More Cocoa Please!

     What you see in the picture above is our newer coca mat being pulled by a John Deere Gator on our 17th green. One of my first purchases almost three years ago was a cocoa mat. The cocoa mat is primarily used to brush in our top-dressing sand. Well, the original cocoa mat had finally reached its useful life so we recently acquired a new one and this morning we took it out to use it as a pre-brush before the greens mower. This is something Tom and I have been discussing for a while so we decided to give a try this morning. The idea being that it would help stand up the turf before the greens were mowed. Our final consensus was that it was a good idea and did seem to increase the amount of clippings in the baskets in comparison to our previous couple of mowing's which should result in a smoother surface.

No More Leaves Please!

As you can see in the photo above we have plenty of leaves falling from the 170+ Elm trees that line the entrance road to the course. From about the beginning of October to the first of the new year we spend almost every morning blowing and cleaning up the leaves. In the last week with the cooler weather the majority of the leaves have finally turned yellow and really started to fall. Though this is not a favorable job by anyone on the staff it's neat to see the leaves changing color and giving a different look to the course. We do apologize if your ball ends up in one of our piles but with a small staff and the increase in the amount of leaves falling this time of year we will probably only be able to get the piles cleaned up a couple times a week.  

End of November

     Can you believe it's the end of November already? I hope all of you reading this had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. I was fortunate to have the last week off for a much needed vacation. It's not always easy to turn my work switch off but I really tried my hardest this time. It makes it easier when you have a great staff. 

     This last week the boys knocked out all of the mowing by Wednesday and even had time to tackle a couple of small projects. A lot of credit needs to be given to my entire staff for making my job easier and the course looking great week in and week out.

    The projects this last week included a new split-rail fence to the left of #15 green. This was another step towards eliminating the (not so)permanent rope lines on the course. The next fence project will probably be down the cart path on #4 from tee to green.

    

    The next project at the top of our list for this week was the (almost) dead pine tree down the left side of #18 fairway. This tree took a turn for the worst last winter and has slowly been losing its green needles since. We will be planting some cypress in a few locations down the left rough of #18 very shortly.

     With December right around the corner the maintenance staff all hope you get to get out and play often in the next few weeks especially with no rain in the ten-day forecast.

   

New Drain @ #1 Green

     This last week we were able to accomplish another drain down in front of #1 green. This was actually a tie-in from a catch basin along the road down to the drainage basin in the approach. When the contractors re-paved the entrance to the RV Park they installed this catch basin to help collect the water that collects and comes down the road. Tom was able to drill some hole in the side of the catch basin in the approach and slide the new drain pipe inside. This project should help to dry up a couple little areas around the parking area for the green since the water will have somewhere to go now. Thanks to my staff for doing a clean and professional looking job once again.


Catch basin in the road



New pipe installed

Finished project with sand & seed



Green Circles



     If you've played the course in the last week or so you have probably noticed green circles around the trees and wondered what are they doing? Well, we are in the process of spraying all of our tree wells with a pre-emergent herbicide and glyphosate (round-up) to eliminate all established weeds/grasses and any winter weeds that could germinate. This is another way we cut down on our winter weed-eating which allows us to put our efforts towards other important irrigation, drainage or tree trimming duties that need to get accomplished this winter season.

The State Of Our Lakes

     If you been out playing our course over the last few months you probably noticed that our lakes have not been full and there is algae growing. This is not something we are proud of and is definitely something we are trying to remedy in the future.
     The level of our lakes typically starts to drop sometime in June or July because our wells can't keep up with demand. The low lake levels will typically continue into October or November depending on the weather, rain and well production. We do have the ability to purchase water but in an effort to keep our expenses down we try to keep it to a minimum.
     This past summer was a good summer for us as we were able to get one of our wells back up and running which added another million gallons a month. We were also able to get by without purchasing any water which made our lake levels go down but our revenue go up. We also changed out 75 of our full circle sprinklers to part circle sprinklers to help cut down on the areas we are watering and the amount of water we would need. Our plan for this next winter is to keep eliminating areas that are not in play and change out another 75 sprinklers to the part circle type.

     In an effort to be more sustainable we don't really have a choice but to cut down on the areas that we do water. This will also help out our bottom line as it will be less area we have to mow, fertilize, and keep weed-free. Our hope is that these reductions in turf areas will not even be noticed by most of our clientele. More to come on this subject as we begin to make some irrigation changes throughout the winter.

New Drain Along #1 Cart Path

      As the rains come and go they always remind us of where our poorly draining areas throughout the course. The rains last week have really turned the conditions of the course around. So with the great weather that was forecast for this week we decided to knock out a drain along the cart path on #1 that has been on our radar for quite some time. The combination of soils that don't drain well and the trees down the right rough blocking the sun during most of our fall and winter we needed to be able to catch some of the water off the cart path before it ran out into the fairway.



     Even though it was a short week our assistant superintendent Tom dove right in and did all of the trenching with a mini-excavator. Jake and Jose were running around too, hauling dirt, gravel and cleaning up after Tom.  Here's a couple pictures of Tom and his handy work.



     The original idea was to try to drain the water into a larger drain that runs across the fairway towards the lake on #18 but that didn't pan out because the elevation of that drain was too high.. So for the time being we had to make a sump type drain. In the future we may have to trench back down the fairway to one of the other drains that drain back to the lake. The sump drain is not next to the cart path because some of our irrigation pipe was in the way.



One of a kind!

     As most people know, mechanics can be one of a kind. As most superintendents know it would be unbelievably difficult to not have a mechanic around from day to day. Our mechanic, Jim Bandy, has been at Monterey Pines for over 32 years. He has seen a lot and been through a lot during his tenure. Jim is our resident "Macgyver". He can fix just about anything.
     The picture below shows what most of us see when we come in the shop. That is Jim, hard at work adjusting reels after one of our fairway mowers came in to the shop.

     This last week we unfortunately had to go without Jim for a few days as he tended to his wife while she had some health issues. Jim, we are really looking forward to having you back on Monday. Though we may try to fill your shoes while you were gone we will all have a sigh of relief with your return. Thanks for all you do in and out of the shop!

New Golf Carts (Already?)

     Yes it's true, those are new carts you are driving in today. Even though they were only a little less than two years old the lease on our golf carts was up and so the ClubCar trucks showed up in our parking lot this morning and delivered a new fleet of 60 golf carts, 2 electric utility vehicles, a new range picker and a beverage cart. The new carts are very similar to the old ones and look very shiny and new. Please take good care of them!!

ClubCar Trucks from Augusta, GA

Carts without Tops

New Fleet Ready To Go!



     The GPS units will be installed very soon on the new carts for your enjoyment. A BIG THANKS to our handyman Craig for taking care of the removal of the GPS units and the switch over from the old chargers to the new ones.

Digging to China!

     Ok, the guys are not really digging a tunnel to China. On Wednesday when Jose was mowing the lawns around the clubhouse he came across a section of the lawn that was very saturated. Come to find out after digging a very deep hole, it turns out that an old connection had a small leak and must have been leaking for quite some time. So after a little more digging to expose more of the pipe Hung jumped in and fixed the pipe. He also took the opportunity to install a quick coupler for future use so that we can spot water this section of lawn without having to run hose across the walkways around the clubhouse.

Jose and Enrique removing the dirt

Jose supervising



Hung gluing the pipe



      The water should be turned back on Friday and the hole back filled on Friday as well.

New Addition @ #9 Green

     Once again the maintenance staff has added a new cable and post section along the parking area @ #9 green. As you will see in the pictures below we used to use rope and stakes to keep carts from parking off of the cart path. We were tired of looking at stakes that were always leaning and just didn't have that clean look that the cable and posts provide.  I think it turned out great and also has helped us eliminate some stakes that our mowers used to have to move.



The old look



Driving towards #9 green



Close up of new post/cable





A Little Check-Up

     A couple weeks ago our pump station between #10 & #18 was checked out before the summer irrigation season really starts. Andre from APS Pump Service came up and performed some preventative maintenance on the pumps, filter, VFD and control system. This is one of the most important things we do during the spring season as our irrigation of the course is beginning to ramp up. This time he found a couple of items that were starting to fail and could have cost us some potential failures of the station. We will have Andre up again in July and once more in October as the irrigation season winds down.


Smile Andre





Is That A Mole In #9 Fairway?



     No, that's not a mole or a gopher or any varmint making a trench down #9 fairway. The "dirt" you see in the middle of #9 fairway is actually a mix of a fine mulch, sand and seed. We have begun to try to fill in the French drain that was installed before the opening of the course to help with drainage. For some reason the architect did not think that drainage was necessary in the original design. But as we observed the golf course before the grand opening, we determined that there was going to be a need for some drainage down the entire hole. The soil in #9 is some of the worst in the entire golf course and the water does not infiltrate as rapidly as the architect believed.



New Sprinkler (#17 left rough)

     This last week our team worked hard to get a new sprinkler added in the rough between holes #16 & #17. We determined that the spacing between the existing sprinklers was just too far and wasn't providing enough coverage. This new head should help us with the turf in the rough as well as the fairway.



We will be finishing up with some final touches this week by putting down some seed and mulch on the trench and hooking up the wires to the irrigation clock.

Black Liner Around The Greens

     One of the areas of the course that was starting to show it's ugly head was the black liner that surrounds the green. The liner is in place to hold the 10" of sand that is underneath the greens in place and to also protect the sand from any contamination of the surrounding soils. For whatever reason the liners have continued to move upward and cause a little irritation to some of our golfers when they are putting or chipping from the collar. A couple weeks ago we had a couple guys on our staff go out with razor blades and trim the liner so that nothing was showing on the surface. We will make an better effort to stay on top of this situation so that the liner doesn't impact any one's putts or chips.

Black liner after removal

Black liner up close

Not Until June!

     GREENS AERIFICATION IS NOT UNTIL JUNE!!

June 13-15 to be exact.

     This time of the year when most of the other courses in our area are aerifying their greens I seem to get a lot of questions about the timing of our aerification. Due to the type of grass we have on our greens (T-1 Bentgrass), aerifying this time of the year in our area would be detrimental to our battle with Poa annua. If we were to open up the greens we would just be inviting the Poa to come in and invade our putting surfaces.
     So then why June you ask? After some consulting with some local superintendents that are in the same battle against Poa, I chose June because it should be warming up a bit which means that Poa seed head production should be slowing down.

Range Open and Carts Available On Monday

     After checking out the course this morning we have determined that we are going to let carts out tomorrow (Monday) and also open the range. Please abide by the cart signs and some of the roped off areas that don't drain as well. Should be a busy week with nice weather ahead so make sure you call and make a tee time before coming out to play.

Rain Report (March 2011)

     Well, it looks as we made it through another wave of storms and the forecast for the next week looks pretty clear with some highs even reaching into the low 70's. Here at the course we received rain 10 out the last 11 days with a storm total of 4.5". The course has handled the rain pretty well with only a couple of the smaller trees and a few branches on the more mature trees falling down. We should have the course cleaned up for play today and possible have the course ready for carts on Monday or Tuesday. Please check with the pro shop for an update on cart availability @ 831-656-1087.
     As a side note to the rains this year, we typically start our rainy season at the beginning of October and go through April or May. Last year during the so called "El Nino" we received 15.32" from Oct. '09 through March '10. This year through the same time period we have received 18.67" which amounts to 3.35" more than last year. Hopefully this means that the aquifers in the ground are filling up so that our wells will produce more water throughout the year.

Driving Range Changes

    Most of you probably would have never noticed but we are currently in the process of removing some of the turf in the outer lying areas of the driving range. Our main reason for this is so that we can install part-circle sprinklers around the driving range so that we are only watering the turf and not the fence down the right side or the net in the back. I don't believe that this will have any negative impact to the way the range looks or performs. Hopefully this will save a little water that can be used for more in-play areas out on the course. Here's a few pictures that show where we sprayed round-up to create a new turf line up the right side.





Irrigation Project: #10 Lake Bank (Update)

    We were able to finish this project about a 10 days ago and I forgot to update and show the finished product. We are really pleased with the way everything turned out and can't wait to see how it handles the heat of the summer. My staff really did a top notch job throughout the entire project. Here's the pictures of the finished product.

#10 Green looking back

Hung and Enrique putting sod back

Flushing out the new lines

Checking heads for any issues

The final product. Isn't it beautiful!!!

Irigation Project: #10 Lake Bank

    On Monday of this week we started on an irrigation project that will encompass the entire lake bank on #10 from the pump house to the back side of the green. We have been fighting dry areas along this bank since day one. The irrigation system is pretty good in this area but due to the severity of the slope and the fact that it faces south has caused us many headaches with trying to keep the turf healthy and supplied with good moisture.
     About a month ago, my assistant Tom mapped out the area and did a little research on the best solution for this area. What he came up with was to divide the area into three valves (sections) and place a special Rainbird nozzle on 4" pop-up type sprinklers that provided a larger droplet of water to help with drift. The entire length of the project is 500ft and includes 34 sprinklers. Last week our irrigation tech Hung and Tom installed the three valves and prepped for trenching.
     We hope that this project provides a better a better visual appeal to the course as well as better conditions in this area. Maybe we can get the turf to become healthier and keep some balls from rolling into the lake? It will definitely help Hung in his irrigation duties as he was constantly having to drag hoses and emitters in this area throughout our growing season.



Prepping for the valves




Valves after installation









Tom, Scott & Hung Trenching



Everybody Hold On!

That's 500 ft of trenching and nobody fell in the lake!

Cleaning up the cracks

As we go throughout the year we occasionally will get some weeds and grass growing in the cracks of the cart paths. So in an attempt to keep the visual appeal of the cart paths up we will go through and clean out these cracks about 4 to 5 times per year. We do this by using a special wheel with metal braids attached to one of our older weed eaters. As the wheel spins the operator inserts the weed eater into the crack and pulls the weed eater along to remove any dirt and plant material. This is followed up by a blower to move the material off the path. I can't take complete credit for this idea as I got the idea from Doug Ayers over at Corral De Tierra C.C. Great idea Doug!! He has a great blog too. Check it out at http://corralmaintenance.blogspot.com/

Enrique's the man on a mission

Another one bites the dust!

     Yesterday we continued on with our scheduled tree removal and knocked down the dead pine that guarded the left side of #18 fairway. We have been trying to take down about one tree per week if the weather permits. With the removal of this tree it is really going to open up the left side and make this hole play a bit easier.  

   

Tom and Hung cutting out the pie on the front side

   

Ready for the fall

Ready to clean up!