An Early End To Winter

It seems like 9 times out of 10 in early March we should be dealing with winter weather still, but mother nature has different plans this year apparently.  With already a thin snowpack of only 5-6" on the ground, it didn't take but a few days of 50 degrees to remove the winter wonderland look from the golf course.

When the melt first began late last week, we immediately went out and removed all of the snow from the greens in order to get down to the ice layers that formed back in December and January so they could melt off immediately.  Regardless, some of the ice had been on the ground since mid-December (about 80 days) which means death for Poa Annua more often than not.  

Some of the heavier ice areas were about 1/2" thick.
This particular areas was from 16 green.

The front edge of 14 green had about a 1" thick ice dam.  We struggle with this area
every year due to a lack of proper surface drainage.

Fortunately, the ice that formed was very spotty.  Combined with a few areas in some collars that likely dessicated during the open periods during the winter, I am feeling fairly confident that our winterkill this year should be fairly limited.  Collin and I have been out on the greens daily this week cleaning up some of the sand topdressing from last fall and have been constantly picking grass plants out of the surface to evaluate their health.  So far, most areas appear to be doing pretty well.

One of our first orders of business after the greens dried up a bit was to get out
and start dragging around and cleaning up the sand topdressing from last fall.

With the lack of snowcover for part of the winter on some greens,
the frost crack are especially bad.

Lastly, we cleared all the snow off of our bentgrass nursery and installed a cover
over it in order to jumpstart its growth.  We plan on using all of this sod ASAP
to repair any damaged areas on the greens and collars.

It looks like the big spring warm up is going to last through the weekend before going back to near normal next week.  We will continue to evaluate the melting and drying of the golf course over the next week or so and give everyone plenty of heads up when it looks like we might be opening.

Mid Winter Turf Update

While the mid winter warm up we experienced the last week was a nice break from the brutally cold temperatures that one would expect in January in North Dakota, it was about the last thing the turf on the golf course needed.  The situation with the small amount of ice we accumulated on our greens in December was less than ideal, but really not too bad considering how isolated it was.  However, the warm temperatures last week followed by another deep freeze in the forecast has taken the situation from bad to worse, for two reasons.

First off, a mid winter thaw cause turf, especially Poa Annua, to dramatically lose some of its ability to withstand cold temperatures (cold hardiness.)  Having some exposed turf warm up and thaw out in January, and then go right back to subzero temperatures like we are forecasted for this week, leaves turf plants prone to direct low temperature kill.

Secondly, in areas where the snow melted down but did not completely disappear, we are now left with thick sheets of ice.  This however isn't too much of a concern unless we get another long and prolonged winter that drags through March and April again.  At this point in the winter, our bentgrass will be able to tolerate an ice layer just fine until spring.  The Poa Annua can only live about half as long under ice, so if we get into March soon and there is no end to winter in sight, we will be going out to clear snow off of our greens again.  Here is a great article from the U of M about winterkill on golf courses if you would like some additional insight.

Greens like 5 that get a lot of wind and have most of their snow blow
off are now about 30% to 60% snow free and exposed to the elements.

9 green is in a very tough situation where the front of the green is free of snow,
and the entire back half of the green is a sheet of ice.

With the warm up evident on Monday morning, Collin and I were close to going out and clearing all the snow off the greens in order to prevent the ice buildup like you see in the above picture of hole 9.  However, with the forecast showing a large arctic airmass bringing subzero temperatures again, we decided that the risk of low temperature kill on ALL of the greens was greater than the risk of some additional ice on just a few areas of the greens.  A lot of greens still have a consistent blanket of 2" of crusty, junky snow, that will nonetheless provide plenty of protection from the cold temperatures.

With a winter like this, when conditions are less than ideal for the turf, it makes the preparation work we do back in September and October that much more important.  A few timely, additional fertilizer applications and raising the height of cut during those months without a doubt created a stronger, healthier turf plant that is more likely to survive these tough conditions.  Also, the extra heavy layer of topdressing sand that we put down just before the ground froze is providing the turf crown (the living portion of the plant just below the surface) enough protection from the cold temperatures and wind to help it stay alive.

A good illustration of a turf crown.  This is the only part of the plant that needs
to survive winter.  All the rest of the leaf tissue can die, but if the crown (which
is supported by the roots) lives, then the plant will regrow in the spring.

This closeup of the turf from an open area on 5 green this week shows how our fall topdressing thoroughly covers the crowns, leaving just some leaf tips sticking out through the sand.  While some kind of permanent cover (like you see at the other courses in town) are a more ideal protection measure, this works very well also.

At this point in the winter we are just hoping for an early spring.  Regardless, when the first initial signs of spring start to show up, hopefully in early March, we will be going out to clear however much snow is left in order to melt the ice that has been present in some areas for most of the winter.

Lastly, winters like this are why we expanded our bentgrass nursery to 4,000 sq ft last summer.  Without a doubt, we will experience a lot of dead Poa Annua in our collars and greens this spring, which means we will be harvesting all of that nice, healthy bentgrass sod to put out on the course as soon as possible.  Hopefully this coming summer we can expand our nursery even larger.

This picture from early September last year shows the full size of our bentgrass
nursery that will be available to be used as sod on the course immediately this spring.

Trying to end on a positive note.  Winter will end at some point, and summer is going to be great!

Taking Down Giants

With the beautiful January weather we had in the last week, Collin and I were busy removing the three cottonwood trees in the row between 6 green and 11 tee that were identified as problem trees last fall.  One tree in particular was incredibly rotten at the base and leaning toward the cartpath on hole 6, creating a significant hazard.

The other two trees that we removed were at the end of the row all the way toward the back of 11 tee.  These two massive trees in particular were causing an extreme amount of shade on 11 tee.  It is a well known fact of turf management that extreme shade is a leading cause of decline of highly maintained bentgrass.  Especially this fall as the sun angles got lower and the days got shorter, the turf quality on 11 tee went downhill dramatically.

Those two trees that were removed will allow significantly more early morning sun to reach 11 tee, which is particularly vital to bentgrass.  Furthermore, being as they as so far down the row from 6 green, they really don't provide any screening or protection from errant golf balls on hole 6, so removal wasn't really a big deal.

11 tee on an August afternoon is in complete shade.

The removal of these two trees will allow significantly more morning
sunlight to reach 11 tee.

The dead of winter is a great time of year for us to perform large scale tree work on the golf course for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, it obviously makes a huge mess, so not having to contend with golfers makes the process much easier.  Also, with the ground frozen hard as a rock, we caused significantly less damage to the turf.  One tree had to drop directly on 11 tee, and hardly even left a scratch.

While we were already in the process of removing the trees, we did some significant pruning to the rest of the trees as well in an effort to raise the limb height.  This also will allow more morning sunlight to reach 11 tee.

I've cut down a lot of trees in my career, but none this big.

It was very evident that the one tree that was overhanging
the cartpath by 6 green was a rotten mess inside, and a
disaster waiting to happen.

The remaining trees were all limbed up much higher.

Cleanup was a breeze, as all the large branches and trunks were chained to the
back of the pickup and skidded down the path and piled up in the waste
area behind 6 tee.

A look at the entire row of trees after removal, trimming, and cleanup.

In the next week few weeks a stump grinder is coming in for a day to remove all the stumps as well as a few other remaining stumps on the course from some other tree removal over the years.  Beyond that, we just have a few sticks to rake up in the spring and fill the stump holes with dirt and grass seed and the project will be wrapped up.

Winter Turf Update

Its that time of year again to start analyzing how mother nature is treating our golf course in the off season.  We've had a mixed bag of winter weather in my time here at GFCC, but this winter is turning out a lot like the winter of 2011-12.  We've had a very dry fall in September and October that is transitioning right into a dry winter as well.

For those of you who have followed this blog for the last few years, you know that this is a double edged sword.  Obviously, a dry winter means our likelihood of experiencing a significant flood next spring is dramatically reduced.  Conversely, a thick blanket of snow is the number one protection the turf needs in order to survive the winter.

We ended November with about an inch or two of snow on the ground.  Not much, but it was just enough of a blanket to keep the turf insulated during the first big cold snap we had at the end of the month.  Unfortunately, December has brought us just enough warm days to melt that little bit of snow, and then has deposited a small film of freezing rain and fog.  Fortunately, the temperatures in December haven't been too cold yet, but the exposed greens that now have a thin layer of ice and frozen sand on them is certainly less than ideal

There wasn't much snow at the end of November, but it was just enough.

Unfortunately the December thaw left a lot of puddles of ice in areas that didn't
completely melt off.  The following days of freezing rain didn't help the situation.

We still have a lot of winter left to go, but at some point we need a window of warmer, sunny days in order to go out and try to melt or shovel off the remaining areas of ice. After that, a good dumping of snow would be great.

Shop Season

Collin and I have officially switched gears from turf maintenance, to equipment maintenance.  We realistically spend 8 months of the year (April-November) ensuring the turf on the golf course is healthy, properly maintained, and in overall good shape.  We then spend the other 4 months of the year (December-March) putting some serious maintenance and repair into our equipment fleet.

Our entire line of equipment includes about 90 individual pieces that total in value of just about a million dollars.  Everything from a $50,000 fairway mower to a $200 string trimmer will spend time in the shop this winter receiving all its routine maintenance as well as a thorough check over that usually reveals a variety of broken or worn our parts that require attention.

It is important to realize that most of these machines live a life much more difficult than your typical automobile or home lawn mower.  In order to receive maximum hydraulic flow to operate the cutting reels, a fairway mower for example will run at full engine RPM for about 5 hours a day mowing fairways.  All told, in an entire season, one of our fairways mowers essentially mows a strip of grass 8' wide and 1,600 miles long at a speed of 5 mph, with the engine and hydraulic pump running at full throttle the entire time.  That's a lot of wear and tear.

Our two fairways mower are now 7 years old with about 3,000 hours on them.
Every winter we put them first on the repair list as they starting to have
more and more parts in need of replacement.

Each of the ten cutting units goes on the work bench and is completely
disassembled.  All bearings are checked, replaced if needed, and
reassembled in preparation for grinding.

Bad bearing left, good bearing right.  Overall about 30 of the 100 total bearings
 in all the cutting units ended up being worn out enough that we replaced them.

Lastly, the reel and bedknife receive a razor
sharp edge, and are reinstalled on the mower.

We are just wrapping up all of the general maintenance and repairs to the fairways mowers and the bearing replacement and sharpening on their ten cutting units.  Between Collin and I we put about 110 total work hours into just these two pieces to ensure they are ready for next season.  We only have 3 1/2 more months to get the other 88 pieces of equipment done now....

Irrigation Pump Removal

If there is one piece of equipment that is solely responsible for the well being of the golf course, it is the irrigation pumps.  Housed in the grey steel sided building along 7 fairway, I would be curious how many golfers have ever ventured inside and seen the pumps.  Tucked away out of view and sitting quietly most of the time during the day, they are nonetheless the heart and soul of the golf course.

Inside the building is a 20' deep concrete wet well that takes in water from the irrigation pond.  On top of the vault sits a huge concrete lid that holds the two vertical tubine pumps.  They extend downward into the wet well and suck up water when engaged, forcing it through a 6" mainline out to the sprinklers on the golf course.  Powering the two pumps are a 40HP and 20HP electric motor.  During a hot and dry period in the summer, it is not uncommon for both of the pumps to run constantly from 9pm to 7am in order to properly water the golf course.  All told we can water upwards of 250,000 gallons in a heavy night, and over the course of a season we will use anywhere from 13-20 million gallons of water.

However, it became evident this fall that one of the pumps was starting to experience some mechanical failure.  Not only was the 40HP pump starting to make some loud noises during operation, but we started losing pressure during high flow rates of over 600 GPM, meaning that the pumps were unable to supply the water that our irrigation system was demanding.  Because of this, and the fact that the system was installed in 1995 and has received very little maintenance, we made the decision to remove the entire system this fall in order to have it inspected.  If there is one piece of equipment that we simply cannot have fail during the summer, this is it.

The entire pumpstation: pumps, motors, valves, and piping before disassembly

It took Collin and me an entire day to take everything apart.

Due to the length and weight of the pumps, we had to remove a few
roof panels and have a crane remove them.

These two pieces of steel tubing and impellers are the difference between
a green and vibrant golf course, and a dead one.

Both the pumps and the electric motors that turn them are being taken to a company in Fargo that specializes in rebuilding large water pumps.  The big question is going to be how badly worn are the pumps, and does it make financial sense to rebuild them.  It a lot of instances, rebuild can cost upwards of 60-80% of the cost of replacing with brand new pumps that are more efficient and come with warranty.  We are hoping to have an answer in the next few weeks.

End Of The Line

We have reached the official end of golf season, but that doesn't mean the end of work season.  Believe it or not, the last month of the golf season is one of our busiest times on the year.  We act a little bit like animals preparing for hibernation out on the course, trying to squeeze in as much final project work and winterization of the course as we can before the ground freezes and the snow starts to fall.  Winter is hard for me, as I am forced to take my hands off the course for a solid 5-6 months, unable to adjust, tweak, or help the turf stay healthy.  Thus, October and early November are vitally important as it is our last chance to prepare the course to sit idle for a long, dark winter.

Our preparation for winter involves protecting the course from four main threats:  extreme cold, wind, snow mold, and snowmobiles.  All four of these pose a serious threat to the health of the golf course if we fail to provide protection from them.

Fairways, greens, and tees all receive a healthy dose of fungicide to prevent snow
mold, which can be a devastating disease if left unchecked.  Whereas in the summer
we may spray every 2-3 weeks to protect the turf, this application must protect for 5 months.

Our protection from cold temperature and wind is a two part approach.  First, a
thick covering of sand acts as a blanket for the greens, protecting them
from the elements.

Second, snowfence helps hold snow on all of our windswept greens.  Snow
is a great insulator and is our best protection from brutally cold temperatures.

We are trying a new snowfence technique on the practice green and a few tees
this fall by laying limbs from trees that we trimmed along the edges to help catch snow.
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With about 13 miles of pipe in the ground, 650 individual sprinklers, and a  replacement
value of well over $1 million, irrigation blowout is a fall task not to be taken lightly.

Lastly, snowmobiles pose a serious hazard to the course by tearing up the grass
under a thin snowpack, and packing snow into ice that can easily kill
the turf.  There are about 100 signs across our property notifying snowmobilers
that they are not welcome.

Lastly, with every extra minute we have this time of year, we are trying to finish some projects on the course.  We finished pouring concrete by 2 tee this week, did a lot of final topsoil grading around all of our projects in preparation for sod next spring, and installed about 1,000' of drainage pipe to connect our new bunker drains to an outlet.

Putting the final touches on the last load of concrete cartpath along #2 tee.

The final product with the new bunker and cartpath by #1 green, once sodded
next spring, I think will be a tremendous improvement.

We were able to add drainage lines to eight new bunkers this fall, meaning that
at this point about half of the bunkers on the course now have sub-drainage.

Add in to all of this that we have to finish cleaning up all the leaves on the course, getting all of our equipment thoroughly cleaned and pressure washed in preparation for winter maintenance, staking off and roping all of the greens, and getting all of the accessories picked up off the course and put in storage, and hopefully you understand why late fall is one of our busiest times of the year.