sNOw way!

    There is a slight chance for snow tomorrow. This is not something were getting too excited about but it would be a rare occurrence here in Monterey. I heard a couple people comment that the last time there was snow in our area was back in the late 60's.
    Even with a short week for our staff accomplished a lot this week. We were able to knock out all of our mowing, even mowing tees in a side-to-side cut. We were also able to extend the fairway out on hole 14. The original design of the hole was for a longer carry to the fairway but this has proved to be a bit of a stretch for some of our clientele. So in an effort to be a little more customer friendly we decided it wouldn't be too much more work to have to mow another 15-20 yards of fairway.



Tom - scalping down the rough on #14

 

Double cutting

    We followed up the scalping with a solid tine aeration, a bunch of rye seed, and a little fertilizer. Hopefully the rain that is forecast for the next couple of days will help to get this area in shape.

A Little Wet

   Well, after a beautiful week last week for the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach the tides have changed and we are getting dumped on here in Monterey. Usually the rain comes during the AT&T but this year they got lucky. So far this week we have received about 2.5 inches and there's still more to come. Here's a couple of pictures of our course during the downfall yesterday that brought on a littler thunder and lightening.



#9 Green



#18  Green



#1 Green





#1 Fairway





This one sprays and that one mixes!

     We have again been fortunate to add a couple more pieces to our equipment fleet, a 600 gallon mix tank and a 300 gallon tow-behind sprayer. In the past we have had to spray all of our herbicides, wetting agents and fertilizers on the entire golf course with our 175 gallon greens sprayer. Even though it did a great job and was very accurate, we were accumulating too many hours on that machine and were spending way too many man hours mixing and filling up. So with our recent acquisition of the 300 gallon sprayer we are now able to spray a lot more at one time and in turn reduce our man hours. With the addition of the 600 gallon mix tank we have been able to cut down on our mix and load time and the need for mixing product in 5 gallon buckets. Here's a few pictures of our new toys.

And down she goes....

     On Wednesday morning our Assistant Superintendent Tom cut down the dead pine on the right side of #10. This tree had been dead for quite some time and desperately needed to come down before someone got hurt. Last week Tom and a couple of guys on our crew took down the smaller pine that was on the left side of the hole. With both of the trees gone it sure makes the hole look a lot different. Soon we will be planting some new trees on either side of the fairway to create a new look for the hole. Sorry about the video being so dark. It was still early when we cut it down.

After the fall

The boys cleaning up



Adding to the irrigation system

     The irrigation system on a golf course is one of the most important parts of the golf course. Starting with the pump station and the main lines down to the sprinkler heads and the drip lines around the pro shop, all of these components play a vital role in getting the water we have to all areas of the course in an efficient and accurate manner.
     Over the last few weeks we have been adding new sprinkler heads in various parts of the course to help maintain our turf throughout the year. This last summer my assistant and irrigation tech began our plan to add or move sprinklers in higher profile areas throughout the course. We have added one new sprinkler between #1 and #18 fairways as well as a valve to control some small pop-up type sprinklers along the cypress trees along the left rough of #1. The previous week we had added two part-circle sprinkler along the left side of the cart path at #18 green to help with the south facing slope between #18 green and the putting green. Even though the irrigation system is rather new, it constantly takes a little bit of tweaking and adding to help maintain the turf for good playing conditions.


New part-circles along cart path @ #18



New sprinklers after installation

New sprinklers to the right of #2 tee



New tee and pipe to sprinklers/valve in #1/#18 rough

New pop-ups in #1 rough



New sprinkler between #1 & #18 rough


   As move move through the next couple of months we will continue to tweak things before the summer. Our next irrigation project is going to be along the lake on #10. More info and pics to follow.

A few more projects....

As I stated in my previous post, here are a few more pictures of some more of the projects we've been working on this winter.


New split-rail fence @ #16 tee

#16 looking back at upper tees

New fence at lower tees on #16



A little shop clean-up..new shelves in the corner

A few of our winter projects.....

     The winter time provides the golf maintenance staff with a little more time to work on projects as the demand for mowing, irrigation and course upkeep is not as high mainly due to lower temperatures (although it is 74 degrees outside as I write this!!).
     Each summer we begin a list of projects we would like to accomplish during the winter and begin to prioritize as we near fall. The "list" is ongoing and will never be without a hundred different ideas and projects as we continue to try to improve our product for our customers. So in the next few pictures I will try to highlight a few of the projects you may or may not have seen us working on these past couple of months.

Jose and Enrique installing a split-rail fence behind #2 green & #3 tee

Before





After



Entrance to #3 Tee

Before

After

Installing posts and wire along #3 green (with border for edging)



Before



After



After-Opposite Direction

 





     These are a few of the projects completed so far off of the "list". I will post more in the near future.