Oh, Wow

Time flies when you are having fun, or working hard and the days just go by. August already! Coming to work at the same time it is darker now with stars still shinning. The seasons keep moving on. Pretty much the dog days of summer. We keep up with the regular mowing and course maintenance. Same old, same old. But when the same work activities become boring, accidents happen. Last week, Greg McGee, stepped off the fairway mower on the wash area and slipped and blew his knee out. A 911 call took place and within minutes, an ambulance was here to take Greg to the hospital. Surgery has followed and he will be out of action for a while. That quick. A misstep and out of action. It could have been worse but it wasn't. Just a gentle reminder that the same routine can be disastrous. Take your time and do it right.

What's Buggin Me, Part 2

Crabgrass. That's what buggin me. Just when you get all the broadleaf weeds under control, the annual ones show up. Not as easy to control as broadleaf weeds, but thanks to new chemistry's, we have products available to use. Prior to just a few years ago, the only way to contol annual grasses was to apply a pre emergent compound, usually with fertilizer, to prevent germination. Today, there is a product that you apply post emergently that takes out the crabgrass just as you would with broadleafs. The active ingredient in this product is called Quincloroc. It is available to consumers now and that is a good thing if you want to clean up any breakthrough from your pre emergent application in the spring. Get them now before the seeds appear other wise the cycle will continue for next year.

I applied this product to the tees and approaches last week and happy to report that the crabgrass is yellowing and going back to wherever it came from. The pictures show the beginning of the end of these pesky invaders. There is some crabgrass on the perimeters of a few fairways but I will document the locations and plan a course of action for next year.

Storm Damage

A couple of trees came down monday night. The first one is the birch behind 15 green. The other is an oak to the right of the 13th fairway. This one is well out of play. Another tree got severely damaged and that is a willow down by the pond adjacent to the 12th tee. That one will also be removed. Just more job security for the maintenance staff.

What's Buggin' Me

As I stated earlier in a blog, we are into the next battle. We pretty much beat up the weeds and now we are off to defend our turf from bugs. Yes, it's those pesky little critters that come out of nowhere to raise havoc with our finely manicured turf. There are several bugs that are not good to turf and in this post I am after ants. With the early and warm spring this year, ants became very active. Maybe they entered your house and seem to be a nusance. They are at my house. These guys are not really destructive as much as they are affecting the playability on the greens. This picture is from the 2nd green. They are mostly located nere the perimeters of the greens. The best way to suppress them is by using an insecticide. The products I choose are the same ones available to the public, but in a higher concentrated form. I will be applying both a contact and a systemic product to not only knockdown the ones we see but have a residual effect on the population for the rest of the summer.

The batlle plan is drawn. Now is the time to go to battle.

Winter is Over

Finally, winter is over. Although the seasons have changed from winter to spring to now the first week of summer, my winter work just ended. What I am talking about is the service work that is done during the winter to each and every piece of equipment to ensure that it has relatively good chance to last during the season and avoid downtime. I attached the reels to the JD fairway mower yesterday and now the shop area empty. We do encounter repairs and scheduled maintenance to all equipment during the season but that is all routine.

The next challenge we are gearing up for is the ability to schedule course maintenance activities around the great amount of play we are having. Throw in the many groups that are playing with different start times, we manage to get the practices done and staying on our schedule. Stay tuned for my next blog as I talk about "what's bugging you?"

Gold Tees

You have probably noticed that we have installed a set of gold tee markers. They are located on the front of the main tees or on some of the foreword tees. They are intended to be used by seniors or junior players or anyone else for that matters that want to play a shorter course. On Friday, June 22, a representative from the WSGA will be here to rate the course as to its comparable difficulty to other course.

Lightning

During all the rain that occurred a few weeks ago, lightning caused some damage to the irrigation system. To the left of the 9th green, you saw a huge hole. In the hole was the 8" mainline that feeds the golf course. Somehow the lightning caused the pipe to break. The repair to some time to accomplish the task as parts are not readily available. After the completion of pipe repair, it was soon discovered there was more damage to the electronics involved in controlling the system. We are currently investigating our options. In the meantime, you probably noticed that the expansion on the practice putting green is not looking very good. You are right. Even after all the rains, new turf is not able to withstand drought stress for very long. What is green is alive and what is brown is dead. I plan to aerify and overseed as soon as we get some reliable water. I have some pictures to post as soon as as they are available. So for future reference, the next time there is lightning on the course, time to seek shelter.