One week under our belt and nothing out of the ordinary. We were able to finish aerating and top dressing all greens this week (except 14, still no irrigation) so all I need now is some seasonal warm temperatures. The mornings are mostly frosty and only a very few daily highs have been above +12. Also, we've had no real moisture and as a result some of the greens have gone sort of funky (as I mentioned in my last post) and are slow to green up. Heat, not scorching heat, is the key for us now. Give me some +18 and above 0 for overnight lows and we should see some good growth.
The greens that appear to be in mid-season form were those that were covered with tarps for the winter or were the greens that saw some time under the tarps during the early spring. Not only do tarps act like a "blanket" for the turf and keep any heat from the sun trapped a bit longer they also keep the relatively humidity higher which, in this circumstance, aids in early season green up. You can dry turf out under tarps so you still have to keep a wary eye but in this part of the world early season tarping is almost always a real plus for helping the turf get a "leg up" early in the season. As always, there's a catch. Tarps really aren't overly expensive but they are labour intensive. Moving them around, peeling them off on hot days, putting them back on at night, and battling the wind are guarantees every year. The days of having even a small crew of staff working the weeks before we open are long gone. We are trying to come up with a method to make it a one man process but it's proving harder than we thought. As the saying goes, "necessity is mother of invention" so I guess we'll see either how needy or inventive we can be.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Getting "Schooled", Again!...Follow KGCtweets
Holy, I am still learning about Twitter. You may be sick of how daft I am when it comes to this topic but this should be the last change. A third party pointed out something with respect to Twitter and audiences. I dare say none of you care about the minutia of growing grass and some other grass geeks most likely aren't interested in frost delays, aerating and top dressing days, or whatever I post as it relates to KGC. Using the hashtag #KGC to identify posts particular to the golf course works but the tweets seems out of place when I post using my original username so I made a new one: KGCtweets. Again, if you use Twitter you know what to do. If you text all you need to do is send a text to 21212 and type Follow KGCtweets in the message body of your text to receive real time updates about the golf course.
Now, what's happening out on the course? There are18 holes opening on Good Friday. As usual, we won't be ready but any play in April is all about working out the kinks and renewing friendships. All greens wintered well with no real problems and all will be in play. The past couple years we've attempted a pre-opening aeration and top dressing and 2014 will be no different. The biggest hurdle is completing the task while trying to clean up from winter. Truthfully, we won't be done and you'll have to deal with the process until we are done. Sorry. As predicted, start up of the irrigation is a struggle. We only just started the back on Tuesday this week and still the hydraulic lines on the driving range, hole 17, hole 15, hole 13, and hole 14 are frozen. Without the control from the hydraulic lines to keep the sprinklers down we cannot pressure the pipes on these holes so, obviously, we are unable to water. It may seem early, but with no real moisture this spring the greens have dried out and appear stressed. It should be easy to get them back but we are at the mercy of our irrigation system. Tank watering could be an option but without available equipment or staff it won't be happening this year.
This past Monday had the Annual Work Bee and as usual people really chipped in. I would guess because of the day we picked, numbers were down a bit but those who showed up definitely did their part and I am grateful. Pictures will be posted on the KGC website under the "Photo Gallery" tab so go check it out.
The only picture I want to show is this one:
For some strange reason the elk are still around. They are a problem in the fall and are usually long gone by now but #2 took a shellacking the other day. The real interesting part is how the damage to the surface was the worst at the back left of the green and far less severe on the front right of the green. Why? Better root mass at the front is my theory. That green doesn't have great roots to begin with but the front right of the green sees more sun and has somewhat more substance versus the left side which is weak looking and always shows disease stress first. That big fir and ponderosa are going, it just a case of when.
Now, what's happening out on the course? There are18 holes opening on Good Friday. As usual, we won't be ready but any play in April is all about working out the kinks and renewing friendships. All greens wintered well with no real problems and all will be in play. The past couple years we've attempted a pre-opening aeration and top dressing and 2014 will be no different. The biggest hurdle is completing the task while trying to clean up from winter. Truthfully, we won't be done and you'll have to deal with the process until we are done. Sorry. As predicted, start up of the irrigation is a struggle. We only just started the back on Tuesday this week and still the hydraulic lines on the driving range, hole 17, hole 15, hole 13, and hole 14 are frozen. Without the control from the hydraulic lines to keep the sprinklers down we cannot pressure the pipes on these holes so, obviously, we are unable to water. It may seem early, but with no real moisture this spring the greens have dried out and appear stressed. It should be easy to get them back but we are at the mercy of our irrigation system. Tank watering could be an option but without available equipment or staff it won't be happening this year.
This past Monday had the Annual Work Bee and as usual people really chipped in. I would guess because of the day we picked, numbers were down a bit but those who showed up definitely did their part and I am grateful. Pictures will be posted on the KGC website under the "Photo Gallery" tab so go check it out.
The only picture I want to show is this one:
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| Elk Tracks |
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Annual Spring Photo and Twitter Re-visited (Revised)
(I used the wrong syntax for the directions describing how to use text messaging to access Twitter in the original post. I've updated it now.)
One of my traditions is posting how things appear around April 1st so people can see how much snow is remaining (Go HERE for last years photo). It's been a somewhat slow melt and as a result we are a bit behind last year. Opening is still tentatively planned for April 18th and that may be possible but don't be surprised if winter pays us one more visit.
As usual, I suspect we will start with some version of a "9 hole" layout and open other holes as they are ready. Right now the good news is we have very limited damage and all but one green (#14) are completely free of snow and some are even greening up.
Truthfully, number 2 green is a bit funky and my initial guess is its health relates more to how it entered the winter. I became concerned last year with the unusual amount of growth (as measured by collecting clippings) experienced on all the greens last season. My fear was the energy being directed to all the vertical growth (especially in the fall) was been fueled at the expense of CHO storage. Compounded by the fact that #2 green (in the fall) becomes mostly shaded starting at noon I was concerned about the development of winter hardiness for this green. I have it tarped and did some tree pruning (more will occur later in the season, I promise) to give it a bit of help. As it stands now, if the green doesn't improve it will be a temporary until soil temperatures are adequate and we see some good growth. It's not real bad but it's got a long season ahead of it so I may baby it for April.
Another developing tradition is the Member Spring Clean. An e-mail will be sent out letting everyone know when to come and volunteer. It really does help with preparing the course for opening and limiting early season expenses. This year there is a few extra branches down due to all the snow so I am hopeful for a big turn out.
Back in December last year (go HERE) I decided to try and see how Twitter could work for me, you, and KGC. What did I discover? If you're not disciplined, it is a huge time waster! However, I have found it useful in certain aspects so I've decided to try and emulate what other golf course geeks are doing. The hardest thing is wading through all the posts. Truthfully, that's only a problem if you decide to create or already have a Twitter account. If you choose to just follow my feed with your cell phone via text message you will only receive "tweets" from me and no other persons feed. How do you use your cell phone to follow my feed? Assuming you text, all you need to do is type the number 21212 in the "To:" window and type "follow KGCtweets" in the message body of the text and then press "Send" and you're good. When I send a tweet that relates to the club I will preface any message with #KGC. Any time you receive a tweet from me that doesn't start with #KGC you can pretty much ignore it since the lack of the hash tag and the KGC mean I am posting on matters that don't specifically relate to the course. Like I said before, I plan to use Twitter to inform in "real-time" the happenings at KGC such as when we will definitely open, frost delays, or days when we aren't allowing carts, or stuff like that.....I think. I promise not post my opinion on topics outside of KGC, no pictures of empty beer bottles, and no photos of other local superintendents in compromising positions.....well I am not so sure about that last one, some of those guys need to be knock of their perch! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
 |
| 1 Tee, April 2nd |
As usual, I suspect we will start with some version of a "9 hole" layout and open other holes as they are ready. Right now the good news is we have very limited damage and all but one green (#14) are completely free of snow and some are even greening up.
Truthfully, number 2 green is a bit funky and my initial guess is its health relates more to how it entered the winter. I became concerned last year with the unusual amount of growth (as measured by collecting clippings) experienced on all the greens last season. My fear was the energy being directed to all the vertical growth (especially in the fall) was been fueled at the expense of CHO storage. Compounded by the fact that #2 green (in the fall) becomes mostly shaded starting at noon I was concerned about the development of winter hardiness for this green. I have it tarped and did some tree pruning (more will occur later in the season, I promise) to give it a bit of help. As it stands now, if the green doesn't improve it will be a temporary until soil temperatures are adequate and we see some good growth. It's not real bad but it's got a long season ahead of it so I may baby it for April.
Another developing tradition is the Member Spring Clean. An e-mail will be sent out letting everyone know when to come and volunteer. It really does help with preparing the course for opening and limiting early season expenses. This year there is a few extra branches down due to all the snow so I am hopeful for a big turn out.
Back in December last year (go HERE) I decided to try and see how Twitter could work for me, you, and KGC. What did I discover? If you're not disciplined, it is a huge time waster! However, I have found it useful in certain aspects so I've decided to try and emulate what other golf course geeks are doing. The hardest thing is wading through all the posts. Truthfully, that's only a problem if you decide to create or already have a Twitter account. If you choose to just follow my feed with your cell phone via text message you will only receive "tweets" from me and no other persons feed. How do you use your cell phone to follow my feed? Assuming you text, all you need to do is type the number 21212 in the "To:" window and type "follow KGCtweets" in the message body of the text and then press "Send" and you're good. When I send a tweet that relates to the club I will preface any message with #KGC. Any time you receive a tweet from me that doesn't start with #KGC you can pretty much ignore it since the lack of the hash tag and the KGC mean I am posting on matters that don't specifically relate to the course. Like I said before, I plan to use Twitter to inform in "real-time" the happenings at KGC such as when we will definitely open, frost delays, or days when we aren't allowing carts, or stuff like that.....I think. I promise not post my opinion on topics outside of KGC, no pictures of empty beer bottles, and no photos of other local superintendents in compromising positions.....well I am not so sure about that last one, some of those guys need to be knock of their perch! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
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