Sorta like bangin' your head against a wall....

March 20

 Another day and another 4 inches.  The naivety of my earlier comments regarding exposed turf back at the beginning of March are glaring obvious now.  I like snow so it really isn't too disappointing but my hamstrings are still aching from hitting the slopes and chewin' some pow last week so I was looking forward to the change of pace that work can bring.  Snow pack is back up over 18" as of yesterday and after today (Tuesday, March 20th) I'll bet we will be close to 2 feet in the shady spots.

Last week we started clearing off number 7 green which is the only green with an impermeable cover ("ice shield") which is fairly typical for this time of year.  I try to get the impermeable tarps off first since they can create problems if they are left on too long. 

Pushing Ice off 7 Green

We were a little over half done when it snowed overnight and that made it awkward to use the Bobcat so we switched gears and went to 15 green thinking the snow on 7 would melt within a day or two.  There is a lot of ice on 15 so I want to get it off.  Ten days ago water was puddling on 15 so bad we had to cut a trench to direct the water off.  Most of the free water that did not run off formed ice so we needed to use the old aerator and chip away at it.  It was slow and by the end of day 2 we were just over half way and then it snowed, again.

Tools of the Ice Removal Trade

 Now what?  More blowin' and chipin', I guess.  Really, a normal year would just have us starting to remove snow from the tarped greens this week.  We usually wait until mid-March mostly because March snow storms aren't exactly unheard of and, also, I am usually not as uptight as I am this year because of the ice on certain greens.  I think I am cautiously optimistic but until all greens are clear and dry I will find it hard to comment on course conditions without a ton of disclaimers.

AGM. What I was trying to really say

Obviously crowds aren't my cup of tea.  For those who were there and for those who weren't here is what I was trying to say at the AGM.


2011 was a pretty bland year of mostly routine maintenance that involved few problems.  We continued with small projects such as enhancing the ambiance around the clubhouse with more flowers and cleaning up the ball wash areas on 4, 6, and 10 tees by removing the gravel shale and placing paving stones.  Major equipment purchases where limited to a used utility vehicle.

The largest maintenance event of 2011 was a direct result of the creation of the Strategic Planning Committee and grew out of regular committee meetings held throughout last year.   Numerous suggestions were bantered about on what could be done to enhance and compliment existing facilities at KGC.  The driving range fit the bill.  It was substandard and, as a result, was underutilized.  Closing the range would have no impact on regular play and closing it near the tail end of the season would have limited impact on range revenue.  Some of its short comings included a lack of discernible targets, a small and constantly beat up tee deck, and the inability to see balls land once they where hit out past 150 yards.  The whole process described in these posts.  By the end of the year we able to rough out the range as well as install the irrigation and complete the initial “shaping” of the features.  The tee deck was sodded and has functioning irrigation. 

2011 will be more of the same: routine maintenance and more small “beautification” projects and, to start with, finishing up the range.

Depending on the weather the timeline we will follow for completion of the range will be:

1. Trenching control wires from the DRT to the satellite on 10 fairway.
2.  Repair damaged netting along the sides and haul some extra material to better tie in the edges of the landing zones.
3. Clean up any washouts from melting snow and complete the final “shaping”.
4. Check the operation of the entire driving range irrigation.
5.  Seed 

Once the sod on the tee decks is rooted and the seed catches the range could open.  In a perfect world it is operational before or near the May long weekend.  You can pick balls in the mud but it is not very nice.

We will still need to look at routing and parking of golf carts to lessen the congestion around the 10^th tee, snack shack, and range tee.  This can done after the range is operational and the course is up and running.

I would like to preface the 2012 golf season with a somewhat cautionary note when it comes to the maintenance end of things.  To suggest that golf as a whole has been a bit stagnant over the pasts few years shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.  It was obviously necessary to use a very prudent approach when creating this year’s budget.  Players need to know that the 2012 budget process will have an impact on how the course is maintained.  My mandate this year will be to make good choices that limited that impact.

More choices and incredible deals are making golf highly competitive.  It’s a seemingly overwhelming task just to address the increasing operational costs (fertilizer, chemical, and fuel) and high capital equipment costs in my department alone.  A quick example with respect to equipment cost is our small rough mower.  It is at the end of its operational life and replacement cost is $42 000.

And finally, with respect to any situation pertaining to the course conditions now and throughout the season I again direct you to the blog (or my online journal, if you like) that can be accessed by clicking on “Maintenance Blog” link at the bottom of the KGC home page.  If you can’t find what you looking for there feel free to approach me whenever you see me.

Snow melting experiment, Part II

As stated on the last post, we finished off this week by taking advantage of the sunny days and tried to melt off some of the snow and ice from certain greens by spreading black sand.  You've probably remember me harping on the importance of a quick melt when it comes to exposing greens in the spring.  That is a fairly generalized statement that has a few caveats, none of which will be commented on this time out.  For today I'll post pictures that show the progress of melt on 9 green over the past 30 or so hours.

9 Green, March 8th at 10 a.m.

9 Green, March 8th at 4 p.m.

9 Green, March 9th at 4 p.m.

Temperatures ranged from a high of +12 to a low of -6 overnight.  The nice thing, even though there is still snow and ice, is there also a thin air layer separating the remaining snow and ice from the green surface.  If the temperatures stay above freezing at night such as the forecast predicts, this entire surface will be open by the end of Saturday (March 10th).

I can feel the heat...

If you can forget the last couple snow events over the past week you could say things are starting to change a bit. This past weekend we had highs of +10 and lows getting just below zero.  I measured snow pack on Thursday, March 1st and there was close to 20 inches.  Snow pack measurements this Monday were around 13 inches.  I would guess most of that is due to decreasing air space but judging on the amount of free water on some of the greens surface there was definitely melting going on.  We did a quick survey of some of the greens and observed some promising things.  Firstly, the surface ice seems to be somewhat less solid which makes it easier to remove.  Also, the surface on some greens is beginning to thaw since I can now push a ball repair tool into the surface versus before when I had to use a sledge hammer.  The other good news is the plugs I pulled from 12 and 15 greens last Friday have greened up nicely despite the foreboding smell wafting up from the surfaces.  Forecast is for sun so the plan now take advantage of the sun and warm temperatures to knock down and hopefully melt any of the remaining ice and snow on those greens that we blew last week.  Stay tuned.

Blowin' Snow

Over the past week we've begun to remove some of the snow cover from select greens.  This time out we had the ability to leave a 4 to 6 inch snow layer behind.  This layer goes back to the rain we had in December of 2010 that ultimately contributed to the ice build up we have on some greens.  By knocking down the snow pack the hope is for a faster melt.  Why not completely blow it off this time of year?  Same old, same old: I don't want the Poa annua breaking dormancy too early and risk death by low temperature or crown hydration/dehydration (a.k.a. freeze/thaw injury).  When we get closer and the weather has taken a turn we will be able to get those greens we blew earlier on and expose them far quicker than if we still had to blow large amounts of sloppy, slushy snow.

Blowin' 4 Green

One problem we have created is the obvious fact that there is now more snow on the surrounds after blowing snow from the greens.  To make matters worse that snow will be bullet proof and slow to melt.  Sort of a calculated risk since I am more comfortable with what damage may or may not occur on the surrounds with a prolonged melt.  Regardless if we blow snow off the greens now or later the same situation with respect to the surrounds would exist but at least now the greens will be closer to being clear.  A little support for our winter/ice strategy appears in an article posted by the USGA.  Click here to go to a short article that talks directly about ice on greens and what to watch for.

Picking at a scab...

Two weeks ago I went and pulled another plug from 9 green  and was disappointed to be greeted with a smell that goes by many names, none of them good.

 

9G_Feb_17

Although there was green to start with the smell indicated things were far from perfect.

9G_Feb_21

Don't panic yet.  I've been checking all over that green and the problem really seems isolated to back 30%.  Yeah, there is ice over the entire surface but it is not as thick as it was at the back.  Furthermore, the back of that green has a bit of a history of being troublesome.  What I decided to do was experiment and see what happens.  I have mentioned numerous times the risk of exposing Poa in the mid-winter but sometimes situations force you to make a choice.  Any choices I make with respect to managing the ice on 9 will have a limited impact since the damage is done but, even though the area is small, I may be able to glean good "intel" that can be used in the future.

Poa under ice for greater than 45 days will not survive (so says certain research) and bent has over 100 days before it is impacted by ice cover (again, so says certain research).  Research also suggests exposing Poa and even bentgrass too early can have a negative impact on the cold hardiness of both plant species.  More research indicates that the development of low oxygen under ice will also severely impact turf health.  So here's the thing we got ice and (based on smell) anoxic conditions under the ice, we got Poa annua under ice cover for close to 45 days, and we still got winter temperatures.  It's sorta sounds like we are dammed if we do or dammed if we don't or in parlance of Star Trek this is a classic Kobayashi Maru !

I decided that, since the second plug we pulled from 9 green had definitely gone funky, we needed to address the anoxic conditions that existed to limit further damage to any remaining live turf (hoping against all hope that we have a secret stash of Bentgrass hiding within the turf canopy)

Two pieces of equipment you never want to see on a green in the winter

 I used the skid steer to scrape down to the ice and then followed up by using the aerator to chip away at the ice.  It took multiple passes with the aerator in numerous directions before I was able to get near the greens surface.

Initial pass with aerator only left small dimples

It took one guy four hours to get most of the ice off.  After seeing the conditon of the turf once the ice was removed I have a hunch that the most serious anoxia was in small pockets at the back of the green.  Other areas I exposed appeared green and only had a slight sour smell and not the stinky barnyard smell.

Now all we have to do is wait and see what happens.  I did this with a close eye on the forecast.  This time out I wasn't looking to melt the ice only increase air exchange.  I think it is vital that any free moisture been avoided because of the problems associated with repetitive freezing and thawing.  I did this on Thursday afternoon with the hope of limiting the turfs exposure to temperature swings.  Fridays forecast was for seasonal temperatures with snow starting in the afternoon and as I write this I can confirm the weatherman was right on all counts!

Fakin' It......

Besides staring at the final budget numbers and deciding on how to make things fit, I've been occupied the last couple weeks with planning this year's fertility applications throughout the golf course.

The good news/bad news thing about pre-planning all the fertility apps is the club can take advantage of early booking and payment discounts totalling $ 1200; however, the bad news is I have to use my crystal ball to look ahead to make more than a few guesses.  When it comes to macro nutrients it is not a huge deal since it is relatively common knowledge how much to generally apply over a growing season.  But with respect to micros and products called biostimulants it is the condition of the turf that can dictate what to apply.

Once the snow has melted it is turf health that suggests which direction you need to push it.  If everything is "rosy" then products that encourage root development and CHO (carbohydrates, i.e. food) storage are used so the turf can create lots of reserve CHO to cope with stresses later on in the season.  However, if the stand of turf is weak it requires the application of products that promote density.  If the damage is severe and areas need to be overseeded different products geared towards the fertility requirements of seedlings are needed.  Even as the growing season progresses and these damaged areas have begun to recover, their fertility requirements may be different.  Previously stored CHO will be depleted during spring recovery and the turf may not have the necessary reserves to cope with the stresses that summer can bring.  As a result, nutrients need to be applied more frequently or at higher rates to try to keep the turf in good condition until the end of the season.

For some time we have been applying nutrients via a combination of spraying and granular applications and I have a general idea of what seems to work at KGC.  However, in the past I've had the flexibility to adapt to the turfs needs as the season progresses and purchase products suited for developing conditions.  Ordering all fertility products in February to save $$$$ is not a huge gamble but it definitely ties my hands and puts all my eggs in one basket so I guess time will tell (am I mixing metaphors?)