A Lot of Changes in the Past Two Weeks

Over the course of the last two weeks we have seen quite a few changes on the course.  The way the weather looks today it the changes keep on coming.  I thought I would share a few photos of the golf course over the past two weeks.  Last week Nick and I shoveled the snow away from all of our drain inlets to aid the process of melting snow exiting the course.  There was a great deal of ice in many of the low spots on fairways, but from what we have observed, the turf appears, at this time, to be healthy, despite areas that had 4-6 of ice build-up.

Opening drains so the water can exit the course

Ice on 4 fairway-March 15th

In one weeks time the majority of snow has melted but we continue to have snow cover on many fairways, just not at the depth we had a week ago.  That was of course until today with the addition of 3-6 inches of wet snow.

Yesterday I walked the course to take a better look at our fine turf areas.  At this point in the season, I like what I see.  Obviously the tees look outstanding.  The bentgrass is in perfect condition.  The fairway turf also looks very good and even the poa looks pretty darn good. We've had snow cover on the golf course since the 10th of November, that's over 140 days of continual snow cover and we're receiving additional snow today that will last at least another week.  All indications show our snow mold protection to be holding up.  A few areas are questionable, but at this point it appears to be superfical and will not be a factor towards the quality of the turf.  What happens in the next few weeks will be any ones guess.  Hopefully snow melt will occur quickly and the surfaces will begin to dry out.

#12 red tee

Poa on #12 Approach

#12 Fairway

As far are the quality of the turf under the covers?  I have only peeked under the covers on #1 and #2.   From what I've seen, the turf looks very good.  The anticipation of pulling all covers drives me crazy this time of year.  I just want to look at them all and know what the status is of each green.  There's nothing we can do at this point but to wait for warmer weather.  It'll come and when it does we'll be ready.

A view from under the cover #2 green

New Course Bird Feeders

After 15 years of abuse from the wildlife on the golf course it was time to replace our bird feeders. Typically we feed the birds throughout the winter months(November - March) as part of our Certified Audubon Sanctuary Program. The supplemental feed helps the birds survive the harsh Minnesota winters.
Instead of purchasing the new feeders from a supply store we sought out one of our members who is quite the woodworker/craftsman. Mr. Wally May, long time Minikahda member donated his time to make us 5 new bird feeders. Being the very meticulous person that he is, Mr. May took several specific measurements and looked at several different styles of bird feeders before constructing the first one. After finishing the first feeder, several small adjustments were made to make the next several feeders even better, with the final design meeting Mr. May's expectation.
Pictured below is Mr. May delivering the 5th and final feeder to us at the grounds department. Mr. May delivered the feeders as "raw" constructed material, so they would need a couple good coats of quality stain to prevent rotting and weathering.












Pictured above left is John Jarosz applying the first coat of stain. Above right is the finished look after a couple of coats of stain. The last and final step will be to attach the new feeders to the mounting posts.

A special thanks goes out to Mr. Wally May. We at the grounds department really appreciate time and pride that Mr. May took to construct the feeders. With the quality and attention to detail, these bird feeders will last for many, many years.

Where Does All Our Irrigation Water Go?

Looking out over the golf course this time of year it might seem strange to see a topic discussing irrigation water usage.  But winter is a great time of year to run some calculations and review our water usage from the previous year.  Water usage in our industry tends to be a topic discussed by many Superintendents as well as our association leaders so we feel it's in our best interest to track where our water goes on the golf course.

Do we have a water crisis?  Based on the amount of snow we have this year most in our state would probably say no. But  what would happen if  local and state leaders began to regulate our industries water usage? This is a question Nick and I have discussed the past few years.  One question we have asked ourselves is what would happen if we were asked by the Minnesota DNR (regulators of our water use) to restrict our usage by, say 10%.  What would we do?  Where would we look at reducing our input?  How would we communicate with our members and what information would we have to back those decisions?  Important questions but difficult to answer if you don't have the data.

Thankfully we keep diligent records of our water usage and the programs we run on a daily basis in season. Each program is listed on a sheet and the time or amount of water applied is recorded.  When each program is run, our Toro Site-Pro irrigation controller automatically calculates how many gallons are used for a particular program.  Nick then calculates the gallons used for each program throughout the season.  We then end up with totals for each area of the golf course, green, tees, fairways, rough, clubhouse lawn and a few other programs we utilize.  Currently we have four years worth of specific data.

Daily log of irrigation cycles and rainfall amounts

Changes in our irrigation practices as well as changes in our sward of turf from predominately poa annua to creeping bentgrass has allowed us to work at adjusting our watering philosophy from nightly light watering cycles to deep and infrequent cycles.  Obviously weather conditions greatly dictate when and how much we water and can greatly impact our consumption from year to year.  But by tracking our water usage on each area of the course we feel we have some valuable information.

Site-Pro Irrigation Programs

Shows that gallons of water used for a specific days usage

This season we will monitor greens moisture on a daily basis using the TDR 300 moisture sensor. By knowing what our daily soil moisture content is and where that level needs to be maintained for healthy turf I fore see a reduction of water usage on our greens. This is because we will only be applying water to reach field capacity when we know we reach our wilt point threshold as opposed to when we think we have reached our threshold.  Additionally since we have 21 greens with 21 different requirements we have now developed 21 separate greens programs.  We will still have the capability of watering all 21 greens on any given night, but we can also add or eliminate water to a green based on its requirement.  Watering all greens when some don't require it, is not only a waste of water, but can create unhealthy conditions for the turf and inconsistent playing conditions for the golfer.

Here's a closer look at our irrigation usage over the past 4 season.

	2007	2008	2009	2010
Greens	841,959	874,874	940,503	598,216
Main PG	8,639	23,997	81,787	74,859
Hedge Green	no program	9,876	43,659	37,197
Chipper Green	no program	21,902	89,582	86,992
Tees	4,264,375	3,477,955	3,809,864	3,130,119
Surrounds	1,313,606	1,105,263	1,008,137	476,744
Fairways	8,150,787	6,854,786	6,848,072	4,899,798
Rough	9,091,439	8,296,344	6,822,187	6,688,950
DR Tee	341,856	308,304	290,304	226,800
DR Fairway	756,648	622,728	648,000	608,256
SG Tee	577,512	342,252	438,480	332,316
Nurseries	93,744	75,600	22,680	41,580
Fescue Bunkers	0	0	255,312	0
Fairway Hotspots	129,600	269,640	232,380	84,924
MSF	145,451	106,184	152,162	89,910
CH Lawn	467,820	405,720	69,000	160,928
Fairway Landing Zones	no program	no program	no program	no program
Total	26,185,443	22,797,433	21,754,118	17,539,599
Rainfall (inches)	22.67	16.11	21.24	25.19

A New Champion

This past weekend the skeet shooters declared a new 2010-11 Cookout Shootout Champion.  Young Gun Max Smith captured the trophy of Cookout Shootout Champion by edging his father Pat by 2 shots.  Max shot combined score of 43 while his dad could only muster a 41.  Max not only won the annual Cookout Shootout trophy, but he also won the 1st annual Wobble Shootout trophy just 2 weeks prior.  With a steady hand he again managed to out due his father by posting a combined score of 42, once again 2 shots better than his dad.  Not bad for someone who had never shot wobble skeet before. 

Max Smith-Cookout Shootout and Wobble Shootout Champion

With only about 3 weekends remaining in the season we have yet to declare a season winner for Large Bore and Small Bore Champions.  A total of five rounds need to be declared to qualify for the award. The way Max Smith's been shooting, who knows he could be the first and only to have his name etched in all four trophy's in the same season.  Best of Luck to all the shooters.

Alex Knopick, set and ready at station 7

Long time member (42 yrs) Dr. Don Mosser and his wife Janet, entertaining the group with one of his many stories

Shooters Bill Schmoker, Max Smith, Pat Smith and Pat Moran

Mointoring Winter Soil Temperatures

 Since the winter of 2005 we have been monitoring the soil temperature under 3 of our greens covers, from the time the covers are installed in the fall until the covers are removed the following spring.  During the winter of 2004 we experienced significant dessication to our turf on the majority of our greens.  One of our biggest questions at that time was when did the winter kill occur?  We all know as long as it's winter and we have snow cover, there's nothing we can do if winter kill has taken place, but we figure it's sure better to know when and why it happened than to know nothing at all.      

Data Loggers are located on greens 6, 7 and 12

The installation of the Watchdog Data Logger is an easy device to utilize.  We can set the monitor to gather data from every minute to every 2 hours.  We gather data every 2 hours and it can store enough data to last 365 days.  The data logger is installed next to the green and two cables are installed under the cover.  One monitors soil temperature and one monitors the temperature between the cover and the green.  The data logger also gathers ambient air temperature.  Typically we will leave the monitor on the course all winter and unless there's some really unique weather patterns that may indicate to us the turf is in jeopardy, we have no real reason, besides curiosity, to bring the data loggers in to down load the information.

So today, out of curiosity and the fact that we have a Grounds Committee meeting this week, I wanted to look at the information and see where we stand at this point in the season.  After gathering this information for the past 6 years, one thing we have found to be very consistent, once the ground freezes and we have snow cover, no matter the warming of the air temperature, the soil has yet to get above 32 degrees until the snow is completely gone and the frost comes out of the ground.  Additionally once we have snow cover the fluctuation in soil temperatures is very minimal no matter how cold we get and no matter how warm it gets. 

It appears from the information gathered today, the above information continues to hold true.  This year we installed the covers on November 10th, the following day we had 8" of snow.  The ground never really froze.  We do not have a deep frost this year.  Since the soil temperatures were unable to freeze before the snow event, the snow has insulated the ground very well.  Interestingly the soil temperature under the covers has been consistently at 30.6 degrees and 31.4 degrees for the past 3 months. 

The coldest recorded air temperature was on January 21st, at -26.8 degrees.  Due to the insulation of the covers and the snow, soil temperatures remained at 31.4 degrees.  Then on February 13th we were having our mid-winter thaw, air temperatures reached a high of 49.6 degrees.  Soil temperatures remained at 30.6 degrees.

Past history has shown us that temperatures that remain steady and below freezing, our fine turf areas have emerged from winter in great condition.  What will happen this year has yet to be seen, we have a lot of snow remaining and a good 4-6 week to go before we will have a good answer.  But until that time, we know only what the data logger information is at this point. If anything was out of the ordinary, it would still remain out of our control.  Now the question remains, what kind of damage might we see from snow mold?

Staff Outing

Typically, every winter I take our full-time staff on a winter excursion of one type or another.  Last year we toured the Twins Target Field, we've also visited Turfco Manufacturing in Blaine, Toro's Corporate headquarters in Bloomington and have also gone bowling or found other types of fun activities we can do as a group.  It's a nice way to incorporate an activity to our winter chores and take a break as a group, sometimes to learn more about a company in our industry and sometimes just to go and have some fun as a team.

Joseph Garske, Founder of Par Aide

This year we finally made our way north to Lino Lakes to visit Par Aide Products, Inc. The owner of Par Aide, Steve Garske along with Dan Brown, Scott Melling and Mike Hillard were gracious hosts.  Par Aide has a long history in the golf industry and you would be hard pressed not to find a Par Aide product on just about every golf course in the world.  Steve spent the first hour of our excursion explaining the history of Par Aide and how their business has evolved throughout the years and then gave us an in depth tour of the manufacturing plant.  Par Aide was started by his late father, Joseph Garske in the 1950's and has been a leader in the industry ever since.

Steve Garske showing us a raw cast version of the ballwashers

A traditional red Par Aid Ballwasher

Assembling ballwashers by hand.

Applying a powder coat of red paint to flagsticks

The majority of all products manufactured by Par Aide is done so right there in their 35,000sqft facility with only a staff of 30 full-time employees.  Not a very big facility for a company that has such a global influence in the game of golf.  Following our tour we were able to enjoy a nice lunch together.  Since Steve is a big race car fanatic and our Mechanic Ken Diethert drag races on the weekends, they really enjoyed the company of each other exchanging race talk for the duration of the lunch.  I have to believe this was the highlight for both of these guys :)

Thanks to Steve Garske and the guys at Par Aide for taking the time to show us their facilities.  It sure is wonderful having all of these major manufactures in the golf industry right in our back door.

No Need to Panic, It's still Winter

Typically throughout the winter I make no attempt to scout the golf course, my rule is as long as there's snow cover and it's frozen there is nothing we can do to change what Mother Nature has in store for us anyways. Last week many of us in the golf industry attended the Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Florida and for me that's my indicator as to when we need to get on the course and check it out. Since the 10th of November the golf course has been covered in snow. A lot of snow. We are at twice our annual snow accumulation for this time of year.

So with the forecast this week predicting above normal temperatures, I thought it would be wise to scout the golf course and see where things are at. But I really don't have much to report, and we should all look at that as a good thing. Snow depths are anywhere from 12-24" and over 95% of the course is covered in snow. That's a lot of snow to melt in the next 6 weeks and guaranteed we will have more snow before we see green blades of grass.

So if you're a snowbird or have vacation plans scheduled, stick to your plan, it's going to be a while before we even begin to consider when we might be open for play.

Bunker rakes almost complete!

After 1 1/2 weeks of repairing and sanding the 300 bunker rakes the time has finally come to begin the staining process. As stated in a previous blog post, Rick and Johnny take on this monotonous, somewhat monumental task every winter. The first picture shows roughly half of the rakes after being repaired and sanded with the other half shown in the other picture hang drying after the stain has been applied. It is quite the smelly, dirty job, but in the end the rakes will look like new and be ready for another season on the golf course. As with all of the course supplies, Rick and Johnny do a fantastic job!

Winter Maintenance Activities

Over the next two weeks Rick and Johnny are faced with the large task of sanding and staining over 300 bunker rakes. Environmental conditions can take its toll on our wood bunker rakes. Sun, heat, cold, rain, extended moisture, sand and irrigation water can all take its toll on the wood. Insuring we can extend the life of the rake as long as we can is important to us and if putting a little extra work into maintaining that life is what it takes, we would put our best effort forth.

Rick Krause

Johnny Jarosz

Kenny and Ryan have also been quite busy preparing equipment for the upcoming season. Ryan is currently working on the Toro 4000 rough mower, replacing bearing and various other parts that are showing wear. Kenny's in the "zone" focusing his attention on the fine turf reel mowers. The majority of the mower work will be completed by the end of January.

These guys do so much of the behind the scenes work. Without them we could not have the quality of an operation that we have.

Make the Most of Educational Opportunities

This week my staff and I attended the Northern Green Expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Three days of education, an excellent trade show and maybe one of the most important aspects to me, networking with my peers. For some in the industry I hear about how the classes are poor, the vendor booths are small, and the typical negative comments that we hear from these same negative individuals. But that's not me. I love the conventions, the conferences, the education and the networking.

I've been fortunate to be in the golf industry a long time (this year will be my 20th year) and I still find there's always something new to learn. After 20 years there's a lot of information I've heard before, but to hear it again is always a good reminder, a good refresher and a good way to reflect on the past year and reevaluate our programs and philosophy's for the upcoming season. Sure there are some seminars that don't meet your expectations from time to time, but for me I typically will use that time to reflect and take notes. It's amazing what pops into your head. Thoughts I can't always get my head around in the office where there are a hundred distractions.

When attending a conference or seminar I always have a pencil and notepad. Thoughts regarding the presentation, tips, websites posted, or heck even personal goals, visions or even a reminder to get milk on the way home tonight. Use that time to be productive. Your clubs not paying your way to make it a day off and waste the day at the bar. Take every opportunity to meet with vendors and visit with your constituents. Make the most out of every opportunity.

Now that our local educational opportunity this week is complete, it's time to reflect on my notes, follow up on my thoughts and do my best to meet the goals and thoughts I was able to reflect on during the seminars. In a few weeks Nick and me will be headed to Orlando for the Golf Industry Show. Another excellent opportunity to meet with local and maybe more importantly national friends and colleagues, renew old friendships as well as network and develop new friendships throughout the industry. All in all I enjoy using these educational opportunities to grow personally and professionally and bring new ideas back to the golf course to utilizes in a way which make the golf course better for our members.

Maintenance Shop Upgrades

We take great pride in keeping our facilities here in great shape. Every year we look for new ways to improve the facilities to make them more environmentally friendly. This year we have made two improvements so far. The first being replacing the service door that goes into the paint booth room. The old door had no insulation and rotten weather stripping, which did a poor job of keeping the heat inside while our crew refurbished course supplies during the winter months. The new door (pictured below) does a much better job of holding in the heat, as it is insulated and has a dual-pane window.
The other upgrade was the replacement of both toilets in the main shop bathrooms. The two old toilets were replaced with new "dual flush" option toilets from American Standard. The new toilets have the option of using a 1.0gallon flush for liquids or 1.6gallon flush for solids. This is a great reduction in water usage as compared to the two old toilets which used 4.0gallons per flush. As you can imagine with a staff of 30 employees during the golfing season, the water savings will add up quickly.