Course remains open

Notice – due to the unseasonably warm weather this upcoming week, the golf course will remain open.  We will continue to monitor the temperatures and notify the membership at a later date about the course closing.  Please note that tee times will be limited in the morning hours due to frost delays, we ask that you do not walk onto the course until the frost has burned off.  We hope to see you out enjoying another round or two.

Thanksgiving weekend

The course will remain open through the holiday, including Friday.  Please note: the Golf Shop will be closed on Thursday, if you wish to walk off your overindulgence, please make plans to acquire your clubs before Thursday.

 

Enjoy the holiday!

 

Productive day

Although the weather has turned cold, the grounds staff still has a lot on our plate to wrap up before the end of the season.  We had a productive day, here's what we spent our time on today:

• Mowed greens
• Mowed rough
• Mowed range banks
• Mowed intermediate around fairways
• Removed seasonal flowers and pumpkins from the front entrance
• Stored the tennis court benches for the season
• Picked up all the leaves around the tennis courts
• Fertilized all the fairways and range
• Picked up sticks
• Picked up bags of salt for the upcoming winter weather
• Oil changes on equipment
• Hung Christmas lights around the clubhouse

Thanks to the crew for a job well done!

Sod installed

On Monday we removed sod from the 10th fairway that will no longer be in use and placed it on the new tees.

Sod being removed from the front of the old 10 fairway.

Being shuttled and laid on the new tee.

 

Below is a look at some of the work we did for the new tees

Removed the trees from the area.

Added soil to create the desired height.

Sodded the surface and seeded the surrounds.

 

I'm happy to note that the grass has germinated on the tee surrounds.  We have placed covers around the tee to promote more growth before the winter.  I am optimistic that the juvenile turf will survive the winter and give us a great head start coming into next season. 

 

This will be the end of the work on #10 for 2015, we will open it back up in 2016 with some minor adjustments around the green to finish off the project.

End of the season

Today was the unofficial end to the 2015 season as we cleared the irrigation lines in preparation for the oncoming winter. 

Tree planting

Last week, 16 trees were planted on the property, bringing the total to 37 trees planted over the last 4 years.  Most of the trees planted this fall were around the tennis courts, breaking up the industrial look of the tennis court fencing.

Near the courts we planted - Black Gum, Crabapple and Spruce.  On the course we planted a Beech, Maple and Honey Locust. 

 

As areas open up through tree removals, we evaluate the spot to determine if a new tree needs to be planted.  Our goal is to maintain the look and feel of FCC and it's many mature trees into the next century.  Tree planting is the ultimate 'long term' strategy to beautify the course.  Someday, your grandkids will benefit from the trees that we are planting today.

Bunker sand installation

Yesterday we started the installation of sand in the bunkers on 10, we have one half of a bunker left.  The sand was installed at 6" in depth, by spring the sand will have had a chance to compact and will be around 4" in depth.

The guys left for the day quite tired and sore, having moved 40 tons of sand around by hand on Thursday.  We have another 15 tons left to install.

 

 

Below shows the progression of the 10th hole over the last few weeks.

Pre-project, October 14

After sand removal, October 16

Bunker shaping, October 21

Sod installation, October 23

Sand Installation, November 5

 

If we dry out later today, we may be able to finish the sand installation.  Next week we hope to tackle the task of sodding the tee surface, the sod for this will be coming off the 10th fairway that will no longer be needed due to the shortened hole. 

Seeding 10 tee surrounds

Due to the great weather this week, we decided to seed the surrounds of the new 10th tee box.  We are hopeful that we can get the seed to germinate this year yet, speeding up the recover process next spring.

The area was raked smooth, seeded, then covered with straw to keep the seed moist.

 

Tomorrow, another load of sod is coming in, we will be finishing the sod work around the bunkers.

10 Tee irrigation

Before any sod can be laid on the new 10th tee, a new irrigation line servicing the tee had to be installed. During the last few days, we tackled that piece of the renovation project. 

A water line was run from the existing fairway, communication wire was laid from the satellite box between 10/11 and two heads were installed to water the new tee. 

 

Course update

The rain last night and today has totaled 1.6" thus far, with most of it soaking right in.  Leading up to this point, we have been extremely dry with only 2" of rain in the last two months and .6" in the last 45 days.  The abnormal dry conditions have no doubt made for some challenging conditions on the greens, some commenting that the greens are too fast and others telling me that they have never been better at FCC.  An interesting fact is that we haven't rolled greens in over two weeks, the greens have just been plain fast without us trying. 

Aerification went great on Monday and Tuesday.  We poured the sand on then solid-tined them twice, once with a deep-tine machine going 10"deep, then once with our aerifier going 4" deep, each machine with 3/4" solid tines.  After the sand dried, the sand was drug into the aerification holes, creating drainage channels and areas for optimal root growth.  Over the next few days we will continue to work the sand in and start rolling the greens to smooth them out.

A load of trees (16 trees) arrived today, they will be planted around the property over the next coming weeks.  3 trees will be planted on the course with the remainder being planted along Country Club Drive in front of the tennis courts.  The coincides with our Landscape Master Plan and part of our front entrance project.

The 10th hole project is going well, most of the sod was laid last week, yesterday we beat the rain and finished the drainage in the four bunkers.  The goal this week is to install the sand in the bunkers, next week we will continue with sod if weather permits.

This is also the time of year were leaves are falling in droves.  We are trying our best to keep a somewhat clean course and will continue to blow and mulch until the last leaf is off.  The recent frosts have slowed the grass growth which is a tremendous help as we are now able to spend time on projects vs. mowing. 

In our spare time we will begin delivering wood for members that burn through the winter.  I have 7 loads on a waiting list that need to be delivered.  If you would like a wood delivery for this winter, please let me know, the wood pile will be disappearing fast. 

Project update

A lot has been accomplished since my post last week.  We started the week by stripping the remaining sod in the area of disturbance, today we layed fresh sod to cover the new features.  Our Shaper arrived Monday afternoon and went right to work, at the end of the day Wednesday, the four new bunkers were completed.  By the end of the day Friday, all the features will be shaped and ready for sod and sand. 

The Shaper started moving dirt every morning by 7:00 with the aid of lights.

Today, the bunkers were edged and trenched for drainage.

The Grounds staff has been very diligent and busy with this large project.  75% of our time has been spent on the 10th hole, trying to get things done so that we can move on.  Yesterday we were busy moving an irrigation line that was in the way of a new bunker.  Today we finished edging bunkers, and started laying sod.  Friday we will focus on drainage and sod.

 

Next week we will be tied up with aerifying greens on Monday and Tuesday.  In between course maintenance, we will continue to work on 10 towards the end of the week.

Renovation begins

The renovation work to the 10th hole has begun.  This week's activity was prep work for the bulk of the project to be done next week.  We have a Shaper coming in next week, starting Tuesday, to shape the new tees and bunkers.  The remainder of the work will be done in-house.

Soil was brought in to build a base for the new tee.  We placed it as it was coming in to gauge the amount of soil needed.  The Shaper may need to move it around and compact it, re-shaping it, next week.  After the base is built, topsoil will be added to make a finish grade.  The top of the tee will be sodded with bentgrass that will come off the current 10th fairway.

About 60 yards from the green, to the right, will be some mounding jutting out into the fairway.  Sod was stripped out yesterday, soil will be added and shaped, this area will be seeded. 

The strategic point of entry to the green will be from the right side, this mounding will make golfers think twice about using driver on this hole.

All the bunker sand was removed from the bunkers.  We saved as much sand as possible, which will be placed back into the new bunkers.  Looking at the pile of good sand that we took out, I estimate we saved $1,500 worth of bunker sand.

The sod around the bunkers will be ripped out, the Shaper will implode the current bunkers and build 4 new bunkers around the 10th green (2 will be rebuilt in the similar location, 2 will be new).

 

The next two weeks will be extremely busy for us as we focus on the project and greens aerification on October 26.  Course maintenance will be at a minimum to allow us personnel to complete the project.  We are currently down 3 men due to unexpected sickness/surgeries, we will do our best to keep the course playable and complete this project.

Change in mowing height

One of the topics of discussion this year with a few members was the rough around the fairways, more specifically the rough between the fairways and fairway bunkers.  Because the rough in these areas are irrigated and fertilized along with the fairways, they tend to be very thick; and these areas of very thick rough tend to jut out into the fairway in places that penalize the higher handicap players.

Therefore after a discussion with the Grounds Committee, we are giving some of these areas a trial run at a different height.  At select locations, we will be mowing these areas down to intermediate height, reducing the penalty of landing in one of these jungles that jut out into the fairways.

Holes that we are trying this on include - 3,7,10 and 15

10th hole renovation preperations

This Monday we started our prep work for the 10th hole renovation project.  Three trees were removed to make way for the placement of the new tees. 

 

The majority of the work will be done in late October after the Beall Invite.  The scope of the project includes - new tees, updated bunkering, and changing the fairway contours.  This project will be consistent with the Golf Course Master Plan that was constructed this past winter through the Grounds Committee and the architect firm Hills and Forrest.

Water Quality

With the recent Lake Erie algae blooms, a lot of people are pointing fingers every which way.  Some feel golf courses are to blame because of their fertilizer applications and the 'green' turf that just can't be good.  With FCC located on the Blanchard River and in the Lake Erie watershed, how we manage our property is very important, just as it is for any property owner in Hancock County and beyond.

Last season, I took two water samples - one from the Blanchard River and one from our drain tile that drains the course.  The water leaving the tile was cleaner and had less nitrogen and phosphorus than the water from the Blanchard.  Because we irrigate with water from the Blanchard, FCC turf is acting as a natural filter - filtering out sediment and nutrients and recycling clean water back into the river.

This year, we have done more testing, this time testing the creek that runs through the course.  We tested (by an independent lab) the creek as it enters the property by #14 and tested the creek as it leaves the property by #18.  What we found is we are reducing the nitrate levels and the phosphorus levels are too low to measure.  Again, FCC is acting as a filter for the water entering the Blanchard that it comes in contact with.

There are a couple ways we make the creek cleaner - 1. Water coming through our drain system has been filtered by the turf.  Turf is a great way to filter sediment and use up nutrients.  If fertilizer is not over-applied, turf will improve water quality, not harm it.  I contend that if all of Northwest Ohio was covered in properly managed turf, the Blanchard and Maumee rivers would run clear.  2. We have aquatic plants that live in our creek, they filter out sediment and use up nutrients.  They act as a wetland that takes contaminants out of the water.

Our soil consultant getting water samples from the Blanchard.