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.

Stump clean-up

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on a Maple tree that had to come down along 4 fairway.  I didn't want to grind the stump out until the ground firmed up enough to support the tractor without leaving a mess.  With the recent lack of rain we scheduled the stump to be removed today. 

 

We also removed the stumps of a couple small trees we took out yesterday: two Pear that succumbed to Fire Blight and three small Maple that were damaged from the harsh winter.

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.

Hawk sightings

Those of you that have spent time around the Club, in particular around the southeast corner of the golf course, have seen and heard the hawks that frequent the property.  Not only do I enjoy seeing them flying around I am grateful for the work they do in keeping the small animals in check.

A Rough-legged Hawk has been seen lately

 

Besides the Rough-legged Hawk, we have frequent visits from Red-tailed Hawks, Cooper's Hawks and sightings of Bald Eagles, Osprey and a Great Horned Owl.

Recent events

Today was a day back to normalcy for the Grounds staff.  The recent week was busy with preparations for the Men's invite and the Ohio Junior Championship.  Then the events came and went, now we get back into more routine schedules and small projects.

I consider the Men's invite, as do most private clubs, as the one week of the summer where we want to showcase our golf course and therefore schedule maintenance to peak during that weekend.  Every detail is attended to prior to the event.  Judging by the remarks from the members and their guests, we hit our mark.  Despite the wet conditions, the course was in fine shape and a gem the members could be proud of.

I have to thank my staff publicly for their efforts.  They performed great leading up to and during the event.  Putting extra hours in when needed and tending to every detail.  I am very appreciative of the pride they are taking in their duties.  Its a good feeling to find two employees edging tee plaques with a scissors without being told - just to give that extra touch.  Well done!

With the closing of the Men's Invite, we led right into the Ohio Junior Championship.  One of these special events is work in itself, two back to back is even more so.  Add in the wet conditions and we had some challenging situations.  During the Championship we had multiple rain delays, and many times that the squeegees came out.  With the first round being cut short due to storms we had to cram the end of the first round and the entire second round into the day on Wednesday.  This required a full shotgun start at 7:30 am to give them enough time to finish the tournament.  To prepare the entire course for play by 7:30 meant a 4:30 start time for the crew.  Again, thank you guys for your hard work and getting it done.

Those of you who attended the annual meeting may remember that Grounds staff member Wayne Bartchlett was recognized for his 42 years of service.  I had made the comment that no one beats Wayne to work, he is here early opening the building and drinking his coffee.  I got to work at 3:45 am on Wednesday morning thinking I would beat Wayne there.  Well - I didn't, the building was open, lights were on and Wayne was drinking his coffee.

We aren't exactly set up for maintenance in the dark.  Tuesday night I took a trip to Lowes and purchased enough flashlights for everyone, including the OGA Officials.  Two Officials came in at 4:30 to help us out.  When play was suspended on Tuesday, the players had to mark their ball.  These markers had to be lifted to allow for mowing and then placed back down.  The OGA was very helpful in doing this for us, allowing for the greens to get mowed and rolled.

In the end the event was concluded at 9:00pm on Wednesday.  The players, parents and OGA were very appreciative of FCC and everyone's hard work - all departments.

 

Vandalism

During the night on Friday/Saturday we had a little damage from a few kids walking through the property.  This is nothing new, it happens a few times a month, but last night was a little more aggressive then most.  We typically have one or two tee markers stolen every 2-3 weeks or our rope and stake is cut into pieces.  This is the first time I saw this much "horsing around" here.

 

Bunker rakes were scattered, pictures were drawn in the bunkers (I can't show those pictures), range flags ended up on 13 green, 13 green's pin ended up on 14.

Tee markers were placed inside cups.

Tee markers were also shoved in mud.  We had 15 tee markers removed and scattered over 5 holes.

4 tee markers were stolen or broken.

If you know of two young men that wear size 10/11 shoes (I have there shoe prints) that were cruising through the property last night - traveling from 9 tee all the way through hole 15, let me know.  I have a large ditch/hazard that they can weedwhip for the next 4 months.



Quick tree removal

On Thursday we had to remove a tree between holes 4 and 15 due to the conditions being unsafe. 

 

Large limbs started to fall from the tree with the recent winds.

The ground conditions were firm enough that we could take heavy equipment out.

One of those things we didn't have planned to accomplish just before the Invite but had to get done.

Preparing for a Major - what does it take?

With the final round of the U.S. Open played yesterday and with the excitement of a Major on every one's mind, I thought I would highlight some of the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Anytime a course has to prepare for an event, especially a Major, planning is done years in advance, infrastructure is updated, staff is trained, volunteers are recruited and equipment is purchased.  During the year of a Major the daily grounds staff numbers around 40-50.  During the week of the tournament, volunteers are brought in and that number goes above 100.  All these workers need equipment to run as well.  Extra mowers and carts are brought in to manicure the course for the worlds elite.

Course conditions are molded to peak during the time of the tournament.  Green speeds run high, fairways and tees are cut daily; and greens are mowed four times a day.  Conditions such as this can only be maintained for a brief while, going back to normal after the tournament.

Below are two links that describe briefly what has to be done and how tournament prep is different from daily play at your local Club.

Link to article

Link to video

During the summer of 2005 I had the privilege of volunteering for the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in NJ.  I was able to spend the entire week there, working not only during the practice rounds but also all four days of the tournament.  Those of you who have attended a Major know there is nothing like it, the atmosphere is electric.  Being able to prepare the course for that event is even more exciting.

The morning meetings started at 4:30 a.m.  Daily announcement were given, then off to work.  Our tasks were the same everyday, giving consistency to the product.  Our morning work was complete by 8:30 a.m.  We then had the day to ourselves to watch golf and nap.  We were back to work at 4:00 p.m and finishing up at 11:00.

This is a look at the morning job board.  Because I was there all week, I was given the job of mowing greens.

They had a huge fleet of equipment to handle the work load.

The three Mechanics loaded up all the equipment every morning and night, making sure everything was in working order and everyone had what they needed.  Staff from local equipment vendors were brought in to help repair machinery at a moments notice if needed.

A new utility vehicle was purchased and equipped with anything a mechanic might possibly need to repair a machine out in the field - complete with welder and halogen lights for repairs during the night.

This was one of the two greens I mowed for the Championship, quite rewarding watching the best players in the world putting over the lines you mowed a few hours before.

We even had a chance to say hello to the players, Tiger was giving us a hard time while we were raking bunkers during the practice round - something about the rough being to tall.

 

Flood repair

The course's frequent flooding causes the Grounds staff to spend time on repairs when needed .  This week we added rip-rap to the area underneath the bridge by 8 green/9tee.  The soil in this area was washing out a little bit every time we flooded.

To keep our equipment in good condition, we decided to load the stone by hand.

The stone was then placed under the bridge by hand, adding some stability to the area.

 

Fairways on the mend

My last post described the process of verticutting fairways.  We finished all 18 fairways this week and the weather was perfect for this practice.  Verticutting that aggressively takes a toll on the turf and the cloudy, cool weather was a big reason why we verticut when we did.  If the temperatures were higher, we would have seen more stress.  You will notice some stress on the fairways where material was removed, they will be healed in by late next week.

As shown previously, a lot of material was pulled up.

A few strands of turf, such as the one seen here on 16, were as long as 6".  On a fairway cut under .5" you can envision the fairway as one giant combover.  These are the plants that we are trying to slice back to normal length, creating a better playing surface for the player.