De-silting Creeks

The past two weeks we have been working on de-silting the creeks on the golf course. Over the years they have become over-grown. Because they were over-grown, the level of the creek has risen as the channel for water flow was constricted. I was pretty convinced that there were some drain lines running into the creeks that were backed up or clogged, which was causing some of the areas on #8, #10, and #14 to not drain out properly and stay wet. My guess was accurate because we uncovered and unclogged at least 5 lines on the stretch from 10-14. This project should not only make the creeks look better, but it should help the areas on these holes, which have been wet all summer because of the excessive rainfall, start to dry out. Once again, our backhoe attachment that we purchased this year is being put to good use!

 Overgrown Creek

 

What a Month!

July 2013 is definitely one for the record books! We had 23.46 inches of rain for the month. That puts our yearly total thus far at 69.67 inches. Our yearly average is 58! Below are some pictures taken during the month long deluge.

 

 

Along with the rain we got some lightning as well. This tree was struck and made a sprinkler explode, causing a geyser on an already wet golf course.

The Totals Are In

We have had significant rainfall for the last 8 days, with more to come this week. From June 30 to July 7 we have had a total of 13.65 inches of rain. That puts us at 58.71 inches so far for the year. Our average ANNUAL rainfall, according to on-site records going back to 1987, is 58.2 inches! Needless to say, we are on our way to breaking some records.

Last night the rain washed out the cartpath on #10 greenside and has made it unusable. Along with the many other things we need to do to clean up from these storms, we will remove the path and repair the area ASAP. Here are a few pictures of the damage.

Time Flies

I guess time flies when you are having fun. I realized this morning that it has been over a month since I've updated the blog. Now that we are in full swing of the season we have had a lot going on.

One big issue that we tackled in the last month has been the large oak tree on #9. It has a large split right down the middle of it. The tree is not in great health. With advice from a certified arborist who consulted with the club about the tree, we decided to try to get as much weight off the tree as possible and utilize chains and cables to prolong its life. While there is no guarantee that the tree will be saved, it was worth the effort instead of immediately removing the tree. Below is a picture of the arborists and the installation of the chains and cables in the tree.

We have also been working on improving some areas on the course. The area in front of 7 green has been washing out due to the large amount of rain that we have been receiving. We have gone in and aerified the area and seeded it to try to get it to fill back in.

I have also had a few questions about the spots on #14 and #15 greens. The spots are moss. I believe the moss started growing under the covers when we rebuilt the greens a year ago. We had a small amount last year and it has really taken off this year with the cool wet weather. There is a chemical that can be used to get rid of moss. I will begin applications in late summer or early fall to try to eradicate this problem.

And finally, if anybody is curious we had 10.89 inches of rain in June and over 4 inches in the last 24 hours! We are less than 10 inches away from our average annual rainfall amount. By the looks of things, we will probably surpass that this month!

#7 Spring

We have finally had a full week of good weather! As many of you noticed on the golf course last week, we had a spring come to the surface in the middle of the 7th fairway. With the good weather and slow play this week we decided to try to alleviate this problem. We did our best to find where the spring was bubbling up from. At that point, we dug a trench down to the new drainage that was installed in the fairway a year ago. We then ran a drain line from the area of the spring to the drainage area and made the connection. The trench was then filled with gravel and resodded. The gravel in the trench should allow any increased flow from the spring follow the trench instead of coming to the surface. Unless the spring moves to another location, this should solve the problem.

Locating the new drainage on #7

 

Digging trench to make the connection

 

Backfilling the trench with pipe and gravel

 

 

After a few nice days of dry weather, it looks like we are getting into another wet spell. We have had 3.65 inches of rain over the last 3 days. Hopefully things will dry out for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

At this point I think everybody is tired of the terrible weather we have been having. Apparently the fog, rain, and cool temperatures haven't learned that they have worn out their welcome.

When I came into work this morning our running total was around 3.5 inches of rain since Sunday morning. It rained more today so I'm sure we are over the 4 inch mark by now. Hail also decided to make an appearance this afternoon. Luckily it wasn't big enough to cause any damage but it did cover the greens and tees.

Despite the bad weather the past few weeks we have been getting some things accomplished. We had to take on an unexpected drainage project when an old terra cotta pipe collapsed on #8 fairway. With old courses, things like this happen at times. Nothing that my great team couldn't accomplish! I'm grateful we have our new backhoe attachment or the job would have been much more challenging and time consuming!

 

Believe it or not, we actually do get to mow fairways and rough once or twice a week when it's dry enough!

You will also notice that we have all of the sprinkler heads marked with yardages. This should help during your rounds this summer. All yardages are measured to the center of the green.

One thing we can't control is the weather. Spring and summer will arrive when they want to. Until then...we'll keep our rain suits handy!

Forward Tees

One thing that we are doing among our projects this spring is adding a few new forward tees. The golf committee thought it would be a good idea to add some to the course to encourage play for our junior golfers or those who would like to move forward from the existing teeing grounds. Holes with the new forward tees are #2, #8, and #12. The tees on #2 and #12 have been built. #8 will be built after the cartpath work is completed. Below are some pictures of the new tees being built.

#12 Tee

#2 Tee

 

Spring Fever

Despite some rain this week, we finally had some great weather to get going on things. The fairways and rough have really greened up and are growing rapidly. Everything was mowed for the first time this season. I've also seen some good germination in the areas that we seeded throughout the course. Spring fever is in the air!

What Month Is This?

Mother Nature's last ditch effort at winter...sleet and now snow...in April

Finally...Warmer Weather On the Way!

Well it looks as though Mother Nature is finally letting loose on winter. After a cold March, it looks as though the temps are starting to get back to normal. March has been a slow month as far as the golf course goes. It took us 3 weeks to get greens and tees aerified and topdressed due to many of the areas being frozen for a few days at a time. I usually perform 2 aerifications in the spring, one in mid-March and one in early April. With the cold temperatures this year, I will only be doing one core aerification on the greens since they have not started growing yet. Skipping the second aerification will allow them to be mostly healed by early May and will not be detrimental to them in the long run. One must never forget that Mother Nature is always in charge, despite what I want to do!

Rebuilding the greens creates some tasks that need to be done which many people may not think about. This spring we have gone around the course and remeasured all of the yardages. I want to thank our pro Bill Glenn for coming on the mountain during some cold weather to assist in this process. Changing the green sizes also changes the center points of the greens. We had to find the new center points and remeasure to all of the yardage bricks in the fairways which then needed to be moved. Tees were also measured and will be getting new yardage bricks. This had to be done prior to the Carolina Golf Association's visitation to re-rate the golf course which will be done in April. All new scorecards also need to be made. Yardages were also measured from the sprinkler heads. Markers have been ordered and will be installed on the sprinklers which will help golfers during their round.

Now that the ground is thawing we can really get going on some of the other projects that we need to get done. One project that we are working on is preparing and seeding where the cartpath was removed on hole #8.

The Pack is Back

Today was the first day with my full staff again. After being laid off for 3 months, the guys were definitely ready to get back to work. Although it was cloudy, we decided to take advantage of the warmer temperatures and get going on cleaning up the course. Unfortunately we did have some tree damage from the ice storm the other week. We have been cleaning it up as the weather permitted but having the entire staff back helped to speed up the process. Half of the crew spent the entire day cleaning up limbs. Below are a few pictures of the damage we incurred.

Every branch on the above tree was broken and had to be taken down. This was on the left of #11.

The other half of the crew got going on taking the green covers off.

As you can see, the covers make a big difference in getting the grass growing!

 

After we got the covers off, we began aerifying the greens. The greens are rooted enough where they can handle this process. While there are many steps and reasons why we do this, the ultimate reason is so that we can have them smooth for the season. After we aerified them, we picked up the plugs and then rolled the greens. Later this week or early next week we will topdress them with sand.

 

 



Ice Damage

Some of you may be wondering how the course and club held up with the passing of the most recent storm that came through. We did have some ice damage throughout the club but it was not nearly as severe as we saw in the winter of 2009. A few trees did come down on the roadsides. Below is a picture of a big oak that came down across club drive, not far from the entrance.

 No trees came down on the course but there are quite a few limbs. We had 1.8 inches of precipitation with the passing of this storm. The course was too wet to work on today but I did drive around to look for any major damage. When it dries enough we will get to work cleaning up and assess any trees that may need additional work as a result of this storm. It's easy to spot what is on the ground but we must continually look for broken limbs that may still be in the tree which could be a hazard in the future. In the mean time, you can see we have plenty to clean up!