All Tucked In

18 Green

Greens were covered on Monday the 18th to protect them from the impending cold weather.  It took our team 4 hours to cover all 22 greens.  They remained covered about 45 hours, until the temperatures on Wednesday reached above the freezing mark.  Low temperatures both Tuesday and Wednesday reached in the lower 20's, however the temperatures under the covers did not go below 35 degrees.  We've seen just how important these covers are to the health of the greens over the past couple of winters.  They will continue to be an important tool in providing excellent putting surfaces on a year round basis for us at The Dunes Club.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

Pictures from the storm are much more fitting to show then a bunch of rambling from me, so I will keep it brief.  18.13" is the final rainfall total I recorded.  The golf course was closed both Monday and Tuesday, but should reopen Wednesday.  My team is working hard putting the pieces back together, but it will take time.  Please be patient as you encounter them while playing this week.  Now for some pics.

Back Yard

#9

#16

Range/#1 Tee Pond

#18

#18

New Chipping Green

234 acres is the total owned property of The Dunes Club, that in itself is a large footprint.  Being that we are adjacent to the ocean, our watershed is at least triple that.  We receive water from numerous surrounding residential and commercial properties.  When we get that much rain, it's going to make a mess.  Again, luckily it's all cosmetic, and this too will pass.  Interesting note, check out the new chipping green above, be nice to have the other 80 look like this one.  Definitely something to consider. 

Finally!

 

Spring has finally sprung.  It's been a long, cold, wet winter for us at the beach.  I will say others along the east coast haven't had it much better.  I'll take cold and damp over snow and ice any day.  The golf course is slowly waking up from its' winter nap.  Trees are beginning to push out new growth, bulbs are popping out of the ground, and our warm season turf grasses that have lain dormant over the past few months are yawning and stretching, and getting ready to join the others at the breakfast table.  The golf course is in great shape for our spring golf season.  There are a few low lying areas that still need some time to dry out, but overall things are looking and playing great.  The putting surfaces are extremely healthy coming out of the winter, thanks in large part to the use of covers during the coldest of periods.  Heights of cut have been lowered to in-season form and cultural practices such as grooming, verticutting, and light topdressing will again be a normal occurrence.  Our team is looking forward to sunny, warmer weather, as I am sure everyone is.         

Hoping 3's a charm

Nursery Green

As I sit down to write today's blog, I can honestly say I don't recall another morning in my history at The Dunes Club that the temperature outside was 13 degrees.  If you were to include the windchill, we are hovering just above 0.  That's cold, I don't care who or where you are!  We covered the greens this past Wednesday afternoon, and will remove them sometime Saturday morning for play Saturday afternoon.  The covers definitely help retain heat on these cold nights.  There can be as much as an 8-10 degree difference between greens that are covered and those that are not.  This can be the difference between life and death with ultradwarf bermudagrass.  The covers also help retain our color, and will allow the greens a shorter green-up period once warmer temperatures return.  Just look at the picture above where a cover blew off a section of the nursery green back in January.  Left side remained covered, the right side did not.  That's a huge difference. 

It takes our entire team about 3 1/2 hours to cover all 22 greens, and about the same time to uncover.  The tarps are not an exact fit, they are more or less a rectangle of the longest width and length for that particular green.  Because of the bunkering on many holes, excess material often times overhangs into the sand.  This can be quite problematic when trying to secure the edges.  Factor into the mix the wind, which is usually howling because of an incoming cold front, and those afternoons can get interesting to say the least.  I have seen many a team member drug across a green, or even lifted off the ground while battling the wind.  The covers are secured to the ground by sod staples on handles that have been sewn into each cover.  We also use sandbags on the prevailing wind side and in areas that overhang into bunkers, since the sod staples would easily pull out of the sand.  There are over 3,000 sod staples and 400 sand bags that are used each time covers are applied.  It's a great deal of work, and my team does a fantastic job under extremely tough conditions.  We covered greens 3 times in 2014, and this is the third time for us in 2015.  Let's hope 3 is a charm, and warmer weather is on its way.        

Drainage Improvements

 Winter is a great time to make improvements to existing drainage.  There are many locations around the course where tweaks to drainage are occurring.  This happens to be # 15, and an area next to one of our ponds that receives a great deal of runoff from the fairway following large rain events.  Over time, this basin was failing, and allowing water to pass beyond it and erode the pond bank.  

Now that all repairs have been made to this location, it's ready for our next raining day, which unfortunately looks to be this coming Monday.  Other areas that are receiving some drainage attention are along the path at #7 and #10.  Mother Nature will soon begin to help us out when plants,trees, and turf begin to wake-up from their winter rest and start up-taking some of this excess water.    

It's that time of year again!

Annual pruning right of #7 Fairway

Over the next few weeks you will notice our team working throughout the wooded areas surrounding the golf course.  Yup, it's that time of year again, when we take to the lift and partake in our annual preventative tree maintenance program.  It typically takes about a month to get around the entire property.  We are looking to remove any deadwood that will eventually fall out of the canopies, thin out any over growth and better balance the tree, and improve upon turf health and/or playability.  It's almost impossible for my team to see everything, but I believe they do an excellent job on maintaining these valuable assets.  This is an ongoing process that must be done on a continual basis.  Our trees mean so much to this great playground, and ensuring their health and coexistence requires constant monitoring and maintenance.  Once material is removed it is either chipped and distributed on the property, used for tee marker replacement, or in some instances split and used for firewood. 

Small limbs being fed into the chipper

     

Winter has arrived!

#3 Green

With the threat of cold nighttime temperatures we decided to cover our beloved putting surfaces last night.  Luckily we did, the low dipped down to 15 degrees this morning, which actually felt like 0 degrees when the wind chill is factored in.  The greens however stayed a toasty 34 degrees under the covers.  Our remote sensors, located in numerous greens, allow us to monitor not only temperature, but moisture and salinity at any given time.  Technology has really come a long ways in all industries, and this is just one example of how it helps us better manage one of this clubs largest assets.   

Course Update

With the onset of another cold arctic blast this week, I have decided to close the golf course starting Thursday afternoon through mid-day on Saturday.  We will cover the greens Thursday following the last round and leave them on for a couple of days.  Temperatures both Thursday and Friday night are expected to reach 20 degrees or just below.  My rule of thumb for covering greens is to have 2 consecutive nights of below 25 degrees with the daytime high in between not getting out of the low to mid 30's.  This will be our second covering in January, and I am anticipating it will go a bit quicker than the first.  We will remove them once the sun comes up and temperatures begin to warm on Saturday morning.  I am anticipating the course will be open for play by mid-day on Saturday.  Please check back for more updates.   

What's Happening Here?

# 3 Green

I thought this was an interesting find the other day.  Can anyone explain the difference between the two color variations in the photo above?  Do you notice the lighter green on the right and the darker green of the left?  I'll give you a hint, the condition showed up a few days following the cold spell we received just after the first of the year.  Ok, here's what's going on.  The area on the right was exposed to the cold air temperatures while the rest of the green of the left was not.  When we came into work that morning we had to pull the cover back over that portion of the green on the right.  Sometime during the night the wind lifted the stakes out of the ground and the cover folded back, exposing the right corner of the green.  That exposed area was frozen solid.  A few days later the color difference showed up.  The area hit by the cold air temperatures and frozen ground is just showing more signs of dormancy than the other portion of the green that did not freeze.  No damage has occurred, but it does make for interesting conversation.         

The use of turf covers

#2 Approach

#5 Approach

 

Last week, with temperatures dipping into the upper teens, the entire golf course staff got to work Monday afternoon with the covering of all putting surfaces.  We did a trial run the Friday before just to see how the process would go.  It took about 3 1/2 hours to cover all the greens.  The challenge about covering, as is the case with many things we do on the golf course, is dealing with Mother Nature.  Usually the need to cover is triggered with a change in weather patterns bringing a blast of cold air to the south.  That blast is accompanied by wind, and that is typically the time when the covers need to be put out.  To say the least it was a challenge, but my staff performed as I knew they would, flawlessly.  During that cold spell, the soil temperatures under the covers remained 15 degrees or more warmer then the air temperature.  That is a significant difference, and one that is visually noticeable in the pictures above.  Can you tell where the cover over lapped onto the approaches?  The heat from the covers insulated the turf and showed little effects from the cold temperatures we experienced.  Fortunately for our area these covers will not be a common occurrence, but we do have them for times just like this one.

New tee location

New tee #2

Here is a sneak peak from the new tee on #2.  We have added a bit of yardage to the blue/white teeing area, but more importantly the severe dogleg has been softened, and a driver will be more tempting to pull from the bag!  This tee complex was grassed this week, and is now in the grow in stage.

Newly planted tees

#11 Tee

This was a great week for progress on the course.  No storms to contend with and plenty of sunshine.  Above is a picture of the 11th right side blue tee just after sprigs were laid.  Other tee tops that were sprigged included #2, #3, #9, #12, and #17.  These newly planted tees will take a number of weeks to fill in before they are ready for play.  As a side note, I cannot get over how great the sky looks in this shot, and that is without any filtering! 

Range work completed

Range Tee

Work on the driving range tee is now complete.  The final sprigs were laid yesterday.  It will take a number of weeks before the new grass tacks down and begins to spread.  Once I think they are out of harms way I will allow practice from the back portion of the tee.  This will be no sooner then the beginning of August.  The newer areas, which include the chipping green, bunker, and chipping area, will remain closed to practice until further notice.

We are also making progress out on the course with tees completed on holes #3, #11, #12 and #17.  Also bunkers on #1, #2, #3, #7 and #16 have received work.  These areas will be grassed by next week.  Tees on #2 and #7 will be completed next, with the remainder of the work finished by the end of the July, first couple weeks of August.

    

Day 18

Day 18

Just take a look at what 1 week difference looks like.  The previous post was from the same position just a week ago.  Since then the sun has returned and we have begun mowing.  If sunny, warm weather continues the putting surfaces will rapidly fill-in.  Mowing will almost be an ever day occurrence from here on out.  Practices such as topdressing and rolling will take place to smooth the surfaces and get them ready for play.  Next week we will put the final touches on the collars with some new sod.  At that point it's just a matter of time and growth before the greens will be ready for play.   

Day 11

These last few days have been a true test to see how much rain a newly sprigged green can take.  We have experienced some moving of the sprigs, but overall it could be much worse.  I have recorded over 6 inches of rain in the last 10 days, and almost 10 inches in the month of June.  Let's hope for a dryer July.  The greens continue to grow, even through all the rain.  Above is a picture of the putting green just 11 days after planting.     

Chipping green and Practice bunker

With all the rain the last 10 days its been quite difficult to get things done on the course without making a muddy mess.  We were fortunate this past week to get a load of sod from our supplier.  They too are having trouble with harvesting there product when their fields are underwater.  We will resume with laying sod and planting sprigs once the fields dry out enough.  Above is a picture of the new chipping green and practice bunker at the driving range.  The practice bunker will be duel purpose for both shots to the green, and shots out into the range.

Day 5

Just after a few days from planting the greens, you can see some positive signs of the new sprigs beginning to establish.  I would consider it a huge success if we can make it until this weekend without encountering any substantial thunderstorms.  These new sprigs are quite prone to washing with heavy downpours.  Once we get past day 8 or 9, that threat will become less and less.   

Planting of the greens

Putting Green

17 greens were planted on Thursday June 20th and the remainder 5 were planted the morning of the 21st.  The picture above is of our putting green on day one.  The sprigs were shipped from Texas in a refrigerated semi-truck and arrived quite early this past Thursday.  A crew of 6 were responsible for shaking the sprigs on all 22 of our putting surfaces.  I liken the process to a landscaper pine-strawing a planting bed.  Once the green is sprigged, we then cover them with sand and begin the watering process.  It is critical we not allow the sprigs to dry out, so frequent watering will be evident over the first week to ten days.  In just a few short weeks from planting we will begin mowing and establishing them as fine-cut putting surfaces.   

New Pond Bank

#10 Pond Bank

The bulk head removal on #10 pond bank is complete.  We are now in the finishing stages of grading and laying sod.  The grade matches up well with the remainder of the pond.  In a couple of weeks you will not even notice that anything was ever done.  I am very pleased with this new look, and hoping that future improvements to our pond edges will consist of this method.

Fumigation

Over the past couple of day tarps were pulled over all putting surfaces and the greens were fumigated.  This is an important step in our conversion process to insure a sterile planting environment when the new ultradwarf is planted.  These covers will be removed the end of this week so we can make final preparations before the sprigs are planted next week.