Thursday

Non-member play on the golf course has been a real challenge this winter and something we’re going to have to get a handle on.  Today’s high temperature is 18*F. 

Wednesday

The snow is falling in Highlands although we aren’t expecting a whole lot.  Hap and I walked the golf course; there’s not a more peaceful stroll than on a golf course while it’s snowing and one can hear snow flakes hitting the ground. I better end this post here or else I’m going to write an award winning poem. 🙂

7-Day Forecast

 

Tuesday

These photos of the 16th hole show the slope with the modified hinge point to make the left side of the green surround more playable as opposed to the awkward lies that were common in the past. 

Last fall, the Club started on the new employee housing project and one of the first things my team did, was cut back the roadside vegetation to make it safe to enter and exit the driveway onto Dillard Road.  When we cleared the bank off, we found an old set of steps that were made of native stone!  Since there is no longer a need for them in that location, we dug them out for use on the golf course.  In a week or two, we are going to be creating a safer set of steps from 8 green up to #9 cart path below the tees.  

The step stones were dug out of the bank and hauled back to the maintenance building where they will be cleaned up and repurposed.

Monday

The temperature dropped down to 13*F last night, which means the top layer of the ground refroze.  This means we had to stop with the sod prep and switch to some other projects on our list.  One thing that you're going to notice this coming season is substantially less pinestraw on the golf course.  All key areas around the course will now be either grass or mulch, which is far more in keeping with a golf course in our climate.  Mulch is more expensive but it is a native material, making the change worth while.  It also requires us to remove the numerous non-decomposed layers of straw that remain in areas, like the bank above the first green.  Today, our team starting working on these former pinestraw beds, getting them ready for mulch sometime in March.  

Below, two tractor drivers and an excavator operator are working non-stop hauling stump grinding shavings and mulch piles left by the chipper this past winter.  This is a task that consumes 3 out of our 10 team members this time of year, all day/every day.  Every winter, I get numerous suggestions on what projects we should be working on.  In addition to that, we have all the agronomic practices that MUST get done each winter, piled on top of those.  With a crew of ten, minus the guys on the equipment below, we're left with 7 people to do the improvement work you see every spring.  This is a very small team and the fact that we accomplish what we do accomplish is nothing short of impressive.  This is also the reason we are outside working in temperatures less than 20*F.  If we are going to take on the aggressive list of projects that we do, we need to be outside when conditions are far from ideal.  I'm proud of this team for hanging in there every day!    

This winter we are re-sodding the green surrounds on hole #16.  This spring, the 16th hole will have a beautiful look and will play even better with new Kentucky Bluegrass surrounds.  One very positive change you'll probably notice, is the modification we're making to the hinge point, where the bank on the left of the hole, meets the green elevation.  When the green was constructed in 1998, an effort was made to catch water before it ran across the green surface.  The effort to accomplish this was effective, but it led to a very awkward lie if your golf ball got in that angle.  See my drawing at the end of this post to get a better idea of what I am talking about.

Friday

It didn't take long for about half of the new employee housing structure to get its first coat of paint.  The darker brown color certainly makes the building less noticeable from the road compared to the primer yellow color the siding was after it was initially installed.  Below, sheetrock (aka drywall) is being hoisted into the breezeway for workers to start installing in the rooms.

While sod is on the way for #10, we are prepared for more heavy rains on Saturday night.

After today, #17 approach modifications will be complete!

We are treating all greens and tees with another fungicide application for preventative snow mold control.  This is the time of year we begin to see snow mold on the golf course and it can be a stubborn pathogen.  Rather risk the fungus on greens, this application will make sure we don't have to deal with it.

Thursday

We are spending a lot of time prepping for sod in areas that were disturbed during our winter golf course work.  The curbing in areas, like this one behind the 6th green, will be a big improvement on the course this year.  We are also taking the time to square up about ten different tee boxes on the golf course.  This tee on #7, had crept out pretty far.

We've laid a fair amount of sod to date.  We are pushing to get more so we can cover up the exposed soil we have on a few holes, like #16 and especially #10.  The past 3 days gave us 4.1" of rain and we faired really well.  However, I can assure you there is some worrying that comes with it!  We are trying to avoid having to prepare the soil more than once for sod.  The faster we cover these areas with grass, the better off we'll be!  Tomorrow, we are expecting a load of Creeping Bentgrass.

Practice Facility

In order to reduce wear and tear on the practice facility, we purchased new ball picking hardware for James. Not only will we reduce wear caused by the ball picker, we’ll also save considerably on fuel. 

Outside the Ropes

To enlarge each image to read, simply click on either photo.  You'll be able to zoom in at that point.

Below are two pieces from Golf Course Industry Magazine; one from Bradley Klein and the other from Tim Moraghan.  Tim was the USGA Championship Agronomist from the early 1980's up until 2008.  He now works as a consultant and head hunter and will be visiting Highlands CC with me, this fall. Many of you are familiar with Bradley Klein, author of Discovering Donald Ross, because he visited the Club several years ago and was a speaker at an Enrichment Event night.

Tuesday

On the 10th hole, prepping the soil for sod is well under way and looking great.  However, anytime we work on this hole, we have to hope for the best in terms of rain.  Any uncovered areas are prone to erosion should we receive heavy rains where water gets above the stream banks.  The week, as much as 7" of rain is predicted!  We're hoping the rain doesn't come in huge volumes at once, rather steady over a longer period of time.  This will keep the water confined within the stream banks.  We've set out about 100 bales of wheat straw to act as water breaks should the water get out of the stream.

Above, you can see the attractive headwall that was constructed around the 24" culvert that was used to divert water around the pond during the dredging process.  Below, the fairway and rough are ready for sod.  Once complete, the dredging project is officially finished!

USGA Green Section Record

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Click above for the latest edition of the USGA Green Section Record.

Deer on #11 Fairway

This morning a total of 4 bucks were standing in the middle of #11 fairway!  This is something you don’t see everyday!

7-Day Forecast

USGA: Anatomy of a Bunker

Thursday

Wayne is prepping the soil on #10 for sod that is scheduled for next Tuesday morning.  We cut a crisp edge on the turf to be able to tie in the new sod.  Below, you can see we started removing the turf that was damaged from dredging #10 pond.  This area is where the material de-watered before being hauled off site.

More sod was installed on #12 green surround.  One thing I think will be fun is the low cut Bentgrass turf that will be installed behind the green, on the slope.  I'm referring to the bare ground between the actual green and the new sod along the cart path behind the green.  This will allow balls to roll back towards the green if you hit your approach shot a little too long.  Unlike the old green, your ball won't roll all the way back off the front of the green, down into the fairway.

Our golf course contractor is fusing irrigation pipe back together that we had to cut in order to make room for the 24" culvert that was installed on #10 to divert water away from the pond during dredging.  I see the the culvert pipe as a benefit and is going to stay there and we'll be constructing a nice boulder headwall around the end of the pipe.

On the 11th hole, we modified the edges of the approach to get away from the hourglass shape.  While the approach isn't the width of the putting green, it is more characteristic of a Donald Ross design.  At the same time, it still allows shorter hitters to bail out on the right.