Flowers

With the threat of frost now behind us, we have begun to plant the annuals around the club.  Blanchard Valley Center and their clients grew half our flowers again this year and have planted everything you see out there - including 16 hanging baskets and 20 pots around the building.

Karen, Nichole, Molly and Michael helped us for a few days, planting around the pool, river rooms and locker rooms.

Sonja and Molly are always here with a smile no matter what the weather.

 

Bill was one of the few that helped with the pots, along with Alex and Dustin.

The Grounds Staff has been using our extra time after our typical course duties are done to lay down mulch around the club.  This upcoming week we will continue to lay mulch around the course.

 

Seed heads

All grass species produce seed at some point in their life cycle, this time of year many of our typical cool season grasses are seeding.  Poa annua or Annual Bluegrass is a prolific seed producer and one of the few grasses that can seed at a variety of mowing heights - from rough height to greens height.

The greens at FCC are predominantly poa, some of the poa is more of a perennial biotype and produces less seed, some is more of the annual biotype (think #1 green) and produces more seed.  The older the green, the more perennial poa and typically less seed.

We are currently in the middle of the seed-head flush, within a few weeks the seeding will be complete.  During this seeding stage, greens tend to be a little slower and little bumpier due to the seed-heads in the way.  We try to limit the amount of seed-heads on the greens but there will always be some seeding that occurs.

The main strategy we use to reduce the seeding pressure is to apply growth regulators to the greens to slow down the growth of the plant and inhibit the production of seed.  This application is timed with 'Growing Degree Days', giving us a great tool to apply the regulator at the optimal time and give us the best chance of success.  We follow certain models that give us day to day readings in our zip code on where we are in the phonological calendar, once we hit the correct 'Growing Degree Day' we apply the regulator.

The suppression this year on seed-heads was a little above average, but we are still seeing seeds.  This natural process will conclude in a few weeks, leaving us great greens for the remainder of the season.

Extra help

It has been a few weeks since my last post, we have been quite busy, as is typical for this time of year.  It has been all hands on deck to keep up with the mowing and blowing off the clippings that we have abundantly produced lately.  Today we completed filling all the holes left from our winter tree removals, next week we will start preparing our landscape beds for mulch.

A few weeks ago we took on a new hire to help maintain the landscaping and flowers around the clubhouse.  Peggy Biolchini, who was formerly working in the club office is now with the Grounds Department filling this position.  Her love for the outdoors, flowers and plants makes this position a great fit.

 

We have also received a little extra help from our friends at Blanchard Valley Center.  We are using the Grounds Department as a resource for some of their clients to learn job skills that will make them marketable in the work place.  Pictured above is Michael, he has been helping us out with a few details around the course.

Today, Ian came to help us sweep out the barns for a few hours.  We wish them all the best as they search for the right positions.

Winter injury update

The injuries the greens sustained due to ice cover this past winter are healing and coming along, here are some pictures that show the progress:

March 18

April 3

April 22

 

We've sodded the large dead patch on 7 green and plugged out some thin areas on 5, 9, 12, 16, and 18.  All the of the thin areas on the greens are receiving 'special' treatment - increased fertility, less mowing, no rolling and increased mowing heights.  If you can be patient with us for a few more weeks, they will look dramatically different.

 

The injuries we sustained were due to ice cover for an extended period of time, suffocating the turf.  In 2014 we had the opportunity to remove the snow, melt the ice and prevent damage, we never saw a warm up in February to accomplish that this year.  Assuming we have winters like this again, we will do all we can to prevent this from reoccurring. 

Snack Shack open

The interior renovation of the 15th hole snack shack is near completion and is now open.  All new plumbing fixtures were installed, we updated the overhead door, replace all the cabinetry and added a new counter top.

Todd had a lot of custom fitting to do with the cabinets and counter top.  He was able to perform most to the work in our shop before bringing them out to 15.

The plumbing was finished a week ago, the cabinets were installed this week.  We have a few touch-ups to do and some painting to complete the project.

 

Thanks to Todd for all the work in making this a much cleaner and modern facility.

Productive day for a rain day

The last few days called for rain during most of today, I'm happy that wasn't the case.  This time of year we have a lot on our plate and all-day rains like we had last week really slow down our progress of projects.  Today ended up being a great day and we accomplished a fare amount for our limited staff:

• Mowed greens
• Mowed approaches
• Mowed rough
• Mowed green and tee banks
• Fertilized clubhouse lawns and green banks
• Blew off all debris from playing surfaces
• Picked up all the sticks from the last few day's breezes
• Sodded the damaged area on 7 green
• Plugged damaged areas on 5, 16 and 18 greens
• Sprayed weeds on all the tees
• String trimmed all areas around the back of the clubhouse
• Cleaned up debris and leaves from the back of the clubhouse
• Replaced a broken sprinkler head
• Repaired a leaking water valve
• Sharpened the reels on the fairway mower

This morning, Eric started off the day by sodding the damaged area on 7 green.  This spot had very little signs of green tissue and would've taken a while to fill in.

 

On the remainder of the greens, Eric and Adam have been plugging smaller areas to speed up the recovery process.  This is quite an undertaking and time consuming process, but it is our current priority.  When this project is completed we will shift our resources to repairing all the stump holes on the course, then move on to edging and mulching all the landscape beds.

 

Yesterday, Eric, Adam and Matt finished sodding the tee on 7.

The new forward tee on 7 turned out great.  In the near future, as it dries out, we will roll the tee smooth and topdress out the imperfections.  I suspect we will be placing the gold markers up in a few weeks.

Winter damage

Now that the greens have started growing, we are able to see where the winter damage has occurred.  A few greens have significant damage and will take a month to fully recover, most of the greens have just a few small spots that will heal rather quickly with some warm weather.  This damage came from ice cover over the winter, we were at the limit of ice cover on poa greens.

12 green suffered the most damage.  If you look at the picture below, you can see how far we have come but this green will take another month to get back to normal.  We are seeing a fair amount of green turf underneath the brown just waiting to pop up, a majority of this will grow back on its own, there will be a few spots that will need to be plugged out.

There is also damage to the greens from other sources - foot traffic.  This is a great example of why we close the course once the grounds freezes and the turf stops growing.

Someone decided to walk across 9 green at some point while we were closed, leaving a nice trail.  Eventually this too will recover, I see a little green underneath the damaged turf.

One of the capital purchases we recently made was a bed knife grinder.  This grinder allows us to grind the knives for all our reel mowers.  This machine is safer, quicker and provides a quality of cut that we couldn't match in the years prior.  We put it to good use this week.

Grounds update

We are slowly greening up out here, great conditions are not too far off.

Here is 12 green as it sits today.

Just two weeks ago, 12 was more brown than green.

The project we've been tackling during the last two days has been the bunkers, getting them in shape for the season.  All the winter debris has been removed, the bunkers have been edged, all the weeds have been pulled and the washouts repaired.  The staff did a great job yesterday working through the rain and putting a big dent in the bunker repairs.

Eric is fixing one of the perennial washouts on 5, then putting the finishing touches on the bunkers with a final raking.

Opening April 1st

Aerification is going smoothly and the weather is improving, the golf course will be open for play starting April 1st.  We will be opening 4 days sooner than we did last year, just in time for Easter weekend. 

Please take note - we are aerifying greens and fairways today, those projects will be completed by Wednesday, but the scars will remain for a couple weeks.  As the weather continues to improve, the grass will soon fill in, and be back to normal very soon.  With this minor inconvenience out of the way, the membership will have uninterrupted golf until we aerify again, which will be October.

 

We accomplished a lot today, and will continue until dark.  The clean-up will start back up again tomorrow morning. 

We started off early this morning, mowing greens and fairways for the first time of the season.

Taking the winter brown off, revealing the green underneath.

After a layer of topdressing, we punched 3/4" holes down to 4"

We hire out the fairway portion of the aerification, they use 4 machines to accomplish the job in one day.

After we drag the fairways, the contractor will pulverize the cores to break them apart into small pieces.  We then come in behind, dragging the fairway one more time, blowing it off, verticutting it, blowing it off again, then vacuuming up the debris.  After that we focus on cleaning off the irrigation heads and cleaning up any remaining mud in the rough and on the paths.

 

We couldn't have asked for a better day to aerify - sunny and windy.

 

Some of the best views in 2014

No introduction needed here, enjoy the video:

 

Best Views of 2014

 

This upcoming season we will be using our new tool to complete a flyby of each hole to post on the website along with attempting to capture photos to be hung in the clubhouse.

 

March sunrise

This morning we were treated to a purple, orange and red sky as the sun came up.  As it peeked above the horizon, we caught a glimpse of the orange ball before it rose above the clouds.  Here's a link to a short video of the course from this morning:

Sunrise Video

One of the many perks of this job is seeing the sunrise.  Because of the open expanse of the property, we are witness to some wonderful sunrises that others may not usually notice due to buildings being in the way.  This morning's sunrise was a gift, especially after a long cold winter.

A little extra help today

As I stated yesterday in my post, we have a fair amount of sticks to pick up every spring.  Today we got an extra little boost, our great friends from Blanchard Valley Center came over to lend us a hand.

Molly and Nichole were the ones that didn't mind getting out in the cold and getting some fresh air.

Ron helped the ladies, giving them great tips on how to properly hold a shovel.  We appreciate their happy spirits and great attitude, they truly are hard workers.  We hope to see them again next week.

On another note, 50 tons of sand was delivered today in preparation for our upcoming greens aerification on March 30.  As I look at the forecast today my hope is to mow fairways next Monday / Tuesday, mow greens for the first time next Tuesday, aerify fairways next Wednesday before the rain hits, then aerify greens the following Monday.

Opening? Eventually!

The question we hear the most this time of year, and rightfully so, is: "When do you anticipate opening?"  This is when I keep an eye on the long range forecast, course conditions and the timing of our maintenance activities such as aerification.  First, forecast - looks like the next 7 days will be highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's, while the sun may be out, it isn't exactly grass growing or golfing weather.  Second, course conditions - the greens have not started to grow yet, therefore we have not mowed them and they would be unable to recover from any traffic during the next week.  Third, aerification - we are scheduled to aerify greens on Monday, March 30 if the weather permits.  We might also aerify fairways next week if we stay dry.  If these activities happen, it will be more efficient for us to leave the course closed for a few more days, get the work done, then open the course and be ready for the season. Right now, I would say we will open in early April.

 

With that being said, I know there is an itch to get out there, if the weather turns warmer and the greens start growing, we may open sooner.

 

To be honest, a few of our greens look like junk - they really took a beating this winter due to some ice cover, cold temps in high winds.  Here is what 12 currently looks like.  The great news is that there is plenty of green grass underneath and they will all be green and healthy in a few weeks as they start growing.  On typical winter damage - if it's brown it comes back, if it's white it's gone.

Our major task this week and into next is cleaning the course from the winter winds.  We rake up any debris and pick up any stick that is pencil size or larger.  With 150 acres and thousand of trees, this is a big task.

One of the last small projects that Wayne has been working on is a shelving unit for our reels.  He did a great job putting this together last week, helping maintain a clean and organized shop.

View from the tee

There are only a handful of golfers at FCC that play from the back tees, not too many people notice the view or obstructions from back there.  I make it a point during the season to assess the view and openings from the tee boxes, this has led to certain tree removals and recently some tree pruning.

The opening between the two Maples on 11 tee was narrowing.  From the back tee, the window was becoming unplayable.

After 15 minutes of trimming, we now have 2 decent trees that frame the hole.  I get a kick out of pruning - making good trees into great trees.

 

Another view from the tee that wasn't improving on its own was on 12.  From the tee boxes, the two Spruce on the right blocked the entire path to the back bunker and was also impeding the view of the magnificent Oak.

 

We've removed the two Spruce, your ball can now travel on a path and land in a place intended and designed for that tee shot and green - a bunker or the green bank vs. knocked down by a tree a few yards from a bunker.

Ash tree removal along #2

On Tuesday we brought in our tree service experts, A & E Sowers, to help us remove some very large trees.  We complete the majority of our tree removals in-house, but when we can't take the tree down safely, the help of a company with all the right equipment is needed.

The first removal was the large Ash just to the left of #2 green.  This Ash has been in decline for the last few years and was on the list to be removed last winter, but due to weather conditions, we could not get to it. 

 

This tree was 120 years old, most likely one of the 5 oldest trees on the property.  I hate to see large trees go down just as much as the next person, but when a tree like this only has half the tree leaf out during the growing season, you know it has met the end and quickly becomes a safety hazard.

Before picture looking at the tree line left of #2 green.

After

 

There were 6 trees along the creek, left of #2 that were removed, all were in serious decline.  4 were Ash, 1 hollow Maple and 1 busted Buckeye from a storm last Fall.  We also removed the extremely large Maple between #1 green and #18 tee based on the recommendation of our Arborist and feedback from the Grounds Committee.

 

Removing one of those large trees is a good days work by most standards.  By setting up an efficient system and with FCC providing extra hands, we removed 7 trees in 8 hours, 5 of those being of significant size.  On Wednesday we spent the day grinding away the stumps of those trees.  The grindings from the Maple alone filled 2 1/2 dump trucks.