Moderate Drought.
An in depth look at the maintenance practices and special projects at the Grand Forks Country Club
April 10, 2012
Turfgrass Physiology and Pathology 101
Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one that freaks out about grass. Don't laugh, because it happens more often than you think. Although I initially thought the course had come out of winter in great shape, things deteriorated quickly as the weather warmed and the course began to green up. While most of the course showed great signs of life, the exact opposite could be said about the Poa Annua populations.
The poa initially looked fine coming out of snow cover, then slowly started to turn from brown, to tan, to white....while the rest of the turf was going from brown, to light green, to dark green. What made matters even more confusing, was the patterns of damage I saw in the Poa. Very distinctly round, circular patches of dead leaf tissue. Even more concerning, was the presence of black sclerotia (part of the survival structure of a fungus) on the dead leaf tissue. To me, and to almost everyone I showed these pictures to, it appeared that we must have a horrible breakthrough of grey snow mold or snow scald.
However, a very good deal of evidence did not point toward any type of snow molds. First and foremost, I made a very precise fungicide spray application last fall intentionally to combat snow mold. Even a small amount of disease development this spring would have been a surprise, much less any wide spread development like this. Furthermore, the damage was not present when the snow melted, it wasn't for a good two weeks until I noticed these symptoms. Lastly, ONLY the Poa was affected, none of the bentgrass or kentucky bluegrass was even touched by this. Snow mold generally does not discriminate on what it infects.
Regardless, I had to know what exactly we were seeing here in order to know how to properly search for a solution. On wednesday of last week, I overnighted 3 samples to a turfgrass disease diagnostic lab in Missouri for analysis. With in 24 hours, I had the answer: all 3 samples tested completely clean of any form of snow mold. Case closed.
Not quite. The turf pathologist called back on Friday to inform me that an incredible amount of a soil borne, root infecting pythium fungus had been detected in the roots of the Poa plants. This was absolutely mind boggling to me. Pythium is absolutely not something we should even be talking about in early April in North Dakota.
Whereas a lot of things in life may have a very definitive answer, dealing with an organism as dynamic as a stand of turfgrass rarely presents any specific answers. Now that the infection had been pin pointed, a new question arose. Was the pythium infection the cause of the turf damage, or more a result of the turf damage? I spoke with a wide array of turf professionals in the last week who have been very gracious to offer me some of their insight. Most tend to agree however, that a root infecting pythium, at this time of year in this part of the country, is a very weak pathogen. Moreover, it would not discriminate if it was going to attack Poa, bentgrass, bluegrass, ryegrass....etc. The fact that we saw the damage only on the Poa was telling of another story.
The issue here more than likely goes all the way back to last fall. From the point when we blew out the irrigation system, October 29th, until Christmas Day, nearly two full months, we saw only .14" of precipitation. Essentially nothing. The turf on the golf course was drought stressed to begin the winter with. Furthermore, although the ground began to freeze in late November, we continued to experience some warm days above freezing through December. Although the turf plant is dormant at this point in the year, the plant still respires moisture on warm days. However, when the ground is frozen, the plant is unable to uptake water from the soil. This process, known as dessication, was further enhanced by the lack of moisture in the plant in the first place from the dry fall.
Another factor in this scenario was the lack of snowcover. Many of you who may have read this blog probably heard me complain in December about our open winter. Snowcover protects the turf from the dry winter air and winds (preventing dessication) as well as protects the turf from direct low temperatures. Although temperatures in December were above average, we still saw some nights dip down around -4 or -5. Without snowcover as insulation, the turf takes those temperature directly, which is not ideal.
The combination of these two events more than likely were very stressful to the turfgrass. The last piece of this puzzle however is the physiology of the turfgrass stands on our golf course. Both creeping bentgrass and kentucky bluegrass are very hardy, cold tolerant perennial grasses. However Poa Annua (which is latin for Annual Bluegrass) is just that, annual. What most people don't realize is that Poa is a plant whose natural lifecycle is to die every year! Remember those white seed heads we used to see on the greens and fairways? That is the Poa plant producing seed, its offspring, because it is preparing to die later in the fall. Unfortunately, when it creeps into a turfgrass stand on a golf course, we end up treating it with such delicacy (irrigation, fertilizer, fungicides, growth regulators) that it manages to survive year after year. However, the fact of the matter is that Poa is generally a very weak plant species because its sole purpose is to grow, produce seed, and die.
What we are seeing on the course this spring is the story of how different grasses respond to different conditions. The bentgrass and the bluegrass experienced the exact same conditions this winter as the Poa. The Poa however was too weak to take the stresses, and basically kicked the bucket. The pythium infection likely originated with the EXTREMELY warm temperatures we had in March, and just took advantage of a very easily infected host in the already mostly dead Poa. Again, the bentgrass and bluegrass also experienced the pythium in the soil, but was able to defend its self against a weak pathogen....
The morale of this story is a few things. This fall, let's hope for some timely rains in October and November. Furthermore, let's hope for a good blanket of snow (but not too much snow!) to cover the course by Thanksgiving. Lastly, my vote is to tear up the fairways and greens, sterilize the soil to kill all remaining Poa Annua seeds, and reseed the entire golf course with some desirable grasses this fall! Whose with me....?
Fortunately, or unfortunately, all of the dead Poa areas will quickly refill themselves with more Poa. Although it obviously isn't a desireable grass, it is still a grass that we can manage into a great golf course. It just makes for a lot more headaches. 6 and 11 fairways have the highest Poa concentration, and definitely took the worst damage. We will probably try to reseed in some kentucky bluegrass/perennial ryegrass seed that we have that was left over from the flood last year into these areas to see if we can increase the population of some stronger grasses.
I fully expect with some warmer temperatures and a little extra fertilizer that the rest of the damaged areas will take care of themselves just fine.
The poa initially looked fine coming out of snow cover, then slowly started to turn from brown, to tan, to white....while the rest of the turf was going from brown, to light green, to dark green. What made matters even more confusing, was the patterns of damage I saw in the Poa. Very distinctly round, circular patches of dead leaf tissue. Even more concerning, was the presence of black sclerotia (part of the survival structure of a fungus) on the dead leaf tissue. To me, and to almost everyone I showed these pictures to, it appeared that we must have a horrible breakthrough of grey snow mold or snow scald.
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| Very distinct patchy, disease appearance of dead Poa Annua |
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| Black sclerotia on dead leaf tissue |
Regardless, I had to know what exactly we were seeing here in order to know how to properly search for a solution. On wednesday of last week, I overnighted 3 samples to a turfgrass disease diagnostic lab in Missouri for analysis. With in 24 hours, I had the answer: all 3 samples tested completely clean of any form of snow mold. Case closed.
Not quite. The turf pathologist called back on Friday to inform me that an incredible amount of a soil borne, root infecting pythium fungus had been detected in the roots of the Poa plants. This was absolutely mind boggling to me. Pythium is absolutely not something we should even be talking about in early April in North Dakota.
Whereas a lot of things in life may have a very definitive answer, dealing with an organism as dynamic as a stand of turfgrass rarely presents any specific answers. Now that the infection had been pin pointed, a new question arose. Was the pythium infection the cause of the turf damage, or more a result of the turf damage? I spoke with a wide array of turf professionals in the last week who have been very gracious to offer me some of their insight. Most tend to agree however, that a root infecting pythium, at this time of year in this part of the country, is a very weak pathogen. Moreover, it would not discriminate if it was going to attack Poa, bentgrass, bluegrass, ryegrass....etc. The fact that we saw the damage only on the Poa was telling of another story.
The issue here more than likely goes all the way back to last fall. From the point when we blew out the irrigation system, October 29th, until Christmas Day, nearly two full months, we saw only .14" of precipitation. Essentially nothing. The turf on the golf course was drought stressed to begin the winter with. Furthermore, although the ground began to freeze in late November, we continued to experience some warm days above freezing through December. Although the turf plant is dormant at this point in the year, the plant still respires moisture on warm days. However, when the ground is frozen, the plant is unable to uptake water from the soil. This process, known as dessication, was further enhanced by the lack of moisture in the plant in the first place from the dry fall.
Another factor in this scenario was the lack of snowcover. Many of you who may have read this blog probably heard me complain in December about our open winter. Snowcover protects the turf from the dry winter air and winds (preventing dessication) as well as protects the turf from direct low temperatures. Although temperatures in December were above average, we still saw some nights dip down around -4 or -5. Without snowcover as insulation, the turf takes those temperature directly, which is not ideal.
The combination of these two events more than likely were very stressful to the turfgrass. The last piece of this puzzle however is the physiology of the turfgrass stands on our golf course. Both creeping bentgrass and kentucky bluegrass are very hardy, cold tolerant perennial grasses. However Poa Annua (which is latin for Annual Bluegrass) is just that, annual. What most people don't realize is that Poa is a plant whose natural lifecycle is to die every year! Remember those white seed heads we used to see on the greens and fairways? That is the Poa plant producing seed, its offspring, because it is preparing to die later in the fall. Unfortunately, when it creeps into a turfgrass stand on a golf course, we end up treating it with such delicacy (irrigation, fertilizer, fungicides, growth regulators) that it manages to survive year after year. However, the fact of the matter is that Poa is generally a very weak plant species because its sole purpose is to grow, produce seed, and die.
What we are seeing on the course this spring is the story of how different grasses respond to different conditions. The bentgrass and the bluegrass experienced the exact same conditions this winter as the Poa. The Poa however was too weak to take the stresses, and basically kicked the bucket. The pythium infection likely originated with the EXTREMELY warm temperatures we had in March, and just took advantage of a very easily infected host in the already mostly dead Poa. Again, the bentgrass and bluegrass also experienced the pythium in the soil, but was able to defend its self against a weak pathogen....
The morale of this story is a few things. This fall, let's hope for some timely rains in October and November. Furthermore, let's hope for a good blanket of snow (but not too much snow!) to cover the course by Thanksgiving. Lastly, my vote is to tear up the fairways and greens, sterilize the soil to kill all remaining Poa Annua seeds, and reseed the entire golf course with some desirable grasses this fall! Whose with me....?
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| This picture sums it all up. On the right, is a stand of almost entirely kentucky bluegrass. This area used to be rough (Poa likes to grow in short mowed areas). We widened the fairway here last year, however the old rough that we mowed down was still pure kentucky bluegrass. The left half of this picture is old fairway, with a lot of Poa in it. Pretty telling sign of what happened over the winter.... |
I fully expect with some warmer temperatures and a little extra fertilizer that the rest of the damaged areas will take care of themselves just fine.
April 6, 2012
River Pump Up and Running!
Here we are in early April trying desperately to get water out of the Red River to pump into our irrigation reservoir. Last year at this time, there was flood water 10 feet over the top of the irrigation reservoir, we would have loved to have taken some water out of the pond!
We did the setup work last week by installing the 6" PVC mainline to connect down by the river, as well as getting the actual pump and hoses hooked up to our river float. We received some much needed assistance again from Florian and Sons Excavating with a JD 120 excavator that gave us the necessary boom reach to set the pump out in the river without any of us risking our lives.
After about 2 hours of work this morning we had the pump up and running and getting our pond filled up! I greatly question the quality of our irrigation water....but I guess we don't really have a lot of options.
We did the setup work last week by installing the 6" PVC mainline to connect down by the river, as well as getting the actual pump and hoses hooked up to our river float. We received some much needed assistance again from Florian and Sons Excavating with a JD 120 excavator that gave us the necessary boom reach to set the pump out in the river without any of us risking our lives.
After about 2 hours of work this morning we had the pump up and running and getting our pond filled up! I greatly question the quality of our irrigation water....but I guess we don't really have a lot of options.
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| Lifting our floating river pump contraption out into the water. |
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| River pump hooked up and ready to go. I think they used to use the old steel culvert pipe as a pump wet well back a few decades ago... |
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| Success! |
April 5, 2012
A Major Blowout
We made our first attempt at charging the irrigation system on Tuesday, both the pumps and new actuator valves in the pumpstation fired up and operated as they should. However, it didn't take long to realize that we weren't building pressure and something must have blown out. Sure enough, left of 2 green, in the scarp that is sliding into the coulee, were a couple of good bubblers coming up out of the ground.
Although we very thoroughly blew out the irrigation system last fall, left of 2 green the mainline dives down from the fairway before coming back up to 3 tees, creating a large dip in the pipe. Every remaining drop of water in the line from all of 1, 10, and 2 fairway drains back down to this area. Apparently, there were still a few drops of water that didn't get blown out....
Fortunately, we still have 10,000 lbs of Bobcat T750 on site compliments of Florians, so the digging went pretty quick. Also, since we were way out in the rough, we didn't have to worry about keeping this project very tidy. All told, by the end of the day on Wednesday we had dug up and pulled out 160 feet of PVC that the frozen water inside of had completely shattered. Amazingly, while I was digging, I started to think how much sense it would make to add a stub off the mainline in the lowest spot that would allow us to drain that section of pipe in the fall. No more than 5 minutes later I dug up an old buried valve box, about 8" below the surface. Inside the box was an old gate valve, apparently someone must have had a similar idea a number of years ago. Had I known the valve was there and it wasn't covered up with 8" of silt and sod, we would have been able to drain that section of mainline last fall and avoid all of this....
However, this was really a two part story. Yes, the mainline holds water in that low spot and needs a way to be drained in the fall. However, I'm sure everyone has noticed that the entire left side of 2 green, the bunker, and the rough over there is slowly sliding off down into the coulee. As the ground slides and shifts every year, the mainline is going to continue to break and slide downhill with it.
To mitigate this, we made the decision to reinstall HDPE (high density polyethylene) pipe instead of the traditional PVC. HDPE pipe is significantly more flexible and shatter proof than PVC, allowing the new pipe to flex and move downhill with the enscarpment as it slowly works its way down into the coulee. Also, we installed knock on fittings at the two ends where we connected the new HDPE pipe to the old PVC mainline system. Each of these fittings has about 12" of play in it where the HDPE can actually start to slide out of the fitting before it becomes disconnected and leaks. This, coupled with the flexibility of the HDPE, and the new drain valve that we added at the low point in the line, will hopefully keep this blowout from happening again, at least for while....
Although we very thoroughly blew out the irrigation system last fall, left of 2 green the mainline dives down from the fairway before coming back up to 3 tees, creating a large dip in the pipe. Every remaining drop of water in the line from all of 1, 10, and 2 fairway drains back down to this area. Apparently, there were still a few drops of water that didn't get blown out....
Fortunately, we still have 10,000 lbs of Bobcat T750 on site compliments of Florians, so the digging went pretty quick. Also, since we were way out in the rough, we didn't have to worry about keeping this project very tidy. All told, by the end of the day on Wednesday we had dug up and pulled out 160 feet of PVC that the frozen water inside of had completely shattered. Amazingly, while I was digging, I started to think how much sense it would make to add a stub off the mainline in the lowest spot that would allow us to drain that section of pipe in the fall. No more than 5 minutes later I dug up an old buried valve box, about 8" below the surface. Inside the box was an old gate valve, apparently someone must have had a similar idea a number of years ago. Had I known the valve was there and it wasn't covered up with 8" of silt and sod, we would have been able to drain that section of mainline last fall and avoid all of this....
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| Piles of the shattered PVC that was removed |
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| The old drain valve that could have prevented all of this... |
However, this was really a two part story. Yes, the mainline holds water in that low spot and needs a way to be drained in the fall. However, I'm sure everyone has noticed that the entire left side of 2 green, the bunker, and the rough over there is slowly sliding off down into the coulee. As the ground slides and shifts every year, the mainline is going to continue to break and slide downhill with it.
To mitigate this, we made the decision to reinstall HDPE (high density polyethylene) pipe instead of the traditional PVC. HDPE pipe is significantly more flexible and shatter proof than PVC, allowing the new pipe to flex and move downhill with the enscarpment as it slowly works its way down into the coulee. Also, we installed knock on fittings at the two ends where we connected the new HDPE pipe to the old PVC mainline system. Each of these fittings has about 12" of play in it where the HDPE can actually start to slide out of the fitting before it becomes disconnected and leaks. This, coupled with the flexibility of the HDPE, and the new drain valve that we added at the low point in the line, will hopefully keep this blowout from happening again, at least for while....
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| The end of the breaks on the old PVC mainlines, seperated close to an inch on each end where the ground slide is pulling the pipe apart |
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| A technician from Ferguson Waterworks in Fargo came up to fuse the new HDPE pipe together. The ends of the pipe are heated up until the pipe begins to melt, then the two ends are rammed together while the melted pipe re-solidifies, essentially fusing the pipe together. |
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| The HDPE butt fusion machine. |
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| One of the knock on fittings on the ends of the pipe where the HDPE connects to the PVC, allowing the new pipe some extra room for movement |
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| A view of the small scarp face left of 2 green. Last summer this little slip area was connected with grass all the way across, now there is a very defined face of exposed soil where the ground is breaking off and sliding into the coulee. |
March 31, 2012
River Pump Setup
Let me start by saying that March, on the banks of the Red River, after a rainstorm the previous day, is definitely not a fun place to be. That being said, with our spring river "crest" out of the way and the Red holding steading at 18 feet, I figured it was time to get the pump out.
This little contraption that someone concocted about 20+ years ago to pump water out of this god forsaken river is probably the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my life. A floating electric pump that is hung from the inside of a homemade "float" made out of sealed up old fertilizer jugs attached to a rusted out 30' long trailer arm that is tethered with cables to a muddy river bank is not exactly how we are supposed to pump water in the 21st century. But, it will have to suffice
We never actually got the chance to get the pump out in the river last year because the water level stayed too high almost the entire summer. By the middle of September it had finally dropped low enough we could have put it out, but by that point in the summer it was almost a lost cause. Unfortunately, because of that we had to do pumps and hoses across 14 fairway from the ponds on the north side of our property to fill the irrigation reseroir. That was not only unsightly and loud, but also a huge pain to have to gas up and reprime pumps almost daily once the weather turned dry in early August.
While this river pump setup is less than ideal, it is without a doubt better and cheaper than running the gas pumps down on 14. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that we can actually get it in the river and running safely next week and that it can stay out there for the entire summer!
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| Bolting together the 6" PVC line for the river pump setup. We are adding and burying an additional 100' of pipe in hopes that we don't have to take it out and disassemble it in the fall. This should make the pump installation much easier in the future. |
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| Hooking up the pump on the inside of the trailer float. |
March 28, 2012
Back to Reality
Summer in March officially gave way back into spring the last few days, with temps closer to, but still a little above average. Believe it or not, the inch or so of snow we received last night was actually just what the doctor ordered. By the end of the day on Tuesday we finished all of the final grading and prepping on our project by 15 green/16 tee. We were able to get everything seeded, including 16 tee. We now have 5, 12, 13, and 16 tees seeded, and it isn't even the beginning of April yet! The super wet snow we received slowly melted over the course of the day today, and all the of seed we put in the ground was in the perfect position to imbibe all of that water on it's way to germination. A few sunny days in the next week or so and we should be seeing some little green sprouters popping up everywhere that we seeded. The only thing we have to finish on 15 is the final construction of the bunker. We will likely wait for all the grass to grow in around it, then cut the edge, clean up the inside, and add the sand last.
I was also able to get out and do the rough shaping on the 14 tee complex this week also. I must say, it is coming together nicely. Still a long way to go, but you should be able to get the idea of what we're going for here....
I have to admit, I have my blinders on a little bit still this time of year though. I have been so focused with this early start on working on all of our projects that I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the turf yet. Everything is slowly starting to break dormancy, but still has a long way to go before we are fully green out there. Things look to be coming along nicely though, and I expect that we may be able to start mowing greens in another week or two.
I snapped a neat photo today on the putting green. This is the reason why Poa Annua is technically considered a weed. I can only imagine how good a uniform stand of true bentgrass would look compared to this junk. I think if I showed this picture to a turf pathologist and told him that it was July, he would say that we had a horrible case of Dollar Spot. Nope, just Poa. We'll keep an eye on the temps and make sure we get the Proxy out to keep the seed heads at bay again this year and hopefully after a few more weeks no one will even know the Poa is even there...
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| 16 tee and cartpath project finished...mostly. |
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| Thanks also to Florians Excavating for the early use of their tracked skiddy, it is quite the machine and has made short work of some serious lifting this spring. |
I have to admit, I have my blinders on a little bit still this time of year though. I have been so focused with this early start on working on all of our projects that I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the turf yet. Everything is slowly starting to break dormancy, but still has a long way to go before we are fully green out there. Things look to be coming along nicely though, and I expect that we may be able to start mowing greens in another week or two.
I snapped a neat photo today on the putting green. This is the reason why Poa Annua is technically considered a weed. I can only imagine how good a uniform stand of true bentgrass would look compared to this junk. I think if I showed this picture to a turf pathologist and told him that it was July, he would say that we had a horrible case of Dollar Spot. Nope, just Poa. We'll keep an eye on the temps and make sure we get the Proxy out to keep the seed heads at bay again this year and hopefully after a few more weeks no one will even know the Poa is even there...
March 23, 2012
Finishing Projects From Last Fall
It was a long winter in the shop, and of course, we got plenty of things done in there. However, the worst part of winter for a golf course superintendent is always remembering how much work we have to get done on the course in the spring once the snow melts, and not being able to go out and do anything about it. We started A LOT of projects last fall and were blessed with very nice weather into early November which helped tremendously. However, we intentionally left a lot of those projects unfinished due to the damaging effects of winter cold, snow and wind, as well as the potential of a spring flood.
We were able to get out this week with the very dry and warm spring conditions to start chipping away at our list. First off, we needed to finish getting our tees put back together and grown in so that we can start playing off of them ASAP. Although 5 and 12 tees were finished and seeded last fall, there was already some new grass starting to pop up out of the sand last week, but we went a head and reseeded an additional half rate of bentgrass seed into the teeing surface just to ensure we would get plenty of germination. Furthermore, we finished building and grading 13 tee and were able to seed it as well. We were also able to get some work done on our new cartpath around 15 green/16 tee by spreading some topsoil and backfilling along the concrete path edges. A couple of nice days next week and we should have that entire project wrapped up and get 16 tee seeded as well.
Our last tee box to work on this spring will be 14. Florian Excavating was kind enough last fall to haul in about 400 cubic yards of clay fill to place on the old tee surface. We purchased about 500 concrete retaining wall blocks on a massive discount last fall that will be used to build up about a 3 foot wall along the edge of the cartpath by 14 tee. The new tee that will be built on 14 will be moved about 8-10 feet to the right of the old tee as well as be built up about 3 feet. This will improve line of sight down the fairway on 14 to be able to see the pond, as well as help take some of the massive cottonwoods on the left side of the hole out of play a little bit.
Our first priority this spring is to get every project finished that requires planting grass seed. The sooner the seed goes into the ground the sooner we can play off it. As soon as all of those projects are finished, the next task will be to rework and add new sand to all the bunkers that were tore apart last fall when we harvested the old sand form them to use in the construction of the new tees.
We are certainly getting a HUGE jump on things this spring with the rapid melt off, lack of a flood, and nice weather so far. The only risk we run, as with all the farmers that have planted crops already this spring, is that if the bentgrass seed on the tees germinates and begins to grow, and then we get a nasty cold snap in April, it could kill some seedlings and set things back a bit. However, the benefits we get from seeding early and taking advantage of the amazing temperatures we've had and some spring moisture is well worth the risk.
We were able to get out this week with the very dry and warm spring conditions to start chipping away at our list. First off, we needed to finish getting our tees put back together and grown in so that we can start playing off of them ASAP. Although 5 and 12 tees were finished and seeded last fall, there was already some new grass starting to pop up out of the sand last week, but we went a head and reseeded an additional half rate of bentgrass seed into the teeing surface just to ensure we would get plenty of germination. Furthermore, we finished building and grading 13 tee and were able to seed it as well. We were also able to get some work done on our new cartpath around 15 green/16 tee by spreading some topsoil and backfilling along the concrete path edges. A couple of nice days next week and we should have that entire project wrapped up and get 16 tee seeded as well.
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| Spreading a soil amendment onto 13 tee to incorporate into the sand |
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| 13 tee prior to soil incorporation |
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| Andy using his new toy. A 1994 tiller attachment that he revived out the "boneyard" of old junk outside of our shop over the winter. A new $20 part for the PTO shaft and some much needed TLC and it works great for incorporating the soil amendment into our sand rootzone. |
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| I came up with this idea for leveling our new tee boxes. It is a 20' piece of 4" steel tubing that was in the back of the shop. It is simply bolted to the bottom of the skidsteer bucket, easy on and off. Without the funds to utilize a laser box grader, this contraption with the use of a transit is about as close to perfect as we are going to get. |
Our last tee box to work on this spring will be 14. Florian Excavating was kind enough last fall to haul in about 400 cubic yards of clay fill to place on the old tee surface. We purchased about 500 concrete retaining wall blocks on a massive discount last fall that will be used to build up about a 3 foot wall along the edge of the cartpath by 14 tee. The new tee that will be built on 14 will be moved about 8-10 feet to the right of the old tee as well as be built up about 3 feet. This will improve line of sight down the fairway on 14 to be able to see the pond, as well as help take some of the massive cottonwoods on the left side of the hole out of play a little bit.
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| Hauling clay onto 14 tee last December. We have some serious work to do here this spring. This will be the last one we tackle as it is going to take a lot of time and effort to complete. |
We are certainly getting a HUGE jump on things this spring with the rapid melt off, lack of a flood, and nice weather so far. The only risk we run, as with all the farmers that have planted crops already this spring, is that if the bentgrass seed on the tees germinates and begins to grow, and then we get a nasty cold snap in April, it could kill some seedlings and set things back a bit. However, the benefits we get from seeding early and taking advantage of the amazing temperatures we've had and some spring moisture is well worth the risk.
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