A New Year Begins...

Well, we are back at it in the shop. Maintenance on equipment, supplies, etc. is going along smoothly. Dave & I have seminars and a trade show the rest of this week in Minneapolis at the Convention Center and will be back in the shop on Monday. Brian is working on equipment and Frank McGinn III has been helping out in the shop over his holiday break.

The warmer weekend and rain brought about some ice formation on the greens. We walked all 18 today to get an idea of what we are facing and so far things are not very alarming. A couple of greens have a fairly thick layer on them in spots but most areas are under 1/2" thick and cloudy. Cloudy and full of air bubbles is the ok kind of ice because there is enough air there usually that the plants will not suffocate before the melting occurs. Clear ice is the stuff you do not want to see for very long because there is little to no air trapped there and that is when the plants can suffer. On average poa annua (annual bluegrass) is ok for upwards of 90 days under ice before damage, while bentgrass can go longer under cover. We will monitor the situation from here on out and make the decisions we need to make to make sure we do not have a problem with it... It just showed up for the most part so we have some time to watch what happens to the weather patterns and the ice.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

As many of you know or guessed, during the holiday weeks we take some vacation and there is almost nothing going on in the shop. Except for snowplow duty we are not around during Christmas and New Year's.

So here is a MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR for everyone from us in the maintenance department. We hope your holidays are safe and bring you joy & happiness.

See you next year!

Nice to see snow...

We just finished up some tree trimming, holes #1,2,9,13,14,15,16, and 17. The guys are done until next season. And there is a nice layer of snow on the course with more on the way. As many of you know the course is going with a new electric golf cart fleet next year and we have been ironing out the details lately. Besides signing the dotted line and waiting until delivery next year, there is still a little electrical work to be done in the cart shed to accommodate the new fleet. The plan is for all the member carts to be on the driving range side of the shed and the club carts to be on the other. Our current numbers show a few extra member carts that do not fit on the member side but, with some on the exit list and a few considering removing their carts, there should not be any problems with the storage situation.

Dave, Brian, and myself are now working on equipment and supplies to get them ready for next season. We have a lot of stuff that needs minor repairing and touch-up. Also, as of last winter, we handle the snow removal for the club. The three of us are on call for rotating weeks that go from Monday to Sunday throughout the winter months. With working in the shop, snow removal, seminars, and a little vacation we stay busy during the winter months. Before you know it the snow is melting and the clubs are swinging...

A Little Summary Since Closing

Here's a little summary of what has been happening at IVGC since we closed the course a couple of weeks ago...

We have six greens covered with mats, #1, 7, 8, 15, 16, nursery green, and also #4 teebox. There has been some tree trimming going on, a little more leaf clean-up, and snow fence... We put up about 5,000 feet of snow fence this year to limit the snowmobile traffic onto the golf course. We have not had a serious problem in the last few years, although last year there was some minor damage to the ninth green. I felt though that 2 days of labor is worth it to prevent a potential nightmare in the spring. We continue to leave the driving range un-marked so snowmobilers can run around there as much as they want, just the teebox is fenced off. The steps on #16 tee have been completed, the work was done about the first week of November. We have had great comments on them from those who got to see them before the course closed. Natural stone steps with flagstone size pieces to fill in the open areas, they are definitely solid and will last over time... One last note, we also planted two new trees just a couple of days ago. There is a new oak tree where the two maples came out on the corner of #10 and there is a new honeylocust between #11 & #12 where we transplanted the evergreens from last fall.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...

Worms?

How did the aerifying go? What can we do about the worms? Were you happy with the conditions this year? What are you planning for next year? These are the typical things I am asked about this time of year, often the questions sound a little "loaded" to me but they are all legitimate none the less. And the cliche that there is no stupid question is very true, so ask away whenever there is something on your mind.

Worms are something we fight in the spring and fall, the fall always seems to be worse and the annoyance lasts much longer. Our fairways have a great black soil for growing grass on, which in turn is a great medium for worms. When we get these rains every few days and the soil surface stays moist the worms have no reason to move deeper and they stay around the surface. The black mud spots we have in the fairways is a result of their castings being flattened out by traffic. In the spring the soil dries out a little quicker leading into summer so the problem does not persist like it does now. Is there anything we can do? Yes there are a couple of things we can do...

One of the fungicides we currently use in the fairways for disease prevention also deters worm activity. We currently use the maximum amount (10.9 lbs./acre) per year we can according to the label to prevent Anthracnose, Dollar Spot, and Leaf Spot which can be a problem for us. So as a side effect we do get some deterrence of worms.

Sandy soils also deter worm activity. The main reason we do not have problems on our greens is because of the high sand content in the top 4-5 inches of the soil profile. We do not have that in the fairways, it is a nice loam with minimal sand content. We can topdress our fairways with sand, it is showing success at other courses that have chosen to do it. A couple of things to consider there however is building up layers in the soil profile and cost of application. Layers create water problems and root issues so it is a major issue to consider. Once on a sanding program it is very difficult to stop it, until a decent layer of sand is built up it could cause major problems in the future with turf health. And cost is another factor, while the sand is not so expensive the cost of delivery keeps rising. I am currently researching this option for IVGC and plan to present the green committee and BOD with what I find. It appears that it would work in taking care of much of our worm problem, now we just need to make sure it fits into our budget for the long term. It should be noted that turf quality will improve with incorporating sand into our soil profile, not only from less mud caused by worm castings but also with water movement and firmness. #3 & #14 approach would be the first to show some signs of improved quality since there is so much peat in those profiles...

Just something to chew on over the winter months and perhaps plan to start next year...

Colors Are A Changing

Fall colors have started to show up here and there, and if the vibrant colors a few trees on the golf course have shown is any indication of what to expect this fall it could be a terrific year for colors. I knew a little of why leaves change colors, and why certain years are better then others for brilliant hues, but I did not have all the details. I came across this description: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/misc/leaves/leaves.htm and it does a good job of keeping the science in layman's terms for all of us to understand.

I am hoping this fall lasts for a while and gives us plenty of time to play golf and get some projects completed. If it is anything like this spring though it won't be around long and we will go straight into winter. Yikes, let's hope not.

It has been over a month since the last post! Well the golf course is still here and doing well. Club championship weekend was wonderful, good times had by all I think. We had some "creative" pin locations which has given us some food for thought for future locations. Unfortunately we just had too many hard locations and not enough easier ones. And on top of that there were a couple that were just plain dumb.

Aerifying is almost complete. We have two fairways left on the front nine and then it will be done. So this week we will start up again on the smaller projects of tidying things up. Pretty soon it will be nothing but leaf control and getting things ready for winter. But enough of that, there is still plenty of great fall golf ahead.

For those that do not know, my wife Maia and I, along with Lucas of course, bought a house in Waconia recently. It took us 2 1/2 years to sell our home in Fairmont, that happened in early July. We closed here in Waconia at the end of August, and are looking forward to settling down and opening some boxes which have been closed for over 3 years.