Rain, rain....then more rain

Those aren't strips of fertilizer that spilled. Those are some of a Superintendent's worst nightmares, wet spot tire tracks. Since Friday the course has received almost 6 inches of rain. The course is handling the water well but we are definitely at field capacity. The course is so soggy in fact, all mowing except for the elevated greens was cancelled today.

The good news is that the fertilizer that was put out last week is kicking in and the place is gloriously green.  

More good news

More good news,the shipment of new ball washers just came in. A clean ball is a straight ball, right?  I also ordered all new sand trap rake handles. We will be working on getting all of this stuff out ASAP as well. 

Cart path rehab

Part of this week's closure is focused on addressing the cart paths. Aside from trying to fix areas that get pot holes and edging, not much has been done to the cart paths since 2009. In response to member input, the Board gave me some funds to address as much of the issue as I can. After some trial and error, my team has found an effective way of dressing up the cart paths and making them look almost new again. 

We started by edging the cart paths. This is a massively labor intensive process for my staff. This week there has been 6 guys, 8 hours a day, everyday edging and cleaning up the spoils. The edging process is so labor intensive because there is no definitive edge of the cart path. Having nothing to stop it, the grass grows right into the cart path material. Once edged, the grass has to be separated, raked into piles, and then scooped into a trailer and hauled to the shop. 

Next we have to go through the cart paths where there are a lot of roots and trim them out. 

After the cart path is free of debris new cart path material is loaded into the sand trailer that has a conveyor belt. Once loaded, my team then distributes the material over the old cart paths. 

Once the new cart material is in place, my team spreads the material by hand to ensure good coverage and finishes off the job with a bunker rake to ensure the paths are smooth. 

It's not the fastest process and we'll still be going well into next week.  The "new"  cart paths look A LOT better. 

I'm not sure how far we are going to get, but I know we won't be able to do all of the cart paths and stay within the approved capital budget.  What cart path are not completely resurfaced will get all of the low areas filled at least. 

More and more going on at once

The weather is holding out and things are really starting to happen around here. I've got contractors working on repairing my building, a contractor root pruning the golf course, someone is grinding stumps, a crew of tree trimmers, 5 guys finishing the bunkers, 4 guys wrapping up edging the cart paths, a guy repairing sod all over the golf course and the County fixing Burning Tree Drive. My department looks like an ant hill after it's been kicked.  People are scrambling everywhere. 

Now that the trees are getting older around the course, it's time to prune back their roots. The tree roots compete with the turf for nutrients and moisture and can cause severe turf thinning. So to help the turf get as much of an advantage as possible routine root pruning is a common practice. 

The root pruning machine uses two massive knives that rotate through the soil and cut up to 4 inch roots. 

The unit is not that big but is extremely heavy. What is unusual about the machine is that the knives rotate very slowly. The tractor drives a massive gear reduction box that slowly shoves the knives through the ground. 

What's also nice about the process is that it doesn't leave huge scars to deal with. The slow but very deliberate movement of the knives dosesn't displace soil like a trencher does. The lines should heal over in a couple weeks.

Something being done that has nothing to do with the golf course has to do with Burning Tree Drive. The County is out installing some rip/rap embankment stabilization material along the ditch behind 3 green. 

The rip/rap should help keep the road edge from falling into the ditch like it was. 

The bunkers are all finished so now the focus will be the cart paths. We are still trying to experiment on what is the best way to deal with them. We tried the Roto-tiller and it didn't work so well, but  we have a couple other ideas that we're going to try. 

A rainy week

So far it has rained daily or every other day for weeks. Fortunately this week we are not punching holes or I'd be in big trouble. This week we are concentrating on working the bunkers and getting them ready for season, working the cart paths and adding some new material to them, trimming palm trees, and if time allows (which I doubt since we got run off yesterday with a 1/2 inch of rain in 20 minutes type flood) we will start on the pine straw. 

It is amazing how much effort quality bunkers take. All the edging, raking, moving sand here and moving sand there. Outside of the greens, bunkers are probably the second largest labor consumer on the golf course. 

Here's the process we are doing this week; edge, move sand, add sand if needed, then compact. 

It's a long process that takes a lot of guys. 

The cart paths are being edged first, which takes a very long time as well. Because there is no defined edge to the paths and the grass grows into the crushed concrete screenings used for the paths, it is difficult to separate the grass from the cart path material. All of the trimmings has to be raked by hand and then loaded into a trailer and hailed back to my shop. Once the paths are edged, the paths will be lightly roto-tilled to make the paths easier to work. Lastly, additional material will be added as a topcoat to finish off the paths. I don't have pictures of this process yet. The rain has us a little behind. 

As usual for this time of year, the palms are being trimmed. It makes a nice presentation for the pending golf season. The trimmed material will be collected and shredded into mulch for the property edges of the course, like along the Moorings Park fence line. On the interior of the course I will have pine straw laid around the tree and landscape beds. 

It's not the greatest picture. The weather has been very cloudy and overcast. 

More to come. 

Last day of this month's closure

The last day of any closure is all about trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Especially after all of the rain that has fallen here lately. Not only do I have people out putting all the yardage plates and cups back in, I also have people out repairing bunker washouts and unclogging drain pipes. Fortunately the rains came very late in the afternoon so my team was able to accomplish everything we needed to do during the closure. 

On a brighter note, the range tee project is progressing very well. The pavers are almost done. They ran a little short on pavers so they are bringing some more out today to finish. You can see in the picture that now you will have a paver brick pad to pull your cart onto and be able to get off the area where all the carts drive. 

To give the paver space some delineation between cart parking and the intended walkway, I had the pavers laid differently in the two spaces. 

The subway tile layout on the left is the 3.5 foot walkway that extends the length of the new hitting mat area. This was done so golfers can traverse the hitting pad area to an open station without having to walk in front of the pads, or around carts. The herringbone design on the right is the cart parking area. It is long enough to get the carts onto and out of the driveway, but far enough away from the mats to allow a person the swing a club. As you can see in the picture below, my cart fits just fine and my cart is longer than a golf cart. Tony and I will need everyone's help in spreading the word to park the carts in the right space so the hitting mats and walkway do not get crowded out. 

The company that manufacturers the hitting mats will be here sometime this week to install the new hitting mats which are already here. 

Last week we were also able to finish enlarging and grassing the 4 new tees. This will be a welcome improvement for these tees that get a tremendous amount of play for their size. The new improvements will help in turf sustainability and playability. The final step in this closure's game plan is to install cart path curbing along 9 tees. My team was going to do it today but with all the cleanup we are having to do from the storms it just wasn't possible. 

Third Closure Week - project updates

Solana Road is finally done. After an exhaustive effort by my staff, the last piece of grass was laid on the south side of the road late yesterday afternoon. 

The good news is both sides of Solana Road are grasses with Celebration, just like the golf course. The bad news is it looks like TECO gas is getting ready to extend their natural gas mainline down Solana on the north side. That means there will be some repair work to be done afterwards to get it back into the condition we are used to. I will keep you updated. 

At the range, the paver brick company has started the next phase of the new range enhancements. The foundation was gracious enough to fund an expanded scope of work which includes new cart parking at the range. This should help with all the congestion around the range during season. 

Here Kenny and Trevor are modifying the irrigation for the new cart parking areas between the oak trees. 

Last project update is on the tee expansions. The contractor should have the majority of the tees being done this year enlarged and ready for sod by the end of the day. This year I am doing 3 silver, 4 silver and white, and 5 blue. 

5 blue tee

3 silver

3 silver ready for the laser leveler

4 white tee being stripped

4 white ready to be laser leveled

4 silver tee being stripped

The goal of the tee expansions is to double the size of the whites and blue and triple the size of the silver. 

Everything else with regard to aerifications has been going flawless. This go around will not be nearly as invasive as it was last time. My team is still punching billions of holes but there's no heavy verti-cutting going one as well. The course should heal very quickly.