Busy Fall

The front entry project has officially started in full force. Southwest Paving is now removing asphalt and will start the grading in the next day or two. Hartman has started the renovation of the first tee also, so there is a lot going on at the club right now. Projected entry project completion time is Mid October. Oh yeah, on top of all that it is aerifying time again. We completed the front nine greens today, plug-collect-sand-drag-brush-mow-water. We did not get the fertilizer down at this time because the winds were blowing 20+ mph all day, it was great for drying sand but not for spreading fert. We will get it down as soon as the winds calm and allow us to.

A Little of This and That

Governor's golf open is done.  First member tourny of the season is past, the second one is right around the corner.  The heat is here and with the bit of rain we had the grass is growing and the mowers are busy.  Greens mowing height was brought down a notch to 0.135" a couple of weeks ago, we plan to be at summer height of 0.120" by Memorial Day.  During the season at times we do raise the height up a bit to lessen the impact of stressful conditions.  Bunkers have all been edged and sand is being added to a few as I write this.  Sunflower seeds have not been as problematic as they were, it appears the notice over Foretees was noticed.  So here we go... Not that we have not been going for 2 months already or anything.  But with the heat and night time temps up things have really taken shape.

The Greens Committee has approved the concept plans for the front entry make-over.  The design is currently being detailed and bids will be taken for the various parts of the project. The committee is hoping to have a detailed presentation to the IVGC Board of Directors at the June meeting, if not the July meeting at the latest.  Construction/Renovation will most likely occur in September and October.  When things are approved I will post the drawings and plans on the blog.

I was also hoping to show everyone some before and after pictures of the well re-development that was done over the winter.  I currently have the video footage of the before, but am having problems with the footage taken after completion.  I'll get them up as soon as I can, the screen looks brand new at the bottom of the well after the blasting and jetting that was done.  If I can finagle some pictures of the process I will get those up too, I was not allowed to photograph the blasting portion for safety concerns.

September Informer

I want to start off with a huge thanks to my staff for setting up a great golf course for Club Championship. A little rain on Sunday was more annoying then anything else, but other then that the weather was terrific and the course played great. From the comments I heard it sounded as though everyone had a great weekend, even though some golf games were not that “fun”. So with the Championship behind us we are now prepping for aerification. The greens will be aerified on the 6^th and 7^th, the Tuesday and Wednesday right after Labor Day. Tees and fairways will follow, and like in the past, that should not disrupt play much at all. With such a slow start to the season it feels like the last 2 months just flew by and it’s hard to think about fall and getting the course ready for winter. I am sure we still have 2 good months of golf ahead, and perhaps even a decent part of November if the weather holds.

Unlike last October when we were renovating 4,7, & 18, there will be no major projects going on this fall. We have some drainage work and some curb projects to tackle, and we will definitely be continuing the tree trimming. As I mentioned last month, we will be doing some major tree work on #16 in order to create a much better environment for the green and hole in general. It will start with the removal of the Oak tree closest to the green on the front right corner. The large Oak behind the green will be drastically trimmed up this fall, as well as some major trimming along the left side with some potential tree removal there also.

With the season winding down the Greens Committee will be looking for a new member very soon, so if you are interested please let them know. There are five members on the committee with 2-3 board members also sitting in. The commitment is 5 years, we meet once a month for most of the year, and tackle issues regarding all aspects of the golf course.

Enjoy the rest of the summer,

Kurt

2011 Renovation About To Start

( 2011_06_23 - Tree Removal Before Bunker Work )

The bunker renovations are about to continue, with only a few holes left we are almost done. Over the next week Hartman will be renovating 4 bunkers and adding 1. The 2 approach bunkers and right greenside bunker on #15 will be re-worked. The picture shows us removing the damaged Oak tree in preparation for the work, not only was it in the way for the bunker renovation project, its removal opens up the area for better turf conditions and it was almost completely hollow which is a safety issue. The other two bunkers being done consist of the fairway bunker on #2 and the addition of a second bunker a little further up from the first. As part of that work we will be removing the first two Ash trees along the left side of the fairway just beyond the current fairway bunker. Hopefully now the weather will start cooperating and allow the work to be done inside a weeks time, we are keeping our fingers crossed.

( 2011_06_02 - Deer Wandering Around #17 )

One of the joys of working on a golf course is the wildlife one sees on almost a daily basis. This young deer was wandering around #17 and #14 with another older one. It's pretty common to see a deer or two on a weekly basis. The turkeys have not been very abundant this year, but last year we counted over 20 in a flock on #16 numerous times. And of course there are always squirrels, egrets, blue herons, and various small critters. If you have been around the clubhouse in the past two weeks you are well aware of a not so pleasant critter being on the premises... Just recently 7 skunks were found living under the 4 season porch/deck area, and since have been removed. This is a first that anyone can recall of having a issue with animals under the clubhouse, but we are working to alleviate any further problems by closing up the openings that exist.

Renovations Complete on #16

 Before

After

Hole #16, What's Going On.

05-10-2011

05-10-2011

05-11-2011

05-16-2011

05-17-2011

Here are shots to summarize the work so far of the bunker renovation taking place on hole 16. It is expected to be completed by the end of the day today and sod should go down tomorrow sometime. In about 2 weeks we should be able to open up the new bunkers and surrounding rough providing the weather cooperated and the new turf roots down good. 

And on another note, #16 green will be open for play starting Monday the 23rd. We have kept the height of cut a little longer compared to the other greens to encourage better growth, especially once it starts getting traffic, and overall it is in great shape. There are still some thin spots but the bulk of the damage down the center of the green has recovered very nicely. Once the younger plants have matured a bit more we will start a topdressing program, same goes for #7 green, which should help with the thinner and uneven spots...

If this weather can start to stay more typical for this time of year we should have the turf back in no time.

#16 Green Seeding

For the most part the golf course is in really good shape for this time of the year. We have gotten a first mowing on all the fine turf areas: tees, greens, approaches, and fairways. Things have greened up considerably in the past week, and most of the thinner areas in the fairways from snow mold damage are going to heal without much input on our part. The few greens that are damaged are a little different story however, and the seeding process is all figured out. We will not be covering #7 or #4 so we are waiting to seed them until next week when the freezing temps should be behind us. #16 got the treatment today and we have put a cover over it, taking it out of play.

( 2011_04_13 - Verticut in two directions #16 green )

( 2011_04_13 - Job Saver tines on #16 green )

We started with the verticutters and went in two directions, and followed that up with Job Saver tines in the aerifier. They create about a half-inch round dimple in the green for getting topdressing and seed into. So then we topdressed, seeded, and dragged the green. When all that was done we fertilized, watered, and covered...

( 2011_04_13 - Watering after seeding process #16 green )

( 2011_04_13 - Covering up the damaged section )

Now we just need the weather to cooperate, a quick warm up and some good growing weather. By keeping the traffic off and covering the green it will allow us to greatly speed up the process of recovery during this unfavorable time for seeding and establishment.

Course Close, First Snow

( 2010_11_15 - First snow cover #4 green )

And the season has come to a screeching halt, 8-9 inches of snow will do that I suppose. I left on Friday afternoon thinking  Monday morning would be a good day for some pictures and updates on the projects and course as we head into winter. Well, I can show you winter, and that is about all. There is not 8 inches of snow on the course, but there is at least a few still. The heavy wet snow did provide some great moisture for all the new sod we just put down. The total for the current project was over 5,000 yards, some regular height rough grass and some 1.25" premium blue.

We had everything pretty well done before this first snow volley hit. Tee markers and some odds-n-ends supplies are still being picked up today, but for the most part that is it. All the chemical applications were finished up on Friday, and that is usually the most important thing going into winter. We did not get any covers down on the greens. We have enough covers left for about a half dozen greens to be covered, the same number as last winter. As many of you know we have been phasing out green covers over the last 5 years, so to possibly not have anything covered this winter is just an acceleration of the plan in place. When I started there were 14 greens covered, over the years as the mats have deteriorated we have not replaced them and are down to about 6 greens worth of covers.

Some of the things we have done over the years to strengthen the plant and protect the turf going into winter that will not be covered has been: fall foliar fertilizers high in potassium which helps harden off the plant for the winter months and a thicker sand topdressing which helps in protecting the crown of the plant. This winter we had planned to use a turf paint which would help protect against desiccation if there is little snow cover and spring green due to heating of the plants with the dark green color. So far it is something that golf courses in the area have just started to experiment with, and we had planned to do our own experiment with it this winter.

I still think we will have an opportunity to get some covers down and even some turf paint, but if we don't I am not overly concerned. Thanks to everyone for a great 2010 season! Let's hope for a good winter and a better 2011 season.

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.

After The Championship

( 2010_08_29 - Looking back on hole 5 )

Congratulations to all the winners this past weekend, we had a great turn out for the entire 2010 Club Championship. Last I heard there were around 195 total players from Wednesday through Sunday, pretty cool if you ask me. I want to thank my staff for a super job getting the course prepped for our biggest event of the year. We had great weather to get the place a little firm and keep the speed up. A lot of people asked me how fast the greens were, we stimped them both days around 6:30am and were able to keep them right around 11. To put that in perspective, we have been able to hold around a 10 most of the summer and rarely fell below the 9.5 mark. USGA Stimpmeter Information for those unfamiliar with what the numbers mean and how it is measured. The other thing we were able to do thanks to my staff was mow all the fine turf areas every morning from Wednesday through Sunday, this kept the golf course in top shape throughout the entire event. I really hope everyone enjoyed a great tournament...

So now that the tourney is over we will start some of the normal end-of-summer practices. Fairways and tees will be aerified soon, and this year we will just be aerifying collars around the greens because of the MGA Tournament being held at IVGC on September 27 & 28. This will most likely push us to do our normal core aerification on greens next spring and then I am considering a deep tine aerification in the fall. As usual though, we will do everything we can to keep the disruption to play at an absolute minimum. 

Also this fall, early October, Hartman Companies will be out renovating the bunkers and approach on hole #7, the tee on #8, and the tee on #4. This plan is to tier the tee box on #8 so there are two distinct teeing surfaces, and make the tee on #4 much larger while re-aligning it with the hole. The space between the two holes will be decreased to about half the size and planted with perennial grasses as a buffer between. The left fairway bunker on 7 will be renovated in its current location while the right fairway bunkers will be filled in and a new bunker will be placed near the 100 yard stake. The green side bunker on 7 will be brought around the front corner a little and built up in the back for better visibility. There is a chance that 18 fairway bunker will also be renovated at that time, but that project is currently on a wait-and-see.

I know things start to slow down around the course once school starts, but I hope everyone can keep on coming out. There is a lot of great golf weather ahead of us.

How Much Peat? Or Organic Matter for that matter...

( 2010_07_19 - Soil Boring #14 Approach )

In an effort to better understand what kind of soil structure, or lack there of, we did some soil borings on #14 approach today. With the pond banks collapsing, the bunkers in need of renovation, and the approach a rolly-polly expanse, the greens committee is starting the planning process for what will take place over the next couple of years. The amount of organic matter, specifically peat, has always been in question in that area. And with renovation plans beginning we needed to get a handle on what exactly we are dealing with in the area.

( 2010_07_19 - Soil Boring on #14 Approach )

From the looks of things as the cores were coming out, we are not in a situation where we will need to excavate any substantial peat. The soil profile appeared to be made up of about 4 feet soil & peat, then about 2-3 feet very sloppy wet gray clay, and then down to the boring depth of 20 feet it was generic looking clay. Braun Intertec will be compiling a report on the profile and getting that back to us. With that general knowledge we should be able to come up with a pretty good game plan for renovation of the general area. It's nice to know we don't need to dig up 15 feet of junk and then fill it all back in with some proper soils for good growing conditions. 

Greening Up

( 2010_04_04 - Hole #6 )

Things have definitely greened up over the last week to two weeks. Leaves are even starting to emerge on some trees. There is no question that things are a little ahead of schedule this year, and that is a great thing.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be making it around to the few damaged spots we had in some fairways and the 16th green. Roughing them up and getting some seed and soil mix worked into them. To continue the theme of natural stone work we will be removing the wooden steps on the second tee and replacing them with ones like 9 and 16. We will also be doing some work around 16 with the cart path near the green and some drainage at the bottom of the hill. We have started the bunker cleanup and edging, taking notes on ones that need some sand added, and cleaning up the grass faces that have accumulated sand over the last season. The old style bunkers did not have a lot of that problem associated with them. With the newer bunkers and the high grass slopes we are realizing we need to do a little more maintenance to keep the turf in good shape. We are putting together a game plan and will have it worked into our normal routine shortly so we can keep the grass slopes in those problem areas in tip top shape.

The thirteenth fairway is coming along nicely. It has been mowed once and fertilized all ready. You can now see what the tentative idea for fairway and rough cuts are. There will be an intermediate cut also, like most other holes on the course. With the fertilizer and mowing, once things warm up, it should really take off and start filling in. Stay tuned...

Signs of Spring

( 2010_03_15 - #18 Green Surround - Snow Mold )

Ten days ago I was showing you 2 feet of snow on the greens and throughout the golf course, oh what ten days has done to things. Now we are about 80% open and the rain is falling. So far what I have seen has me very optimistic that the course came through the winter in great shape and we just need the temps up to get things growing. With the extensive snow cover for the entire winter season we have a lot of Gray Snow Mold in the rough areas where we do not chemically treat to prevent it. As you can see from the picture of the 18th green surround, it is abundant. And from what I have seen around town, home lawns are showing the same thing. When things warm up a bit a good hand raking in these areas will bust up the gray cotton looking mycelium and aid in a quick recovery. As for the treated areas, the turf looks healthy and free of disease.

( 2010_03_15 - #13 Fairway )

I have been a little apprehensive all winter wondering how #13 fairway was going to look coming out of winter. Last October was not kind to us at all with regards to trying to grow anything from seed, especially the extent of an entire fairway. We had great germination of both the ryegrass and more importantly the bluegrass, but once the rains and cooler weather moved in the new seedlings really slowed their growth. Much to my relief, it appears we are starting the season better then I expected. The turf is very thin, but even with as wet as it is I was able to walk on it without too much of a problem. There are a lot of areas with a good stand of turf. I have a couple of plans in place for fertilizer depending on the weather, but what we really need is a quick spring with warm temps to get the turf growing and filling in the open spots. Where it is struggling the most is the approach area, the shade from the trees lining the left side really hindered the germination by keeping things cool and wet. A couple of options for the really poor areas would be overseed or sod, as things progress during the next month or so we will make a decision and put the plan into action.

Tree Trimming

Well things have opened up a little on #15, I am sure this bit of tree trimming will please many of you. The staff has been doing a lot of trimming over the last couple of weeks and capping it all off for the season is the work that was done on #15 today. We had Landberg's Tree Service trim up a few of the oak trees along the right side of the fairway, including removing the major branch that hung low over the approach area. They also cleaned up some of the oaks next to #6 tee and a couple of ash trees to the right of #5 approach. All in all a good days work for the guys.

With the approaching winter weather it looks as though we are about done with all the course work and will concentrate on equipment and other shop duties for the remainder of the snowy months. We again surrounded the course with snow fence to help deter any wayword snowmobilers, and we also have a handful of the greens covered like last year. Everything went into winter looking really good, considering the October weather we had even #13 fairway looks good. I can say right now that it will probably be a early June opening for that hole because of the weather we had, and we will do everything we can in the spring to make it playable as soon as possible. Is it possible to be on it earlier, yeah anything is possible, but I would guess it won't be the case... We'll see in the spring.

Overall, we had another excellent year at IVGC. The weather was dry until October, but that just meant more days to golf. The turf took the drought really well, and the irrigation system played a huge roll with that. Our projects went smooth, other then the delay on #4,7, & 8. The grounds crew did a super job from top to bottom in keeping the place in great shape, my thanks to them for a job well done. There are still a few turf issues lingering that we need to address going into 2010, along with some drainage problems in a couple of areas. We are currently planning some of the smaller projects for next season, and the greens committee is always looking for input on what members think should be addressed.

I hope everyone has a good winter, and a happy holiday season. I will continue to update the blog with what is going on around the shop and course. So stay tuned...

Seed Germination

On Sunday I noticed a few shoots on thirteen fairway, on Monday a few more, and today there is definitely a green tint to large portions of the fairway. We seeded it Last Wednesday so everything we see right now is Ryegrass, but by the end of the week we should definitely see the bluegrass germinating. The mix was roughly 80% premium bluegrass and 20% perennial ryegrass, and so far it is coming along as planned. Here's hoping for a long fall that allows us to get a good stand of grass before winter sets in...

Heat, Water, & Seed

The renovation on number thirteen was completed on Wednesday. Now with a some help from the weather things will be in good shape going into winter. We used erosion control blankets around the four catch basins and the approach area to prevent as much erosion as we can if we should get a heavy rain. The bunker surrounds were sodded also for this reason, especially concerning the steeper faces and mounding. We used a 80% premium bluegrass/20% ryegrass mix of seed, so we should see some seed germination in under a week. All in all the project went very smooth and the weather helped out a lot, save for the lack of rain at the end but once we got the irrigation up and running it didn't matter.

From what I have seen over the last couple of days, people are obeying the signs and staying out of the roped area if their ball should find its way onto the dirt. This is critical, one being the muddy mess that would be created and two the disruption in the seed bed would create "dirt" footprints as germination starts to take place. So thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

On another note. Greens aerification went great and after a week and a half the greens are looking very good. The greens should be back in tip-top shape shortly. We are about half way through aerifying the fairways and the tees will be done next Tuesday and Thursday.

Watering Dirt

What a busy ten days since my last update. All the greens have been aerified, and about half the fairways are complete. Tees are on the agenda for this coming week, along with finishing up fairways. And number thirteen is shaping up very well. All the irrigation is in and everything is working. The soil was so dry and hard that we needed to get the water turned on before any bunker work or seeding could take place. I have been watering the dirt heavily for the past couple of days trying to get the subsurface moist and start to melt down some of the harder clumps that would not break up. Monday is the big for finishing up the bunkers and getting one last grade on the fairway. Seed and sod will be finished up Monday and Tuesday, and it looks as though the weather will cooperate...

Just a reminder about aerifying... We mow greens every other day for about a week or so following plugging. We want as little stress on the turf as possible so we can get a speedy recovery. Tees are similar, and because of the soil content we need them to be dry before we can mow them after aerifying so the mowers are out in the afternoon. We try and disrupt play as little as possible during these critical cultural practices and we appreciate everyones understanding. In a couple weeks the greens should be back to normal and weather permitting there will be a bunch of days left for some golf.

Renovation Continues...

A lot of grading has been done, the bunkers are roughly shaped in, and today the main drainage basins and tile are being installed.

Renovation Is Underway

Renovation on #13 began on Friday. It should take 7-10 days to get everything graded, seeded, and bunkers built. Here's hoping for a great stretch of weather to get the new fairway established...

I stitched together a couple of snapshots I took of the clouds that rolled in this morning over the golf course, right before we got dumped on for about 5 minutes. Thankfully it was not enough rain to delay the project on #13 any longer. The bulldozer and tiller are now working on it as I type this. We've made the hole a par 3 for the time being, with the tee box located about 125 yards out on the left side of the cart path. We will be keeping the hole cut on the right side of the green to keep it as playable as possible. We may readdress the location once the fairway is seeded, because at that point there can absolutely not be any traffic on it while the seed is being established. Overall I think it works out well, and everyone can play to the green rather then a situation where a temp green is involved.