Drainage Project 9th Fairway

Standing water previous to drainage project.
200 ft of drainage tile
Rick (the master) showing the young student (Joey) not only how to do the job right but do it quickly. Anyone want to explain to me why soils like this need fertilizer?
The finished product.


Another drainage project was completed this morning, this time in the middle of the 9th fairway. In this location, about 175 yards from the green, is a location following heavy rains we would have water standing in about 6 spots. In order for us to maintain firm and dry playing conditions its important to make sure all surface water is removed as quickly as possible. This is one area where water coming down from the upper half of the 9th hole as well as water coming across from the 10th fairways settles.

2nd Assistant, Rick Krause and intern Joey Scheffler installed 200ft of drain tile and created 6 inlet holes for the water to access. The tile was tied into an existing line further back in the fairway. The existing tile extends into the lowest area in the right rough on 9.

Rick and Joey along with some assistance from other staff members were able to complete the project this Monday in about 5 hours. They did a great job and in a couple of days the sod will have mended and most people will never know they even did any work in the area.

Edging Bunkers

It's that time of year for our department, time for our annual, or shall I say bi-annual, edging of the bunkers. Yes, that's what I said, Bi-annual. In the summer of 2003 we completed the restoration of the bunkers on the course and for the past 8 years our bunkers have only been edged on an every other year basis. When Ron Prichard restored the bunkers we had many discussions as to how the new bunkers should be maintained. One of my main objectives at that time was to maintain the integrity of the bunker shape as best as we could for as long as possible. The bunkers he built were designed to have a laced edge to them, NEVER a clean "Augusta" style. These bunkers were meant to have a classic look and feel.

Throughout the years we have worked hard, or should I say not worked, at providing the style they were intended to have. Mechanical raking is a big no no. A mechanical rake is used about once a month to help cultivate and turn over the sand. All it takes is one employee not paying attention to details and the bunker edges can be destroyed. Secondly we have never, ever edged bunkers with a power edger. The turf line is intended to have the laced look. A power edger can only create a straight line. Additionally when most guys use a power edger they will cut the turf back to the soil line. Another no no. Edging into the soil line creates contamination of the sand. In 8 years our bunkers have no self inflicted contamination. Zero!

Our bunkers are edged "old school" style, using a four pronged pitchfork. The operator finds the edge, shoves the pitchfork into the ground and proceeds to rip the turf away from the edge. Through this process we are able to avoid yearly edging. As the turf continues to grow and enter the bunker, there is no obvious edge and the turf can enter the sand without appearing to be over-growing the bunker and the laced look continues without damage to the original bunker. Some areas of the bunker edge require no edging at all, typically the face edge and the leading edge at times we can remove up to 12" of turf from the sand.

No one said it was easy. With 99 bunkers to edge the entire process can take up to 6 days. But considering the last time we edged bunkers was the 2008 season, I think we can put in the time and do whatever it takes to have the bunkers edged properly and maintain the integrity of this style of bunker

A new breed of babies

This time of year is always a special time if you're an avid birder. Most of the bird migration is finished and the breeding and hatching of birds is well on it's way. While touring the golf course the other morning i was lucky enough to see our first new hatchlings of Wood Ducks in our #6 pond. Below is a picture of the new mom keeping the little ones close by.

The other new hatchlings that I keep a close eye on are our Eastern Bluebirds. I monitor all 20 of our nesting boxes throughout the golf course. Most Eastern Bluebirds will lay 5 eggs at a time, sometimes up to 3 times throughout the year. They are off to a good start this year, with 14 hatchlings already fledged. Hopefully they will surpass last years total of 30 hatchlings fledged. This week during my inspection of the nesting boxes i snapped a few pictures of one of the female Eastern Bluebirds and her young ones.

The Art of "Dialing it in"

Yes there is an art to green keeping and an art to what I like to call "dialing it in". Getting the golf course in top condition and maintaining that form throughout the summer. Superintendents' all went to school to learn the science but the art of green keeping quite frankly comes from experience, it comes from within the individual, it comes from a team all working towards the same goal, providing ideal conditions day in and day out. A goal of exceeding golfers or in our case, members, expectations.

For us in the Midwest, dialing it in, is a process we must go through year in and year out. Our number one obstacle is always Mother Nature. This year we were fortunate to emerge from winter with no winter damage and an April that was one of the warmest on record. For our course, we are also in the process of converting our greens to creeping bentgrass and our goal is impact the surface with as little disruption as possible. Late April is when we typically aerate greens, so for the month of April we left heights of cut on greens higher than normal .125". It was during this process the bentgrass was out growing the poa annua, in fact the poa annua was really not growing at all, and because of the differences in grass type our greens were bumpier than we would have liked.

Once aeration was completed it was at that time that we could then begin to bring the height of cut (HOC) down to our standard mowing height of .085". Additionally at the time of aeration we used an organic based fertilizer on the greens. This application is intended to be our base for the season. Typically about the 3rd week in May we will make our first growth regulator application. The timing of this is based off past history when we know temperatures will be warm enough for us to make the application. Since the product we use can be detrimental to bentgrass if the weather is too cold, which can happen in May, we chose to wait so we do not cause any self inflicted damage to the greens. This year happened to be one of those years when we waited too long before we made the growth regulator application, the weather was too warm and the fertilizer released too soon and thus the greens were growing too much and that equaled slow greens. This is where the art of green keeping takes place. Apply the regulator too early and we could get burned by a cold weather snap, apply too late, which was the case this year and we were burned by the fact the weather warmed up too quickly.

Golfers need to remember we are dealing with a living plant and we are always dealing with Mother Nature, and most of the time Mother Nature will win. Its our job to manipulate Mother Nature and use our experience to try and out smart her.

Many times golfers return to the course in the spring hoping for perfect conditions and due to the weather, aeration, fertility applications, or the natural growth habits of the plants, they are left wondering why are the greens not good yet. I have to say, it takes time for us to get it right, and quite frankly it's not going to be great until late May. Our goal is to set the plants up so they are ready for the season. And during that process we are not always going to have the greens in great condition in the spring. Our goal is to condition the greens to run a marathon. We are not running a sprint. We're not trying to hurry up and provide good greens for a few days and then back off and rest the greens and then come back and do it again. Those are the times when inconsistent greens are provided. Running a marathon takes time, commitment and planning. Even a marathon runner doesn't run a marathon every time they train, they're bodies would crash from exhaustion. So too is the case with our greens, we want them to make it the distance and in the process there will sometimes be some obstacles we need to overcome before we reach our goal so we are ready to run the race.

For us the time has come and we are now ready for the season, we are ready to run the race.

Quite Possibly the Most Imortant 45 Minutes of the Day

The first 45 minutes of the day could quite easily be considered the most important 45 minutes of the day for us. Nick Folk, First Assistant Superintendent arrives at 4:45am each day along with one of our assigned Interns to stage all of the equipment that is scheduled for the morning activities. The staging process can take up to 30 minutes and the remaining 15 minutes allows Nick to greet staff members and put the final touches on the board and adjust for any changes that might need to be made. The daily task list is written the night before so it's ready in the morning. Many times changes in jobs, absent staff, weather issues all can affect what happens each morning and being prepared can make or break the start of the day.

All staff assemble in front of the board daily before heading out on the course. Usually only about 5 minutes is needed to run through the jobs, but it gives us the time to make sure all are in attendance and all are clear about their specific assignments. The meeting starts promptly at 5:30am and by 5:35am our staff is heading out the door with little to no wasted time. Clarity and preparation reduces the chaos, makes for a smoother operation and shows your staff that you are organized and prepared for the day.

A Busy Time of Year

As you can see early May was my last post. Since the topdressing application to the fairways there has been a steady stream of day to day activities that has kept me from making a post.

One of our major accomplishments this spring was the new planting to the front entry bed. For over 40 years, two Linden trees graced the front entry to the club house and annual flowers beginning with tulips and followed by Impatients filled the bed. In the fall of 2009 the Linden trees were removed due to their poor condition. It was at that time we hired a landscape architect, Bob Harvey from Edelweiss Design, to develop a new plan for this area. Our goal was to install plant material that would provide more season to season texture and color. As you can see from the photos between the shrub roses, Taunton yews, Endless Summer Hydrangea, Peonies, and the annual flowers were will have excellent color from the beginning of the season right up the end.

Since the completion of the course restoration project in 2003 we have been adding plant material to the perimeter of the course to aid in providing screening and privacy to the course. Today the guys finished planting over 275 Dwarf Honeysuckle, Honeyrose Honeysuckle, and Black Chokeberry. It will take some time before this plant material is screening to the degree we expect. With some proper watering and a little fertilizer it will not be long. As the saying goes, "first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap.


Last week we replaced 3800 sq.ft of fairway grass that was contaminated with poa annua and perennial ryegrass with creeping bentgrass. Rick and the crew were able to complete the job over the course of two mornings. The ropes will remain in place for at least another week before we remove them. Golfer can play off the turf, but we are leaving the ropes up to keep cart traffic off the area.

Fairway Topdressing

This week we topdressed and solid tine aerated fairways. This marked the first year that we have ever topdressed fairways. We've been topdressing approaches for the past 5-6 years and the quality of the playing surface has improved dramatically. We now want to extend that quality to the fairways. We started with 500 tons for 26 acres. That equates to 20 ton per acre. Though that may sound like a lot of sand, the sand was easily worked into the profile of the turf. An additional 20 tons in the Fall would be ideal, but I'm sure it's not in the budget this year.

After the fairways were topdressed we followed the process by solid tine aerating using 5/8" tines and then brushed the remaining sand into the profile. After a slow start on Monday morning we were able to have the entire process completed in only 3 days. Maybe with a second topdresser next year we can cut the time down to 2.5 days.


The sand topdressing on fairways will aid in creating a firmer, drier playing surface as well as a great cutting surface for our mowers. It took about 4 years of serious topdressing on approaches to get the firmness we were looking for. At our current rate of topdressing on fairways, the process is going to take just a little longer and patience will be required before we feel we are making good progress.

Refining the Leaf

Thursday we will make our first application of ferrous sulfate to the greens. At this time of year there is an obvious difference between the leaf blade of the creeping bentgrass and the poa annua. Based on the soil temperatures as well as our limited fertility regime at this time the creeping bentgrass blades are quit wide and appear almost succulent. Additionally following our granular fertility application the poa plants are little too succulent for our liking.

This will be our first application of ferrous sulfate on the greens this season. It's always an interesting application to make and watch the reaction of the plants. This application will begin the process of refining the leaf blade which will narrow the widths of the blades, its almost like we are shrinking the leaves and in a way we are as we drive out the excess moisture with the ferrous sulfate. We will start at 160z/M, a modest rate for this time of year and work our way to 24oz/M by the end of the month. The players should be pleased as well as this will aid with increasing green speeds.

2 Weeks Later, Another Linden

Saturday I received a call from the Golf Shop staff, informing me that the Linden tree located by the starters desk had a large crack in the trunk and I needed to come in to secure it. That was no lie, from the crotch of the tree to about 18 inches from the root flare the trunk was cracked the entire way. Our greatest fear, the tree would split and either fall on the club house or worse, injure someone severely. The tree was quickly secured using ratchet tie straps, in three different locations until we could properly and safely remove the tree.

Late this afternoon, Tim's Tree Service (the best in the business) was here to safely remove the tree from its location. This tree will be greatly missed. It provided wonderful shade to golfers and diners who preferred to dine on the patio on our beautiful summer evenings.

The Landscape and Garden Committee will be meeting this week to evaluate the situation and access what the proper steps will be to replace the tree as well as the landscape situation since the plant material in place was all shade tolerant species. The shade has now been compromised and even after a tree is planted, it will be quite sometime before we have the quality shade so many once enjoyed.

Course Aeration

This past week we were able to complete the aeration and topdressing of greens, tees and approaches. We were scheduled to topdress and aerate fairways but due to the contractor over booking, he was not able to make it here this week. Next week looks like it will still be a good week for fairway aeration and topdressing.

All surfaces that were aerated are healing nicely. A lot of this has to do with the fact that we did not core aerate. All surfaces are only being solid tine aerated with either a 1/2" or 5/8" tine. We really don't have any thatch issues to deal with so there is little concern nor a need to pull a core. Secondly the less surface disruption we create the greater we can optimize conditions to favor the bentgrass.

The staff worked hard on Monday and Tuesday hand brushing sand into the greens and tees. Aeration leaves the surfaces soft so we prefer to hand broom the surfaces as opposed to driving a cart and a broom around and around and around on the surfaces. Which then takes a longer period of time to roll out the ruts. The process may take a little more time, but the end results is really all that matters.

The process to get the greens into summer conditions is really simple, do as little as possible. Following the topdressing we have cut the greens one time to remove some of the excess sand as well as some of the grass that was stood up from brooming. Greens were fertilized with an organic based product and now we will roll for a number of days before we attempt to mow again. The grass needs some time to recover as well as grow out from the layer of sand that was applied. The sand was placed there for a reason and we want to collect as little as possible, so we will wait until Saturday to before we mow for the second time since aerating. Once the mowers are no longer picking up sand we will then begin to gradually lower the height of cut on greens, tees and fairways. By the middle of May we should be very close to our optimal cutting height on all surfaces.

More Wildlife

I pull up to the 13th green yesterday afternoon and low and behold a juvenile Red tail Hawk was on the ground. After a few minutes he flew into a nearby Oak tree. It's great to see all of the raptor bird species on the course, they are here for a reason and obviously between the Bald Eagles, the Great Horned Owls and the Red Tail Hawks, there is a large enough food source for them to thrive in and around our property.