tee and fairway seeding

Here is an update on the progress we are seeing on tees and also what we are doing on the bad spots in our fairways. As noted in the last post, we are doing everything possible to help speed recovery of our course. These steps are starting to show signs that it is working and we continue to work hard at them.

After an area in the fairway is aerified, we go back and top dress the area with a seed and sand mixture. That mix is then brushed into the holes where it will germinate. Seed is also spreed over the area to get worked into the surface when we go over it with the broom.

Here is a spot after we have aerified, top dressed, and brushed in.

In this photo you can see the grass germinating in several of the aerifier holes. We began seeing germination on tees about 12 days after this was done.

You can see here the seed germinating in a larger area than just the aerifier hole. This is what we are after, and are encouraged by what we have seen so far.

Rough work and seeding

This week we have begun cleaning up and seeding the roughs. We are doing this in our ongoing effort to repair any damage from this summer and also to continue what we started last year and introduce newer varieties of grass into our roughs. These newer grasses have better growth habits including drought resistance and color.
What we will do is start lowering down the roughs from 2 1/2" to 2". There will be a little mess at first but we will immediately start over to mulch up any clippings that may be left after the first day. Then we will go out and start slit seeding rough areas again. We lower the height down first so that the seed can get down into the soil better and so that when it begins to germinate it wont get suffocated by the the existing turf canopy. You can view an earlier blog postings from last year showing how the slit seeding works.

Update and disease pressure

First let me apologize for the absence of posts lately, it has been a roller coaster of a summer so far. As you all know I'm sure, we ran out of water early on in July. The irrigation pond was the lowest I have ever seen it in the nine years I've been here, with the top of our intake pipe visible. This is probably because in 2002/03 there were water restrictions in place during that drought. This year there have been no restrictions, just low well volumes and virtually no rain in June and the first week of July. Then, around July 9th, it started raining and has been wet since. That coupled with the extreme heat is causing a whole different set of problems. We are now experiencing several different turfgrass disease's and have also seen crabgrass/goosegrass start to take over anywhere we were weak during the dry period. We are diligently spraying for both and will work to eradicate the disease and weeds as soon as possible.

Below are a couple pictures of the "pythium" fungus that we had on tees this week. This is probably the most devastating disease to bentgrass there is and can wipe out a green or tee in very little time.

You can see the "greasy" look this fungus has

This shot shows what we call the "smoke ring" that is very gray around the edge and the orange/brown dead turf in the middle. The smoke ring will have mycelium with it in the morning's and can be spread very easily by mowers or foot traffic.

vandalism

It has been a long time since my last post, and unfortunately this is not a good one. The combination of Spring and the shortage of staff for awhile led to the absence. I will try now again to update more often and keep this more current with what is going on.

Now, to the point of this post. Sunday evening apparently someone had to much time on their hands. One of the courtesy carts was taken and driven around the course. They hit 6 different greens, did doughnuts on several tees and fairways and went in multiple bunkers. Fortunately, MOST of the damage is not severe. Below are some pictures of the events.

Here's what i was greeted to at 5:30 Monday morning...I had a feeling it was going to be a bad day.

#12 green

#4 green

#2 green. This is similar to what #5, #6, and #13 looked like as well.

snow cover for 3/10/10

Again, here are some pictures of the last snow cover out here. We will have these areas cleaned by Thursday and plan to open at that time. Sorry for the delay.

Looking at 7 tees and path

7 Green still half covered

8 Tees

Cart path going down 13

cart path going down 6

One of our new guys, John clearing the path on 4 tees

Snow cover for 3/7/10

Below are pictures of the current snow cover here at Fieldstone. As you'll see, we are getting close but there still is a lot of snow.

10 and 2 fairway

From behind 15 green

Looking towards 13 and 6 paths

view towards 7 from from the green

Putting Green

course pictures for 3/6/10

Today's (3/6/10) course pictures showing current snow cover

Putting Green

10 and 2 fairways

View from behind 15 green

Looking towards 13 and 6 tees and path

Looking down 7 from green to tee

Snow Cover 3/5/10

Here are some pictures of the course showing current snow cover.

Putting Green

Looking down 10 fairway

Standing behind 7 green looking towards the tee

View from behind 15 green

Looking at the paths on 13 and 6

winter work during shut down

Below are a few things we started during the three week shut down period. We use this time to do projects outside if the weather is decent and to help with whatever may need done in and around the clubhouse such as moving furniture to paint, repairing/servicing equipment and the courtesy carts, and of course this year snow removal. This still has to be done for worker safety and so emergency vehicles can get in and out if necessary.

Most of the outside work other than snow removal is not finished as you can imagine, so our efforts have concentrated on inside work. Our equipment technician Greg has been working hard at machine repair and servicing, blade and reel sharpening and any warranty work that may need done before the season starts. Our assistants, Donovan and Drew have been repairing golf course accessories, painting and sealing, and helping with repair when needed.


Below are two pictures of the new wine barrels we will use this year for trash containers. We cut out the tops, pressure wash inside and outside, and will make lids for them.

This is the area beside the new putting green we built last year. The fescue square in front of the brick parking area was removed and a new landscape bed will be installed.

These are pictures of the right side of the yellow tee on #8. You can see where the day this picture was taken, the turf was just cut. We removed all that old sod and are going to re-shape the area around the catch basin so water flows into it better. We will also add some drain lines around the yellow tee trying to stop water from standing and making the tee playable faster.

This is the cart staging area for the proshop. It has always just been fescue and did not look very neat. We have removed the fescue and will again make this a presentable landscape bed. The old cobble stone path you see in the second photo leading from 9 green was removed and a new brick path will be put in its place.

winter work

One of the projects we do each winter is repair bunker rakes. They may require new green handles, rake heads and even the black top on them. The green handles will either be replaced if they are cracked or they can be repaired by putting a new sheath on them. This is done with a vinyl product that you slide on and then heat to "melt" into place around the handle. Below are some pictures of the rakes.



View of an original handle that is splintering and faded.



The first handle is a brand new one
The second one is a old handle
The third is a repaired handle with the vinyl product used

Rohna chasing geese

The video was shot with my cell phone so it's not very good, but here is Rohna earning her keep this morning.