Process of Aerification and Course Update

 

The greens department was able to find a break in the weather earlier in the week to perform our bi-annual process of aerification on the greens.  My hat is off to the staff, with limited numbers and a lengthy frost delay on Monday morning, we were able to complete all putting surfaces by 6 pm on Tuesday night.  This process serves as the foundation for not only the upcoming season but improving the soil profile for years to come.  Below are some pictures and description of the process:

 

The process began by pulling 5/8 inch cores on 1.5 spacing

 

The next step was to clean up the cores.  Blowers, shovels and level lawns were used to move the cores to the sides of each green before being removed via carts.  Cores are stock piled at the shop and used throughout the season as a fill with projects, stump holes and cart path edges.

Following clean-up, each surface is then rolled to smooth out the imperfections created by the process and the traffic with clean-up.

 



 

Next, we applied soil amendments to be incorporated into the holes prior to topdressing.  These amendments aid in the infrastructure on the soil properties along with jump starting microbial activity.

 

Then sand is applied, this season we were able to put close to 90 tons on our putting surfaces.  The continued incorporation of sand with Aerifications will drastically aid in the health of the greens.  Not only does sand improve the growing medium for roots, but it improves playability with firmness and aids in surface drainage following rain events. 

 

The finished product.

 

 

 

The timing of Aerification couldn't be better, on Wednesday morning the golf course received a little over 3/4 inch of rain that served as a blessing in moving the sand into the canopy.  More rain is expected tonight through Saturday morning in combination with warmer temperatures that will  expedite the healing process.  You may have noticed the email sent out by Steve yesterday concerning the use of temporary greens, we apologize for this short-term inconvenience.  With the process of aerification, greens become fragile and soft under foot.  That in combination with the 2+ inch rainfall over the next couple of days will create extremely saturated soil conditions.  To avoid imperfections and long lasting damage to the putting surfaces, we have decided to use temporary greens on a day to day basis during the healing process.  Thank you for your support!

 

 

Above is a sneak peek at the new view off 16 tee, the contractors still have a few trees to remove but hopefully you can already see the difference. 

Tee Project Process

 

Last week, I mentioned that we have developed a new game plan with the Tee project of restoring all the tees to their original square intent.  If you remember from a post last October, we started this project by identifying our new teeing ground then using a sod cutter to strip the entire area followed by transplanting bentgrass sod.  The problem was that this took a lot of time for each tee because of the amount of prep work (see pic below) prior to laying the sod to ensure a level consistent teeing ground.

 

 

 

And let's face it, unfortunately, patience has never been my strong point.  During a couple of weeks this past fall prior to winter setting in and forcing us to stop because of the frozen tundra, we finished only two holes (8 & 9). Over the past week (yep, one week) we have identified and prepped all remaining tees on the property.

 

 How did we do?  Well, below is an outline of the process....

 

The beauty of the new process is that the shape of the tee complexes were built to support the square tees, the square shape had just been lost because of mowing patterns over the years.  Therefore, we started by looking at each individual tee to evaluate what needed to be done to recapture the square design with the least amount of disruption possible.

 

We started by marking the center of each tee and indicating the proper angle in relation to the landing zone or green for par 3s.

 



Then we measured to the sides to achieve a uniform width in relation to the cutting width of our tee mowers.  During this stage, we addressed each tee to see how much additional space we could create while maintaining a level teeing ground and considering maintenance practice (being able to operate a mower safely with the severity of slopes on our tee complexes).

After identifying the new tee surface, we took a sod cutter to the outside of the paint lines where any bent was located.

Removal was mainly located to the front and back portions of tees.  Rough sod will replace those voids.

 

For the overgrown areas inside the paint lines (previously maintained as rough), we began the process of scalping those triangles down to form the new square shaped tee. This process is the time saver of the project because we've eliminated the tedious process of stripping, grading and replacing bent sod.

 

 

The scalping process will take a couple of weeks as we slowly take the turf down to the existing tee height.  There is plenty of underlying bent in these areas, which was an additional factor we considered when looking at each individual tee.  How much level tee space can we create while having bent to work with. 

 

 

An additional benefit to the project was that it allowed us to address the alignment of a few tees.  As you can tell from the picture of the white tee on #14 below, the existing shape of the tee was aligned with the left fairway bunker.  This past season, we used mowing pattern to create a visual change for the golfer.



This project has now allowed us to tweak the tee slightly to the right, thus creating a properly aligned tee to the landing zone.

 

 

This time next week, we should have all the rough sod in place and a new uniform finished product! 



Course/Project Update

 

Course Update:

 

We have had the good fortune of experiencing a few breaks in the weather over the past week that has allowed the Greens department to button up winter projects and transition into preparing the property for the season.  We have finished our tree removal program for the 2013/14 off season, including all the prep work that follows with removing a tree in grinding the stump and backfilling.  These areas will be seeded in a couple weeks once spring finally sets in.   Along with the long term project of cleaning up woodlines, emphasis was placed this offseason on removing deceased trees along with selecting key areas that removal would aid in improving the agronomic conditions and playability.  An example would be the 13th hole pictured below,  selective removal took place on the tee complex to address the encroaching trees while still providing a screen from the 12th.  In addition to the tee complex, removal occurred on the right side of the fairway to improve the quality of turf in landing zone of those wayward tee shots to the right.

 

 

All together the staff removed 40+ trees (not including continued work on the woodlines) over the winter.  In addition to wrapping up tree removal, the staff has begun prepping beds for the spring mulching and have started to address all the debris that occurs on the course throughout the winter months.  We have also dove back into the tee restoration project that was started this past fall with a new method of attack that will hopefully speed up the process (stay tuned for a detailed post of the process in the coming weeks).  I'm optimistic that spring is right around the corner and the next month will be extremely busy with aerification, bunker work, mulching, tee project, yardage tag installation on sprinklers and firing up those mowers!

 

 

 

Project Update:

 

The tree removal project on #12 gully is coming along nicely despite the limited work schedule due to the weather and conditions preventing accessibility.  Below are a couple of pictures that will show the progress over the past three weeks. 

2-18-14

3-13-14

 

 2-18-14

 

3-13-14

 

The renovation of our first building in the Maintenance compound is nearing completion.  All the electrical work has been updated along with the installation of insulation and a new ceiling in the interior of the building.  These additions will drastically improve the working environment of the building as both grinders will now be able to operate at one time and the upgrades will finally provide a building that will retain heat during the winter months.  All welcomed additions to phase 1 of the maintenance compound renovation/restoration. (Thank you members!)  The first building should be complete by the end of the next week as we are just waiting on the delivery of the new doors.  Following completion, we hope to break ground on the new Chemical and Fertilizer building by the first of May.   



 



 

Before

 



After

New roof being installed

 

As always, stay tuned to the blog for updates in the upcoming weeks monitoring our progress as we prepare for the season.  Till then, dust off the clubs and we look forward to seeing you on the course!

Project Update

#12 Tree Removal Project:

 

Lots of progress has been made on the tree removal project on #12 over the past week despite the ever changing conditions that Mother Nature has given us.  I wanted to share a few pics:

Emphasis has been placed on removing the smaller diameter material before addressing the larger trees.

This material is being staged prior to being mulched through a chipper

As you can see from last week's post, the view and open corridor is starting to take shape.

Stay tuned for updates and pictures to monitor the progress!

Tree Removal Project

It has been a snowy, cold winter....that's for sure in Western PA.  I saw on the news last night that the average snowfall amount as of Feb. 17 is 28 inches.  This year as of yesterday (2-17) we have exceeded 54 inches of recorded snowfall with 6 weeks of winter to go.

But let's look at the positive...

Each weekend we get to watch golf on TV to get us pumped and motivated for the season, this weekend marks the start of the east coast swings which only means we are getting closer to the season starting.

For us Southerners, the prelude to Spring is traditionally marked by this weekend with the dropping of the green flag at the Daytona 500 (which by the way marks the return of the famed #3 car, who is on the pole and the return of Josh controlling the remote from Brooke on Sunday afternoons).  Notice I said prelude and not start, we all know The Master's is when spring is truly here!

For you Pitt fans, you definitely dodged a bullet by erasing an 4 point deficit at home with less than 10 seconds to go to force overtime and eventually winning in double overtime against my beloved Hokies (who by the way are the second worse team in the ACC).  Let's face it, that would have made for a long stretch till Oct 16, when the Hokies visit Heinz field.

The Bucs report to spring training this week....I mean the word "spring" is in that statement, which has to be a sign, right?

Agronomically, the snow cover could be considered a blessing.  Although, I've only been able to see turf 3 times since Christmas.  Snow cover is mother natures protection to the colder temps, wind desiccation and helping soil temperatures.  All positives towards the Spring and the course recovering from the "Polar Vortex".

See all positives, no matter how you look at it!

 

This week, work started on the first of two contracted tree removal projects on the golf course with the removal of all material in the gully between the cart paths on #9 and #12.  The scope of this project will greatly influence airflow and light to three greens (8,11 & 12) while aesthetically creating an open corridor for visual stimulation and camaraderie surrounding the 12 tee house and players making the turn on a daily basis. 



 

 

 

Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for updates on the progress and the start of project number #2.