Finishing Touches

     This last week we were able to finish a couple final steps to a project we started a few months back. The project I am referring to is the new posts and cable that now runs down the entire 4th hole.

The cable and posts on #4

     What you don't see in the photo above are the irrigation wires we put and run the entire length of #4 underneath the posts and cable. We also trenched a few wires back up towards #3 green. We added these new wires for some future irrigation projects.
     The first of those projects was the addition of a sprinkler behind #4 green. Because of some improper spacing between some of the surrounds sprinkler heads we need to fill in a gap on the back left slope. Here's Hung trenching for the new pipe. As with most of our sprinkler additions this winter this should really help us keep turf healthier and much better looking than the last couple of summers.

Hung handling the trencher

     One of the final steps to the larger project was to experiment with some underground drip tubing around the fairway bunker. After seeing this done at another course in our area I have been very eager to try it out at our course. This past fall we were fortunate to purchase a new sod cutter which also came with a "mole kit" attachment that can be used to pull wires and drip tubing. Here it is with the drip tubing attached.

The "mole kit" with drip tubing

     We chose the fairway bunker on #4 for our trial run because it was fairly flat all around the bunker. First we installed a 1" electric valve and hooked it up to one of the wires we ran under the posts and cable. Next we painted a line about 14" from the edge of the bunker to run our first line. After a little trial and error we finally made it around the bunker twice (the second line about 14" from the first)and Hung got everything hooked up to the valve. Now it's time to see how long and often we need to run it throughout the summer. If it works out well we will probably try to do the same thing to a few more of our problem bunkers in the coming year.

Enrique and Hung finishing up the last stretch

Success! There's water coming out!

     We also experimented pulling some irrigation wires with the new trencher and mole kit in front of #3 green. It worked really well and helped us finally get some wires to some sprinklers we added last summer. Now we should have better control now that we can run these sprinklers from our irrigation computer.

The mole kit with wires

Our first run with wires

New sprinklers running off the irrigation clock

Hung is always smiling

New sprinkler @ #9 Approach

This spring we have added quite a few sprinklers throughout the course. Our latest addiction has been installed in the approach of #9 green. We have always seemed to have struggled with keeping the turf healthy in the beginning of the approach, infront of the left green side bunker and in the area between the right green side bunker and the cart path. So we decided that a new sprinkler here would be our next addition and hopefully with a little more water on a consistent basis we will achieve some better results. As of right now the sprinkler will be have to be run manually until we get a station wire hooked up to it in the near future.

Hung and Tom connecting the pipe

Hung re-setting the greens sprinklers

We've got water!!!

- Posted by Austin Daniells, Golf Course Superintendent

On Course With Organics

     One of my goals this year was to introduce some organic fertilizers and compost into our maintenance regime. We were able to achieve the first part of this goal by spreading an organic fertilizer at a rate of about a half pound of nitrogen after our spring fairway and tee aerifications. We used a couple different brands mainly to experiment with the smell and both brands had a pretty mild oder. From what I can tell, the more you pay for the organic fertilizer the less it seems to smell. This is definitely something we will continue to use and experiment with as a way to feed our turf as well as the soil. We will be experimenting on the range this next week with a different brand that could have a little stronger aroma.
     This past week we were able to achieve the second part of our organic goal by using some compost on the course. After doing some research and finally finding a good supplier, we had about 25 tons of compost delivered to the course. We will begin this year by spreading this load of compost out on some of our high traffic areas as well as areas that tend to dry out a little sooner than others. Compost serves many purposes on the course and our hope is that it will help us keep a higher quality turf grass without a bunch of synthetic amendments. Compost can help build better soil structure as well as help with moisture retention thus potentially needing less fertilizer and less water. Right now we are spreading it with our two greens top dressers and hope to either purchase or borrow a larger fairway top dresser as we try to incorporate more compost on a larger scale.

Compost ready to go out on the course

A handful of goodness!

Tom taking another load out to the course.

- Posted by Austin Daniells, Golf Course Superintendent

33 Years and Going Strong

We love to see Jim smile!

Our golf maintenance mechanic Jim just celebrated his 33rd year here on the golf course. From a maintenance worker to an irrigation tech and now our mechanic, Jim has seen and done quite a bit in his tenure here. I for one feel very lucky to have him on our team as he is one the of the smartest guys on the course. Jim has really pitched in and helped us out quite a bit on the course this spring and it really shows out on the course. I know one day he is going to have to retire, but until then we are all grateful for his service. Jim, thanks for everything you do for us day in and day out!

Busy....Busy....Busy

     Springtime is always a very busy time on the golf course. It's always nice on Friday to look back at a busy week a feel proud of what my staff and I accomplished throughout the week. This was definitely one of those weeks on the course. From a surprise shotgun on Monday to laying some leftover sod on Friday afternoon. We had a busy week!
     We started out the week by completing our spring fairway aerification that had not been completed the week before due to that rain we received last week. This was finished by Wednesday and the fairways were blown off before the final mow on Friday. Overall it was a successful aerification and should prove to help with water and air movement down to the roots for a stronger plant through out the summer months. We are going to try and slice the fairways once a month for the next five months before we aerify again in September.


Enrique Blowing #18 Fairway


     This week we were also able to finish with our sod project on #6 fairway. Scott and Enrique had the 700 square feet of sod laid by lunch on Wednesday and were also able to fix a couple small areas on #10 & #13 tees too. Then on Friday afternoon we scrambled to fix an area #4 by the fairway bunker. Those two guys pulled it off and got the last bit of sod on the ground before quitting time so we didn't waste any sod. We will fine tune the area on Monday and should be playable in a couple of weeks.

Scott and Enrique finishing up #6 sod

#6 Finished

Fixing an area on #13 tee

     The rest of the week was filled with a bunch of mowing, fertilizing the fairways, changing out ball washer fluid, tree trimming, a little bit of hand watering on the greens and a bunch of other little projects. Overall, a very productive week on the course which makes me very proud of the staff we have here @ the pines.


Hung Trimming some trees



Tom spreading Organic Fertilizer on the fairways

Nice look @ #4 Fairway

Finishing up the week by double mowing fairways

Spring Fairway Aerification 2012

     Yesterday we started our spring aerification of the fairways here at the pines. With an early start for my staff and a back nine start for the golfers we were able to knock out all of the fairways on the front nine. The process started with a 5/8" aerification by our mechanic Jim followed by a double dragging of the cores with a metal drag by Enrique (Tom and I pitched in for a while to have two drags going at times). We use the dragging as a bit of topdressing and then follow the drag with a turbine blower to blow the leftover plugs into a line down the middle. Hung and Tom were the guys manning the blowers. Then we use the core harvester to pick up the remaining debris. A big thank you to Jake and Tom G. for staying a little longer yesterday to finish up with the core harvester. The final process yesterday was to water any hot spots and check all the sprinklers to make sure we didn't hit anything during aerification portion. Here's a few pictures of the different processes of our aerifiction.

Our mechanic Jim with coffee in-hand on #5

Nice dry plugs ready for the drag.

Hung blowing the plugs towards the middle.

Jake and Tom G. picking up the plugs.

Checking heads and watering hot spots.

Final Product. Looks nice and clean.

A look down #1 after the clean up.

     Overall the process on Monday went very smooth. My staff did an amazing job! There are a couple little adjustments we will make for the next time around. We were able to finish up two more fairways today and will have to reschedule the rest of the back nine for next Monday.
     The other guys not pictured, Mike and Jose, were doing a great job trying to mow rough and banks before the rain that is scheduled for the rest of the work week.

Smooth Sweeping

This morning we took the opportunity to get out and try our new greens sweeper. The "Sweep-N-Fill" is a pretty neat tool that we were able to purchase this past fall. With the cold weather this winter we had held off from using it until now as the soil temperatures have warmed up and the greens are looking pretty dense.
The Sweep-N-Fill was designed as a tool to help incorporate top-dressing sand into the turf canopy. Using its two brushes (that rotate in an opposite direction than it is traveling) the sand is forced into the canopy better than a normal greens brush.
Another use for this tool is to help lift the turf more upright before the greens are mowed to help smooth out the surface for a truer roll on the greens. This morning Tom jumped out ahead of the greens mower and tried it out for the first time. We chose to sweep in straight lines as opposed to sweep in circles since some of the greens were still a little wet from the rains this past week. With great success we were able to really get a lot of the turf to stand up and get a good cut on the greens. Tomorrow we will mow and roll the greens for some great conditions on this Masters weekend. This is definitely a process we will continue throughout the spring and summer with or without sand.



Here's a picture of the Sweep-N-Fill. I forgot to get a picture during operation so I'll try to get a video of it in action next time we have it out.
- Posted by Austin Daniells, Golf Course Superintendent

Seams Like Some Sod

At about 5:30 yesterday morning we had a delivery truck of sod show up in the parking lot. By 8:30 the guys had all 2700 square feet laid out. By 9:30 all of the ends were cut to fit and the sod was getting watered. It was a smooth process that should turn out just a good as the previous area we had sodded a few weeks ago. We're going to try to keep everyone off of this area for the next couple of weeks to give the sod the best chance of taking hold. Depending on the weather we will probably be mowing with a walk mower by the end of next week. We will also be aerifying the area around the sod before the end of this week if time allows. We were a little off on our measurement so we should receive another pallet to finish off the last bit by early next week.
As a side note to this project you will see our mechanic Jim on our tractor in the background of the third picture below. He was out aerifying the rough on holes #5 and #6 while we were laying sod. We tend to struggle quite a bit with these rough areas during the summer. We will be following up with some seed and fertilizer be weeks end to try to build a better stand of turf before the summer months hit.