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

Swimming Pool

It has been so hot lately...

Surface temperature of the asphalt in front of our maintenance facility

I think another area of the country club that I manage has been getting more activity and interest than the golf course???
That would be our swimming pool.

Swimming pool in the morning getting ready to open for the rush

Many golf course superintendents are fortunate enough to have many areas of responsibility.  One is typically always the golf course.  Then you get the clubhouse grounds, the manager of the swimming pool, tennis court maintenance, building maintenance, and some times other recreational areas like croquet, cricket, or polo grounds.

Our swimming pool is one aspect that I enjoy besides golf course maintenance because it gives me a different variety of challenges and forces me to learn about new things that I may not always focus on with golf course maintenance.  I took classes to become a certified pool manager and have really enjoyed learning and practicing everything that has to deal with chemicals, maintenance, and scheduling.