Mother Nature Always Wins

As I sit staring out at the ice covering the trees, the road, even Lucy when she does go outside, lead me to my thoughts today.  It is something I had been working on for the last week in my head, but Mother Nature cleared it up for me with the weather of these past two weeks.  Missouri seems to be a special weather phenomenal location, of course this might be true of many locations in the transition zones.  My previous locals have either been the deep south such as Florida, or in true northern climates such as New Jersey and Northern Indiana.  Last weekend here in Missouri we had rain, ice, and some snow, the course shutdown from Sunday to Wednesday as we waited for the snow to melt.  By Friday we were back up into the 50's.  Along came more ice yesterday (Saturday) leaving roads almost impassible, yet tomorrow will be back up into the 40's and by Thursday we could very well reach 70 degrees.

                         

What leads me to discuss weather was seeing a comment about not relying on dates of the calendar to make certain applications, and me reviewing my data to figure out why some of my programs might not be working as well as I had hoped.  I will say I am pretty good about tracking some of my data.  I will go out to my weather station regularly (as in daily) during the season and record my minimum and maximum temperatures, soil temperatures (sand based green), wind speed, precipitation, relative humidity, and evapotranspiration (ET).  I will mainly use the temperatures daily in season to update my Growing Degree Day (GDD) chart, which I use to monitor when I will make my next growth regulator application.  The soil temperature I find very important early in the season, as it will direct me to make preemergent weed and fairy ring applications.  Wind and relative humidity plays a part in how closely we will monitor our soil moistures (or should I say, prioritize the monitoring), and the ET will be used to help decide how much irrigation we will provide if needed.

                    

Above is a picture of our weather station. Our ET gauge is on the left, our min/max thermometer in the center, and our soil thermometer and wind/relative humidity reading tool is on the right.  It also can read dew points which I heard about in a seminar, which might be a better way to track overall drying conditions, but that is something I will have to work with and figure out how to interpret the readings into my data.  I have to say, I know many of my colleagues have weather stations tied into their irrigation systems, or even some have weather stations tied into their data tracking worksheets, where readings are automatically recorded for various information needed, such as disease tracking and growth management, which helps them decide on timing their fertilizer applications, among other things.  I'm just a simple folk, (mostly too old to figure out this new fangled stuff, and short of budget), but the information we record is important to all of us in the industry.

Other points of data collection include; a monthly calendar, where I record all activities on the golf course. Be it cultural practices, fertilizer and pesticide applications, rain, irrigation, and even golfer information, such as if we were open for play or allowed carts, I find all this information useful at one time or another.  Some of this information is duplicated in my fertilizer/pesticide application log, or in my weather log.  I also have some other data collecting sheets for moisture readings, but that I will share at a more appropriate time.

        

     Here is the monthly calendar example, even color coded.  It helps me identify practices or needed data quicker.  To the left are the past 6 years of data collection.  I will talk about how being able to reach back that far is helpful in my next post.

To the right is my daily weather log.  I record the time I check the weather station, (usually after our first morning jobs), what the current temperature is, the lows from the morning, and the highs from yesterday, (I have my 24 hours resetting about 8:30 - 9:00 AM, compared to the National Weather Service resetting at midnight). Any rain, soil temperature at the time, wind, humidity, ET, and some comments.  I will at certain times of the year record afternoon soil and humidity readings.  I will also do a monthly temperature average and total rain fall for the month.  That information comes in handy when analyzing the month and I use it in my monthly reports.

The last data collection post I will share, has to do with our fertilizer and pesticide applications.  I have these going back to 2009 in the format I am sharing in this post, but I can trace applications all the way back to 2005, most of 2004 applications were lost in our shop fire.  After a visit by our state Pesticide Bureau, I changed to this format.  It wasn't really necessary due to the fact we didn't use restricted use pesticides at the time, but it has allowed me to go back and visit programs to make improvements.  The middle sheet is a list of all applications made to a certain location that season, such as greens.  The right sheet is an application sheet that list each product, rate, amount, weather conditions, application vehicle or mode, who the applicator was, lot numbers of the products, and any other issues or conditions that might have affected the application.  I know there are online formats which I will play with this season, but I will continue this format as well, since it is what our state requires.  

                

This bulk of data I can use to review and improve my programs, and to figure out why we had success and/or failures. In future posts I will discuss an issue, the program, the data, and what changes we might make.  I hope to hear what other data might be important for me to track.

Thanks for reading!

Mel

The Expected Winter Question

Yes it's that time of year for most golf course superintendents, even those in Florida, I remember when I was growing up and working in Florida we were occasionally asked what we did in the winter.

Well during a training session that was put on by my employer a week ago, we had to say who we were, what department we worked for, what our job title was, and then comment on a question.  After I gave my answers, and being the only golf course superintendent in the room, (and one of the few who regularly work outdoors) I heard the question from the instructor, "So what do you do in the winter"?  I certainly didn't answer keeping up with my blog, which of course I haven't.  So after that training, I thought, what a great way to get myself back on track, and talk about some of the things we are doing this winter.

What follows is what we have been doing this winter.  While we have had our share of mild days all the way through most of December, we really didn't do much in the way of projects, since we were continuing with setting up the course for play, and still doing some watering due to the dry November and December weather.  We didn't drain our irrigation system until right before Christmas, when the weather took a downward spiral into some brutally cold days and nights.

We did get all of our landscape beds cleaned out and mulched.  But when that cold weather hit, most of our projects moved inside.

The first project we tackled was repairing our small equipment trailer.  Repair might not be accurate, more like rebuild.  The wood on it had rotted out and was just falling apart.  The old wood was removed, the frame was sanded and then repainted.  New  wood decking was added, along with new sides were installed.  The wood was all stained to provide protection from the elements.



Our next project consisted of repairing and repainting our ballwashers and garbage cans.  Certainly a project I have shown before.  This would be this year's version.

The ballwashers were cleaned out, sanded down, and then repainted.  The parts were checked and worn or defective parts replaced.  Then the ballwashers were reassembled, checked to make sure they worked properly, then stored to await the spring.



Garbage cans were cleaned, repaired as needed, painted, then put back out for golfers to use.




Another project we worked on was fixing and making a more user friendly bed on our old golf carts we use to get around the golf course, mainly for small jobs and transportation.

These are some of the projects we have completed.  We are still working on some more and hoping for some warmer weather, as our to do list includes many items out on the course as well.

As the winter continues and we finish up some more of our projects, I will share those too.

Many thanks for reading!

Mel

October Monthly Report

This post I would like to share a monthly report I send to my supervisor who compiles reports for our Park Board's monthly meeting.  While I have been getting positive feedback, I always wonder, could I improve my reports?  Is there something I'm leaving out?  I do find some of the research such as weather, rounds, irrigation use, comes in handy when comparing with previous years, I get a better understanding of how the month went.  Would love to hear some feedback from you my readers.

                                                 Horton Smith Golf Course

Monthly Report

October 2017

Activities:  This October we hosted 2,000 rounds of golf.  We hosted the last of the Jr. PGA League matches, and 2 outings.  Numbers were a little lower than last October, but weather was average this year, where in 2016 temperatures averaged 6-7 degrees above average with only a couple of minor frost delays.  We have already had three 2-hour delays this year, and have had 3 days where the temperature hasn’t got out of the 40’s.        

 

Weather:  This month we saw average temperatures.  Our average highs were 70.7 degrees, which is 1.7 degrees above the average of 69 degrees in October.  Our monthly average lows finished at 48 degrees which is 1 degrees above the normal average low of 47 degrees.  Precipitation was below average for this month, we had a total of 2.59” of rain for the month, 1 inch below average.  Rains were evenly spaced. 

Maintenance Practices: While we did continue to set up the course for daily play, this month we noticed a big decrease in our mowing practices.  Greens still were mowed or rolled daily.  As the month cooled off, we went out to mow less and less, especially the warm season grass.

Cultural, Fertilizer and Pesticide Practices: We did verticut and topdress early in the month, but due to cooling temperatures, we did not topdress later in the month, since topdressing is based on growth of greens.  We did get in two more Primo applications and one fungicide application on greens.  We also put a pre-emergent herbicide application on tees.  We sliced and seeded the upper range tee again along with the approaches on 1, 3, 7, and 9.  We seeded collars with bentgrass. 

Equipment:  Equipment has been running well, but we still need work on our large area rough mower.  Luckily this month, this rough mower became a back-up as we received our new large area rough mower, a Jacobsen HR600.  After having it out for a couple of weeks, we felt we could lower the height of cut from 3” it was set to, down to 2.5”, with still good results.  We have also noticed that the new mower is burning ½ gallon less fuel per hour.  The mower averages about 700 hours per season, so we will save 350 gallons of fuel per season, and it also has an extended service interval compared to the old mower.  The new mower allows for a longer service interval, we will service the new mower every 200 hours compared to 100 hours on the old mower. 

        

   
          

G6-008 as it arrived at our shop.          G6-008 out mowing.

Irrigation:  We did use 1,146,645 gallons of water this month.  This was almost identical to what we used in 2016, (1,464,746 gallons).  We ran 7 different green cycles, 3 tee cycles, and 3 fairway cycles.  We had to replace one coil on a head.  We had to replace one case that the head was weeping. We had to repair a plug in a controller.  And the main project was to replace the old electro-mechanical clock in # 10 green control box with an updated retro kit.  The new kit will allow us to water multiple areas which we couldn’t do before.  We can run a couple of # 10 green heads, while also running some heads on # 11 tee.  The old electro-mechanical SBM clocks are not that reliable, although they will usually work off the computer ok.  But if we lose that connection, the timers don’t always work, the station timers could be off up to maybe 5 minutes or more per station, the hour clocks might not work and start irrigation cycles on time, or the day dials might not switch over to the next day.  We have about half of the old electro-mechanical clocks that cannot run by themselves if we were to lose communications with the computer.  Even when those run ok, we run into issues with the bottom station control panel with loose plugs.  (the clock we did replace is working well and will become a back-up to other old clocks until we get them all replaced with the newer Par+ clocks).    

                 

The picture on the left shows the old wire set up.  The picture on the right is the clock.  It can only turn on one station at a time.  The newer clocks can run multiple stations and the newer electronics are more reliable.

                            
                                    

     

Other Projects:

We did the following projects:   

·         Removed a landscape bed on 12/13 and planted grass seed.  Many balls from 12 tee would find their way into this bed.

·         Installed a new bench on # 18/4 tee.

·         Repaired the wood on other benches.

·         Fixed 8 cart path where roots from a pine tree had heaved the asphalt.

·         Fixed the equipment wash rack drain, and cleaned up the area around the wash rack.

·         Mowed down the natural areas.

·         Winterized the irrigation pump house.

·         Winterized some of the ball washers, brought the rest inside.

·         Wrapped the pipes on the outdoor restrooms to help protect them from the cold temperature, without having to close them down too early in the season.

·         Install new lids for irrigation heads with yardage engraved on them.  The heads needed lids anyway, and these were cheaper then OEM heads.   

           

            

 

The Path on # 8 where the pine tree roots had damaged the path.  We removed the roots and asphalt, and backfilled with dirty base rock.  We will let cart and equipment traffic pack it solid over the winter and will then come back in and put a layer of concrete over the patch. 

Wash rack improvements.  It will allow wash water to drain away, yet we can lift the grates up and scoop up excess grass clippings. 

       

Well that was our October report.  Some of the projects mentioned I want to expand more on in future posts.

Hope I can get some tips to make it better.

Thanks for reading.

Mel

    

    

Leveling Tees

Every season we make plans to level and install new sod on 3 tees.  One forward tee, one middle tee, and one championship tee.  We choose 3 different tees so we make improvements for all of our clientele.  It also fits into our operational budget better, since the middle tees tend to be larger, renovating 2 or more, would be stretching our budget for these projects, and lastly, we don't disrupt more than one tee station per golfing group.  While most courses would consider projects like these capital projects, since ours is such a small scale, we just have the funds in our regular operating budget.  

This year we renovated our # 14 middle tee, that was only useable for half the teeing surface, the back sloped away to severe for a proper level stance.

  On the left is the before picture.  Where the white markers are is about the back of the useable space on this tee.
On the right is the tee with the sod removed, which we did save as much as possible for a nursery area. The guys were moving some dirt around to level it.

The picture on the left shows how resourceful the crew were, using a level and long 2x4 to level off the tee top.  Courses and/or contractors that do this work a lot will use laser levels hooked up to their equipment to level out the top.

The picture on the right shows the tee is awaiting sod.

This picture shows the tee with the new sod installed.

The boys were proud of their work.  Typically most courses might do these type of projects during their slow seasons.  We tend to do these projects during the summer months because that is when we have the most staff present.












We also enlarged our forward tee on # 16.  The turf on it was thin, as the teeing space wasn't big enough to handle the extra play when we had added senior tees to this tee.

 


















On the left is the before picture, the left side of the tee is not raised much, due to the terrain.

On the right side, we are spreading out the dirt that was added to widen this tee.  It will give more teeing area and aligns the tee closer to the middle of the fairway.

The picture on the left is the tee waiting for sod.

The picture on the right is with the new sod installed.












We also installed new sod on our # 1 championship tee, which does suffer from excessive winter shade.  We are investigating the possible interseeding of low mow Kentucky Blue grass, a practice that is being used on sports fields in our area, to help extend a good playing surface into the fall, when most warm season grasses, whose growth has really slowed due to the fall temperatures, struggle to handle the traffic.

The picture here on the right shows our # 1 championship tee awaiting sod.  The two tall pines behind the tee block the winter sun, making the tee weak.

Mowing with a triplex where the mower doing a tight turn on the back of the tee also caused wear issues.

I can't believe I do not have an after or before picture.  I guess that happens when we have a few projects going on, along with continued course maintenance work, pesticide applications, and irrigation work.





This year we also made an extra tee installation for our Junior PGA League players on our one par 3 where there was no fairway and a long carry for the younger kids across a drainage ditch.  This tee made the hole a little easier on them, and more fun.

The picture on the left shows where we removed our fescue sod that is in our roughs, and on the right is the tee with the new sod installed.  We thought it added an extra touch for the team, plus it was easier on our mower when we were mowing Bermuda and not fescue.

The golfers seemed pleased with the improvements we made, and the crew seems to enjoy the challenge and the satisfaction of a project well done.  It really seems to break up the monotony of the daily grind that goes into preparing the course for play everyday.

As always,

Thanks for reading!

Mel