Being "green"

Some of you have already read the article in Saturday's Courier about water usage on golf courses.  If you didn't catch it, here is the link:

Courier Article

I appreciate John's article.  While everyone may have their political views or agendas on the environment and water usage - nobody can dispute the facts and John did a great job reporting facts and not biased information.  Here are the facts for FCC to reiterate the article:

1. FCC is home to a variety of wildlife from the bottom of the food chain all the way to top.  This is a great example of a healthy environment that is thriving from the insects, squirrels, rabbits and birds up to the deer, foxes and hawks.

 

2.  An independent lab test has confirmed that the water coming out of the drain tiles is cleaner than the water being applied for irrigation.  FCC is a 150 acre filter for the Blanchard River.  Healthy turf is a natural filter, trapping sediment and using the nutrients suspended in the water.

 

3. We employ handwatering techniques and the latest technology in wetting agents to make small amounts of water go further.  There are more problems with overwatering vs. drier conditions.  Therefore, excessive amounts of water are not used.  Moderate amounts of water are applied via irrigation as needed to maintain plant health.  Without healthy turf, runoff and soil movement increases, making light amounts of irrigation not only necessary for playing conditions but also a good environmental practice if rain is not in adequate supply.

 

In the end, we all agree: Do what we can to make this a better place!

 



More criminal damage

This morning we were greeted with an interesting surprise. 

 

11 green was tore up around the cup along with a few choice words.  The flagsticks and flags from #10 and #11 were missing and a tee marker from #9 was gone.

 

I apologize for not being able to get rid of the writing - it just needs to grow out.  Usually, anything done to try to cover it up just makes the writing look worse and draws attention to it.  The words should be gone after the weekend.

 

There was also a few items thrown into the pool.

Findlay PD came out and took pictures and will file a report.  I am having the officer request more patrols in the area during the evening hours.  His thought is that more patrols will not help much,  therefore we will be looking into costs for motion detector lighting and a security camera system.

 

Landscaping

We are again updating some of the landscape beds around the property. 

 

The outdated plants in the landscape beds around 8 tee were removed.

We then added Oakleaf Hydrangea, 'Cityline Rio' Hydrangea, Blackeyed Susan and Creeping Myrtle.

The landscape bed near the cart staging area was planted with 'Alice' Oakleaf Hydrangea.

 

Around the clubhouse we removed damaged plants from this past winter, replanting with 'Autumn Brilliance' Serviceberry, 'Ann' Magnolia, and 'Green Gem' Boxwood.  We also replaced the Heritage River Birch near the second bridge on 8/9.

 

Landscape plants are not inexpensive, when time allows and funds can be used, we will continue to replace and update the landscaping, keeping the clubhouse area an oasis that is pleasing to the eye.

 

Grounds staff golf outing

As I alluded to in an earlier post, the Grounds staff is starting to shrink already for the season.  Before all the seasonal staff starts to leave for school, we wanted to show the staff our appreciation for their hard work this summer.  On Wednesday we completed our morning assignments and then got the chance to enjoy the course from a different perspective!

Jordan, Phil, Vinnie and Evan

Ethan, Adam, Dan and Jarred

Julian, Drew, Brandon and Tyler

Jason, Eric, Myself and Danny

Following the 18 hole scramble golf outing, we had a cookout at the shop. 

 

After the Ohio Junior Championship in June, the OGA sent us a large box of steaks to say "Thank You".  We finally got a chance to grill these.  But to feed 17 hungry guys takes a bit of food.  One of our very generous members at FCC sponsored our event and cookout.  He was very appreciative of the hard work the guys put in this year and wanted to acknowledge them.  We were able to treat the Grounds staff right.

We set up a buffet in the shop.

Had to get a picture of Wayne in here, he didn't play golf, but sure enjoyed the food.

 

I am extremely thankful and proud of the crew this year, they did an outstanding job.  While we didn't have any major storms or floods, maintaining a golf course is hard work no matter what you're doing.  The entire staff raised up to the challenge and gave the members a wonderful golf course this year.  Great job men and thank you!

 

United Way outing

Yesterday we were host to the United Way / Marathon outing.  We had over 500 golfers in a two day stretch making this event the biggest outing of the year.  Not only was it a success on our end but the fund raising efforts were also a success.  Over the past 13 years, they have raised over $1,000,000.  Below is a link to a video recap of the day. 

 

United Way Video Link

 FCC appreciates the opportunity to showcase the Club. 

 

Sunrise

Beautiful sunrise this morning, view the time lapse video below:

Sunrise video link

 

 

One of the many great things about this job.

 



Bird's eye view

Below is a link to our most recent video:

Bird's eye view video link

This gives a wonderful example of how beautiful this property is.  This clip is also posted on the FCC website.

It's that time of year already!

Donuts, we cherish them here.  We have 1 rule that stands above all (well most of the time) in the Grounds Department:  You have to bring in donuts if you lose a tool, get stuck, run out of gas or it's your last day for the summer.  We've had donuts many times already this summer, but today we got donuts because guys are leaving already.  A few guys are on their way to internships for the remainder of summer.

 

It's hard to get guys to smile at 5:30am, but donuts do the trick!



Outing

Today at the Club we held the Fresh Encounter outing.  Below is a video of the Proshop staff hard at work as the sun comes up.

Cart staging video link

Well done today!

Small projects

July is typically a good month to fit in a few small projects as time allows.  June is more of a detail work month - getting items done for the upcoming events.  In July, the schedule opens up where we can focus more on the non-typical tasks. 

We started edging all the cart paths, taking the grass off the path where it has overgrown and creating a nice clean edge.  Some areas where overgrown by 12"

We are also tackling a drainage issue on 12.  There have been a few sink holes developing in the valley.

A large 10" clay tile was taking in soil causing the sink hole.

Another tile off of 10 ladies tee was connected to this repair eliminating some of the wet spots that usually occur in this region.

Besides these two projects we have also been spraying for weeds and trimming up trees.

 



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!

Behind the scenes

I hope everyone had the opportunity to enjoy the fireworks show on July 4th.  I thought the show was great and definitely worth seeing every year.  Part of my new job duties this year was organizing the fireworks show and securing the permits, contractor and proper authorities to oversee the show.  With my involvement, it gave me a chance to view the inner workings of a good fireworks program.

The forms getting unloaded from the truck and being set up in our grass nursery area beside 8 fairway.

Roscoe showing us one of the 4" shells.

Set up started at 2:00pm with a show at 10:00.  Here the shells are staged and ready to be fitted into the tubes.

The guys working on the finale shells.

Roscoe's wife gave my three boys a behind the scenes tour of a large fireworks production.  The crew wouldn't let us take one home though!

Getting the finale all wired together.  They did a great job and everything went smoothly.  With a soft north wind, the clean-up this year was minimal.

 

Hydraulic leak

One of our mowers had a hydraulic leak on Saturday at the start of 11 fairway, making a line of burnt grass in it's wake.  The grass that was covered with hot oil will not recover, but with most of the damage in the rough it won't take long for the surrounding turf to fill in the void as soon as the oil in the soil dissipates. 

Damage in the fairway, operator turned the machine around not knowing there was a leak.

Unfortunately it is one of the downfalls of heavy machinery, inevitably things fail despite proper upkeep.

Recent pictures

Had some beautiful weather over the past week.

 

 

High speed action

Ever wonder what the typical morning looks like for a Golf Course Superintendent, check this 5 minute clip out:

Morning Routine Video

During the months of May - August, my morning consists of arriving 20-30 minutes before the crew starts their day, organize the job board for the morning and welcome guys as they start trickling in.  At 6:00am we start the day with a brief overview of the day and who is doing what tasks, then it's off to work.  As the crew gets their equipment out of the barns, I start my morning drive around the course - taking notes, checking on mowers, looking at turf conditions and making sure details are attended to.  Some days, I may be moving tee markers as well, but I try to keep myself free for the first hour of the day to assess everything.

This video was shot a little later in the morning, around 7-8:00.  I had to figure out how to use and mount the camera before I could go out.  I also kept the drive to a minimum to limit the length of the video, most mornings I drive down each hole.