And it keeps getting wetter

Another .5" last night brought us to 2.8" in the last 12 days.  Yes we are wet, but what a great time of year to get the wet spell over with, the temperatures haven't been great for playing anyway.  The other great news is that during this wet spell we aerified green and fairways, getting that out of the way for the year. 

When you can't get out on the turf because it's too wet - you can always play in the sand. 

 Yesterday we spent the day edging the bunkers; today we pulled weeds, picked out rocks, smoothed out edges and gave them the first rake of the year.

We cleaned out all the bunkers and the rakes are out, they are ready for the season.  

Rainy day - bunker work

For most of the morning the 'feels like' temperature was 37 degrees with a light breeze and rain.  With weather like that there wasn't a ton of productive options, so we spent all day working on our bunkers, the only place that was somewhat dry and not muddy. 

Austin is raking out the edge of this bunker. 

We pulled out all the weeds, pushed up sand into all the washouts from this winter and raked in a 2" lip around the edge of each bunker.  Tomorrow we will spin the bottoms of the bunkers in preparation for Opening Day.  Thanks to the crew for their hard work today in the not so pleasant weather. 

Grounds update

I recorded sparse rain from the end of April through the middle of May, we were getting fairly dry.  This all ended this past weekend as we received almost 3" of rain over three days.  As these fronts move through, they typically bring wind with it, and wind means plenty of sticks and debris.

Phil has been on stick duty most days this past week, keeping the course clean on a daily basis.

Most of the mulch has been laid and the annuals almost all in the ground, Peggy is now turning her attention to some of the details in the landscape beds around the club.

Jeff and Tim from Blanchard Valley Center finished planting the pots today.  In a few weeks the Grounds Staff will hold a cookout for all the BVC clients that helped us out.  Jeff, pictured above challenged me to a round of golf, winner gets a hat - he's pumped! 

Due to the recent storm activity, we needed to spend some time on our bunkers to get them back in shape.  The crew did a great job today edging, weeding, pickup up stones, and raking the bunkers.

This spring we purchased a much needed bunker rake through our capital budget.  We were able to get a good deal on a used demo.  The updated machine is significantly better than our old rake, increasing our efficiency in this area while also providing a better surface in the bunker.

The finished look of the bunkers today was outstanding, the crew was really proud of the finished product.

Grounds update

We are slowly greening up out here, great conditions are not too far off.

Here is 12 green as it sits today.

Just two weeks ago, 12 was more brown than green.

The project we've been tackling during the last two days has been the bunkers, getting them in shape for the season.  All the winter debris has been removed, the bunkers have been edged, all the weeds have been pulled and the washouts repaired.  The staff did a great job yesterday working through the rain and putting a big dent in the bunker repairs.

Eric is fixing one of the perennial washouts on 5, then putting the finishing touches on the bunkers with a final raking.

Chipping green bunker

This year we have on staff an intern from OSU, Evan Riggs, a native to the area.  One of his homework assignments this summer was to manage and complete a project on the course.  We had the perfect project for him - renovating the chipping green bunker.

Over years of use, the chipping green bunker bank built up a very thick layer of sand.  The bottom corner of the bunker gets used frequently and with every shot a few cups of sand get dispersed on the grass.  Over time it becomes unsightly and very difficult to grow grass on top of.  Here is a picture of what the banked looked like last week, no more grass in this area - only sand.

When probed, the bunker bank had an 18" sand cap.

First step was to pull back the sand from the edge and strip the sod.

Eric is finding where the top of the sod should be.

Evan then used the loader to remove the sand and get back to the original soil.

This is Evan and Jarred creating the new bunker edge.

Once down to soil level, the area was graded and sculpted to resemble the remainder of the bunker bank.

Sod from the nursery was laid today to keep the bank in place.

The finished product looks like it did 20 years ago, I suppose.  One of the crew discussion we had was how to prevent this or at least slow the process.  We will be blowing off the sand from the bank when we clean out bunkers and also washing the sand back into the bunker with a hose from time to time.

 

Before

After

 

Evan did a great job completing the project, so good that we will give him another one!

Bunker edges

One of the concerns we have been getting about our 2" bunker edges is the potential for a ball to hung up in the bunker next to the edge, not leaving any room for advancing the ball.  Certain holes are more prone to this happening vs. others.  Fairway bunkers seem to cause this due to their more flat construction and the fact that most balls entering a fairway bunker come in at a more flat trajectory vs. a green side bunker.  It has been discussed at the Grounds Committee meetings that tee shots have been known to roll into the fairway bunkers and come to rest at the far edge of the bunker.  While this scenario will never be eliminated because of our trimmed edge, we are trying to maintain the bunkers to aid the ball in rolling down the slope on the green side of them.

To aid the ball from getting trapped along the greens side edge of the bunker, we moved the edge of the bunker up the hill creating a slightly larger slope allowing the ball to roll down to a more reasonable space for a advancing shot.

Once we determined where we wanted our new bunker edge, we removed the sod and soil from that area and added to sand to enlarge the bunker.

Most of the bunkers out here have enough slope to them that the ball will roll away from the edge if the sand is firm enough.  The Grounds staff went around on Tuesday and fixed the bunkers that seemed to be causing most of the problems.

 

It is important to remember that our bunkers have a more flat construction and are not "flashed" bunkers.  There will always be that threat of the ball not coming to rest at a favorable spot in the bunker.  Many of our bunkers are extremely flat on the tee side and sides parallel with the hole.  If a ball trickles into the bunker, there is no slope causing it to roll away form the edge.  If you find yourself frequently along an edge with limited options, keep in mind that the bunkers are a hazard and are meant to penalize you.

Bunker work

The last three days were spent mainly on bunkers.  They sat unattended since October, this left plenty of debris, weeds and washouts for us to clean-up. 

All the weeds were pulled and the bunkers were cleared of debris.

All the washouts were fixed.

 

The edges were raked smooth.

 

Then the entire bunker was raked with the machine.  Finished bunkers just make the course look good.  With this project now complete, the course is really taking shape.

 

 

Weekend weather

This past weekend brought the course 3.75" of rain.  The course did well with the brunt of the rain over Friday night - we were able to allow carts on Saturday morning.  But with the continued light rain on Saturday and Sunday, the soil became saturated and it is now very wet.  From what I count on the calender, this is the 5th time that this has happened this year - major rain events bringing 2"+ in one shot.  I don't recall this happening at all last year, I don't think we had to fix our bunkers once, now it is a monthly occurrence. 

This is a 1' high pile of grass clippings over a drain in the fairway.  This tells me there was a lot of rain that came really fast.

Monday morning we had a few puddles lingering in the fairways.

Our bunkers washed out again.

We spent time cleaning them out before we could fix them.

The crew did a great job getting them back in shape.

 

 

Edging bunkers

The current project that the Grounds crew has been working on is the edging of bunkers.  We are about half way done with all the bunkers.  Our goal is to maintain around a 2 inch edge around all the bunkers throughout the year.  This really makes the bunkers stand out and gives an overall clean appearance.

Sand depths

The Grounds staff has been going around the course and checking the sand depths in each of the bunkers.  I want at least 3" of sand in the bottom of the bunker to eliminate the risk of a player hitting into soil.

Bunker rakes



I have received a lot of questions regarding the placement of bunker rakes.  "Do we leave them in or out?"  I prefer to leave the bunker rakes out of the bunkers only for the reason that we typically rake bunkers more often than we mow the grass around the bunker and not having to move the rakes every time we rake the bunker is a time saver.  When we mow the grass around the bunkers we will send a person around to put all the rakes inside of the bunker to speed up the process of mowing the banks.  On the next day we will take them all back out again.  So whether you come across a rake in or out, the best option is for you to leave it out when you are done.

Leave the rake out when you are done.