Getting my Ducks in a Row

Fall is always has an aura of panic associated with it for me.  We really are fighting the calendar and losing one or two days to breakdowns, bad weather, or even late season play could have repercussions the following spring.  This year the course closed Thanksgiving weekend (Oct.14); last year we closed a week after Thanksgiving weekend (Oct.14, strangely enough).  Last year staff was laid off early and the fall work was completed by myself and the mechanic.  Looking back I can't believe how lucky we were.  This year I budgeted to keep some staff on week past closing and combined with the good weather we are ahead of normal...a good place to be.

All the greens were aerated with the deep tine aerator ( go here for past information) as usual but this time wasn't as nice as past times since most of the greens have at least 50% less root mass compared to other years so the turf was pulled up more than usual.  I sort have a theory on why there is less root mass and I'll cover that later.

With the exception of #6 fairway, all the fairways were sprayed this week.  Frosty morning meant I couldn't start spraying until noon but having staff to clean leaves and needles ahead of sprayer meant I could easily put down two tanks a day.  That may not seem like much but you have to calculate mixing, applying, travel time, and clean up as part of those days so it can take up to 1.5 hours/tank depending mostly on travel time.  The greens need one more and may get another treatment depending on weather and then they will have their sprays.

All that is left is putting out the tarps and getting up the elk "fences".  Actually I am too late with respect to the elk......

Elk Tracks on #4 Green

Apologies and Brief Review

Obviously there has been no posts for months.  Other aspects have cut into the commitment it takes to update information about the "goings on" at KGC.  I'll quickly blow through what happened over the past few weeks.

The last post about the pine beetle was really the only big news or out of the ordinary news during the latter part of the season.  We found a couple more trees but their removal won't have a very big impact.  We sort of experimented with transplanting some small trees (tamaracks) this year and those appeared to have survived.  Bolstered a little bit by that very small victory we prepared some more small trees this fall for transplant next spring. 

The river worked out.  We had to do our usual grunt work making weirs and dams but really only around 70 man hours and one day with a backhoe and a vacuum truck kept at least one pump working (and the horrible wet weather in September helped out - irrigation wise, that is).  A big percentage of that 70 hours was spent cleaning out the sand from inside the wet well.  I believe the wear caused by the sand is our bigger problem in the long run and we need to find ways to mitigate it.

This was one of those years where my 9 old could have grown grass for you to play on.  We had a hard time keeping up with all the grass.  What makes that interesting is when you compare conditions to last year.  In 2012 the wet June carried us for a long time until about early August which was when the cracks started to show and the turf began burning out and things started looking haggard.  This year the weather helped conditions stay great all year.   Unfortunately, I know I will have an opportunity to lament about our 1980 irrigation system in the future but suffice to say that when there is no burned out areas between sprinklers improperly spaced at 110 feet (versus the specified maximum spacing of 90 feet) you know the weather is having an immensely positive impact on growing grass. 

With respect to the beetle infected trees we fell them once play was done and a work bee was organized to help clean up the branches.  Luckily we had the regular group of 25 or so members (who appear to make up the backbone of these events!) show up an clean all the debris left from falling the trees.  I am depending more on these types of work bees since they really help out and save money.  Keep next spring open!

There is more but I have all winter to cover other topics assuming there isn't a ton of powder days.

KGC's Version of a Pink Ribbon Campaign......

...... mostly named that because that is the colour of the flagging tape we have.  I've marked trees on the left of 6 fairway just past the mounds, left of the red tee on #7, and directly next to the right side of 9 green.

Pitch Tubes on Ponderosa Left 6 Fwy

These are all Ponderosa pines and all have been attacked by (probably) the Western Pine Beetle but who knows.  The only real way to distinguish which beetle is doing the attacking is to look at larvae or the beetle gallery below the bark.

Beetle Gallery of Mountain Pine Beetle

Beetle Gallery of Western Pine Beetle

The end result is the same as all infected trees need to be cut down and removed.  We've already had to deal with beetle kill this year as covered in the June 28th post.  There will be lots of problems with removal of these trees including the volume of material produced by their removal, deciding how and which way to fall the infected trees, and what sort of impact a possible Western Pine Beetle infestation will have on the front nine layout which pretty much depends on Ponderosa pines.

Other things coming out of the wood work now that we are over half way include knapweed which is in full bloom all over the course.

Knapweed Left 5 Fwy

I've covered this pesky weed before (go here ) and not much has changed regarding it.  If you see it pull and we'll pick it up (hot spots are mostly on the back with the left of 14 fairway and the left of 17 fairway the worst).  I know that if we can treat these areas early in the spring with broadleaf herbicide we get pretty good control but its a case of getting the time and since I am the only guy with a applicators license I either have to do the application and be directly at the treated location if someone else is doing the application.  Either situation is not always an option when we are starting up.  

The river .... lets talk about it later I am already pretty bummed out.

The Summer Blahs

If I could carry the energy and drive I have in the mornings for an entire day I would always be on top of things.  As it is, by the time afternoon rolls around my ambitions seemed to have been tempered a bit so hence the reason for few posts over the past couple weeks. I guess things are also running even keel which is always good news. 

What to note as of late? As it turns out things haven’t dried out like I thought and we are only a couple of week away from having to back the water off because of the cooler nights and shorter days.  The river is dropping but not a topic of conversation for a few weeks yet.  Maybe the only thing to discuss may be the little black bugs on the greens.  BTA or Black Turfgrass  Ataenius is what your seeing.

BTA 

Go here for detailed info if you are so inclined but if you don’t just realize that, as a general rule, BTA are not a big deal and unless there is a bug population around 40-50 per square foot there is no real need to treat for them.  That being said don’t be afraid to squish them with your putter!

It Won't Look Any Better.......

Getting While You Can

 Over 3" rain last week, everything fertilized, mostly caught up on mowing, and nice weather all combined are making the course look pretty nice.  If the forecast is correct we will be showing moisture stress by this time next week so now would be the best to bring out a guest to show off the place.  I went around and took some pictures of the way things look now and I will use them as a compare and contrast a little later on (again, assuming the forecast for +36 for highs +19 for lows is correct).

Things of late to note could be the tree falling on 2 fairway.

Wedging the Tree Away From Fwy

Giving the Faller a Bit of Help

Removing Logs to the Sawmill

 

Beetle Damage Under the Bark

Both trees were Ponderosa Pine which mostly likely means it was the Western Pine Beetle (vs. Northern).  We've haven't been running a enough fall staff for the last couple years to keep on top of the scouting, falling and removing infected trees and my hunch is there is more out there. 

Update.

No catchy title this time out.  All we've been doing in routine maintenance.  As promised, we aerated and top dressed the collars and aprons around all the greens.  The fairways, roughs, and greens surrounds were all fertilized so expect grass in the next couple weeks.  One thing different is the primary cut of rough we started to do around the greens.  It's not much but it is in response to the survey I put out at the beginning of the year.  Interestingly enough no one has commented on it so it is either not enough or people haven't noticed.  Let me know what you think.

I added another sheet to the Maintenance Standard so take a look at that.  More volunteer work : 18 tee railing and snack shack painting are two recent projects completed by Gord J. and his crew.

We are dealing with some wildlife issue but I don't have any good pictures so that may wait until next time.  Otherwise, aside from the usual equipment issues (finally got the correct shaft for the fairway unit parked behind 15 green) we are bumbling along.

I bet you thought I forgot

I threaten way back at the beginning of the year to create a maintenance standard that outlines the course maintenance.  Obviously, it would be best to have it all done at once but this year (most years, it seems) has been tight on office time once the season got going.  I will place an evolving draft copy in the clubhouse next to the handicap computer for your reading pleasure.  Ideally, a standard would be developed by numerous individuals from a good cross section of golfing members, manager, and directors.  That is a lot of people to get together for a number of meetings.  Instead I used the online survey people filled out this spring as the bench mark for the basic maintenance practices.  I've furthered "fleshed" out the maintenance practices to provide information as a reference in the event there is a question regarding any of the maintenance.  Take a look and I'll tweak it as I get more done.

Golf course wise it's been a typical spring with disease, hydraulic leaks, snow, snapped axles, cracked frames, and lots of seed head on the greens and fairways (take a look at the right of #4 fairway by the big tree; there is so much seed head the grass hardly looks green!).  The mechanic has been swamped with our "new" used equipment starting to show some of why it was traded in not to mention all the sh*t he has to repair on our old stuff.  The only thing really working out, and I know I've said this before, is the staff.  Not having to train or baby sit opens me up to filling in on the course where we have man power gaps.

This month we will try to catch up on some of the stuff delayed for various reason (aerating  and top dressing collars and top dressing greens).  Extra ordinary projects we've undertaken (completing the #7 mini irrigation expansion and re-fencing the maintenance compound) have kept us busy as well.

Volunteer work this month will be highlighted on the deck and in the beds around the club house as all the plants and pots were planted by a group players on their own time.  Take a look.