Frost Damage

frost damage in rough on 18

It's the time of year again to begin worrying about frost.  Walking or driving on frosty turf can cause significant damage to the plants.  The basics of frost are that the cold air freezes the dew that is secreted out of the leaf.  When the dew freezes hard enough, and the leaf gets stepped on, the leaf can break causing the area that was walked or driven on to appear brown. 
We get comments all the time in the pro shop that "my car temperature said it was 40 degrees it can't be frosty", or "I will just chip and putt until the frost is gone on the course."  Here at the course if the air temperature is below 39 degrees we will generally have frost.  The air on the golf course and close to the ground is significantly cooler than the air around buildings or along a street.  And frost happens on all turf areas, including the driving range, so it is very important to stay off all turf areas until the frost is gone.

New Weather Station

We now have a new weather station here at the golf course! The best part about this weather station is that it can be viewed by anyone online at anytime.  We will also be able to have a more accurate reading on high and low temperatures as well as rainfall totals.  Our last system was only able to measure rainfall in 1/10th of an inch increments where our new station can read rain fall totals in the 1/1000th on an inch increments.
visit our weather station by clicking here

Bunker Consistency

Earlier this season we reshaped all of our bunkers and were able to get the bunkers to be a little more consistent.  I have heard a couple of complaints over the past month that all of our bunker seem to play a little different.  I have found the following video provided by the USGA to help explain why our bunkers can not all be exactly the same.

Hole sign landscape project

moving the hole sign on 10 to its new home

We just completed the landscape work around our hole signs.  For this project we removed all existing flowers and ivy, removed the sod from the cart path to the sign, and then placed the same gray crusher fines material that we used on the cart path around the sign.  This is a very simple and clean look that will attract your eye to the sign and make maintenance around the hole signs much easier.  During this project we also relocated the signs on 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, and 17 to locations that made for better viewing of the hole sign from the cart as you drive up to the tee box.

Grass Carp

Algae has always been an issue in our lakes.  We have mostly just relied on chemical treatments to combat our algae but this can be very difficult due to the application needs to be made at a precise time or the algae will spread very rapidly. About 7 years ago we had grass carp added to our lakes on 8 and 17 and there has been very little algae in those lakes since.  This year we added 84 more grass carp to 5 more lakes to try and assist in controlling our algae.  With the help of Matt McGreggor, a fisheries biologist from Aqua Sierra we were able to add fish to the lakes on 3, 4, 5, 6, and 16.

close up of one of my new employees, his only job is to eat algae

The old carp are the most active in the lakes on our 8th hole.  You have probably seen the 24" to 36" fish swimming by the shore line as you search for golf balls.  When we added the carp to 8 there were all the same 10" long fish that we have just added this week.  The carp are more active feeders when they are young, but when these little guys get big they will still hopefully keep our algae issues under control.

adding water slowly to the fish to get them acclimated to the temperature and pH of the water

Before Matt puts the fish in the water he first had to get them acclimated to the water temperature as well as the pH of the water.  This process only takes about 10 minutes,  but  it keeps the fish from going into shock.

releasing the fish after they regulate to the water temperature

Lets hope our newest employees work hard and keep our water clean and algae free.

Bunker Maintenance

 Over the past 4 weeks we have been doing some extensive work to all of our bunkers.  We are about 95% complete with the bunker edging and reshaping process.  This process not only enhances the playability of the course it also enhances the visual look of the course.  Over the course of a year with our irrigation cycles, rain, wind, daily raking, and play, the sand will migrate around the bunker, so we move the sand back to its proper location.  Our ultimate goal is to have a consistent 6" depth in the bottom of the bunker, and a 4" depth on all slopes.

Bunker before any work begins

Above is the right greenside bunker on #4 before we have begun any work.  Notice the large lip around the edge between the sand and the turf, as well as the grass creeping in along the left side of the bunker.

using reciprocator to put clean edge on bunker

This is one of our seasonal employees, JP, using the reciprocator tool to cut a clean line along the edge of the bunker.  The reciprocator is a great tool that is two metal discs that move back and forth opposite of each other creating a scissor action.  This scissor action easily cuts the turf without throwing any debris at the operator.

close up of reciprocator

Here is a closeup of the reciprocator in action. This image also shows the overgrowth of turf into the bunker.  It is our goal to only remove as much turf as necessary.  Over a period of 5 to 6 years if we remove even 2" of extra material per year, that will make the bunkers another 12" larger along the edge changing the overall design of the bunkers.

moving sand after edging

After the bunker has been edged and the excess material has been removed we begin the process of moving sand around.  We have added sand to 16 bunkers to achieve the proper 6" and 4" depths.  But a majority of the bunkers just need the magic work of Eric Porter on the bunker machine.  There is a lot of shoveling and raking involved in the edging process as well, making it a very labor intensive job to complete.

good image of sand before and after it has been moved

 The top of the above image shows the old level of the sand near the top of the bunker, and then on the lower half of the image you can see the new level of sand after it has been reshaped.

bunker edging complete

Here is the same bunker completely finished.  The process takes 3 guys an averages of about 3 hours per bunker from start to finish, and with 63 bunkers on the course will take us about 6 weeks to complete, but it is well worth the effort.

Man Is a Dog's Best Friend

I recently came accross an article on the USGA website titled 'Man Is a Dog's Best Friend' and I could not agree more with what the article has to say.  I bring my dog Benni to work everyday, Benni is an Austrailian Shepard mix that is 100% deaf, and probably 50% blind.  many times when I introduce myself to new members or see golfers away from the facility they great me with 'your that guy with that deaf dog.'  Having a deaf dog has its perks as well as its downfalls.  Some of the perks include being able give him sign language signs around golfers so I do not have to talk to him while people are hitting, I can sneak out of the office while he is sleeping, and its funny to watch people whistle at him and he just walks the other direction.
Benni is the most obediant dog that I have ever owned, he will sit in my golf cart all day if I need him to, he will stay in the shop yard chasing maintenance equipment while I am out on the course, but it is difficult when I am in a hurry and he is 50 yards up the fairway marking his teritory, I can't just whistle to get him to follow me.
I still laugh when I tell golfers that Benni is deaf, and the first thing they do is whistle at him, acting like he will be able to hear them.
Even though Benni is deaf he is the best listener that I know, and he makes my bad days good, and my good days even better.

Cart Path reconstruction is finaly complete

Eric Porter working his magic in the skid steer

Over the past year we have been converting our road base cart paths to the gray crusher fines pathways.  In the last 12 months we have replaced the paths on 2, 7, 8, 13, 15, 17, and 18.  The path on 13 was the largest undertaking because we needed to re-route the path to new areas that were better for cart traffic and out of the line of sight from the tee complex.  We still have some seeding to do along the edges but it is a great relief to have  the bulk of this project completed.

the new path on 13 after the box blade and before the skid steer

 We also rebuilt the cart exit point by 17 green to better accommodate the large amount of traffic that this pinch point receives. The new paths will be a little bumpy for the next couple of week, but as we continue to smooth them out with the box blade they will get better and better.

17 cart path exit area during construction

Deer fly control

With so much open space and water on the golf course we have a had a bad deer fly problem over the past couple of years.  These are the fly that have a triangular appearance, and they will follow you for a great distance then bite you multiple times.  We are trying a deer fly traps on 15 to see if we can help reduce the population.  This trap is designed to be chemical free, and will trap horse fly, deer fly, and yellow fly.  Next time you are on the 15th hole look into the native to the left of the green and you will see the trap.

Pump house repair, again.

Last week we discovered a leak just outside our pump house, to our surprise it was more than just a leak.  Our pump house has a steel pipe that comes out of the pump, angels down, and attaches to a 12" PVC mainline for the irrigation system (Z pipe).  When we dug up the junction between the steel and the PVC we found a hole lot of corrosion.  So much corrosion that we were able to easily stick a screwdriver into the steel pipe.  We are lucky that Landscapes Unlimited, the company that owns the Broadlands, is one of the best irrigation companies in the business, and that they were working in town at Columbine Country Club.  LUI came up and made our pump house repair look very easy, even though it was a very big job.

screwdriver in 1/4" thick 12" steel pipe

Once we were able to get the steel pipe out of the ground we found a couple of holes, and multiple areas that were very close to becoming holes.

hole in steel Z pipe

pitting in Z pipe

grove in pipe

LUI decided to replace the entire steel pipe with a section of HDPE(high-density polyethylene) pipe.  HDPE pipe is beginning to replace PVC in the irrigation world due to its versatility, strength, and ease of use. 

New HDPE pipe installed

view of flange on new HDPE pipe

HDPE pipe running out of pump house into thrust block

 We were able to pressure up the pump house yesterday morning and begin to water the course again.  I would like to thank everyone involved from Landscapes Unlimited and my crew for working together and making our 'major' problem look like a small problem.

Drainage project

3 fairway has been our most challenging fairway since the golf course opened 13 years ago.  With very high sodium and bicarbonate levels, along with the heavy clay soils is has been very difficult to get a good stand of grass in some areas of the fairway.  While we have been able to make progress on these areas over the past few years, the thin turf in the fairway is still not up to our standards.  So the next step in trying to improve these areas is to add drainage.  This drainage is being installed to try and intercept ground water, allowing the surface to drain better, which will allow us to flush more sodium from the surface and giving us better growing conditions.

While adding drainage seems simple it is a very labor intensive job.  We first come in with a trencher and create a trench about 5" wide and 12" deep.  We then come back in and remove all the loose soil from inside the trench and on the surface.  The next step is to add 4" slotted drain pipe and fill the trench with pea gravel to add in collecting more water.  We will cap the drain lines with sand. 
There will be 800 feet of drainage installed on 3 fairway, 100 feet installed on 7 fairway, and another 150 feet installed on 15 fairway.

Mr President

I was recently elected president of the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association.  This Association is responsible for putting together an educational conference and trade show each December for people that work in the green industry in the Rocky Mountain region. The RMRTA not only helps provide education for the golf course superintendents, but also helps the Rocky Mountain Sod Growers Association, Colorado Sports Turf managers Association, Colorado Association of Lawn Care Professionals, and Colorado State University.  I am very grateful to be a part of such a great organization.
Please visit the RMRTA website for more information.

Winter Projects

With all the great snow cover this winter we have been keeping ourselves pretty busy in the maintenance shop.  I always get the question from golfers, friends, and family, what do you do in the winter time?  Well this winter we have rebuilt the dumpster doors for the dumpster holding area at the clubhouse.  We have sanded and preserved the driving range benches.  We have also vinyl guarded all of the bunker rakes (video coming soon), flag sticks, 150yd poles, and repainted all of the traffic control blocks.

dumpster door during rebuild

dumpster door finished

driving range bench before sanding

driving range bench after sanding