Winter Update

It’s hard to believe that the golf season has been over for one month now and we are well into what seems like it could be a cold and snowy winter. We were extremely fortunate to have a seven and a half month long golf season for this part of the country, and I couldn't believe how great the weather was this fall. With that being said, the grounds crew was able to clean up about 98% of the leaves on the course, do a little tree trimming, and start on the driving range tee box renovation.

The fall is definitely my favorite season of the year

This was our second to last Men's Day at about 60 degrees, hardly any clouds in the sky, and no wind

We decided to build a retaining wall between the top driving range tee box and new asphalt parking lot. Along with the new yellow stripes, this retaining wall will provide even more organization for parking golf carts up at the range. We received a generous donation of about 80 yards of topsoil to build up the top range tee so that it will now be more level for hitting from. We also plan to pull in another irrigation line and add a few irrigation heads for better watering coverage. We will complete this part and the grass grow in as soon as we can in the spring.

The retaining wall has been completed and the following picture shows the soil that was spread to level the range tee 

Shop season has begun and we are in full swing of getting all of the equipment ready for next golf season. Every single piece of equipment that we own will come in the shop for an oil and hydraulic fluid change, replacement of broken parts and greasing. We will also sharpen and grind all of the mower blades and reels. Our aged fairway and rough mowers will be getting some serious time in the shop this winter.  We are going to rebuild all ten of our fairway mower reels as they are no longer able to be sharpened from 10 years of use. Both rough mowers see about 30 hours of use per week during the golf season and need some replacement parts in the decks. Beyond that, all of our course accessories will get a fresh coat of paint and polyurethane for next golf season. 

As many of you probably aren’t thrilled about the 20” of snow so far that we have received, I am very relieved by it. It has provided our turf with much insulation to hopefully survive all winter and come into spring healthy. We have already had about a week and a half of zero and below temperatures, and the snow we have received is doing its job by keeping our turf at a safe temperature.

We'd probably rather see a green golf course, but I am happy to see a good covering of snow to protect our turfgrass this winter

Autumn Season

Fall is officially here and we know this not only because September 22nd has past, but mostly because the leaves are changing colors, and dropping like crazy on the golf course. The grounds crew has been very busy and will continue to be until we close the course up for the season. We completed fall aeration on greens and tees and I am very pleased with how well everything has healed up.

With limited staff, we have been trying to keep up with daily set up as best as we can. Some areas of the course may not get mowed until later in the morning or afternoon only because we are short with fall staff. On that note, with cooler temperatures and less daily sunlight, the growth of the turfgrass has started to slow down. We are mowing less due to this as well.

About 75% of the leaves on #3 have already fallen, but many other trees on the course are just starting to change colors

During this time of the year, bunkers can be a lot more work than usual. They tend to fill up with leaves and we aren't able to go out and rake them while full of leaves. We will continue to do our best to send out a few employees when possible to blow the leaves out of the bunkers, mulch the leaves with a rough mower and then complete a full bunker raking.

The list is very long for the grounds crew for the rest of the fall. Besides daily set up, greens, rough, fairway and tee mowing, we have a lot of course accessories to take down and critical snow mold preventative spray applications to complete. We have to blow out the irrigation system towards the end of October, pull the fountain, river and pond pumps in and continue to mulch up all of the leaves that are falling and will continue to fall thru the next month. Also, every piece of equipment needs to be pressure washed before it gets too cold so that each piece can come in to the shop for winter maintenance. We hope to begin a driving range dress up project and finish limbing up some pines throughout the golf course.

It is very important to send the turfgrass into winter on a healthy note so it can survive our harsh winters in Grand Forks. We will continue our fall fertilization program and complete our snow mold preventative applications towards the end of October.

In my opinion, this is the best time of the year to come out and play our picturesque golf course, so come enjoy our last month of golf at GFCC!

Summer is winding down, but the grass is still growing

It's that time of year already where the majority of the grounds crew is heading back to school. Some of the staff will stay on part time, but I will be doing some more part time hiring for the fall. We will continue to do our best at keeping our golf course in tip top shape on a daily basis. Some things may not be done as often, such as string trimming and bunker raking, but these things will still get done throughout the fall. 

We completed a light topdressing and spike on the greens August 5th. These light topdressings help the overall health of the turfgrass. The other benefits include a smooth roll, increased firmness, and thatch reduction. We do have our fall aeration on greens scheduled for August 30th. 

This past week we removed a few large dead trees on the course and rented a stump grinder for a day. We ground 10 stumps, filled the holes in with soil and laid sod on these spots.

We have been very fortunate not to have to run our irrigation system nearly as much this season as we have in the past. Our pond has stayed full for the past month without any pumping. We have already received just under 15" of rain this season. It has come at good times, as we haven't had to pump much water off of the course.

We have a few small projects planned for the fall that I hope to complete. This will all depend on the amount of staff that I have and timing. The course is in great condition so come on out to enjoy the last few months of golf!

Tuesday Storm

The Tuesday evening storm brought us 2.4” of rain at the golf course in about 25 minutes and perfect weather for disease to grow. Fortunately, we have been current with our fungicide preventative applications that we haven’t really had any issues yet.

Ash tree split in half by 4 fairway

We had wind gusts up to 50 mph, but we only lost half of a large ash tree and a few small branches on the course. When I took a drive thru the golf course around 9:30 pm after the storm, there was standing water everywhere. Fairways such as 4, 6, 11, and 1 looked more like small lakes than fairways. Luckily, most of the water had soaked in overnight and we only had to run a few pumps for the morning hours.

6 Fairway 

Ditch between 11/12

Bunkers were a disaster. When it rains that hard, a lot of the sand on the top face tends to wash down to the bottom of the bunker. It took 4 of my staff members most of the day on Wednesday to get the bunkers back into playable shape.

Cart paths also washed out pretty badly. We spent many hours grading the paths back into drivable shape today. 

The crew worked hard in the hot and humid temperatures today and they definitely deserve a pat on the back. Hopefully we don’t get this same rain event tonight as the weather is in favor for it.

Where does the time go?

It’s hard to believe that it is already the middle of the golf season. The weather, for the most part, has been cooperative over these past few months with only a few “dry spells” and the grounds crew has been working very hard at getting the golf course dialed in for many more days of golf this year.

We were fortunate to have about 5” of rain in the month of May and beginning of June as we came into the season very dry. We started to get very dry again the later part of June and had to start the river pump back up to fill the pond. That river pump has been a huge benefit for us, except when a 500lb waterlogged tree was jammed up against the pipe last week. That made it my first swim in the Red River.

Other than daily course set up and keeping up with the fast growing grass, the grounds crew has been very busy with sod work, string trimming, tree and pine tree trimming and various other course projects. We have also been busy with and will continue to add sand to a number of our bunkers that are low so that they have a consistent amount throughout. After each rainstorm, we have to spend extra time on bunkers moving sand back up the face where it has washed down. The crew has kept the bunkers in immaculate shape this season.

Bunkers have all been edged and are raked everyday of the week.

We have spent a lot of time trimming up pine trees this season. It makes mowing and trimming underneath them much easier, speeds up golf play and overall looks great!

Greens aeration was completed on June 30th and has already greatly improved the health of the turf and playing conditions. This process removes compaction and the thatch layer (living and dead organic matter) that builds up in the layer under the turfgrass plant. It promotes deeper root growth and allows water and oxygen to get down to the roots of the plant. This aeration has helped with ball roll and to prevent localized dry spots from appearing on greens.

Justin spent about 10 hours on the tractor during aeration. Half of the crew worked a 14 hour day and didn't even complain once! 

To sum up this post, I want to thank my grounds crew. Without this great group of college-aged employees, the golf course would not look as great as it does, and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work and dedication. Many people do not understand how much work goes into keeping a golf course look as great as ours does. We took advantage of last Thursday afternoon without a tournament at the course and enjoyed a much deserved employee scramble.

We have many things planned for the rest of the season and we hope everyone can come out to enjoy our beautiful North Dakota golf course!

Here is a great article from the USGA that I found on green speed that I would like to share.

http://www.usga.org/course-care/forethegolfer/why-can-t-green-speeds-remain-constant-.html