Annual Spring Photo and Projected Opening Date, 2012

If it wasn't for the robins chirping in the morning I might begin to worry that spring was months away.  Although not perfect, I guess the rainy weather is melting the snow so I can't complain too much.  Anyways, go to spring 2010 photo  and spring 2011 photo for background.  This years picture:

March 30

Last year the front was opened on April 24th and the remaining 18 was on the 30th.  If you follow the links at the beginning of this post you'll see that the opening date usually seems to be during or after the second or third week in April.  I would really like people to go to the 2010 link and read that post since the first few paragraphs attempt to explain when and how we decide to open.  The information is relevant for every spring not just that year.  There's more to it than the having the snow melt. 

As you can guess based on the above picture and the weather over the past few weeks work has slowed on the course.  Hopefully, my next post will have news regarding conditions of some of the greens.

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.