Is it really December?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

With today feeling like late October, I find myself out of the Holiday spirit.  We still have not seen winter.  If it wasn't for all of the leaves on the ground or the Fraser Fir in my living room, I wouldn't have a clue that today is the fifteenth of December.  The staff is busy with seasonal work including bunker adjustments, leaf removal, and equipment maintenance.  Unlike a normal winter, we are still mowing greens regularly, rolling greens and applying fungicides on the greens.  I was rolling greens in the dark this...

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River Stays Within Banks

Friday, December 09, 2011 River

After a wide variety of predictions, the river has crested right at 15'6".  The river has not come on to the golf course but the creek to the left of #4 has started to spill on to #4.  The bridges at #17 are under water and that hole will be played to a temporary green.  There is a heavy frost this morning and in turn a long frost delay.  Due to wet conditions, carts will be restricted to the cart path.  Play will start as soon as possible.  Have a great weekend. With...

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River Crest Update

Thursday, December 08, 2011 River

The predicted river crest has been lowered to 15.1 feet.  We are installing sand bags to prevent silt from coming on with the water.  The river should stay around 15 feet between 7:00 p.m. tonight and 7:00 p.m. tomorrow.  If this prediction holds true, the golf course will be in good shape with minimal flooding. River level at 13.9 feet: 12:30 p.m. Thursday.  Click on graph for updated predictio...

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Storm and River Update

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Quick update from the field: As of 8:15 am Thursday, the river is at 11.5 ft, rising quickly, and expected to crest at 16 ft.  If this happens, the golf course will take on water and a few holes may have to briefly close.  Will continue updates via twitter and blog.  You can follow twitter feeds from blog as well. Course made it through storm well.  Bunkers in tough shape but only lost 3 non critical trees, well out of play.  Lots of debris on course and no leaves left on trees.  Overall, we are in good shape...flooding...

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Changing Weather and River Update

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

The weather system that is currently moving through our area looks to bring heavy rains and cooler temperatures.  Winter may finally arrive.  I know that I have been thankful for the beautiful Fall but all good things must come to an end.  If the projected overnight lows are correct, frost will once again be prevalent and in turn, frost delays.  The projected lows over the next 5 days are 37°F, 28°F, 32°F, 26°F, and 28°F.  We will have frost and we will have frost delays.  ...

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2012 Planned Projects and Winter Cart Path Restrictions

Thursday, December 01, 2011 Projects

Last night was the final Green Committee meeting of the year.  The committee voted on projects for 2012 based on the best utilization of the operating budget.  The four projects were selected from a master list of top 20 projects that has been developed over the course of 2011.  The projects that were selected include hardscaping the areas around the water coolers, renovating the area to the left of number nine fairway, renovating the area between the tenth hole and the twelfth hole...

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Happy Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Holiday season is finally here.  Thanksgiving gives us a chance to enjoy family, food and a little football.  The golf course has seen a wet, warm autumn and most of the leaves have fallen.  Due to the wet conditions, our staff is having a difficult time with leaf removal.  It is impossible for us to use large blowers and leaf removal equipment so we must stick to smaller equipment.  This obviously slows down the process but we are working hard to keep tees, landing...

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Continuing Education and the Results of a Heavy November Rain

Friday, November 18, 2011

Bobby, Kevin and I traveled to the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association Education Conference and Trade Show.  We each took three classes between Monday and Tuesday covering a wide array of topics associated with our industry.  The Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association does a great job with their enrolled classes, general education and trade show.  The three of us brought home a lot of good ideas that will be implemented on the golf course.  We are very...

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Shutting down the Irrigation System

Friday, November 11, 2011

Today, we began the task of shutting down the irrigation system.  We winterized all essential pieces and parts of the system.  We will still be able to use the system for a few more weeks until we get consistently low night time temperatures.  At that point, we will drain the water out of the entire system.  This is a picture of the control panel for the irrigation system.  In the analogy of the irrigation system being the life blood of the golf course, the pumps in the...

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Cleaning up Around Ponds and Bunker Work

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The staff has been busy this week with leaf cleanup and the removal of undesirable plants around the ponds.  We want to encourage a natural buffer of native aquatic plants around our ponds including sedges, rushes and cattails.  All of these plants have to be managed and any hard woods have to be removed to stop the ponds from re-foresting themselves.  We are now trimmed down to our winter staff.  We have eight full and part time employees that will work through the winter months...

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Frost Delays and Bridge at #16 Green

Thursday, November 03, 2011

It is the time of the year for early morning frost.  When the temperatures dip into the 30's we are prone to frost.  Frost (frozen water in and on the plant) settles on the taller grasses first as they are more exposed and the leaf moisture is further from ground (air cools faster than soil.)  Tighter surfaces such as greens, tees and fairways stay insulated a little longer by the soil.  Once temperatures get into the low 30's we will see frost on these areas as well.  As...

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Deer Activity on #18 Green

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Well its that time of year.  Frost, falling leaves and active deer.  This is the damage that we found this morning on #18 green.  Bobby is working quickly to fix the disturbed area and the green will be ready by the time play gets to it.  No long term damage to the green, just part of being in nature.  There is a heavy frost on the taller grasses but nothing on greens so the golf course is open this morning.  Carts will be restricted to the path until the frost lifts...

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90 Degrees, Ball Marks and Green Speeds

Monday, October 31, 2011

It is finally here.  Barring any frost tomorrow morning, the golf course will re-open at 8:00 a.m. to normal tee times.  Frost looks unlikely with a chance of showers and overnight lows in the low 40's.  We will open with normal cart rulings and will only restrict carts to the path if weather dictates.  Once temperatures and the weather decline, we will go to permanent cart restrictions just like every winter.  This week looks to be good for 90 degree cart traffic unless we get rain tonight. The greens have come full circle...

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Prepping for November 1

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The golf course will reopen next Tuesday, November 1 and we could not be happier.  We are ready to put this behind us and get back to normal.  We are busy prepping for next week and wrapping up some new additions to the golf course.  The staff has mowed out fairways with our lightweight Triplexes that are normally reserved for tees and approaches.  These machines provide a better quality of cut than the fairway units because these new mowers are designed to mow at a higher height...

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Leaf Removal and USGA Article

Friday, October 21, 2011

Mid Atlantic Update Keith Happ, Senior Agronomist Its That Time of Year; Recovery and Rejuvenation is a priority! This article from the USGA is very relevant to what we are doing right now.  We are neck deep in leaf removal and are wrapping up any seeding of fescue areas.  Today, we are spraying for winter weeds, removing leaves and continuing work on the irrigation system before we shut it down for the winter.  Greens are receiving applications of lime and topdressing behind the...

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Quick Greens Update and a lot of Pictures

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

#1 Green Greens are progressing beautifully.  We are at our winter height of cut and finalizing any topdressing, fungicide, and fertility applications.  Every green has full coverage outside of a few blemishes on the on deck putter and the clubhouse putting green.  We will continue to improve those areas but the 18 greens on the golf course are our main priority.  Stan Zontek, our USGA agronomist visited yesterday to follow up on our progress.  Stan agrees that the greens...

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Productive Week

Friday, October 07, 2011

We are trying to pull together a good week of grassing, winter preparation and renovation.  The golf course is in great shape going into dormancy and the greens are progressing wonderfully.  Our staff has taken advantage of the perfect weather this week and really completed some good work.  Poor conditions along the cartpath on holes 2, 3, and 9 are being graded and seeded this week and the left fairway bunker is being renovated.  The second pound of potash was applied to holes...

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Greens Topdressing and Fertilization

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

This morning we mowed greens at .180" and followed that with sand (topdressing), gypsum and fertilizer applications.  Our staff is also renovating the left fairway bunker on #9, aerating and seeding fescue areas, and converting poor areas and unused mulch beds to turf.  They will also be edging cart paths, sprinkler heads, and tee yardage plates.  Greens and bunkers were edged last week to prevent bermuda grass infiltration.  As temperatures continue to drop and bermuda grass...

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