All Back Together

After the rains ended Thursday evening the golf course was a little beat up and needed quite a bit of TLC.

Not only were most of the bunkers severely washed out but many of the cart paths were covered with mud that washed in from some of the surrounding areas. It was all hands on deck for cleaning up the mess. We have a staff of 28 people and if they weren’t mowing, they were in the bunkers removing silt and shoveling sand back up onto the faces.

The staff working hard to restore the bunker



The bunkers were put back together by about 12:00Pm most people did not even realize that they were completely washed out some six hours before. My staff did an outstanding job in completing this daunting task, I am truly proud of them for their commitment to CCCP.

Thursday Bunker Fun

This afternoon we had our latest bought with Mother Nature in the form of another heavy down pour that put nearly an inch of rain on the course. This rain occurred in a relatively short period of time which flooded many areas on the course in addition to washing out many of the bunkers.

During the bunker renovation that took place nearly three years ago, great care was taken to install bunker liners that will help keep the sand up on the steeper faces. Overall the liners helped, but did not stop all of them from washing out.

In the morning my staff will complete regular mowing operations and after that the remainder of the day will be spend moving sand back up onto the faces. Our focus for tomorrow will be to get the bunkers back in play as quickly as possible. The sand that washed down will need to be re-compacted, so that balls do not plug on the face due to the sand being loose.

As time allows we will get back into all of the damaged bunkers and re-compact all of the sand to help provide consistency from bunker to bunker.

#9 Greenside Bunker
#4 Fairway Bunker/Water Hazzard

#18 Greenside Bunker

Back To Triplexes

For most of the early season we have utilized our old five gang fairway mowers to help with reducing labor necessary for mowing fairways. Now that additional staffing has been freed up from the responsibilities associated with the irrigation renovation, we have once again begun to mow fairways with triplexes.

The old fairway units required two people and four and a half hours to complete the job, whereas the triplexes require seven people and three hours complete the mowing. The math regarding labor usage is pretty obvious, but the quality of cut and appearance is far superior with the triplexes. These lighter weight fairway mowers reduce the amount of wear due to a lower PSI (pound per square inch) footprint along with the ability to easily remove clippings from the fairways. Perhaps the most noticeable difference is in the aesthetic look to the fairways, the cutting width with the triplexes is three feet less than that of the larger units.

Here at CCCP we have only 20 acres of fairway and the scale of the larger mowers is out of proportion to the size of the fairways. The smaller lines are far more aesthetically pleasing to the eye and accentuate the wonderful movement we have in the fairways.

Finding Your Number

One of the final things left to do as a part of the overall irrigation renovation is to install the yardage makers on the new heads.

There will be nearly 700 heads that will have yardages on them ranging from 45 yards all the way out to nearly 300 yards. Unlike the marking system found on the old heads which were only found in the fairways, all new heads will have markings on them in the above yardage range. Hopefully this additional information will help your game in addition to helping with pace of play.

The double heads that are located in the intermediate rough will have only one of them with yardages due to the proximity of each other being located only 18” apart. Additionally the Kirby yardage marker will be removed from the fairways in efforts to help remove the clutter of unnecessary components.

We are hoping to have the yardages installed on the heads within the next two weeks.

In Bloom

With all of the spring rains and cooler than normal temperatures some of the wildflowers are still looking good. The flowers that are most visible at this time are Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis). These flowers are often found in cooler shaded areas, but there are always exceptions to the rule as found on the third hole.

Dame’s Rock was a common garden flower that was introduced to America from Europe in colonial times, and has since spread through prolific seeding. Technically it is considered a noxious weed by many states and needs close monitoring to control the spread of this plant. Even though this plant is considered by some a weed, it sure adds a lot to the beautification of the golf course.

We pay close attention to the spreading of this weed by applying herbicides to control it in numerous areas on and around the golf course. The definition of a weed is a plant out of place, Dame’s Rocket sure looks nice but if you’re not careful it can get away from you.

Irrigation Audit

Yesterday we began to test the distribution patterns of our new irrigation system. The testing was conducted by myself and Larry Rodgers of LRDG our irrigation designer.

We tested both green and fairway locations to determine how uniform our new coverage is. The data that was collected is another tool for me to use in the fine tuning process of the system. After evaluating these areas, I now have better insight as to the true distribution patterns of the sprinkler heads under real life situations found at Castle Pines. This data clearly shows how various nozzles combinations distribute the water differently from the head all the way out to the end of the throw. Now that I am armed with this information, I will be better suited to make adjustments out in the field as we begin to more frequently utilize the new system.


Larry Rodgers laying out the grid


Testing on the fairway

Testing on the green

Mulching

We have begun the process of mulching both the beds at the clubhouse as well as the walking paths on the golf course.

The material that is used to mulch each of these areas is different based on appearance and functionality. The mulch that is used at the clubhouse is a purchased material that is selected for its color and size. This new much helps freshen up the appearance of the beds as well as help with moisture retention and weed control.


The mountain of mulch

Spreading the material

The material used for the walking paths on the golf course is a recycled material from Castle Pines Metropolitan District. This material was generated from the community wide spring clean up. Each year the Metro District collects brush and other materials that are shredded which produces a great material for our use.

The walk paths on the course

Late Afternoon Fun

The skies once again opened up today and hit the course with a rain/hail mixture. As usual the storm did not last long, but still managed to put down more than 1/2" of precipitation.

The down side of this late day storm is the fact that the hail did some damage to the annual flower plantings. Most of what was damaged was the Geraniums which needed to be deadheaded anyway, so I guess it worked out OK. We will add a second liquid fertilizer application for the week to help the flowers grow out of this mild damage.

Shredding of some of the leaves
Natural Deadheading (zero labor cost)
The sun comes back out after the storm

Serenity Now

As a golf Course Superintendent most of our days are spent at a hectic pace either putting out fires or completing those small details ahead of daily play. Each and every day you have to work long and hard to create the end product that all can be proud of.

Every once and a while Mother Nature cooperates and makes life a little easier in which you can actually appreciate all of the beauty found around you. For us this year we have had more of those "relaxing" mornings than I can remember due to frequent rains and milder than normal temperatures.

Below are some of my most recent "relaxing moments" on the golf course.

Can You Believe it?

It's June 8th and we had light frost today on the golf course. The temperature this morning at 6:00am was 35 degrees which was as cold as i have ever seen it this late in the year.

Fortunately the frost was light and only occurred in the rough at the lower lying areas throughout the course. None of the annual flowers were damaged by this highly unusual early summer frost.

Light frost in the rough

Fairway Cut

In efforts to improve the practice facility and create more purposeful practicing, we have added a fairway cut to the driving range landing area.

Over the last several years the driving range landing area has been more brown than green most of the time due to a non functioning irrigation system. Low and non cost upgrades have been made to the old irrigation system still in service on the driving range. The old underground piping is still being utilized, but the heads have been upgraded and are now being controlled by our new system.

Newer sprinkler heads that were installed in 2005 have been removed from the golf course and are now being used to replace inoperable and inefficient heads that are nearly 25 years old. For the next several years we will limp along with an improved driving range irrigation system, but ultimately it will also be replaced when the driving range tees and landing areas are reconfigured.

The driving range is one of the final areas on the golf course that has yet to be improved and the Green Committee is currently looking at long range plans for improvement. Some of the concepts that are being considered are; raising and enlarging the tees, moving the target greens to create better visibility and even the possibility of several practice par three holes on the east end of the range.

Concrete Repair

The contractor has begun to replace the concrete that was removed or cut during the irrigation installation. We originally had the concrete work scheduled to be done by a sub- contractor and came to find out on the day they were suppose to start work they went out of business. Allot can happen in a couple of weeks in this day and age.

Repairs were made on holes #8,#9,#10 and #17 yesterday and the remaining holes will be completed over the next several day as the weather allows.



Loading Up

Finished Product

Wash Out

Over the last three days we have once again received significant amounts of rain totaling nearly two inches. The rain is great from a moisture and soil flushing standpoint, but it is beginning to hurt us on the maintenance side of things.

As I mentioned in a previous post the rough is growing very well and has been hard to keep up with. Yesterdays the rain forced us to delay topdressing greens and a fairway PGR ( growth regulator) application which will hopefully be rescheduled for this coming Monday. The PGR products we use have to be watered in with at least .25" and it has not been dry enough lately to even consider these applications.

Hopefully these unusual weather patterns will change and we will once again be able to get back on schedule for many critical agronomic procedures.

The Green Up

There is a great deal of truth in the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, just look at the following time lapse pictures of the golf course.

Back in February I took the first picture of the eighteenth fairway and at that point I got the idea to document the spring green up process via pictures. When you are on site every day you do not see the dramatic changes taking place right in front of you. It is similar to not noticing how much your own children grow until one day they are bigger than you.

Each picture shows subtle changes in the color of the turf based on exposure, grass type and even different varieties of the same grass. Additionally you will notice the leafing out of the scrub Oak and other native plant materials.

February 4th

March 9th
April 6th
April 23rd
April 28th
May 19th

Sprinkler Head Placement Around Greens

All of the heads on the course were sited in with the use of GPS technology to ensure specific placement that optimizes sprinkler head performance. The use of this technology is great 99% of the time, but due to the greens all being different shapes and sizes the layout to has to shift sometimes.

Typical Sprinkler head location just of the collar

Typically the heads are located just off the collar six inches into the first cut of rough. This is done so that the sprinkler can be properly adjusted so that only the green is irrigated during operation.

On several of the greens you might notice the heads were not located as i have just described. These heads were placed away from the green due to the fact that the greens have shrunk and lost their shape over time. The intent is to fully restore these greens back out to their original shape and size similar to what was done on the eighteenth hole last year.

Heads located out away from the current green edge

During the installation great care was taken to relocate original green perimeters so that no piping was installed into the original green surface. Both the heads and pipe were installed out and away from the current greens edge so that when these green are restored the materials will be out of the way of invasive agronomic practices.

The restoration of these greens surfaces will greatly enhance the overall playability of the golf course by creating pins that have been lost over time.

Rolling Closures

Even though we have completed the overall irrigation renovation work, there still are many things that need to be done. Each of the holes over the next several weeks will be closed at some point so that final punch list items can be addressed. This will include leveling of sunken components, repairs and adjustments to all newly installed heads and valves.

Additionally components of the old irrigation system will be removed; these items will include sprinkler heads, valve boxes and satellite controllers. The old piping and underground wiring will be abandoned since it is not seen on the surface or affects the play of the golf course.

These final items that need to be completed are very important to both the short term and long term success of the renovation work. These rolling closures will move throughout the day depending on how much work needs to be done on each individual hole. There is the potential that a particular hole will be closed in the morning and might be open later in the same day. So for that reason it will be hard to accurately predict what closures you might run into a daily basis. Be sure to check with the golf shop or here on the blog for the latest updates.

Your cooperation and understanding of these closures is greatly appreciated and will help to expedite this final process of the irrigation renovation project.

The Perfect Storm Is Forming

In the last week we have received over 1.6 inches of rain that is encouraging the rough to grow out of control. In a typical week we are able to completely mow the rough three times, which keeps it short, dense and highly playable.

Over the holiday weekend and into today the rough was not mowed due to the conditions being overly wet and physical damage would occur to the golf course from the machinery used for mowing. This week we will be hard pressed to get the rough mowed once let alone twice. This coming Friday is our fist major tournament of the year (The Tradition) which will keep us off the course for the majority of the day.

In all likelihood we will not be able to catch back up with the rough until next week when we have an uninterrupted work schedule. This rapid growth of the rough is problematic, but at the same time it is great for filling in areas that were damaged by winter kill and the irrigation installation.

Now more than ever there will be a premium for keeping your ball in the fairway and out of the heavy rough. If you are unable to stay out of the rough, be sure to contact the golf shop staff for tips on how to play out of the thick stuff.

Annual Flowers

Over the last several days the annual flower plantings have begun. Currently the beds that are located around the clubhouse and parking lots have been completed. The beds on the course will be installed later today if the weather cooperates.


After a period of about one week after installation we will begin with regular fertilizer applications to help with establishment and to maximize flowering.

We Are Done!!

Well it is hard to believe that this day actually came, but the overall irrigation installation has been completed today. The installation of the new components was done a full three weeks ahead of schedule and I could not be happier.

The contractor will be on site most of the summer working on punch list items and other odd and ends that still need to be addressed. This project like all that are this size and magnitude had it's ups and downs, but overall the end result is something that all parties involved in can be extremely proud to have been a part of.

Dialing It In

As the irrigation installation nears the end, the fine tuning of the newly installed components begins. With more than 3000 sprinkler heads installed each of which requires specific adjustments and run times to properly operate.

One of the more labor intensive items that I have been doing is the programming of the central computer that operates the irrigation system. The data input is fairly straight forward, but it is the heads specific details that will make the difference on the overall uniformity of irrigation coverage.

Sprinkler Head Detail in Database


Each sprinkler heads is assigned attributes such as; spacing, gpm, radius, slope, pressure, soil type, grass type and numerous others. These individual attributes figure into the overall calculations the computers does in establishing run times for the sprinkler heads. Our biggest challenge is the fact that we have more 2700 part circle heads that all have different arcs and each one needs to be accurately established. With out this information being correct each head could have as much 10%-50% run time variance which will lead to overly wet or dry conditions depending on which way the variance is. One of the keys in establishing correct arcs will the use of a protractor to identify the true arc of each head.

Using a Protractor



Another challenge we will face is re-nozzling individual heads to deal with our hard lining of the fairways. Our fairways vary in width throughout and this creates challenges for us in establishing the right nozzle setup. The layout of our sprinklers in the fairways in not on a traditonal grid as you would find with most conventional irrigation systems. The fact that we have separated the fairway from the rough creating two different water areas makes using tradtional spacing methods not possible.


These tasks will be incredible time consuming, but in the long run it will be invaluable information that will be used in establishing uniform water distribution.