Well Refurbished

The well renovation was completed on Friday afternoon with the installation of the refurbished pump assembly and motor.  The visible portion looks new, however it is the old motor with a fresh coat of paint and complete rebuild.  Figuring the well was installed in 1989 and lasted through 2011, hopefully we can get at least another 20+ years out of it.  Reviewing video footage of the before and after is pretty convincing that the blasting and jetting process works as advertised.  The 40' of stainless steel screen at the bottom of the well looks brand new and there are visible cavities behind the slots.  Now we just have to put a fresh coat of paint on the rest of the assembly and make it a bit more presentable.  If I can get the video footage I'll try and share some of the before and after stills from it.

Why The Low H2O?

When we drained the pond on #6 down last fall we noticed the muskrat control netting had slipped down a few feet in spots and there were some burrows in the pond bank.  With everything going on this spring so far we have not had a chance to rebuild the small portion that got dug out and also install some new netting up higher on the bank.  Another issue with the pond is the gate system has rocks in the bottom of the enclosure that is preventing the bottom gate sections to seat properly and seal water off from draining out.  This coming week we will climb down and pull the rocks out, and also start to rebuild the pond bank and install new muskrat control along the pond bank.

In other news, we have been very busy tidying up the multiple projects we had left over from last fall/winter.  The tracks from the work on the irrigation pond have been cleaned up and sodded over in front of the 13th green.  The drainage on #15 & 16 has been cleaned up and prepped for seed/sod.  Some of the smaller stumps have been ground up and the holes cleaned out.  The larger ones are too big to feasibly do in-house so we will hire out their removal.  Most of the landscape beds have been cleaned out and are awaiting a fresh layer of mulch.  And to go with all of that we have already started some normal rough mowing routines and are getting closer to a regular mowing schedule on fine turf areas (kinda crazy considering it is only April 7th).

Pump House Flush

We had some spring cleaning in the pump house yesterday.  Every spring over the last handful of years we have had Midwest Elevator out with their airlift system to remove debris from the bottom of the wet well inside the building.  As part of that process we have to remove the check valves and turn them around so we can back flush the pump screens and churn up the water in the wet well.  It went very smooth and we removed a fair amount of stuff such as leaves, small sticks, and even the remains of a squirrel.  Since we did the pond work last December we are hoping this could be one of that last times or at least we can space out the cleanings to every few years.  It is not that much of a hassle but wrestling around 6" check valves and steel couplers can get a bit tiresome.  Pond work?  Well, we extended the wet well intake about 4' and raised it about 24" off the bottom of the pond.  The old inlet was flush with the bottom and allowed all sorts of debris into the system.  So between the two jobs we should be clean and good to go for years to come...

Off And Running

We mowed greens on Friday, nice clean-up height. We opened the course at noon on Saturday. And now, on Monday afternoon March 19 mind you, we are firing up the irrigation system! Here we go. IVGC is looking forward to potentially a nice long season. Here's hoping the weather is good to us that whole time.

Posting from my phone in the pump house. Not sure how this is gonna look or the quality of the picture until I get back to the computer. Bare with me...

10 Steps or so...

Pulling Cores

Harvesting Cores

Spreading Sand

Dragging Sand In

Brushing Sand In

Hand Broom And Fill Remaining Holes

Backpack Blower Cleanup

Mowing

Fertilizing

Much Needed Irrigation By Step 10

Renovations Underway

( 2010_10_15 - Approach work #7 )

The renovation work began last week on holes 4,7, & 8. A complete renovation of the teeing areas on 4 and 8, plus the bunker renovation and approach grading on 7. Because of the amount of soil we needed to properly rebuild the 4th tee and renovate the bunkers on #7, we chose to re-grade the approach area on #7. This allowed us to properly surface drain the area and open up the site-line along the left side of the hole.

(2010_10_20 - Approach work #7 after grading )

Though the pictures do not do it real justice, you can now stand back at the fairway bunker and see the rebuilt greenside  bunker and left edge of the green. The majority of the water will surface drain off to the left, and we were able to make renovating the fairway bunker on 18 very cost effective due to the soil we could generate from the approach area. The bunker on 18 has no soil to work with and everything has to be hauled in, not too mention it requires a lot of soil to do properly.

(2010_10_20 - Renovations on hole #7 )

So all in all we have another week or so of renovation work. And then it is almost November and irrigation blow-out, snow-mold chemical applications, and greens covers will be on the agenda. Oh yeah, we also have a bunch of tree trimming planned as usual.

Watering da Turf

( 2010_07_16 - Watering #10 Green )

Over the last month we have had some irrigation issues. Four weeks ago we had one of the main irrigation motors go down and it had to be replaced. We have been running at about half capacity until a week ago, when we installed the new motor and got everything back up and running at 100%. The last few days we have had more issues with low pressure shut downs and the pump house not being able to handle the load. We have tweaked the settings in the computer that controls the irrigation and hopefully have it under control now. Tomorrow morning will give us our answer, if everything runs and there are no more shutdowns then we should be in good shape to finish out the year. We will be updating the wet-well intake in the irrigation pond on #13/14 this winter after we shut the system down. Currently the screen and location of the intake is causing the majority of our problems with the motors and pumps. I would do it now but we would be a week or so without any irrigation water since we would have to drain the pond to do the work. Not to mention digging out firm muck is much easier then slopping out the wet stuff and hauling it away.

The irrigation issues have resulted in some unsightly turf in a few fairways. The annual bluegrass has not taken to being dried out very well. We usually try and walk the fine line of dry but not dry enough to damage the turf. With the night watering not working 100% and day watering only amounting to so much, we have had some poa annua decide enough is enough and die out. The nice thing is we can start cultivating those small patches and try to encourage some good bluegrass, but it is a bit unsightly. Overall it should not effect play too much and things should rebound quickly as we get more water on it and the weather cools a little. The poa annua doesn't really like 90 degree temps with high humidity for any length of time...

I hope everyone has a good weekend and has a chance to get out and play a little bit.

( 2010_07_16 - A View of #5 Green/Approach )

Where Does The Time Go?

It's been a couple of months, yikes! We have been tackling so many little jobs around the golf course that it has been very easy to get sidetracked. To say the least, I have been sidetracked away from my blog.

During the last couple of months we have been tidying up a lot of loose ends around the golf course. There were a few drainage issues on #1, #14, and #17. There are a number of irrigation heads that have been re-leveled, and a fair number more to go. The staff has been spending time cleaning up bunker edges and adding sand to many of the older ones. We renovated the planting area next to the first tee, and removed the large steel bag rack. The driving range received some much needed attention, and though it is more of a band-aid for the time being, it looks much better then it did. The guys have continued tree trimming, and removed a damaged ash tree next to the second green which also allows for a much better view/shot for the first hole. The latest tree trimming was done on hole twelve. Here is the before and after pictures from that.

It might not appear to be much, the first picture does not really show up well, but the one tree in front of the fairway bunkers has been drastically trimmed to open the left side of the fairway. I was concerned with the amount of trimming required that the tree would not look good at all, but it actually is not too bad. We will evaluate it over the next couple of weeks and make a final determination on whether it stays or is removed completely.

March Madness 2010

( 2010_03_27 - Opening Day 2010 )

How cool is this?!?! The weather has been above average, the course wintered great, and the golf clubs are getting dirty. With about 200 rounds in on opening weekend, IVGC is getting off to a great beginning in 2010. We have plenty of maintenance staff on hand that we are getting a lot done to get things in shape right off the bat. As you make your way around the course in the next few weeks you will see some vole damage around greens, tees, and a fairway or two. Those spots will quickly recover as we rake up the dead turf and the temperature warms a bit. Like I mentioned before, there is some gray snow mold spots around which will also get a good treatment of raking. Aside from the superficial issues, the turf appears to have come through winter in good shape.

What is amazing over the last couple of weeks is how dry it has become. We went from 2 feet of snow, a couple weeks of rain, flooding in certain parts of the state currently going on, and Island View is getting very dry. Hence, we pressurized the irrigation system today and plan on watering things over the next couple of days like it was a summer day in June. And if the temps climb into the 70's this week, despite the brown grass, we are going to think it is June. The irrigation start-up has gone very smooth, almost too smooth and we are waiting for something to blow out of the ground. So far, dare I say it, we have had no issues with leaks or broken parts. I think the fact that we did not have a lot of frost movement this spring, because it went out so quick, helped a lot by not moving the underground pipe and sprinklers around. And with the prolonged snow cover I think we had a lot less frost then winters of recent past, which was averaging a busted length of pipe every spring. So, so far so good it would appear. I wouldn't count out a change in the weather to more "normal" conditions any time soon however.

Get out and take advantage of this unusually early start to the golf season.