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| Al getting ready to grind a reel |
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| Daily adjustment of a fairway mower |
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Equipment Maintenance
One very important aspect of golf course maintenance that goes on behind the scene and most people do not think about is the maintenance of our equipment and most importantly the maintenance, adjusting, and grinding of our reels. We are fortunate here at LGCC to have a very talented and hard working equipment technician in Al Grafton.
Our mowers that mow the tall rough areas are normal rotary mowers that have a blade and cut just like your mowers on your home lawn. All the rest of our mowers that cut to precision and are used on low mowing areas, like fairways, tees, approaches, collars, and greens, are reel type mowers that have a reel that comes around and forms a scissor action with a fixed bedknife. These mowers cut just like a scissors and require daily adjustment, height of cut settings, and regular sharpening. Just like a scissors that becomes loose, if our setting of reel to knife becomes loose then they will not cut as well.
Quality of cut has many implications with course maintenance. It effects the playability of the course, the ball roll, and most importantly the health of the turf. A dull mower strips the leaf tissue instead of giving us a clean cut. This stripping opens up the leaf tissue for disease, allows for a greater loss of water and wilt stress, decreases the health of the plant, and impacts the asthetics of a golf course. Every single day and every single time a mower leaves the shop, it has been inspected and checked by Al to assure it is going to provide us a precise quality of cut to a very precise height of cut out on the golf course.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Brown is OK.
With high temperatures hovering around 100 degrees for the last 3 weeks, a typical summer for us, our golf course is starting to take on its "summer appearance". With all eyes on the British Open I figured this was a good time for an educational piece on where golf started, the expectations we have put on it in the U.S., and the desire for lush green turf vs playability.
Our high temperatures hover around 100 for most of the summer, last summer we set a record with 19 days over 100 and our average is 13 days. Our evening temperatures will be in the low 90's around 8 PM and the mid 70's at 5 AM many times. We have a 44 year old irrigation system, with very poor spacing, minimal pumping capacity in our pumpstations by today's standards, and stand along satellites that are not linked together with a central computer so one part of the golf course does not know what the other part is watering and how much water they are currently using. All of this drastically effects our efficiency and constant pressure to achieve a uniform coverage and distribution of water.
With that said, I feel we do a very good with our water management, our aesthetics, and focus on the playability of the golf course. Golf started with low standards, drought stricken fairways, firm fast link styles of courses. Over the years, and mainly in the U.S., we have evolved to very prestine conditioning, lush green fairways and rough, and more water usage compared to our ancestors. There is nothing wrong with a little brown color in rough and fairway areas. I always educate my staff, who want to achieve a beautiful lush green city park type golf course, that our goal here is playability. For us to maintain a lush green rough all day, we would have to water beyond the water holding capacity of our soil and have very wet squishy areas in the morning. This would lead to a nice green lush look by 5 and 6 PM. Instead we focus on keeping the golf course firm, playable, and very few soft or squishy areas in the morning. Which leads to handwatering through outt the day to babysit the turf through the day, and some areas of stress by afternoon. But I feel our number #1 objective is to produce a good playing golf course and we don't have to be picture perfect green to achieve that. We use less water that way, create less mechanical damage from our equipment and golf carts, and create the best playing course that we can. With TV, you are starting to see more turf under stress during major tournaments, and a general trend in most superintendents to be better stewards of the land and environment, and focus on the playbility of the course in relation to economics. I remember a quote from a superintendent that I mentored under for 7 years as an assistant, "We look green in the morning, a little stress by 11 AM, and bring out the fire trucks by 3 PM because we will be on fire" That is a good day, a job well done, and a well playing golf course in a superintendent's eyes.
With that said, I will make several posts over the next couple months to shed some light on what are truly dealing with with our 44 year old irrigation system, the spacing and nozzling issues that we have, the uniformity of distribution challenges we face, and the capability of our pumpstations. Along with moisture meters, tools of our trade, and techniques we utilize to achieve the optimum soil moisture level. But there is nothing wrong with a little brown on the golf course, it plays well, and three is no need to have everything lush green. Enjoy your British Open weekend.
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| Afternoon stress in fairways and rough, just getting the fairway through the day |
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| Stress in the rough - right where we want it - as we know we did not over water and the course and it is playing firm |
With that said, I feel we do a very good with our water management, our aesthetics, and focus on the playability of the golf course. Golf started with low standards, drought stricken fairways, firm fast link styles of courses. Over the years, and mainly in the U.S., we have evolved to very prestine conditioning, lush green fairways and rough, and more water usage compared to our ancestors. There is nothing wrong with a little brown color in rough and fairway areas. I always educate my staff, who want to achieve a beautiful lush green city park type golf course, that our goal here is playability. For us to maintain a lush green rough all day, we would have to water beyond the water holding capacity of our soil and have very wet squishy areas in the morning. This would lead to a nice green lush look by 5 and 6 PM. Instead we focus on keeping the golf course firm, playable, and very few soft or squishy areas in the morning. Which leads to handwatering through outt the day to babysit the turf through the day, and some areas of stress by afternoon. But I feel our number #1 objective is to produce a good playing golf course and we don't have to be picture perfect green to achieve that. We use less water that way, create less mechanical damage from our equipment and golf carts, and create the best playing course that we can. With TV, you are starting to see more turf under stress during major tournaments, and a general trend in most superintendents to be better stewards of the land and environment, and focus on the playbility of the course in relation to economics. I remember a quote from a superintendent that I mentored under for 7 years as an assistant, "We look green in the morning, a little stress by 11 AM, and bring out the fire trucks by 3 PM because we will be on fire" That is a good day, a job well done, and a well playing golf course in a superintendent's eyes.
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| Mid-morning stress on the rough on #18 |
Par 3 Shootout
This Friday we will be hosting the first ever Par Shootout at Lewis ton Golf and Country Club. All 18 holes will be par 3's with a little cross country set-up like 3 tee to #2 green, #7 tee to #6 green, 17 tee to 15 green, and etc.
The course set-up will be normal on the back nine and the front will be superintendent revenge. Greens will be single cut and rolled in the morning, and then right before the shotgun we will go out and double cut greens and roll again. If all goes right you should be able to say that you are putting on greens rolling over 14+, and lets just say those front 9 pins will be in difficult locations.
It should be a fun Friday night with a BBQ before hand and a 6 PM shotgun. Please come out and play if you can, call the golf shop to sign-up.
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| The special hole - I am standing on #4 tee, and you can see the back of #5 tee has been mowed down and will be an island green for Friday night - 67 yards |
The course set-up will be normal on the back nine and the front will be superintendent revenge. Greens will be single cut and rolled in the morning, and then right before the shotgun we will go out and double cut greens and roll again. If all goes right you should be able to say that you are putting on greens rolling over 14+, and lets just say those front 9 pins will be in difficult locations.
It should be a fun Friday night with a BBQ before hand and a 6 PM shotgun. Please come out and play if you can, call the golf shop to sign-up.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Ash Borer Beetle
This week I was approached by the USDA, United States Department of Agriculture, to be part of a population study and western movement of the Ash Borer Beetle. Between holes 3 and 5 you will see a purple triangle trap up in an ash tree.
This pheromone trap is to attract any Ash beetles that may be in the area or approaching the ash tree that it is hanging in. Along with the attractant smell hanging inside the triangle, there is a very sticky substance covering the cardboard that will the beetles will stick to if they land on it.
The trap will hang there for about 4 weeks and then it will be picked by the state and count the number of beetles on the trap.
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| Hanging the pheromone trap |
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| The USDA Ash Borer Beetle trap |
This pheromone trap is to attract any Ash beetles that may be in the area or approaching the ash tree that it is hanging in. Along with the attractant smell hanging inside the triangle, there is a very sticky substance covering the cardboard that will the beetles will stick to if they land on it.
The trap will hang there for about 4 weeks and then it will be picked by the state and count the number of beetles on the trap.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Empress Tree - #4 Green
Last week we lost a couple large branches to the Empress Tree to the right of #4 green. This is a very large majestic tree on the golf course.
I am very fortunate to have the knowledge, experience, skills, and required equipment for a tree climber in my equipment technician, Al Grafton, who has previously owned his own tree pruning business.
While we were removing those fallen and cracked branches we took the time to climb the tree, inspect it, and remove some of the dead wood located in the tree. For some reason, the tree has produced an excessive amount of fruit/seeds this year. This is adding a tremendous amount of weight to the light wooded branches.
Upon further inspection I do have some concerns for the future of this tree. It is showing signs of inner rot and weak branches, in conjunction with the excessive fruit produced this season, we could see more branches fall off in the weeks to come. This tree could become a large safety hazard, especially so close to the green, and be one that we have to look at for removal come this winter.
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| Removal of branches |
I am very fortunate to have the knowledge, experience, skills, and required equipment for a tree climber in my equipment technician, Al Grafton, who has previously owned his own tree pruning business.
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| Climbing to remove upper branches |
While we were removing those fallen and cracked branches we took the time to climb the tree, inspect it, and remove some of the dead wood located in the tree. For some reason, the tree has produced an excessive amount of fruit/seeds this year. This is adding a tremendous amount of weight to the light wooded branches.
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| Look at all the seed hanging off the branches |
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| Fruit on the hanging branches, very heavy |
Upon further inspection I do have some concerns for the future of this tree. It is showing signs of inner rot and weak branches, in conjunction with the excessive fruit produced this season, we could see more branches fall off in the weeks to come. This tree could become a large safety hazard, especially so close to the green, and be one that we have to look at for removal come this winter.
Irrigation Leak - #1 / #2 Road
Our July 4th weekend and last week was occupied with a large irrigation break of our mainline under the road as you go from #1 green to # 2 tee. When I was starting my course tour on Friday morning at 5:30AM I crossed the road and saw water coming up through the road in 7 different places.
We monitered the rough and fairways to push them as long as we could go with out water, and then I was going to bring out a tank to cool down the hot spots and ask adjacent homewoners if I could tap into the spicket on the side of their house, but we did get everything repaired and fixed just in time for the fairway and rough areas. I felt comfortable to push the turf as far as I could, and was going go to wait on the last step just before we were going to start loosing turf. Even though it was pushing 100 degrees everyday for those 5 days, we were able to make it until we got the water line repaired.
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| Water coming up through the asphalt and curb edge |
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| Water flwoing down the street |
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| Sink holes starting appear as the asphalt warms up, because of the water movement under the road in the sub grade |
For the next 5 days, we dug up the pipe on both sides of road and capped it off so we could still irrigate the remainder of the golf course except hole #1, we had all the utilities located in the road right-a-way, dug up the road and replaced the pipe, and while all of this was happening we were dragging hoses across the road from #2 tee area to handwater the green complex of #1, and dragging hoses from #10 tee across the road to handwater #1 tee complex.
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| Road edges dug up and locates taking place |
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| More utility locates |
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| Starting to dig up the road |
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| Cavity under the road, right above the pipe |
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| Road dug up |
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| Old pipe - spiral crack along the side of the pipe for about 10 ft |
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| New pipe installed, with a sleeve that the old pipe was not installed in |
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| Water back on, you see the stress after 5 days, but no turf loss even though it does not look great |
Everything is repaired with the pipe now and irrigation is functioning properly again. We do still have some work and time to bring the turf back on #1 fairway and rough. We also have to work with the City of Lewiston and our insurance company to repair the damage that occurred with to the road.
Grooming greens - Grain and brushes
One thing I have heard a lot of over the last 4 years while I have been here at LGCC is that "the greens are very true", "you have taken the break out of the greens", or "the greens break different now". I believe what has happened is that due to our cultural practices, mainly brushing greens, we have removed a large portion of the grain created by the growth pattern of the turf on greens allowing the ball to roll and break according to the undulations on the green and not being influenced by the grain of the turf. When I arrived here, one of the first things I did was mount brushes on the front of the walking greens mowers.
The predominant turf type on the greens grows in a lateral growth pattern as apposed to a vertical pattern. This causes grain on the green as the leaf tissue is growing flat on the surface of the green as apposed to growing up. These brushes stand the grass up before the reel mows it off and gets an actual true cut at the height that we set the mower too.
We raise up the brushes and do not use them when we mow our clean-up pass going around the edge of the green.
Above you can see the edge of the green, to the left of the lens cover there is very minimal grass that is laid over, to the right of the lens cover there is most of the grass laid over and growing laterally.
In the above picture I rubbed my hand against the grain and you can see how high the grass stood up. Even thought we set the height of cut on the mower at the desirable level, we are not getting that true height of cut out in the field. This grain influences the ball as it rolls across the green - 1) it slows down the ball because there is more surface area of leaf tissue that is causing friction against the ball as it rolls, 2) it influences the ball to break one way or the other. It could be holding a putt "up the hill" as it rolls along a side hill where it should actually break down the hill, or it could cause a ball to break more if the grain is going down the slope.
In the above picture, you see when I rub my hand against the grain we have longer grass on the outer edge where we do not use the brushes, but on the left side of the picture there is very little difference, meaning there is very little grass laid over that would of stood up, or very little grain.
This gives us faster greens as the ball is rolling on the tip of the leaf tissue and not on the side, it also allows the ball to break according to the slope of the green and not according the amount or direction of the grain caused by the lateral growth pattern of the turf.
By using the brushes, the greens turf is stood up and then mowed clean, only leaving a small amount of grain around the perimeter of the green. Also, changing our direction every single day will assure there will be minimal grain no matter what direction it is growing on any green.
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| Brush mounted on the front of a walking greens mower |
We raise up the brushes and do not use them when we mow our clean-up pass going around the edge of the green.
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| Grain to the right of the lens cover, very little grain to the left of the lens cover |
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| Greens turf growing laterally, stood up by my hand right behind the lens cover |
In the above picture I rubbed my hand against the grain and you can see how high the grass stood up. Even thought we set the height of cut on the mower at the desirable level, we are not getting that true height of cut out in the field. This grain influences the ball as it rolls across the green - 1) it slows down the ball because there is more surface area of leaf tissue that is causing friction against the ball as it rolls, 2) it influences the ball to break one way or the other. It could be holding a putt "up the hill" as it rolls along a side hill where it should actually break down the hill, or it could cause a ball to break more if the grain is going down the slope.
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| Same picture, farther back, very little grain to the left of the lens cover, other than the clean-up pass on the edge of the green |
In the above picture, you see when I rub my hand against the grain we have longer grass on the outer edge where we do not use the brushes, but on the left side of the picture there is very little difference, meaning there is very little grass laid over that would of stood up, or very little grain.
This gives us faster greens as the ball is rolling on the tip of the leaf tissue and not on the side, it also allows the ball to break according to the slope of the green and not according the amount or direction of the grain caused by the lateral growth pattern of the turf.
By using the brushes, the greens turf is stood up and then mowed clean, only leaving a small amount of grain around the perimeter of the green. Also, changing our direction every single day will assure there will be minimal grain no matter what direction it is growing on any green.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Flowers at LGCC, and the Yucca
We have had a lot of great flowers at the Country Club this spring.
And 1 of my favorite - the Yucca
I had not seen the Yucca plant until I moved to Idaho, it forms these very large shoots of flowers in mid summer, similar to a gladiola in the Midwest. It is the state flower for New Mexico, and believe it or not the flower pedals are edilble and very nutritioness.
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| The landscape bed at #4 green |
And 1 of my favorite - the Yucca
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| My vehicle stands 6ft tall and 5 ft wide - almost equal to the Yucca; and BJ is 95 lbs, smaller than the leaf mass |
Monday Morning at LGCC
We are very fortunate here at Lewiston Golf and Country Club to be closed on Monday mornings until 11AM for maintenance. This time is so valuable for us as we prepare the golf course for the week. When staff has the ability to work on the course without any intereptions, they are about 50-60% more productive. More important than ever is right now in the heat of summer, when it is 96-103 degrees F everyday, we need the time to do the more major things than just regular maintenance to the golf course.
A typical Monday morning includes all the regular mowing that we do on a typical day, along with spraying of the golf course to include liquid fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides; also cultural practices like spiking greens, topdressing all areas of the golf course, verticutting, and grooming.
To give you example, this past Monday was the monthy venting of greens with 1/4" solid tines to allow oxygen down into the the root system and a deeper infiltration of water. We first mowed greens, then spiked, then rolled them smooth, and then sprayed a tank mix of fertilizer; re-set the cup and pin, and then opened the green for play. The driving range tee also recieved an overhaul by first being mowed, then topressed, allowed the sand to dry, brushed in the sand, fertilized, irrigated to work in the sand, and then sprayed with a fungicide.
None of this would be possible if it wasn't for having the course closed til 11AM on Monday's.
A typical Monday morning includes all the regular mowing that we do on a typical day, along with spraying of the golf course to include liquid fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides; also cultural practices like spiking greens, topdressing all areas of the golf course, verticutting, and grooming.
To give you example, this past Monday was the monthy venting of greens with 1/4" solid tines to allow oxygen down into the the root system and a deeper infiltration of water. We first mowed greens, then spiked, then rolled them smooth, and then sprayed a tank mix of fertilizer; re-set the cup and pin, and then opened the green for play. The driving range tee also recieved an overhaul by first being mowed, then topressed, allowed the sand to dry, brushed in the sand, fertilized, irrigated to work in the sand, and then sprayed with a fungicide.
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| Mowing greens - performed with a triplex on Monday's to save labor for other tasks, greens are walk mowed the rest of the week |
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| Spiking greens |
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| The result of spiking/venting greens wth 1/4" solid tines |
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| Rolling greens |
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| Asst Superintendent, Colby, spraying greens |
None of this would be possible if it wasn't for having the course closed til 11AM on Monday's.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Happy 4th of July
Happy 4th of July to all my readers.
Please be safe and enjoy our country's celebration of freedom.
Please be safe and enjoy our country's celebration of freedom.
Walk Mowing Greens = Exercise
It is very interesting to think about the work that goes into golf course maintenance before the first golfer ever hits a ball in the morning and how hard the maintenance staff works. Our staff walk mows greens, 18 inch wide path back on forth on all the greens every morning.
About 6 - 6.5 miles each person walks from 5 AM - 8AM. Currently they are having discussions about who is loosing the most weight. If you want a healthy job, a good morning walk and physical exercise, consider a part time job walk mowing greens on a golf course. The sun is rising, birds are singing, and it hasn't gotten hot out yet.
About 6 - 6.5 miles each person walks from 5 AM - 8AM. Currently they are having discussions about who is loosing the most weight. If you want a healthy job, a good morning walk and physical exercise, consider a part time job walk mowing greens on a golf course. The sun is rising, birds are singing, and it hasn't gotten hot out yet.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Extreme Weather
This has been the week when summer really hits and it has led to many extreme weather events. Three weeks ago it started with all the rain that lasted on and off for 2 weeks, totaling almost 4 inches of rain in 2.5 weeks. Then the extreme heat rolled in with highs of 106, 108 and 107. This lead to many changes in the atmosphere causing several evening and morning lightning shows. A few heat lightning incidences in the evening, some have been paired with a wall of storm clouds that have dumped extreme rain in 20 minutes.
Flash floods downtown Lewiston had the streets covered in 1-2 ft of water in 20 minutes, a morning lightening storm forced me to hold staff off the golf course for 1 hour and delay tee times for 45 minutes on Tuesday morning. All the moisture paired with the extreme heat has caused the heat index to climb to dangerous levels. I have sent staff home at noon, a 7 hour shift, for 2 days because of the dangerous heat index while working outside. Please be careful if you are outside.
The tough part on the turf is the evening and nighttime temperatures. Last night I was out on the golf course at 8 PM and it was still 98 degrees. A couple mornings have been 82 degrees with high humidity at 5 AM.
A couple positive aspects is that our pool has been overflowing with people and the golf course has held up very well. The course is playing very good, greens do not have a single stress mark nor a disease spot on them, and they are rolling very good. Fortunately the long range forecast has the high temperature between 94-100 for the next 15 days so we should get back to a more normal summer.
Get your tee time early and I will see you guys out on the golf course.
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| A storm cloud over downtown Lewiston |
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| Clouds moving towards the golf course |
The tough part on the turf is the evening and nighttime temperatures. Last night I was out on the golf course at 8 PM and it was still 98 degrees. A couple mornings have been 82 degrees with high humidity at 5 AM.
A couple positive aspects is that our pool has been overflowing with people and the golf course has held up very well. The course is playing very good, greens do not have a single stress mark nor a disease spot on them, and they are rolling very good. Fortunately the long range forecast has the high temperature between 94-100 for the next 15 days so we should get back to a more normal summer.
Get your tee time early and I will see you guys out on the golf course.
Cartpath Edges
Many of our cartpath edges have brown stripes along the sides. This is due the extreme hot weather we have been having, currently our fourth day over 100, and the turf that is growing on the asphalt is being burned.
In the spring it was cooler and moist, the turf was actively growing and growing out onto the edges of the path. That grass has no root system as it is sitting on asphalt, and as soon as the heat comes then it dries up. Remember back this spring we were out edging cartpaths, and here in the picture you can see this is a path where we got the grass trimmed back to the edge of the asphalt on the right side and there is no wilted turf, but we did not get to doing the left side and the overgrown turf is wilting.
It doesn't take long for turf to wilt when this is the temperature of the asphalt at 1:00 in the afternoon.
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| Portion of the turf that is overgrown on the cartpath |
It doesn't take long for turf to wilt when this is the temperature of the asphalt at 1:00 in the afternoon.
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| Degrees Fahrenheit of a cartpath at 1:00 in the afternoon |
Heat = Disease
Two weeks ago I blogged to all of you readers about the 3+" of rain that we received, RAIN, RAIN... + Men's Member-Guest. Well now after all that rain, the extreme the has moved in. Sunday our high was 106, Monday we set a record with 108, Tuesday was 107, and today we have cooled down to 100. With all the moisture in soil, the pant material, and in general in the atmosphere has caused the humidity to be higher than normal. This extreme hot weather and extreme heat index has brought on some diseases around the golf course. Greens, tees, and approaches have been treated preventatively with a fungicide, but fairways have a lot of dollar spot disease on them right now.
Dollar spot disease is a surface disease that will not kill the plant or root system. It infects the leaf tissue on the plant, stunts the growth, and is more of a visual disease that effects the aesthetics. We will not treat the fairways until it gets worse, and more than likely the plant will outgrow the disease very soon.
We also have red thread disease popping up in the rough right now.
This is the same type of disease that does not kill the plant, but does effect the leaf tissue and the visual appearance of our rough. As things dry out and the humidity decreases, then you will see the pat out grow this disease.
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| Dollar spot disease on #1 fairway |
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| Dollar spot disease on #18 fairway |
Dollar spot disease is a surface disease that will not kill the plant or root system. It infects the leaf tissue on the plant, stunts the growth, and is more of a visual disease that effects the aesthetics. We will not treat the fairways until it gets worse, and more than likely the plant will outgrow the disease very soon.
We also have red thread disease popping up in the rough right now.
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| Red thread disease in the rough |
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| Red thread diease |
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