Summer's Intensity Yields

To begin, Yes this is long overdue! I suppose I could say it's been one of those very difficult summers where I had very little time to spend on my computer, and I would be entirely accurate. In fact I could say that I'm quite sure I spent less time in my office than in any summer ever in the past, and the various piles of magazines and product info. pamphlets stacked throughout my office, that I've yet to read, are a daily reminder! It was a summer where it was much easier to communicate using Twitter, where I could send a picture and a brief note daily or more often. Over 400 times to be exact and most related to course activities. So those that follow me or check in here in the Twitter section have kept up to date with course happenings this summer.

It was for sure a record setting year. One of the earliest starts to the season that I can remember, and of course we all know most of the story with 43 days of temperatures over 90 degrees (and counting) and a half dozen of which were over 100! This is certainly abnormal and well above the desirable range of our cool season turf species of creeping bentgrass, poa annua, bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass. And, if high temperature stress wasn't enough, a serious lack of rainfall added additional stress and required nearly constant monitoring and frequent (much more so than I've experienced in the past) syringing, to cool the turf and prevent permanent wilt and turf loss. Too many times I watched turf go from green, well hydrated, in the humid mornings, to purple, and early stages of wilt, in the dry, windy afternoons. Also, Murphy's Law was in effect as it seemed to happen even more often on Saturday's and Sunday's when the course was full of players making my syringing processes even more challenging and mentally stressful! We do try very hard, all the time, to provide firm play conditions, and regulating irrigation is common in this effort. As such, having to rapidly move about the course, syringing to prevent wilt and turf loss, is certainly not something new. This year, however, it seemed like we were chasing wilt nearly every weekend!

It was a nerve-racking year indeed but as we headed into the second week of August relief came in the form of both rain and cooler temperatures. And, although we've had a few more hot, humid days since earlier in Aug., the intensity is shorter with waning day length, lower overnight temperatures, and thus far occasional rainfall. We're now entering the optimum time for restoring turf health and density though a variety of cultural practices such as fertilization, aeration, topdressing, seeding, or sodding. We've already begun many of these practices and after Labor Day more such activities will intensify. Fortunately, we survived the summer quite well but some areas do need some expanded work, mostly rough areas, and right now we are beginning to address these areas (seeding / sodding) and will continue into the fall. I'll try to blog more often as we perform these various tasks and projects such as fairway expansion, green surround sod replacement where needed, test area bentgrass control and overseeding in rough areas, and likely a few other projects.   

Some Summer Recap photos and comments follow:

 

Saw this about 6 times this summer. 6 TOO MANY!

 

 The summer began with a little pond wall repair project at #12 tee! Old tiebacks gave way and wall collapsed into pond 

  After excavation of soil and lots of unexpected concrete blocks old steel was righted and cut off at water level

New steel channels being locked together and vibrated into soil

 Installing new and improved tiebacks

 Finished product. Today area grassed but heavy weed encroachment may require additional grassing work this fall

 While we were at it with excavator on site we pulled tilted outcrop stone from west side, added new support beams and gravel, then reset level

 Finished product on west side. Today fully grassed with quality fine fescue.

As work was undertaken on the pond wall repair, 4 forward tees were constructed and opened in early June

 
Several cart paths were renovated. Old fabric and loose brick chips was removed and replaced with new crushed red granite.

 
New path to No. 3 Forward Tee

 
Renovated path at Half Way House. New material stays in place much better and is less dusty than former crushed brick material.

 
New routing of path at #18 Tee, now runs through tall grass instead of directly in front of tee. No traffic in front of tee now eliminates worn unsightly area.

 
Finished product with repositioned tall rough and re-routed path

Right about this time, the 4th of July (and the 5th), temperatures exceed 100 degrees and from that time forward temperatures remained above normal for about six weeks. Moisture deficit was firmly in place by this time too, actually since much earlier in spring. 


Saw this sign in a business and thought, regarding the weather challenges this year, 'Isn't this the Truth'!
There was lots of it every morning!

 
This was a common sight this year and thankfully we have an outstanding irrigation system that allows us to keep conditions as dry and firm as possible, for playability sake, and yet provide "rescue" syringing and watering, in a rapid manner, to prevent serious turf damage and loss.

 
When we keep it dry, and the humidity suddenly drops, turf can purple showing signs of wilt.

 
If we don't get water on it quickly (such as on a Sat. afternoon when the course if full of players and we're desperately trying to syringe and cool off all fairways but we don't get to all areas in time), at the early wilt stage, cart traffic will crush plant cells, causing destruction and turf loss. Fortunately this was the only area this happened, at beginning of fairway on #17.

 
We battled plenty of disease this year as well, Summer Patch, Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, Fairy Ring and others...we saw them all at one point or another.

Fortunately, Pythium, one of the most rapid and destructive turf diseases (common in hot, wet, conditions) was kept well controlled through plant protectants (dry weather helped too) but still found it's way onto the range tee, an area that is watered frequently to germinate seed planted each night.

Speaking of wet, we did have a few wet moments this year...climbing into the water to attach lines to remove a cart that was driven into the pond at #12...

and a Jeep that found it's way into the ditch at #13 tee.

 
 Both vehicles...


Successfully extracted and both drivers, fortunately, uninjured...but likely to drive a bit safer in the future!

 We though we might have to employ our SCC Grounds Crew constructed SCC 'Kon Tiki' for above extractions, but it was ultimately used only for it's intended purpose, the Hampton's Party.

Jazz Band getting ready for their float trip.

Before crowd showed the ducks enjoyed a little evening music.

 The stress...and response (more hand watering) continued through approx. Aug. 9-10 when we received some quality rainfall (slow, steady) and temperatures began to fall to more reasonable levels.

 

With the summers intensity now behind us we're focusing on repairing a few areas...fortunately only a few! Through aeration, spiking, seeding, and /or sod patching where necessary.

A nice seed germination 'catch' on a worn, thin spot in the green expansion area on #13.

As I mentioned earlier, we are now in the period of repair, recovery, maintenance, and improvement on many turf areas through aeration, seeding, topdressing, core planting, sodding, and more. Essentially, it's planting time! I hope to blog a bit more frequently now that I have a bit more time to spend in front of the computer but I'd still much rather be out on the course tweeting tasks and improvement progress on a daily basis! Follow me on Twitter @scc1897 or check back here on the blog often and view my tweets in the Twitter section. Happy Labor Day to All! 

July Recap in Pictures

The last month or so has been challenging in many ways (a nice way of saying cruel!) with record rainfall, extreme and prolonged humidity, wind storms, power outages, paddle project site work, tournament and event preparations, turf disease, flood damaged turf, mosquitoes, flies, cart recovery from channel, and probably a half dozen other "challenges"! With all this fun I haven't had much time to blog. Each of the above could be an entry on it's own but I thought today I would recap the past month in photo/caption form.

 Mid-July, Mowing and more frequent rolling in early preparations for Derby

Bunker prep with sand depths of all checked, sand redistributed and added as needed, surfaces smoothed, runners (turf that has encroached into sand) removed, edges compacted and smoothed. They were all ready for Derby.

 Rafa and Javier perform annual pre-Derby "harvesting" of cattails at pond #18 
(and other ponds too)

 Jacob, Carlos, Alo, add fabric and stone and then level in areas which will be under the five new paddle court locations. Gravel helps melt water drain better, keeps area (and heaters beneath) cleaner and drier, and makes heater servicing more accessible.

 Believe it or not irrigation was needed through first 3 weeks of July. We had only approx. 1" of rain from the middle of June through the third week of July. Hard to remember it being dry huh?

 On this day we were seeing a nice dry sheen and a little spritz was needed to limit any wilting and potential mower injury.

 Jacob adds just the right amount of water, only where needed, to keep surfaces fast and firm.

Then the rains came and in about 12 days (July 23-Aug. 3) we were left with 10+ inches.

 Here in afternoon on July 23rd I'm turning on a few sprinklers in the flooded areas to add cooler water to the rapidly warming water. Perhaps it helped to lessen the damage, as in these areas the resulting turf loss is minimal.

 As the waters receded this was a familiar sight. Here Urbano squeegees on #3 fairway.

We put a lot of wear on these this year! 

 This guy's wondering where the water went? It quickly drained in this bunker on #2 but the sediment that the flood waters left behind would need to be hand scraped and discarded to prevent contamination and potential future diminished drainage.

 By the way... It's been damn hot at times! 101 degrees in the shade!

 With all the water gone (and hopefully heavy rain and extreme heat past) we now see areas were turf is damaged. Repairs have already begun and include additional drain pipe installation where needed, and one or more processes such as aeration, sand topdressing, spiking, seeding, and sodding.

 This goes in the category of "Anything is possible on the golf course!"

 

 It was a miserably hot day so Jacob didn't mind jumping in to secure a tow strap to the front bumper. We pulled it out with our 4X4 Dump Truck and now Ed has a new bridge railing project!

 Back to the Paddle Courts. Here I'm digging for the main electric feed from the Grounds Operations Center. We've got some additional drainage to add near the courts too and landscaping to install before long.

 Mornings and sights like this help us forget the many "challenges" we've faced this year.

Looking forward to a long, mild fall!

Derby Storm

It's getting all to frequent that at some point in a multiple day tournament the skies open up, or the winds whip up, or the air and humidity heat up, and we are left with some form of damage to... clean-up!

Last night's storm dropped another 5 inches of rain on top of the Day 1 Derby total of 1.5. You can do the math but suffice is to say it was enough to put portions or entire fairways, of nearly every hole, underwater.

The photos below give a reasonable picture of what the course looked like this morning. Some haven't changed much moving into the afternoon:

Hole #10

Hole #13

Hole #3

Hole #6

New Duck Pond on #8  

-This was after a much larger area had drained

Holes -4,11,3,13 - From 4 Tee to 13 Green underwater this morning

Brick Cart Path at #17 Tee

Crushed Brick Path near 18th Green

- completely washed down to lower approach

Fun stuff huh? We're pumping, squeegeeing, replacing sand in bunkers (only a couple though), raking debris and in general prepping so that, hopefully, the first round of Derby can be completed and a second round can be started and completed as well. More on Derby...Pre-prep, storm, and storm repair, later.

 

We go 30 days without much rain at all and then just when we don't want any we get 6.5 inches! I guess next time we're in a long dry spell and need some rain, all we'll have to do is hold a tournament! Chances are it will rain! 

Things could be much worse. There was a flurry of activity at a home near the 15th green this morning with several fire trucks blocking our entrance.

Firefighter putting out remains of a probable lightning induced fire that burned the entire roof and likely destroyed much of home content. Fortunately the family was gone on vacation.

Puts things into perspective... We'll have a delay in our tournament, and may lose some grass due to standing water heating up and suffocating it, but this family probably will lose their home!