Course Update

The last couple weeks have kept the agronomy team very busy.  Like most years, we start to layoff our seasonal staff in early fall and that is timed with the budget and need for routine maintenance.  This year it happened a little earlier to accommodate budget reductions, and ironically our September and October weather was warmer than years past.  This lead to more regular irrigation and continued top growth of the turf, while our mowing frequency decreased due to less staff.  We had about a 2-3 week period where we just could not keep up with the turf.

Cutting a lot of grass in fairways

Fall Flush:
I call this our fall flush, the same type of growth pattern we have in the spring, but this fall it was much more growth and lasted much longer than in previous falls.

Look at the difference on the right where the rough is mowed and un-mowed

We mowed fairways and rough as much as we could, and it still felt like we were always bailing hay. We have now gotten through that and came back to a more normal growth pattern.

Frost
Historical data shows our first frost is always around Oct 10 and by now we have had 5-7 frost events with one of them being a hard killing frost.  It is now Oct 23 and we still have not had our first frost, furthermore, our night time temperatures have been staying in the upper 40's and low 50's.  The turf still looks like summer conditions and greenness has not changed at all.  Some of the Poa is starting to discolor a little, but for the most part the course is as green as summer.

BTA grubs:
The fairway spots that were injured by the black turfgrass ataenius in Sept have fully recovered and are now in good health heading into the winter months. Previous blog - fall grubs

Annual meeting / planning
Reminder - our clubs annual meeting is this evening at 7PM at the clubhouse.  The last two weeks have led to an extra degree of planning for our department.  As budgets have been worked and reviewed for the last 2 months, along with long range planning, and structuring ideas for the complete operation. Please attend so we can include your thoughts and feedback.

Swans

You may have noticed the 2 new swans in the pond on #18 recently.

They are just another 1 of our tools to keep the geese away during the fall and winter.  With the Snake River so close by and the geese love to feed on the golf course creating all the debris for us to pick -up, along with pecking and tearing up pieces of the turf.  Swans are very territorial and will run most other waterfowl species off.  Last year I did a small amount of research on getting a male and female pair of swans that we could build a house/nest for and live on the pond year around, although it is definitely an option, it will take more research and planning.

We have many different tools and techniques the we use - fake coyotes, red and green lasers, noise makers, fake dead goose, alligator heads, and flashing lights - all of which work for a while but when the geese figure out it is artificial then we loose the control.  Our course dog BJ has been more of a permanent help along with the fishing lines that we criss-cross over the pond for the winter.  We use these techniques early in the season that have short longevity and then in November we will put out the fishing lines for the winter.  Together all of these techniques give us pretty good control.  Stay tuned next month and I will explain the purpose of the lines.

We will continue to use various tactics until we can find that one permanent solution that cures the problem 100%, probably not an option, but we will keep working towards it.

Update - Baby

I apologize to all my readers for not posting recently, but the last couple weeks have been extremely busy because:

 

Yes, my wife and I had our first child together. Braxton Jason Habeck, 7 lbs 3 oz, born Wed Oct 8, 2014, and everybody is healthy.  Normally I don't post personal items to my blog, but this is so exciting and does have a little golf course connection.

 

Delivery was connected to golf course maintenance, as I was installing a re-built motor in the pumpstation when labor began and I had to run to the hospital to join my wife.  Of course I wanted to finish the motor before dark and was even a little late getting to the hospital, but everything was installed and I was there in time to help where I could.

 

It has been an extremely busy couple weeks transitioning him into the house, along with the golf course has continued to be busy with fall work, a fall flush of growth that we have not seen before due to the warmer weather in September, paired with laying off of seasonal staff, and still producing a good product for the finishing fall tournaments.  I will get back to the blog this week and catch you up on what has taken place and keep you up to date as we get the golf course ready for winter.