Summary of Stuff....

Quick follow up for those of you wondering what going on.  First, after 4 somewhat nerve wracking days with no water the power issue was resolved.  The power company came and opened up the transformer and discovered that the problem was either within the transformer of somewhere along the length of one of the power cables 

The Guts of a Transformer

It turns out one of the cut outs on the last power pole before the line goes underground was only partially disengaged which is why we had funky readings on the power line.  When they replaced the fuse and re-connected there was a little explosion on that line they had just repaired.  More investigating and they discovered that the termination point on that particular line was faulty.  Once that was repaired we had power, thankfully.

The Power Pole Causing the Problem

While all the problems with the power was going on the city began installing our back-up/emergency connection to the Matthew Creek line.  Luckily, they are completely in charge of this stage and we are just watching

Exposing the Pipe

Ready for "Hot Tap" of 4 inch Connection

 Lastly, we are removing the berm installed a few years back to prevent people from parking on the side of the driveway.  It's already a narrow road and when people would park on the side the roadway was made so narrow vehicles coming down would have to cross over onto the other side of the road.  We had signs but cars would still park there so we built the berm to remove that option.  It worked but it was also "uglyish".  My hope is the habit of parking there has been broken and I can seed the area and make a nice boulevard for guests to admire as they drive up.  The front entrance is somewhat trashy, IMO, and needs a little smartening up but with cash being tight and so much needing to be done elsewhere it doesn't make much sense to spend money on such an area.

Removing the "Neevey Berm"

There you have it.  Lots going on and mostly all good.  FYI,  #7 probably back in play this Saturday not because it's better but because its time.  Hopefully, the extra TLC over the past couple week will translate into a quicker rebound.

The Little Dutch Boy.....

I am running out of fingers to plug the all the holes that seem to be popping up all over the place!   There's been lots of good things (weather, successful volunteer work bee, staffing) I could comment on but its the problems that are keeping me busy and distracted.  Here's a brief summary of the what is happening out on the course:

• Winter Clean-up:  We are slowly getting all the tree litter cleaned and with the help from volunteers last Tuesday a majority of the front nine holes were raked.  The biggest problem for completing the clean-up has been breakdowns.  Aside from the tractors front wheel falling off (bearings and planetary gear issues and now, as of Friday, a starter problem) both of our large capacity sweepers have been experiencing issues (broken sweeper shaft on the old Jac and list of costly engine problems on the vacuum sweeper) and both have spent most of the time sitting waiting to be repaired or being repaired.  The nice weather has the rough growing and needing to be mowed but with all the debris still to be swept up we're only able to mow those areas with the least amount of tree litter scattered on the ground.
• Winter Damage and Temporary Greens:  We've had no time to address the winter damage on any of the greens.  Some only require a few hours of plugging to be 100% but others require substantially more work.  Plugging is time consuming and my staff has been spread thin attempting to keep up with the maintenance and routine preparation required once the course opened for play.  As a general rule, players have been very understanding but I still need people to be patient regarding #7 green.  This green is a temp not because I'm worried about how it putts but because I'm worried about how play will affect its recovery.  I've heard the comment "Oh 7 looks fine.  We've played on way worse!" but again its the growth not the play that's my concern (at least at this point in time).
• Staffing:  The early opening has forced my hand and I've had to start some staff sooner than normal but I am also attempting to stick as close as possible to the budget and have adjusted the level of maintenance down to match the staffing numbers.  I am regretting that choice already but we are having to spend more money on equipment repairs early this year and I attempting to be prudent in other expense areas where I feel I have some control.
• Out of Left Field Stuff:  Up until this week most of the surprises have been equipment related but if you've been following the saga at KGC breakdowns have been a typical occurrence over the last couple years.  The seriously major issue that is now on our plate happen just yesterday (Why does sh*t always seem to hit the fan on Friday?).  At one point Friday morning something occurred which tripped a fuse on our 3 phase power line that feeds the river pump house as well as the irrigation pump house at the pond on 16 tee.  Usually, its just a twig that has landed on the power line and crossed phases but this time after the overhead power company repaired the fuse we only had power restored to the river pump house and partial power to the irrigation pump house (FYI, KGC owns the above ground power lines that feed the irrigation system and when we have a problem BC Hydro will not fix it.  We have to call a private company to repair it and we pay through the nose!)  Initially, I thought the problem was a 3 phase monitor inside the irrigation pump house but an electrician was unable to pin point the problem and suspects there may be a transformer issue.  That's a $15 000  to $20 000 replacement, I think.  So again we needed to call the private power company but by this time it was Friday afternoon and no one was answering their phone.  We'll have to wait until Monday.  Until then we have no irrigation but luckily it is only April and a few days without water is feasible but if problem isn't easily solved we may be "in dutch" (full circle, I love doing that!)

One for the Record Books

A rambling justification (?) for conditions this spring.  You'll need oodles of time to read all of this one.  Skip to the last paragraph for the "Coles Notes" version if you're pressed for time.

April 4th is one of the earliest opening we've had in a while.  Believe it or not but one of my many fantasies is to have the golf course and ski hill open at the same time: golf in the a.m. ski slush in the p.m.  I secretly strive towards this every year but seldom does it work (I make it work by hiking the hill but riding the chair is always a better option!).  Despite the fact that all irrigation is working, there's no snow, and its mostly dry out there we've only been able to get 10 holes ready for play.  Without more staff and time there was no way I was going to get more holes ready for play.

Working out on the course by myself last week gave me lots of opportunity to think.  I've been attempting to diagnose the damage on the greens and have come up with a number of reasons why, I feel, the disease was so extensive this year:

1. The day I sprayed I choose not to bring in any staff to help out.  That day I had to remove all the tarps (only 6 tarps), take down the fences to give me access (only 7 fences), blow all the debris (leaves, needles, poop) off the green surfaces, spray all 20 greens, and clean up and put it all away.  At that time of year there is 9.5 hours of daylight.  The low was -4 and there was frost so I had to wait to get going but the point is there wasn't much time to do it all.  Furthermore, the later in the day the spray was applied the longer it took to dry, especially that time of year.  The following day, November 6th, I recorded showers throughout the day. 
2. I've always called that November spray my "panic spray" since I always felt that I had enough chemical to carry me through the winter and all the last spray did was make me feel less panicky.  I've always left areas on certain greens and sometimes entire greens prone to disease as benchmarks to see if I really needed to apply the "panic spray" and it always appeared to be unwarranted since disease was never a problem on those benchmark areas.  That attitude clouded my decision process when it came to choosing what rate (i.e. amount) of chemical to use.
3. Part of applying products with a sprayer involves not only calculating the amount of product required based on the area being sprayed and disease your attempting to control (the rate, again) but it is also necessary to apply the spray using the correct volume of water.  Water volume is dictated by the size of the spray nozzles.  For most fungicides sprayed at KGC the suggested water volume is anywhere from 8 to 40 L per 100 square meter.  With the minimum 8L volume I would need around 825 L to spray all the greens.  The tank on our sprayer is only 660 L so it takes one full tank plus a partial second tank.  As a result of reasons 1 and 2 (too little time, too little appreciation for importance of the "panic spray") I used a nozzle size that would ensure only one spray tank was needed to spray all 20 greens.
4. Poor machine maintenance.  Last year at KGC was a harried year mechanic wise; we went through two.  By the time September rolled around we only had a part time mechanic who was only available to work when he had time after his regular full time day job.  At one point during my last spray (of course) a suction line that had obviously being wearing for awhile developed a small puncture.  A hole in the suction line introduces air into the system and the spray volume is affected.  A low spray volume because of small nozzles was made even less/worse because of the hole.
5. Tarps and Enkamat 

Tying all these point together requires a long winded theory.  I've sprayed greens enough times with my regular nozzles (11003's for fertilizer and 11008's for pesticides) that I know where I should be based on any water volume appearing in the spray tank.  That knowledge makes it easy for me to catch any problems with the output at any point during the spray.  The nozzles I chose to use on my last tank were 11006's (I use these during fungicide applications on fairways).  I filled the tank with the required volume based on the area I was to spray.  I then decided to spray the surface of the greens in a circular fashion versus up and down to limit overlap into the apron and collar and possibly "waste" spray and risk running out before all the greens were treated.   After spraying the greens there was still a volume of solution left in the tank and because I used a different nozzle and sprayed the greens in a different direction I wasn't overly concerned.  I assumed I was able to stretch out the tank like I hoped I would.  After completing the spray I cleaned out the tank and the next day began taking it apart for storage.  Flash forward to last week.  With all the disease popping up I was worried and felt it would be prudent to do a spray in an attempt to lessen the disease impact.  Normally, before each spray I calibrate the sprayer to set the correct pressure (psi) to provide the necessary output but this spring I couldn't get the correct volume no matter what I tried.  Following the basic trouble shooting guidelines I discovered the problem with the suction line.  I confirmed it by borrowing a suction hose from another golf course and was able to achieve correct operating psi.  With regards to my last spray in November, I calibrated the sprayer before adding chemical so I know I didn't have a problem when I set out to spray.  At one point the suction line wore through and impacted the output volume (you'd think it would be obvious to see a hole in the suction line but it is a large rubber, braided line and even after confirming the suction line was the problem I couldn't see a hole.  I assume the hole was somewhere within the section of hose that had wear marks).  It took until the next time I calibrated the spray tank, i.e. this spring, to see the problem.  My record keeping is O.K. but what I didn't do, and I have done it in the past, was write down the order in which I sprayed greens.  During the regular season I spray in numerical order only to stay ahead of play.  That is not the most efficient way spray since more time is spent traveling versus spraying a green when you come to it regardless of the order.  I need bread crumbs to find my way home everyday so there is no way I remember what order I sprayed the greens last November.  I have a hunch though.  Knowing myself I know I would have started on #3, then gone to #1, #2, #4, #5 but after that who knows.  I probably would have gone to the back and try to finish somewhere on the front close to the shop in case I ran out.  I did record the observation that there was active Fusarium on certain greens (particularly 6 and 14) but nothing regarding the order of greens sprayed.  The reason I'm hung up the spray order is the level of disease appearing on those greens that were tarped.  By far those were the worse greens.  More than a few times during the late winter there was free water; not ice, not frost but actual water saturating the surfaces.  In most cases the surfaces thawed just enough to soak the top inch.  Had things not thawed a bit there would have been ice as seen in this picture:

Ice from Water under Tarp on 7G, Back Left Corner

Back to the order.  If the leaky suction line dramatically affected the sprayer output there should be an obvious point at which the output was reduce there by impacting the spray.  Had I recorded the spray order it would have helped.  The problem is the tarped greens really mess things up.  Greens that I know were sprayed early (such as #1 Green) had far more disease than is normally the case after a typical winter.  Obviously, this year the tarps created an environment that was conducive for disease development.  Truthfully, I've always been concerned of such an eventuality but in the past the sprays helped the situation.

Basically, you can sum up our problems by suggesting that limited staffing, lack of appreciation for the importance of the "panic" spray, poor equipment maintenance, and creating conditions that encourage the occurrence of disease all played a part in this springs conditions.  Like I said in the last post, there won't be a single cause explaining the problems this winter but more likely a combination.  I haven't even touched on a couple other thoughts banging around inside my head that relate to plant nutrition (I used 4.4 Kg/100 sqm less potassium in 2014 versus other years) as well as certain cultural practices (we've completely fell off the verti-cut routine plus we are using smaller tines during aeration and aerating less; both of those practices remove thatch which is were snow mould spores hide until conditions are right for germination).  The one common factor regarding the level of damage from disease is all the greens showing winter disease damage are the ones most prone to severe Fusarium during the spring and fall.  Greens such as 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, and 15 typically show more disease activity sooner than the other greens.  Again, this is probably the result of an interaction of number of circumstances and bit by bit I may figure it out but until that time the greens that were hit hard with disease this past winter will need lots of TLC.

.....Out Like a "?" and a Crisis of Faith

Just days away until March is finished and up until today the weather has been very nice but the long range forecast is looking like the weather will be closer to "normal" for this area.  On the course, all the snow has melted with most disappearing at the beginning of last week. With the snow gone the soil started to warm and turf began to green up last Sunday.  It looks like I will have to bring staff in early since everything is starting to need attention and one guy cannot do it all.   It's March and already my wage budget is on very shaky ground.

Based on the religious undertones of the title of this post you'd think I was a church going guy but really its more a reflection of the struggle I've been having on the course this spring.  As I suggested in early posts, ice was not issue anywhere on the course.  Ice is that dark nemesis that is overwhelming and hard to control especially when there is unseasonably warm temperatures or rain in the middle of winter.  Too many times I've attempted to "manage" ice by physically removing it as it appears during the winter (Go HERE) or manipulating conditions to limit its formation:

Left Side was Tarped, Right Side was not.

but in the past the only real success I've had is waiting until the sun is high enough and days are long enough to get a strong melt.  This year disease was a problem; particularly pink snow mould:

#7 Green

This is our #1 disease and is a problem pretty much all year long but during the golf season I refer to it as Fusarium (the different names came about because of how and when the disease appears on the turf  but a taxonomic trait that relates to the types of spores the fungus forms and how they grow means, despite the different appearance, the disease is caused by the same fungus.  Sometimes in an effort to lessen the confusion in areas of the world that don't get snow the disease can be called Microdochium patch).  I know you've all seen it and may not have know what is was.  Generally, all  cool season turf is susceptible to this disease but bentgrass has levels of resistance bred into it, especially the newer varieties made popular over the past decade or so.  By now you know, because of our age, the predominant species of turf at KGC is poa which, again for those with a short memory, is an opportunistic weed and has no resistance to any disease bred into it.  In areas where I didn't apply a plant protectant (i.e. a fungicide which, BTW, is a pesticide) you get this:

#2 Fwy, Double Whammy Shade and No Spray

#12 Fwy at 200 yards

#14 Fwy @ 300 yards

Unlike the damage caused by ice, the only good thing about most diseases is I can manage them by implementing certain cultural methods (increasing the HOC, limiting irrigation, increasing sun exposure, increasing air movement, applying certain fertilizers, etc., etc.)  to lessen the severity.  Also, I can spray preventative and, sometimes, curative plant protectants (fungicides/pesticides) that are very effective at controlling the diseases they are labeled for.  If you look back at the previous pictures you'll notice the green, healthy looking turf.  Those are areas I sprayed to prevent damage from snow mould.  I can say that the level of control demonstrated on fairway and tees as a result of last falls snow mould treatments are equal to other years which means those areas are looking pretty good.  However, the level of control on the greens was the worst I seen in years and I'm having a real struggle coming up with a reason why.  I can also say with some degree of confidence that it is not due to one thing.  That would be an over simplification of a complex interaction of numerous variables that all impact the health of turf on any one of the greens at KGC.

That's enough for now.  I am looking at the possible reasons for the problems experienced so far this spring but I won't have a single, definitive cause; it doesn't work that way.

In Like a Lion.....

You know the old saying.  I guess we just have to wait until the end of the month to see if it's true.  The impact of this type of snow and cold over last couple weeks on the course should be negligible.  It's put a bit of brake on attempting to do any work on the course but the good news about March snow is it seems to melt faster with the longer and warmer (?) days.  Things are still frozen and since we've been cold there hasn't really been any more ice develop.  Possibly this snow may provide some insulation so any heat coming from the ground might warm the surfaces under the snow and help melt any ice that has already formed....probably just wishful thinking.

As we get closer to opening some of the planned projects are coming on line.  The clubhouse will receive a thorough cleaning and painting throughout the upstairs dining room, washroom, and kitchen areas.  Also, the wheels have started to turn on the golf clubs water connection to the Mathew Creek water line.  I referenced connecting to Mathew Creek in the past (go HERE) and with money from the sale of assets last fall it was decided that now would be the time to establish an emergency/back up water source.  It's not perfect but for our cash situation it's a reasonable alternative.  It might be extremely fortuitous that we choose this year to finally address an alternative water source since the River Forecast Center shows the East Kootenay at 80% of normal snow amounts.  If we continue to see dry and above normal temperatures for the summer our source at the river might dry up sooner than normal.

We've actually been busy at the shop for a February since the new mechanic we hired started earlier than usual.  Unlike last year when the dude I hired in June sort of got baptized by fire, I wanted the new hire this time out to have the option to get familiar with the equipment and type of maintenance required before staff comes back and things start falling apart.  He's been at it for a month and has cleaned up a lot of  loose ends left dangling from last year and is making very short order of the repair list I created at the beginning of February.

We will start to move out onto the course this month and most likely we'll begin removing snow from the tarped greens (starting on #15) before or near the middle of the month, weather depended.  We also plan on removing some trees (a couple missed green attack Ponderosa pine) on the left of 2 green and some on the left of 12 green and possibly the back of 15 green .  Next time out I'll give some detail and pictures highlighting those events.

This can't be for real.....

Second week in February and we have a snow pack from 0 to maybe 9" in the real shady spots.  Those numbers are more like late March!  Like I said in the last post we didn't want rain and above normal temperatures.  If you've been in Kimberley for the last three weeks you'll know that's exactly what we got. As it stands now we have a mixture of thawed greens with no ice, some greens with thin ice over a mostly thawed surface, the odd one with ice/slush, and still some with frozen surfaces.  All things considered I'm still optimistic since I know when, where and what greens started to get ice and in all cases the ice is very thin and every green has that nice "green" smell.  The following pictures are from Friday, Feb. 13.

9 Green

18 Green

16 Green

When I had another look around on Sunday, Feb. 15 I saw less water/slush and more thawed surfaces.  Although it is somewhat true for most years, this year is turning into one of those years where the spring temperatures and the melting conditions will dictate the condition of the greens at the start of our year.  With the melt being so early and there still being lots of potential for cold temperatures the chances for damage from crown dehydration (freeze/thaw damage) and/or direct low temperature kill (for the poa only) are of far greater concern this year than in those years when the melt and turf exposure has occurred at a more traditional time.  Right now the strategy is to track the ice formation and keep an eye conditions under the ice and, I believe, delay exposing anything deliberately until we get closer to the middle of March.

Oops, forgot to add this little reading for you.  I sometimes have trouble digesting the gimmicky trends floating around golf to increase play.  The following article (GO HERE) touches on those trends and I find myself sympathizing with the authors views.  Take a look and see what you think.

Year in Review.....Number Wise, Part III

January 22.  Firstly, a brief comment about the course.  Nothing has changed and after a cursory look I think we are O.K.  My observations noted in the Dec. 18 post are still holding true with no bad ice.  I may hate myself for writing this, but I even think the ice on the new putting greens may be a non-event.  The only bad thing would be above normal temperatures and above 0 overnight lows for a few days combined with rain.  We don't have the snow to ride out one of those.  

..... continued from December 10th......

As well as fairways, mowing the rough is one of the most costly jobs we perform.  In the past, especially last year, we ran both rough units without to much concern for cost.  The bigger unit can mow plenty of rough but it is a hog when it comes to fuel.  Same as we did with the fairways, we made a concerted effort to limit when and how long each unit was operating.  Anytime we can mow without play the better production is.  A few years ago we broke the rough areas down into precise zones and then mapped these zones.  The areas we choose to mow each day are optimized with the hope of avoiding golfers.  On our lunchroom wall we have aerial photographs of the golf course highlighting these zones and operators keep track of where they had been by labeling a zone with a date of when it was last mowed.  You would think it would be easy to decide if an area needed to be mowed or not but there was more than a few times in the past where I would see different operators mowing the same spot a day apart.  All this effort and planning did pay off:

Hours Spent Mowing Rough

Although the decreasing hours trend is obvious, what you don't see is the fact that by operating fewer machines my total staffing requirements also dropped (and this is despite the fact that we added an extra cut around the greens this year.....oops, another caveat: that extra cut was absorbed mostly by me and my hours aren't included in these graphs.   The more I think about that the more I realize that it is wrong and maybe I should start to add my hours spent on equipment to these numbers.  Hmmmm).  In fact, for 2014 from May 1 to Oct.12, the total staffing hours put into maintaining the golf course was 1200 fewer than in 2013 during the same time period.

I already mentioned what a funky year 2014 was with respect to staffing but basically the drop in total hours can be attributed to operating with one less season full time staff member (which actually was part of the plan for 2014).  For 2015 I already know I will be losing another season full time staff member and I plan to replace that person with a part time but I have to believe we are at or slightly below the optimum staff number for my department so I'm not sure how feasible that plan really is.

It's getting repetitive and boring but here is one more graph:

This graph highlights the yearly cost of mowing (labour added to operating costs) for fairways, roughs, and tees and collars.  I don't include the cost of maintaining our equipment in any calculation mostly because there is a fair amount of variability which could slightly skew a comparisons (for example in 2013 we spent just over $500 on repair and maintenance for both fairway units; this year it was only $126.  Same machines and a year older; should be more, you'd think).  I believe I have far less control over the repair costs associated with equipment maintenance.  If I could predict when or how something was going to breakdown I would stop it from happening.  So, I guess, the point being that as inconvenient as it is dealing with old stuff when it comes to mowing the biggest cost is the labour associated with process itself....usually (so much for getting any new stuff?).