Ice Removal

As the snow has melted back from the fairways several areas of ice formation have been created.  These areas generally occur in the lower lying areas in which poor surface drainage exists. Most of these areas have drainage systems in place which are frozen and no longer allow movement of free water.

Traditionally we have used compost to help melt theses ice areas in addition to mechanically breaking the ice with aerification equipment. This year we found another way to help with ice removal that appears to be less damaging to the turf (physically). While blowing off debris from the fairways it was discovered that the ice lifts from the forced air coming out of the blowers.  This method works best when a person is working with the blower to help lift the ice and make the wind force more effective. 

From Snow To Go

The golf course is once again open for play. This will mark the beginning of  the 2011  golfing season.  Although there still is snow located in many of the northern exposure areas on the golf course, the vast majority is quite playable.

The greens will also be back in play as the temporary winter greens will no longer be in use. This fact alone will bring many people back out to once again play our beautify golf course.  In addition the main play areas have been cleaned of Elk Duds and Pine needles, keep in mind that the Elk are out every night and leave us new opportunities to clean up after them every day.

Enjoy this break in the weather because it is hard to say how long it will last around here.

Never Thought Of It As Weird

I ran across this online and was surprised to see Golf Course Superintendent fell into this category.  Although I do have to admit over the years in conversations with people they are surprised to hear what I do for a living and they are even more surprised there is a degree for it.  So I guess maybe I shouldn't be surprised after all.

To read the online article click Here

Fun With Software

Now that we have gotten into a rhythm with regular snowfalls, I can spend the majority of my time working out the kinks of our new irrigation software. We began testing the new Toro Lynx irrigation control system this past fall in an extremely limited basis and I liked what I saw.

We are a beta site for this new software and I am extremely excited to see where this control system is now and where it will be going in the future. Compared to SitePro this is what irrigation control software should be. The inter-phase is much more user friend and now there is a commonality between actions that are executed from screen to screen.

On a daily basis I am running and creating new real world scenarios that will occur when I am actually watering with the software in season. These daily dry runs are allowing me to better understand and make recommendations for improvements in the software.

To see more information about this great new Lynx software visit Here

Bitter Cold

Over the last two days the temperatures have been extremely cold with the day time highs barely reaching zero. The nights have been beyond cold with temperatures falling as low -16 degrees.  These night time lows have set new historical records  here in Denver.

I have able to monitor what this bitter cold has done to the soil temperatures with the use of soil sensors that are out on the golf course. Currently we have six sensors located in green, tee and fairway areas.  These sensors are located at a depth of three and six inches.  In a two and half day period the soil temperatures dropped  eleven degrees.

This is just another example of how sensor technology can provide an incredible amount of useful information to help better manage golf courses. To find out more information about Toro Turf Guard click Here

Three Years Later

Today is the four year anniversary of the blog and it is hard to believe I have been at it for that long.  It continues to be an enjoyable process coming up with material that is both informative and relevant to what we are doing here at CCCP. 

I do have to admit that coming up with new material becomes harder with each passing day. In the last four years this blog has received more than 55,000 hits which I believe would not be possible unless I was providing quality information.  I would like to thank everyone who has visited in the last four years and I hope that I can continue to capture your interest in the future.

To Clear Or Not To Clear

Each winter we are confronted with an ever growing problem on several of our greens. This comes in the form of heavy shading from the Ponderosa Pines casting shadows which does not allow enough sunlight to effectively melt snow from the greens. 

As a result of this we have routinely cleared snow off these shaded greens in efforts to help control the potential build up of ice and excessive snow. A lot of thought goes into the decision as to when and whether the snow is removed such as:

•  Snow type (heavy or light)
• Snow amount
• Duration of snow cover
• Future weather forecast
• Soil moisture levels 
• Wildlife activity
• Time of year 

The golf course is 25 years old and the trees throughout the course have grown significantly causing issues that did not exist as few as five years ago. Over the last several years we have begun and active tree management program in some of these selected green sites. Management strategies include heavy pruning and all out removal 

At Last

Finally after seven weeks with little or no snow on the golf course yesterday brought us 4" of much needed snow cover. 

The timing is great for several reasons, the first obviously being the desperately needed moisture and secondly providing an insulating cover for the turf. Over the next several days the forecasted temperature highs will be in the single digits with the lows falling into negative numbers. With out the protective snow cover the turf would be exposed to extreme temperatures that could have potentially damaging effects.

Frost Pattern

Even thought the season has changed the fundamentals remain the same, each morning we monitor the moisture levels throughout the golf course.

Similar to what we do in the summer with looking at dew patterns we now are looking at frost patterns to help determine moisture levels. The irrigation system was blown out six weeks ago and with little or no snow falling since then, we have relied on the frost free components of the irrigation system.  This time of year without snow cover we make sure the main play areas receive water every two weeks.

The process of winter watering is very labor intensive, it requires six people to run the quick couplers and complete all of the hand watering. The entire golf course can be completed in three days with a lot of hard work.

Until a lasting snowfall occurs we will be doing everything we can to ensure that adequate moisture levels are maintained throughout the golf course. As I have said for many years, the golf course is more difficult to maintain in the winter months than durring the growing season and this is proof positive of that fact. Weather is always a determining fact in the level of success achieved in any season, but the winter months can be particularly unforgiving.      

The Native Tells The Story

It has been a long year with many challenges along the way but none has been greater than the lack of natural precipitation. This year we are nearly 10" of precipitation behind from last season and the effects can best be seen in the native grass areas.

Many of these native areas have been decimated by the lack of precipitation that has thinned out the non native species within the original seed mix leaving many areas free of turf.  These area are now being overseeded with a "true" native mix that will thrive under this low precipitation environment. Native grasses are very slow to establish and often times it takes years for the grasses to become fully established. Some of these areas may require multiple overseedings to become fully re-established.

Area Before Seeding

After Seeding

The seedbed was prepared using an old aerifier with solid tines to create pockets in which the seed will reside. These pockets create the perfect environment for the seed to germinate and become established.

Spreading The Word

A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to speak at the RMRTA turf conference and trade show here in Denver and it was a thrill.  I was asked to speak about blogging and the Golf Course Superintendent, the talk was well attended and I think that there will be several new blogs hitting the web soon.

I would like to thank those involved with the RMRTA who asked me to talk on this subject, it was an honor to be able to speak in front of my peers about something I believe will make their jobs easier to do in the future.

A Winter Blanket

One of the final steps in preparation for the upcoming winter has been done to the greens.  They all have been heavily topdressed with sand to provide some protection from the harsh winter environment.

This heavy sand layer will help in two ways, the first being physical protection and the second being insulating qualities. The sand will provide a physical barrier to foot traffic from animals such as Elk and Deer as they walk and run over the green surface. The second and most beneficial way the sand will help is to provide to insulation to the crown of the plant.

The crown in the turfgrass plant gives rise to the leaves, roots and all other stems; consequently the survival of the stem is critical for survival of the turfgrass plant. The crown is also the area in the plant which carbohydrates are stored which is necessary for growth of the plant. In essence the crown is the heart of the plant and everything must be done to protect it from the extremes found in our Colorado winters.

What Is The Purpose Of Winter Play

 I found a great article to covers the basic reasons why we go to temporary greens in the winter months.

Here are a few excerpts from the article;
"If winter play is a controversial topic at your facility I urge you to ask the following question. What is the purpose of winter play? I doubt golfers want to compromise turf health or future playability. Instead, winter play allows golfers to work on their swing, get outdoors, and stay active and exercise......This leaves us at a crossroad. Do what's best for the turf or what's best for the golfers? The answer is undeniably do what is best for the turf!"

The article can be read in its entirety at the USGA's website Here

Winter Setup

Now that it is December we have gone to our winter golf course setup. This includes restricting carts to the paths and the use of temporary greens for the next three months.

We do all that we can to protect the golf course durring the winter months so that less outsides stresses are put on the turf.  This is key to having the course come out of winter in better condition and giving it a head start for the next growing season.

During the winter months the turf is unable to recover from divots, ball marks and wear caused by foot and cart traffic. Once the turf begins thinning out from these stresses the opportunity for Poa Annua invasion is significantly increased. Currently we dedicate a lot of resources to mange the Poa populations and by us not taking these extra precautions we would not have the same efficacy of control.  

Turkey Day.... Almost

This morning while out on the course I ran into several Wild Turkeys that must not know what time of year it is.  They were proudly walking around in full view for all to see.
It has been several years since we have had Turkey's on the property, so it is nice to see them once again.

Soil Temperatures

With the cooler weather finally here to stay the soil temperatures have had the bottom fall out from them.  As recently as four days ago the soil temperatures were still climbing into the mid fifties, whereas now they are holding steady in the low thirties.

This is particularly evident in the following picture that shows a graph of our soil temperatures over the last week.  The colors on the graph show different areas on the course such as greens and fairways.  It is interesting to note the large variation in soil temperatures in the graph between the orange line to the greens lines.  

The green lines represent two different greens on the course and the orange line represents a fairway area. There is nearly a fifteen degree temperature difference between the green and  fairway location that are no more than 450 feet apart from each other.  This temperature difference is due to the fact that the native soils are better able to retain the heat in them versus a green that is built out of  sand. The sand areas contain more pore spaces for oxygen which separates the particles from each other not allowing conduction for heat transfer.

From Blow Out To Snow Out

The day started off nice, but the weather was predicted to change by days end and it sure did.  We are into our second day of blowing out the irrigation system and it turns out our timing was pretty good to put the irrigation system to rest for the season.

Unfortunately we did not complete blowing all of the system out and we will have to finish up a few holes tomorrow with snow on the ground.  The hardest part will be getting the compressors around in the snow, but we will get it done one way or another.

Destroyed

You know its going to be a great day when the first thing you see on the golf course is this. Unfortunately last night was our final irrigation that would be run for the season and a deep soaking was done to the golf course. This was done in preparation for the irrigation system being blown out in efforts to saturate the soil profile one last time.

This made the course extremely soft and the Elk did an incredible amount of damage to this one hole. The worst part is the damage to the green which at this point in the season will not recover until next spring at best.  As usual my staff will be working hard to put these areas back together with ballmark repair tools and sand and seed mixtures.  

#11 First Fairway

#11 Second Fairway

#11 Green

Close Up Of #11 Green

Loading Up

As winter is approaching we are in the process of soaking down all of the southern facing slopes on the golf course.  This all needs to take place before we begin to blow out the irrigation system next week.

After blow out of the summer system these areas will be more difficult to maintain adequate levels of moisture, but fortunately we have numerous frost free hydrants located throughout the course.  These frost free hydrants are located every 115ft from tee to green so that we can properly maintain the golf course throughout the winter when no snow cover is present. 

Still Growing, Still Mowing

Today is November 1st and we are still mowing a lot of areas on the golf course that are normally done for the season. The weather continues to be warmer than normal creating conditions in which the soil temperatures have stayed in the mid to upper 50's.

These warmer soil temperatures can be found in the fairway and rough areas which are comprised of  native soils which tend to stay warmer than other areas on the course such as greens and tees which are constructed of sand. Temperatures in the sand based areas are at least 10 degrees cooler which has resulted in a significant slowdown of growth in these areas.