golf course had a tremendous amount of tree damage.  We only lost 1 compete tree but we did loose many large portions of other trees.  Here is what the course looked like at 5 AM on Saturday morning.

Morning sunrise

Right side of #7

#7

Left side #6

Between 6 and 7

Right side of #2

Right side of #2 green

Rough behind #5 green

Between #3 and 5

Between 3 and 5

#5 

#3 right side of green

Same tree as above, limbs up in tree requiring removal

Right side #4 green

Right side #6 green

Right side #17

Staff clearing greens prior to mowing

LGCC Maintenance Staff 2013

On Thursday the maintenance staff had our annual summer BBQ for lunch.

Staff BBQ

 Thank you to the member-guest committee for their donation toward the BBQ.

Staff 2013

Front Row L to R - Levi Kiliar, Mike Hembree, Jason Habeck - Superintendent, Al Grafton - Equipment Technician, Don Dillard, Colby Schaefer - Assistant Superintendent, Ryan Rawson - Crew foreman, Course dog BJ is on the ground

Back Row L to R - Zach Hagler, Ken Gill, Zach Reid, Kris Helt, Bob Grende

Thank you to a great staff and everything they have done this year.  We wouldn't have the amazing golf course that we do if it wasn't for these guys.

Last 2 weeks

You can tell by my number of blog posts in the last 2 weeks that we have been extremely busy, mainly with different than normal tasks.  It has been so busy that I even had to have my yellow lab, BJ, make a post to keep the readers and members informed on what was happening on the course.

The City is currently replacing the domestic water line in the road that services all the houses around the golf course.

Domestic water line being installed

During the process, they have uncovered many electrical lines and irrigation lines that we did not have on a map or know that they were crossing there.  This lead to a lot of time by me working with the city to try to follow and figure out what was active pipe and electricity or what was old and abandoned lines.  The City of Lewiston was very good to work with and we were able to get everything repaired that needed to be.

An old irrigation line crossing the road

We also had a few days of cooler cloudy weather with a few rain showers that created challenges with lightening storms, and missed mowing days forcing us to play catch up.  Rain days are always nice when you are working on a golf course, but they typically lead to more work in the days to follow.  As you have work to make-up, an increased growth of the turf, and  softer areas on the golf course that need to be addressed.

We are also busy prepping for our annual glowball tournament scheduled for this Friday night.  Always a very unique experience to play golf in the dark and test your memory skills to navigate around the course in the dark chasing a glowing green or red ball instead of a white ball. So if you hear golfers on teh course this Friday around 11 PM, they are legally playing.

Hopefully things will settle out and I will be able to get back to more normal agronomic posts in the weeks to come.  Thanks for reading.

Good Morning from BJ

All the geese are chased off the golf course, now it is time to take a break.  I love coming to work with dad everyday, it is such a tough life.  - BJ

BJ keeping an eye on the golf course

CGCS Acheived

I have received confirmation that I have completed all the requirements and achieved the designation of Certified golf course superintendent through the GCSAA, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.  Just like the PGA, the superintendent side of the business has a education and networking, and support side for all superintendents, and the highest level of achievement in the association is a Certified Superintendent.

It has been a life long goal of mine, and it is achieved by meeting the requirements with a combination of years of education, years of being a superintendent, continuing education credits, a 300 page portfolio demonstrating all aspects of agronomy, record keeping, human resources, meetings, education, and training that you have done over your years as a superintendent.  There is also an 8 hours exam, and finally an attesting by two certified superintendents that come and visit your golf course, your facility, and examine your operation.  Thank you to everybody throughout my career that has helped me to achieve this designation.  There are approximately 1,500 certified superintendents out of the 16,000+ superintendents in the U.S.

Cloudy and handwatering

The last 2 days we have had some cooler temperatures with cloudy days and a couple off and on sprinkles.  You have probably noticed that we are still out handwatering some areas of the golf course but not as much as normal.

Handwatering on a cool and cloudy day

 
The reason for this is that it is a great chance for us to catch up on some of those drier areas.   When we have a cool and cloudy day we can really improve the moisture level in the areas that are lacking irrigation and it will make a big difference and provide a lot of moisture for those weak areas over the next couple weeks when it warms back up.  I have not ran irrigation during the night, but we still supplement the areas lacking irrigation throughout the day.

Wildlife

Being out on the golf course is always a great way to see wildlife.  Here are some pictures that I have snapped recently.

Many turkeys on the course

Damage from deer

Wild turkeys

Red tail hawk

Male and female red tail hawk

A red tail hawk with an injured wing that we had to capture

Herd of elk from a different course I worked at in CO

Brown bear at a course I worked at in CO, had to close the golf course for 1/2 day until he decided to wander off

One of my favorite with a fox and a marment

Our most popular in Lewiston ID, the rattlesnake

Yes we do wear chaps for the snakes

Vandalism

It seems every summer when school is out that there is always some for of vandalism on the golf course.  I thought I had seen almost everything over the 22 years I have worked on a course and the 8 years I have been a golf course superintendent, but last night was a first as our practice putting green got egged.

Broken egg shells on the practice green

An 18 carton pack of eggs was left on the green

Even the side of the building got a coupe hits

 Fortunatly I don't see this causing any problems on the green.  We were able to clean up the shells, water in the yokes, and mowed and rolled the green as scheduled.

Fortunately they were nice enough to leave me the Walmart bag with the with the receipt inside showing they were purchased at 12:26 AM that night and their credit card information if I decide to track it back.

 
A couple nights before we had donuts from a golf cart on #16 green.  Fortunately we were also able to knit them back to together like a ballmark and roll them out.

Tire tracks on 16 green from a golf cart