Oh Sandy!

Sandy brought two days of high winds and continuous rain to the area.  For the most part there is just scattered debris from the trees.  In a few areas there are some larger branches but for the most part it seems we came through the storm with minimal damage. The golf course is just really saturated. 

Currently two out of the four bridges on the course are not passable.  When the water does subside we will have to go out and inspect the bridges to see if they are still safe to pass.  We have water up over them before, but not for three days straight.  As you all know water has a way of finding its way through things you don’t want it to get threw.

With the amount of water that is on the golf course, it will take a long time to dry, especially with the projected weather forecast.    

For those die hard golfers out there I am afraid you are looking at the end of the golf season 2012. 

It is that time of year!

Well fall is upon us folks.  September has been a blur and here we are on the eve of the Bring your best tournament. 

All efforts have been focused on the golf course and getting it ready for the tournament.  As you all know most of the efforts have been put into the greens.  How do we go about speeding them up? This is the first year that I have lowered the height for bring your best.  This was in an attempt to get the greens faster than they have ever been.  The greens were cut thursday morning at their regular height and then we lowered the height and cut them again in the afternoon.  Friday morning they were double cut in the morning and then cut again in the afternoon.  Saturday morning as long as there is not a frost they will be double cut again.  Normally there would be a roller in the mix but unfortunately it broke down last week and could not be repaired in time. That is seven cuts in three days.   As for the magic number the goal is to get them as close to 12 feet on the stimp metre as possible.  Late in the afternoon on friday we got a light shower, and then another one during the night.  This unfortunately gave the greens a little dampness that slowed them down.  The good or bad news is by the look of the forecast the greens will be quicker for Men’s closing day.

Greens mower reel

 The picture above is a reel and you can see how they need to be absoutely perfect to produce good greens.  The staff has done an extremely fantastic job this past month.  My hat goes off to them for their efforts.  

Next Tuesday and Wednesday the greens will be aerated.    The next blog will certainly cover the topic of aeration.

Cheers Kendall Lindsay

Summers end!

These two grinders are what keep our reels sharp all season  long.  They were purchased by the golf course at the beginning of this year.  Before the reels were done on a much older grinder.  We are now cutting grass below a 1/8^th of an inch, so the reels have to be perfect.  These grinders are a crucial tool in keeping the greens at their best.

Reel Grinder



Bedknife Grinder



With the end of the summer and the start of another school year the student staff will be missed here in the maintenance department, as well in the other departments of the golf course. 

Our student staff was remarkable this year, we hired 7 students to help us through the season and 6 were outstanding.  One was lost to another job.  One student returned for a week to help us out before he started school.     

We wish these fine young men a great and safe school year: Nick, Mark, Luke, Brandon, and Cameron.

Corey and Tyson will be sticking around to help out as they go to school locally.

So if you have done the math correctly this means we have 5 cutters including my self left to take care of the property.  Wish us luck it will be a long September!

 Cheers!

Kendall

Club Championship and More!

 

A lot has happened since my last update.  Several different tournaments have been held at the golf course along with all the Club Championships.    

The turf has been recovering nicely from the heat stress of the summer.  There was times this summer where it seemed like it would never end.   It was just day after day of continuous heat and it wasn’t just the days it was the nights as well. The greens came through the heat really well. I was very happy and proud of their performance under that much stress.  We never raised the height of cut during the stressful times, we just backed off on the double cuts and even let them rest for a day here and there.  Last season we purchased a walk mower to cut the putting green and #14 green as well.   It did wonders for those two greens.  This year whenever a green was starting to show stress it was added to the walk mow route.  This seemed to do the trick, so from mid June until mid August many different greens were cut with the walker. 

By far the tees took the heat the worse.  The weakness of the tees was evident early in the summer and unfortunately some grass was lost on them.  The irrigation system is poorly designed for the tees.  Basically the pipes dead end on the tees instead of being looped, along with this they stopped one sprinkler head short on every tee.  This means that the ends of the tees are not getting the proper coverage and the reds and blue tees were susceptible to the heat.  With the cooler weather approaching we took advantage of the fore casted rains that were coming and we aerated all the tees except the white ones.  We left these because they still needed to be played for men’s club championship.  As the senior men and ladies club championship were finishing, the crew went out right behind and began aerating the tees.  The process was Aerate, verticut the cores, the cut cores were pushed around to fill the holes with loose dirt, blow them off real quick and then they were seeded with bent grass. 

Aerated



Verti Cut



This was very good timing indeed.  After the aeration of the tees the rains came.  From Thursday Aug 9^th till Tuesday Aug 14^th a little over 5” of rain fell on the golf course. That is 23 744 258 litres on the entire property.  The grass has absolutely exploded, with this growth the mowers are working harder and more and more issues are appearing with the ageing fleet.  Some days it seems we are in the shop more than on the course. 

After the heavy rains a tree was up rooted below the clubhouse near the cart exit on #18.  Only half the tree fell down but the other half would have been too dangerous to leave.

It is very disappointing to me when it was such a stressful year for the turf to survive, but we still have members that continue to disobey the cart rules.   

This Tuesday the 21^st we will be verti cutting the greens followed by a top dress of sand and then brushing it in.  The greens will be fertilized and watered the following day.  This process helps to control the thatch on the greens which helps with the firmness of the greens and ball roll.  The greens have not been verti cut since June 4^th.   The last time that the greens were top dressed was July 25^th after we vented them.  The greens will be verti cut one last time for the season in the third week of September to help prepare them for the Bring your Best Tournament.    

Thanks For Reading
Cheers Kendall

Finally some rain!!

The weather has pushed the turf very hard this season.   Like I said in a previous update it is certainly no time to be a hero and push the turf over the edge.  That being said, I am very please with the condition of the golf course and am proud of the way it has held up so far this summer. 

Finally with some much needed rain it gave us an opportunity to open up some of the playing surfaces.  This lets much needed oxygen and water down into the root zone of the turf. 

Greens were pencil tined

Another Top Dressing of Sand was applied

Tees and Approaches were sliced with this unit

Fairways were sliced with a more aggressive unit

The Fairways needed to be rolled afterwards.

So all and all it was another busy week here at the Parkway.  Hopefully with this extra work, rains and the weather predicted to be nice for the remainder of the week the turf will regenerate enough to get through the rest of the summer.

As always if you have any questions or concerns feel free to e-mail me at kendalllindsay@hotmail.com

Cheers Kendall



Surviving the heat!

Last week was one of the hottest in memory for me.  I don’t ever remember it being this hot, for this long, this early in the year.  Last year, there was a stretch of 21 days where the weather was similar.  But, that started on July 20^th.  We are now wrapping up our 3^rd major heat wave of the summer on July 8^th.  Most of the turf has survived quite nicely.  Dollar spot is showing it’s ugliness on the fairways and tees.  Greens, tees and fairways were sprayed last week.    



This is where we missed applying fungicide to an area. 



Pythium showed itself early in the week on 15 and 16 fairways.  When we see this we stake off the area, to avoid traffic through the area and the chance of spreading the disease.   When the night time temperatures are as high as they were last week, Ruth and I spend the morning looking at the turf and searching for any signs of disease.

Staking of area infected with Pyhtium

Even though the afternoon rains caused for the outbreak of the diseases, last week.  The rains did wonders for greening the playing areas up.  It just shows you how much more a rainfall can do in a short period of time, compared to the irrigation system.          

Cheers Kendall

Dog Days Are Here!



Last week was the beginning of summer.  We have been hot and dry ever since.  The Irrigation system has been and will be working a lot of overtime.  With the heat you will see a lot less work going on in the afternoon.  Staff will be in early and out early as well.  The rough has slowed right down and turned a nice brown colour.

It is official the Dog Days of Summer are here!

Canada day for me was spent babysitting the turf.  But, the last two nights the temperature has dropped low enough for us to water at night.  This has allowed us to catch up nicely, getting some much needed moisture back into the soil.  With the upcoming heat you will start to see a lot of morning watering, with the sprinkler heads and you will also see a lot of hoses being dragged around the property putting down a little extra water for the areas that need it.  The tees are certainly showing stress right now.  They will be receiving extra attention this week. 

Number one green has showed signs of stress for a while now so for the last five days we have been walk mowing it, along with the putting green and fourteen green as well.  Pins will be moved daily to keep the foot traffic spread out.  There will be days where the greens will not be cut and just rolled.  With the heat it is unfortunate that the greens will slow down.  Firm and fast greens are great, but now is not the time to be a hero.  The turf needs to be watched very carefully to get it through to Labour day weekend alive, and if you haven’t noticed that is a ways away.    

Last week we held the Pink Flamingo Tournament.  It was a great event for the golf course.  It was a lot of fun preparing the golf course for this event.  I appreciate the members patience in allowing us the time to make the golf course as good as it could be.          

These boys helped with the Flamingo raft!



It is not everyday that you have a Hot air baloon on your golf course!

Until next time, stay cool and shaded

Cheers Kendall

Venting...

After the extreme heat we had last week, Monday and Tuesday have been prime weather for the course to rejuvenate before the next heat wave.  To aid this we went out and vented the greens with pencil tines on our aerator.  This will help get oxygen down to the roots, helping to strengthen the turf.    

You know it is a chilly morning in June when Ruth has her hood up!

This little man gave me his approval last night.

As always if you have any questions feel free to contact me at

kendalllindsay@hotmail.com

Cheers Kendall

The good the bad and the ugly.

Yes it is actually late June already, time flies when you are having, What?   Well I must apologize for the length of time since my last Update.  So we might as well dive right into it.

The key to the last month and a bit is what broke and how much will it cost to fix it.  Unfortunately we are almost out of band-aids  folks.  Lets just put it this way there is not one piece of equipment  that has not been in the shop at least once this year. 

This is the rough unit that usually cuts the course.  The gear box and pto shaft need to be replaced.



Let’s focus on the good things that have been happening around here, mother-nature has been very kind.  The weather has been absolutely perfect for golf.  The course is in prime condition.  There have been complaints about hard greens, long grass, or the range not being open.  But, I try to focus on the good comments and there are a lot of them. I appreciate it when you let me know.  A loud thank you goes out to those of you that are proud of the golf course and how far it has come since Matt and I have been here.

Last week we installed a great new addition to our first tee.  It is a four container garbage stoop.  I know nothing to get excited about but the first tee look has been bothering me since I arrived here.  Since that time ideas have been rattling around in my head as to what to do with it.  So with a little design and build help from my dad the garbage stoop has finally arrived at the first tee.  Rest assure we are not done we are going to continue to add things to the first tee area.  Oh…by the way I didn’t get help from my father, he did the whole thing.  Cheers to him!



Last week we took some time to expand the bunker on 15.  This bunker has bothered me since we built it.  The bunker just needed to been seen more from the approach shot.   We edged out the flares going up a bit more to make it look a little higher.

Above left is the before and above right is the after.

Let’s focus on the bad.  The cart signs that are in front of the greens are not only for rainy days, they are for all days especially hot ones.  Nothing makes me see red faster than a golf cart parked to close to the green.   Please obey the cart exit signs they are there for a reason.  It is quite simply actually there is a sign it says CARTS on it, also on the sign is a direction arrow.  When you see this sign exit the fairway the direction of the arrow to the cart path and then stay on the cart path till you get to the next tee block.

Ball marks are always a sore spot with your golf course superintendent.  Two Mondays ago we did another Verti Cut and Topdress on the greens.   A few holes didn’t get brushed in right away, because we were quite busy that day.  It is disappointing when you know that only two groups had played this hole in front of the brush, which were all members and I found this along with several more ball marks behind them unrepaired.      

Let’s focus on the Ugly.  The garbage can on 17 was run into last weekend and broke right off at the ground.  Maybe it was the same group that stole the ball washer on the 16^th tee.  I will never understand what some people are thinking when they get out on the golf course.  When I do get the opportunity to go golfing I just enjoy being out there.

 A sign with two words on it is not enough (RANGE CLOSED).  So we added one with six words that hangs on a gate.  

We have had a couple extreme bouts with dollar spot on the fairways and tees.  The fairways have bounced back nicely.  The tees were treated a little later, so they will be growing out there nasty little spots soon enough. 

Today is the first day of a little three day heat wave.  They are forecasting warm nights for three nights in a row, this means we will be watching the turf carefully.  The quick shower we got Sunday night did wonders for the turf, but we are just a little bit on the wet side of the bar for my liking.  Cooler weather is to roll in on Thursday night, which means we will not be pushing any turf till then.  The greens will be single cut and maybe just rolled one day, just to give the turf a break from the heat wave as well. 

Above was taking Sunday afternoon, 75% of the green is flooded.

If I had it to do all over again, I just might have become a weatherman.  They can be wrong everyday and keep their job. 

Thanks For Reading

Cheers Kendall

Oil Leak

Unfortunately last Wednesday morning we had an oil leak in front of 8 green. 

Occasionally this happens on the golf course.  This is the start of my third season here at the Parkway.  In that time we have had 7 oil leaks.  The previous ones were not as bad so we aerated, top-dressed and seeded the area and basically grew them out.  The leak on 8 was in a bad spot, which was right up by the green.  If it was at the start of the fairway, we might have attempted to grow it out. 

We decided the best option was to sod cut out the damaged area and replace it with fairway sod from the start of 15.   We cut the sod cross ways from the fairway so it would not be visibly noticeable from the tee.  This sod would have a better chance to blend in than taking it from the range tee.  Then we stripped from the range tee to replace the sod on 15.    

Finally seeding the area we stripped off the range tee.  This seems like extra work but the whole goal is to get the two fairways back playable as soon as possible.  We stripped the sod on the range tee from beside where the matts were, and then we seeded the whole area.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free tro email me at

kendalllindsay@hotmail.com

Cheers Kendall

Mid May Ehh!

Here we are halfway through May already.   Once again there has been a lot going on at the golf course.   Opening days, couple of tournaments and some leagues have also started.   On the turf maintenance side of things we have been very busy trying to keep up with the grass. 

Once again we are fighting to keep the fleet up and running.  Last year our rough cutter went down and we had to rent a machine for a month to keep up with the grass.  This year our tractor broke down the first week of May and once again we have to rent a machine to keep up with the rough.  The bonus here is that the machine that we are renting does a much nicer job on the rough.  We are able to cut the grass a little shorter with this machine which is great for this time of year when the grass is growing so quickly.  We here in the maintenance department have nicknamed the machine the “Golf Ball Destroyer”, if you have played lately you might have noticed a lot of cut up golf balls.

Sunday afternoon we closed the course, giving us a chance to verticut and topdress the greens.  This means we are doing many different things to the greens that we need the extra time to do.  This is achievable in the early morning, but everything seems to go smoother when it is done when the greens are dry.  Last year in late fall we pulled a larger tine when we aerated and the holes have just recently healed up 100 percent.   We felt that pulling cores again wasn’t as benifical than a heavy verticut and topdress.    The plan was to verticut the greens and collars and then blow of the excess grass and thatch that was pulled up out of them. 

Then the greens were cut followed by topdressing sand. 

They are allowed to dry and then they are brushed. 

After that a fertilizer was applied and watered in.  That makes seven different tasks that have to be accomplished.  So we need all the time we can get to pull this off.  The most disappointing thing was the last hour and half of the day when I was about to pull it all off.  I spent the rest of those precious hours of daylight asking members to get off the golf course because it was closed.  Unfortunately with the interuptions we had to finish Monday morning.

The annual bluegrass (POA) is currently going to seed.  This slows the greens down, because the seed head makes the ball bounce around more.  Now that the verticut is complete we will begin to lower the height of cut.     

If you have any questions feel free to email me kendalllindsay@hotmail.com

Cheers Kendall

Bring it May

I could say it has been another busy week here at the Parkway but, really it has been two weeks since my last Blog.  Ladies had their opening lunch and Senior men had their opening day for the season last week.  Two radio days have been held in the last two weeks. 

Quickly let’s take a minute to reflect back to last year’s disaster of a spring.  We had maybe five playable days last April and May was not much better.  There were trees lying all over the golf course.  Muddy mounds of dirt where the fairway bunkers were needed to be leveled and seeded.  Bunkers needed to be built.  Nine fairway need to be restored from the pond work.  My point is the golf course is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was last year at this time.  Where I am behind is in my shop.   With the early spring in March where usually I would be just wrapping up my equipment maintenance.  I was really just getting into it.  With the early spring there was no choice but to get out and cut grass.  This past week the rest of the union staff returned and over the next couple of weeks we will get caught up.        

The weather has been very cold and windy.   Several frosty mornings means that the turf's growth has slowed.  Plus on top of that we have been very dry so we have been getting really good cuts on the Greens, Tees and Fairways.  Good cuts with firm dry conditions plus very little growth means that the greens are very fast for this time of year.     The weather this week shows some showers on Monday and then Wednesday and Thursday warm temperatures.  Late this week the grass is going to explode, the rough will start to get thick and lush.  The greens will not be as firm and fast, or the fairways for that matter.

This past Saturday turned out to be a great day to burn the brush pile at the back of the range.  Which is good because the range is about to open, and we would lose too many balls in the brush.  The brush was very dry and it burned a lot quicker than I had imagined. 

Freeing up my afternoon to do some much needed grading of the cart paths.  We borrowed this fancy dancy grader and proved a great tool for the job. 

The other sets of tee blocks were put out last week.   These tee blocks were made last season to replace the standard plastic ball that was being used.  What I found really disappointing is that the day after we put them on the course 5 of them went missing and then another 5 were gone by the end of the week.  That is when we made the decision to pull them back off the course, just leaving the ones on the 1^st and 10^th tees.  I really hope we will be able to leave them out this year. 

As always if you have any questions feel free to email me kendalllindsay@hotmail.com

Cheers Kendall

Drainage

This past week has been another busy one here at St. Clair Parkway.  We had some very cool days early in the week.  All the grass slowed its growth due to the heavy frosts we have been getting.  This gave us the opportunity to finish up some drainage that had been put on the back burner for a while.  We were fortunate enough to borrow a trencher from a neighbouring golf course.

The first area that we tackled was the low spot in front of number seven green.  The drainage that runs through there has been damaged and needless to say does not work anymore.  Whenever it rains it will stay wet here for several days if not weeks.  Another issue is the pond beside the green was made to over flow out to that drainage and with the wet spring last year there was not enough time to get everything tied in.  Hopefully with some pictures this will all make sense.  The first picture is of seven when the drainage has been completed.

The low spot that runs across the fairway is where the old drainage ran.  We re-installed drainage in through the low spot and tied it in on the other side.  There is a catch basin on both sides of the fairway and a slit drain between the two.  Plus we put a catch basin at the top of the hill to catch the overflow from the pond and brought a drain down the hill and tied it in as well.  Here are some more pictures of the work.

  This was awesome to be able to get this little project done, at a time when the course was not so busy and dry enough that it was possible. 

Plus a little bonus was finishing off the drainage for the bunker on the 15th that was built last year.

 

The course dried out this week.  This spring has been very dry, they were calling for big rain this weekend but have basically reduced it to hit and miss.  The irrigation system was charge on April 5th.  When we did our initial start up, one of the two pumps had a bearing give way.  We then proceeded to charge the system with the other pump to make sure all the lines wintered well.  Once the system was up and some dry areas were watered, we shut everything down to pull the pump and replace its bearing.  Of course with the irrigation system down the weather man changed the forecast dramatically.  The course dried out and the greens were certainly firm and fast, which I think most of you liked.  Friday afternoon the pump was re-installed and the irrigation lines charged again.  The course certainly got a little dry for my liking but it will bounce back nicely now that the system is running again.  Maybe we will hit one of the thunder showers they are calling for on Sunday.

Till next time Cheers

Kendall