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.

Sunrise

Beautiful sunrise this morning!

Front sign

The new front sign was completed this week, adding elegance to the front entrance.

The look and feel of our many stone bridges on the course was brought forward in this design.  The LED lighting is a huge improvement, adding a whiter light while not producing a glare to motorists.

A quick glance of what was.

 

Over the next few weeks we will continue renovating the landscaping on both sides of the front entrance. 

Upcoming Course Improvements

Those of you that have been keeping up to date with our Newsletter articles and Board minutes have noted that the Grounds Committee undertook the task of completing a Master Plan for the golf course this past winter.  The Committee sought the help of the architect firm Hills and Forrest to accomplish this, their recent work included renovations at Inverness and Oakland Hills.  Through several meetings and course tours, the Architects have supplied FCC with a comprehensive plan that will guide us through any improvement projects for many years to come.

An important goal of this Master Plan was to give us a blueprint that would help us as needs become apparent - such as moving bunkers, adding tees or tree planting and removal; but the main goal we gave the architect was to ‘Modernize the course, making it more playable for the high handicap golfer while making it more challenging for the low handicap golfers; place an emphasis on being a family friendly course’.

I am excited to state that we will be implementing a small portion of this Master Plan this fall.  This October, we will be renovating the current 10^th hole.  Items to be completed include – new tees, new bunkers and changes in the fairway perimeter.  The most notable change will be the location of the new tees, moving them from their current location to slightly behind the 12^th tee box.  This will no doubt make this par 4 much shorter, but with proper bunkering, it will remain a challenging yet enjoyable hole.

            The upcoming project is the first priority for the Grounds Committee, with safety being a large concern.  We feel this addresses our safety threats while also providing a great layout.  As it is part of our overall plan for improvements on the golf course, this project will integrate well with other future projects.  Upon completion of this 10^th hole renovation, the green fences along the 12^th tee and along the parking lot will be removed, adding more beauty to area.

            A copy of the 10^th hole renovation plan as you see here shows the improvements that we will be making this fall. If you would like more information on the changes or would like to view the complete Master Plan, please feel free to contact me.  The Grounds Committee and I look forward towards the continuous improvement of Findlay Country Club and continuing the tradition as an outstanding golf destination.

New front entrance sign

This Monday we started on a much needed improvement for FCC - an updated front sign.  The old sign served us well for many years, but as it aged and started to rot, the need to replace it became apparent. 

This sign was refurbished once already, its age was starting to show as the wood continued to rot.

We brought the sign back to our shop; we are currently brainstorming ideas on how to reuse this piece of history.

Monday morning, as soon as the sign was pulled, the hole for the new sign was dug.

After a quick inspection on our footer location, concrete was poured Monday afternoon.

Tuesday - the new stone wall construction began and landscaping was installed.

 

The new sign will feature a stone wall with aluminum plaques of our logo and 'Findlay Country Club'.  Along with updated landscaping at the front entrance, the sign will bring an enhanced appeal welcoming everyone in.

Seeding

Last week we seeded any thin areas in the fairways and the rough on 8 and 18.  Today we are planting seed in any small areas of rough that thinned out due to water sitting.

I am starting to notice germination in the rough areas seeded, the fairways have not popped yet - this is due to the lack of moisture in those areas.  If we can't get the seed to germinate during the warm / dry spell, we will re-seed again when the weather changes.

Losing a valued team member

I feel I need to announce this on the blog, as many of you know Adam personally - Adam Bateson, after 15 years of service at FCC, is moving on to pursue another career path.  His last day will be August 14, if you get the chance to thank him and wish him well, please do.

We will miss his strong work ethic and ability to get things done.

Adam was in the role of Assistant Superintendent for many of his 15 years here.

Rain totals

No pictures in this post - you've seen them all already, still squeegeeing and spiking greens.

 

In the last 11 days the course has seen 6.4" of rain.

In the last 50 days the course has seen 17".

The current wet trend started on May 29 and we've had very few breaks since then.  Tomorrow, more rain will add to our totals.

 

With this heat and humidity, disease pressure is really high.  We sprayed all the playing surfaces on Thursday with a preventive application, finishing up at 10:00pm.  I feel confident that we will fair well.  With that said, we will still see some turf loss in low lying areas that hold water.  In those areas the pressure is just too high and the turf will not be able to withstand the added water and heat.

 

We continue to spike greens as needed to bring oxygen into the soil.  We also raised mowing heights to reduce scalping, and decreased rolling to alleviate added pressure.  When the wet trend snaps, we will be back to normal.

 

The latest storm on Friday night made a mess of our bunkers, we will be repairing them on Monday.  There was a scheduled outing on Monday which has been moved to August 10.



You know what this post is about....

As it continues to rain, our focus moves from keeping the course 'playable' to keeping the course 'alive'.  We were supposed to hold the U of F golf outing today, but rescheduled it due to saturated course conditions and a bad weather outlook.  Our main concern are greens 10 and 18, these two greens in particular hold water more than the others.  Currently, they are saturated pools of mush; allowing that amount of foot traffic on them for an outing might be the end of them.

To combat the saturated soils and lack of oxygen, we have been aerifying the greens, especially 10 and 18, on a regular basis.  We have also limited mowing and rolling to reduce stress as much as possible.

A few areas in the fairways have also been aerified.

Squeegeeing the fairways is becoming a daily routine - attempting to clear the water off as soon as possible.  We have been lucky in the sense that we have not had a lot of sun and high temperatures.  If we had these rains followed be heat and sun, we would have seen a lot more turf loss.

We are stuck between a rock and a hard place on mowing - if we don't mow today, the next driest day will most likely be Thursday by then the grass will be horrendously long, it already is.  If we mow today we are going to pull up mud and the course is going to look like trash.  So, some areas we mowed, some we didn't.  The rule is: if it's just a mud track, go ahead and mow it; but if you're leaving ruts, don't mow it.  Tracks are temporary, ruts are hard to get out.

 

2.2" of rain

Over the last 36 hours we've seen 2.2" of rain, leaving the course saturated this morning.

View of the range tee first thing this morning.

Bunkers were full.

1 fairway

The rain didn't keep us from doing routine maintenance and some house cleaning.

It gave us a great opportunity to clean out the barn...

and give all the equipment a good scrubbing.

Small projects

We are getting into a few small projects around the course as time opens up for us.  Besides putting a hurt on our weed population, we are also: 

Edging cart paths

Repairing irrigation heads

and Trimming trees.

 

We will try to accomplish as much as we can in the next 45 days in between normal maintenance and outing preparations.  In a month and a half from now, half of our staff goes back to school and small projects become low on the priority list.

Repairing flood damage

With a week of no rain, we have dried down enough to begin repairing the damage from the recent flooding.  We laid seed down on 18 and 8, grass will be germinating after a few days.

The fairway spots that needed seeding were verticut first to establish a good seed bed, then seeded.

We slit seeded any rough that was bare.

Another project we tackled was checking sand depths in the bunkers and adding where needed.

Squirrel!

Lunch with BVC

We had the privilege of spending time with our friends from Blanchard Valley Center today over lunch.

One of our vendors - Bruce Wotring, joined us and supplied the meat and did the grilling.  He's joined by Eric and Jeff on the left.

Evan joined our guests Dustin and Keith.

 

Zach enjoyed the company of Sonja and Bill.

Also visiting was Nichole, Molly and Brooke

Jeff convinced us to take him for a ride out on the course, he wanted to get his picture taken by the front sign.

Here's the whole crew.  After an enjoyable lunch together, we gave them a small token of our appreciation - a new logoed golf ball, and a small ride around the course. 

 

Thank you BVC for a great partnership!