Green speeds

Happy Holidays to everyone that follows our blog, I hope you enjoy time with loved ones during the weeks ahead and an opportunity to step back from the busyness of the season to reflect on what's important. 

Thank you to all the members for a great year, we appreciate all the feedback we received this year.  We're making plans to have another successful year in 2015, building upon what we've been able to accomplish in the recent years.

Last week I spent a few days at a regional conference administered by the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation.  I was able to attend over 10 seminars with topics ranging from Perennial Flowers to Equipment Maintenance.  The seminar I enjoyed the most was the topic of green speed.  With our greens currently rolling at a whopping 5' when they're not froze, and it now being the time of year that no one cares about the speed of the greens, I thought I would throw this at you for a good read:

We all hear those comments every once in while, they have been surfacing for the last 10 years or so:  "I remember when our greens were so fast, the greens now aren't as fast as what I remember way back when"  I always chuckle a little when I hear this, because we know the history of green speeds, sometimes an individual's memories are what they want them to be, perception isn't always reality. 

I have no doubts that speeds were fast back in the 70's or 80's, in fact you may have had the fastest greens around at the Club you called home.  But what was fast?  Can we compare green speeds from back then to today's green speeds?  Is the perception sometimes that greens were faster back then?

Here are the facts:

• In today's world, 11 on the stimpmeter is considered fast and greens are cut lower then ever, sometimes at .110" or even lower.
• In 2000, 10 on the stimp was considered fast and greens were most commonly cut at .120"
• In 1990, 9 on the stimp was considered fast and greens were most commonly cut at .150"
• In 1980, 8 on the stimp was considered fast and greens were commonly cut at .170"
• And in 1970, 7 on the stimpmeter was considered fast and greens were most commonly cut around .200"
• In 1976 - 1977 the average green speed was 6.5' and over 7.5' was considered "excitingly fast" by the USGA
• Green speeds from the 1920's through the 1970's didn't change much.
• In 1978 the US Open green speed was 9'
• In 2014 the US Open green speed was around 13' all four days

So, if green speeds were relatively the same from the 20's to the 70's, what changed?  A couple things: First, the USGA produced the first aluminum stimpmeter and started using it as a tool to measure greens speeds.  Second, an article was released by the USGA in 1977 titled "How Fast are your Greens"  this kind of got the ball rolling, pun intended!  As the demand for increased speed gained traction, technology followed.  We now have mowers that can mow grass at crazy low heights, improved grass varieties for those growing bentgrass, improved turf health technology and bettter watering practices.

Naturally, things will improve, but green speeds have really jumped in the last 4 decades.  The point to ponder is when do we say that's it, no more speed, let's play this game as it sits.  We all know that we can't keep improving on this measure, we can never attain speeds of 16' for example without having to re-sod all the greens the following year.  So I see the urge for faster greens slowing way down during the next 10 years and settling into maintaining what is found to be the best speed for those greens that we maintain.

While speed is an important part of the game and how the greens are played, emphasis should transition over to other factors as the speed of the greens can no longer improve. We should use terms such as: firm, true, consistent, enjoyable, uniform, dense and receptive.  I think our current Grounds Committee has really done a great job of seeing this and setting a rational and practical goal for our greens.  Our current Standard Operating Procedure for greens states:  Objective – Greens are to be maintained healthy, smooth and firm with greens speeds between 10.0’ - 10.5’ as measured by a stimpmeter from May 15^th through September 15^th with a high importance put on consistency. 

The next time you hear a golfer enlighten you on how fast the greens were back in the days, just remind them that they my be correct, the 8' they were rolling would have been the fastest greens around, but they are nothing compared to what we can make these greens do now!

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving break

This post is more personal in nature and has nothing to do with the Club.  Last week I was able to take the week off and spend Thanksgiving with family in Michigan.  Growing up in a city along Lake Michigan, we always enjoy going back to the lake, it never ceases to amaze.  Here are some great photos from the many walks we enjoyed last week.  Hope everyone enjoys this Holiday Season!

What we've been up to:

The month of November was a busy month for us, preparing for winter, dealing with winter and trying to get rid of winter so that we can finish our late-fall projects.  We were mulching and cleaning up leaves up until the snow started flying, but the leaves didn't stop falling.  This week we are going through the property one more time to give it a final cleaning.

With no snow and dry ground, we can finally finish mulching the leaves.

The look of a clean golf course going into winter makes you smile!

The wind we had early last week made its mark.  The Grounds Staff spent a fair amount of time last week cleaning up the mess, but we still have a fair amount of sticks and debris that need to be cleaned up before we can send the mowers through to mulch leaves.

There were a few large branches that came down, this one along the creek left of #2.

This Concolor Fir along #1 blew over on Monday, it is on our removal list anyway.

A few weeks ago, we built the new forward tee on #7.  This will be sodded next spring, dropping 40yds off the hole from the gold markers, making this a much more manageable par 4 at 318yds.

 

Just before the snow started falling, we topdressed tees to firm them up.  A few tees have felt soft to me, to combat this, we verticut all the tees and added sand topdressing to those that needed it.  This will keep the tees firmer and provide better footing.  Because of the sand application, the tees really bruised, but there is plenty of green tissue underneath which will show itself next spring.

We are also in the process of washing all the equipment before we bring them in for service.  After a good power wash, we will bring the mowers inside to be detailed and serviced in preparation for next year.

 

Tree removal has begun, two large decaying trees were removed behind the club.

The center of this Oak was hollow, leaving only six inches of good wood around the perimeter.

Finally, if we can't get out on the course, we have been splitting the trees that we take down into firewood.  Speaking of firewood, we are now depleted of seasoned firewood.  The demand for firewood has been high as more and more members are taking advantage of the service.  The wood we are splitting now will be ready to burn next summer.

Preparing for the winter

Yesterday we blew out the irrigation system, part of of our annual preparations for the coming winter.

We cycle through the entire system twice, removing as much water from the lines as possible.  Today, the 15th hole bathrooms, pool house bathrooms and tennis court's irrigation will be blown out.

 

Effective tomorrow, the course will be closed for the season.  A cold front moves through the area today, dropping the temperatures significantly.

 

On Wednesday we will be taking the pins out of the greens and placing cups in select approaches to allow for play during the winter months if you get the urge to walk a few holes.  While the course may be closed, we will remain quite busy through the winter out on the course, finishing leaf clean-up, building a new tee on #7, along with trimming and removing trees.

Greens aerification

Monday was the day for our planned fall greens aerification and what a perfect day we had.  Usually when we get those 75 degree fall days, the golfers want the course to themselves, but there are certain days where we would like to have those days as well to get things done, and we hit it just right on Monday.  All the greens were aerified, 60 tons of sand were applied and worked into the holes, the greens were rolled to start the smoothing process, all 25 acres of fairways were mowed and we had two guys mulching leaves all day - a very productive day for sure.

Because we skipped the typical late-August aerification this year, we double aerified the greens.

One set was a deep-tine aerifier, making a 3/4" hole about 10" deep.

The other set was done by our own walk-behind machine, making 3/4" holes about 5" deep, covering about 10% of our surface area.  Sand was applied prior to making the holes, allowing the tines to push the sand down.  Once the sand was dry, the surface was dragged to move the remaining sand into all the holes.

Tree planting

This week we were able to plant all the trees that were delivered late last week.  It's a great time of year to plant trees, the roots will still grow while the need for water and the overall environmental stress is down. 

We planted 14 trees in all.  Some of the locations may seem odd at first, but take into effect a long range view and which trees may not last much longer, it will eventually become clear.

Three 'Princeton' Elms were planted.  This variety has a moderate resistance to Dutch Elm Disease.  This Elm was planted between 10 app and 11 tee.  The Ash trees nearby won't last much longer.

 

This Elm is to the far right of 14 tee near the service road.

 

The last Elm is between 2 and 17.

 

This is what a mature Elm will look like - this is next to 17 tee.

 

This 'Autumn Fantasy' Maple is to the left of 13 fairway.

A larger Maple will look similar to these Maples along 11 fairway.

 

Three 'Shademaster' Honey Locust were planted, this one near the bridge on 1.

This Locust is right of 13 tee, the Pears nearby are failing and will be removed.

 

This Locust was planted to the right of 15 fairway about 200yds out.  A Maple next to it is being removed.

A large Locust will look like this one on 3.  I really enjoy Locust, they give you an open air canopy and filtered sunlight - great for golf courses.

This is a 'Green Mountain' Sugar Maple planted left of 13 fairway near the service road.  A few more trees along this stretch are failing, we wanted to plant a few nice trees in this area to break up the view of the range.

 

This Maple was planted near the bridge on 3.

A mature Sugar Maple will look like this one on 4

Two Bur Oaks were planted, this one right of 1 fairway, 150yds out.

 

This Oak is near 17 tee, the two Ash along 3 fairway behind it are being removed.

 

A large Bur Oak will look like this Oak on 16

 

We also planted a Scarlet Oak to the left of 17 fairway.

Two American Beech trees were planted, this one left of 11.  The trees nearby won't be around for long.

This Beech is right of 14 back tees.  A few trees nearby will be removed this winter.

One of the largest Beech trees I have ever seen is on FCC's property.  A golfer won't ever see it unless they search for their ball deep in the woods along the left of 18.

I hope someday the trees we planted will grace the proprty like this giant.

 

Fall photos, tree delivery

Took a few photos of the course yesterday:

4 Fairway

5 Green

18 Fairway

 

Last week we picked out 14 trees to be planted on the property this fall, they were all delivered today.

These trees will be planted next week, throughout the course.  The species includes: Oak, Maple, Beech, Elm and Locust.  I will make a post later concerning where they are to be planted.

Fall color, and the clean-up

What a beautiful time of year to be out here!  If you need a break from the daily grind, spend sometime out here enjoying the fall colors.

But with all those changing leaves, it also means they are falling.  Our process of clean-up involves blowing the leaves into areas that we can mulch them back into the ground.

99% of our leaves are mulched back into the ground with our rough mowers.  A few areas around the tennis courts get picked up.