Course Update 12.7.13

I hope that all of you enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday and are staying warm during this exceptionally cold weather. We had a very busy November, and I will use today's post to give an update on course conditions and on a few of the areas that we have been working on.

Maintenance Facility Work

Our Mechanic, Tom Reisinger (center) and Asst. Supt. Duane Kemp (right) pose for picture on our newly installed Golf Lift. This lift provides a safer and more efficient way to complete equipment repairs. Thank you for providing the funds for this much needed improvement. 

The cold weather definitely limits out ability to work on the course, however there is still plenty to be done, especially around our maintenance facility. Currently we are in the process of cleaning up the accumulation of years of old equipment, flood debris, construction materials, old parts, and more. We have been slowly working on this task throughout the summer, but look forward to accomplishing a great deal more over the winter months. In addition to cleaning up the outside, we have been busy working inside the shop to make it cleaner and more organized.

Pepe, Jaime, and Sean paint lines on the shop floor. The lines will help keep our equipment organized.

Ranulfo and Jacob work on cleaning up our shop yard.

Crewmembers Jacob and Sean, work with 2nd Asst. Randy Stewart to give the pump station a thorough cleaning

Mechanic, Tom Reisinger has been busy organizing his work area. Tom has years of old parts that must be identified, labeled, and placed into new container bins. 

Finally, we have been busy planning for potential major renovations to our maintenance facility. Currently the club is working with Eagle Design Build to develop a Master Plan for our facility. This company has built or renovated over seventy maintenance facilities, and we look forward to working with them to accomplish our goal of creating a safer, cleaner, and more efficient work place. Please check back for more information. 

Course Update

Greens:

• Overall the greens are doing very well. We are striving to keep green speeds as consistent as possible. The extreme fluctuations in weather make this challenge difficult at times. For example, this past week we reached temperatures above 80 degrees on Wednesday afternoon - resulting in a flush of growth on the greens, and ultimately slower putting speeds. However over the next 48 hours temperatures dropped more than 50 degrees resulting in little to no growth. We use several practices to help compensate for the changes in putting speed due to weather including: adjusting mowing height, mowing frequency, rolling, irrigation, fertility, and more. Our ultimate goal is to provide smooth, consistent putting surfaces, without jeopardizing plant health. 
• The sod installed on the putting green has rooted nicely, and we will soon be lowering the height to match that of the rest of the green. 

Tees and Fairways:

• We have been spraying the the tees and fairways with ferrous sulfate (iron) and green dye. This combination of iron and dye helps maintain color and definition over the winter months. We will continue this process throughout December, and are considering trying turf paints in the future. 
• The damage to fairways from skunks has decreased substantially with the cold weather. We will continue to monitor this problem, and have plans to better control this problem in the spring. For more information please send me an email - tmoore@ridgewoodwaco.com

Other Areas:

• Sod and Seed - The zozysia sod and tall fescue seed planted on holes 15, 16, and 17 is doing very well. Please remember to keep carts out of these areas when possible
• Bunkers - we have spent the last two weeks checking all of the greenside bunker sand depths. We moved sand around and added sand to several bunkers. If you ever notice an area in any of the bunkers that needs attention please let me know asap. 
• Water Cooler Stands - Construction will be begin next week on the new water cooler stands. The stands will be built using the same rock used on the clubhouse, and will be a nice improvement to the course.
• Irrigation- We have experienced a number of irrigation leaks over the last few weeks. The changes in temperature and soil moisture cause our clay soils to swell and contract significantly, resulting in pipe breaks.
• Marina- We recently re-routed the water supply line and moved a large live oak tree located at the south end of the marina in conjunction with the parking lot improvements. Currently, we are working on a plan to grass the large slope created as part of this project. 

Course Update 11.4.13

Good Afternoon, and thank you for visiting the blog. I will use today's post to give you an update on the rain, course conditions, and a few small projects that we have been working on. Before we get started, I would like to take a moment to congratulate John Derrick for winning the championship flight of the Odis Beck Memorial Club Championship this past Sunday. This Mr. Derrick's 6th victory!

Rainfall
According to weather.com, Waco received 7.3" of total rainfall for October - over 3" above normal totals. The rain has been extremely beneficial and the lake has risen over three feet since my last post. See pictures below. However, even with all the recent rain the lake is still just over four feet low. We desperately need more rain in order to fill the lake up before spring.

Intake on 8.26.13

Intake on 11.1.13

Course Conditions
The recent rains have helped many drought stressed areas recover from the summer, and we look to be in good shape heading into the winter months. The wet weather has definitely brought an influx of fire ant mounds to the fairways and roughs. Fire ants are expensive and difficult to control over large areas, but we are working to treat as many places as possible. Fall is prime time for bentgrass greens, and as the temperatures drop we have gradually been able to increase putting speed and firmness. We have delayed our last major planet air procedure due to weather and multiple course events. We have tentatively re-scheduled this important practice for Monday, November 11th.

Hole 13 on 11.2.13

Other Course Happenings
We have been busy working on several areas of the course. All of the driving range tees have been over-seeded and are now open for play.

The lower driving range tee on 11.1.13

On the 21st of October we re-sodded the damaged areas around the putting green. The new sod is doing well and we will gradually lower the mowing height to match that of the putting green.

Joe Nava and Sergio Zapata installing the new sod

Sod installed on the putting green

We have also been working to re-establish tall fescue in many shaded areas on the course. Tall fescue does best when seed is planted in the fall, and can survive all year if given enough water and traffic is limited. Most of the seeded areas are roped off - please avoid driving in these areas.

Tall fescue planted behind 8 green

Tomorrow we will planting several shaded areas on holes 16 and 17 to zoysia grass. The grass has been generously given to the club by Jeff Mathis of C&M Golf and Grounds. We will use combination of zoysia sod and tall fescue seed in order get better turf coverage in these areas.

Area prepped for sod in front of 16 green

Area between 15 and 17 ready for sod (Ruby and Roxy in the background)

Finally, we are working to change out all of the annual flowers around the club. Assistant Superintendent Duane Kemp has been busy selecting flowers, picking locations, and making sure all the flowers are planted correctly.

David Nava, Patrick Evans, and Montana Chick plant winter annuals in front of the club. 

Course Update 10.11.13

New golf course maintenance equipment for 2013 is here!

The crew is proud of our new tools and ready to put them to work

On behalf of the entire crew I want to thank the membership providing us with several new pieces of equipment that will definitely help us in maintaining and improving playing conditions. This year we received three new rough mowers and a secured a one year deal on a new sprayer. The rough mowers consist of two large - 5 deck, diesel mowers, and one smaller - zero turn deck mower. The sprayer was sorely needed and provides us with a much more accurate and safer method of applying a variety products on the course. In addition, we were able to trade in several pieces obsolete turf equipment - thus helping offset the cost and aiding us in our efforts to clean up our maintenance facility. Thanks again for your support and we look forward to utilizing these tools for years to come.

Course News:

What are all those white foam dots on the fairways? This past week we put our new sprayer to work applying our fall pre-emergent herbicide. Rather than using a colorant or dye to as a spray pattern indicator we decided to use the foam marker attachment for the sprayer. The foam is simply drops at the end of the spray boom providing an indicator for the operator as to which areas have already been treated. The foam is much less expensive, more effective, and cleaner than using dye. In all we treated 90 acres of turf. The product should prevent most winter weeds (such as poa annua) from germinating through at least March of 2014. See photos below.

Applying pre-emerge to 18 fairway

Notice the white dots on the fairway following the spray

Drought Update- We finally received some much needed rain in late September (almost 4.5"). The course has benefited greatly, and we are now in a much better situation approaching the winter months. However, the rain did not help raise the level of Lake Waco. Currently the lake is almost 8 feet low. It is critical that we get enough rain to return the lake to normal levels before spring. This weekend's forecast is promising - so keep your fingers crossed for rain.

Overseeding- The only area of the course that will be overseeded this year is the driving range tee. We will seed the tee with perennial rye grass on Monday, October 14th. Once the seed germinates we may need to close the tee temporarily in order to successful establish the winter grass. 

Other happenings- We have been busy this week adding sand to several bunkers. If you notice any bunkers that we may have missed please email me or let the golf shop know and we will take care of it as soon as possible. We have also been busy repairing any weak or damaged areas on the greens. The next area that will be working on is the practice putting green. We will begin re-sodding the area closest to the golf shop in the next couple of weeks. 

Course Update 9.13.13

Happy Friday the 13th!

I will begin today's post with a quick drought update: Currently the lake is just over 7.5 feet low, and it has now been almost 8 weeks since we received any measurable precipitation at the club. However, the forecast for the coming week looks promising with 30 to 40 percent chance of rain and high temperatures in the low 90s everyday. Hopefully, we will be lucky enough see some rain in the near future.

New Flagsticks
Many of you may have noticed the new flagsticks on the course. Last week we switched to a custom made flagstick from Laser Link Golf. The only difference is that now there is a prism built into the stick. The prism is designed for use with Laser Link Golf range finders (QuickShot) however any player using a laser yardage device will find it much easier and quicker to pick up the flag. For more information visit www.laserlinkgolf.com. In addition, new cups and flags will be put into play next week.

Laser Link Golf prism installed on #13 Green

New Equipment: We received delivery on two badly needed additions to our equipment fleet - two large rough mowers. These mowers were sorely needed and will definitely make a difference in how the course looks and plays. In addition to the two large units, we also purchased a small rough mower and will be demoing a new spray rig. Thank you for your support of golf course maintenance. Please check back for more photos of the equipment.

Mike Mathis of C&M Golf and Grounds, our Equipment Technician - Tom Reisinger, and Asst. Supt. Duane Kemp showing off one of the new Jacobsen AR522 rough mowers

Putting Green Traffic:
Please remember to avoid standing in one spot for extended periods of time while practicing putting. Feel free to spend all day practicing (your short game will thank you) - just make sure that you do not stand in the exact same position for more than a few putts. This is particular true during the hottest times of the day. During the summer months concentrated traffic will injure and sometimes kill bentgrass. See photos below:

This photo was taken immediately after the golfer finished practicing. Notice the dark areas showing footprints. On a hot day these footprints can ultimately result in significant damage to the putting surface. See below.

The weak area on the lower right of the photo shows damage caused by concentrated traffic on the putting green. This photo was taken two weeks after the golfer practiced.

Thank you for visiting the blog and we hope to see you on the course this weekend. As always please do not hesitate to conatact me at anytime with questions, comments, or concerns.

Course Update 8.26.13

It has been a very busy two weeks since my last post. I will use today's post to focus primarily on two important topics: 1) Greens and 2) Drought Conditions.

Greens

We completed our 6th Planet Air/Aeration procedure of they year on Monday the 19th. The operation went smooth and the greens have almost completely recovered. This process is essential to maintaining healthy greens (especially roots), and your patience during cultivation practices is greatly appreciated. Our next aeration event is scheduled for September the 23rd, and will probably involve core aeration in conjunction with the Planet Air.

It has been a long hot summer, however we are finally over the hump when it comes to managing bentgrass greens in the Texas heat. As I have mentioned before, roots are the key to surviving the summer. Notice the difference in root depth on the 7th green in the pictures above from June 16th (left) and August 23rd (right). Over the next six weeks we will begin to see declining high temperatures and shorter days. These climatic factors promote several beneficial physiological processes in the plant resulting in: improved root depth, increased recovery time, and better stress tolerance.

So what does all this mean for playing conditions? While we still have several hot days ahead, we are now looking forward to transitioning our maintenance programs from summer (survival) to fall (recovery and performance). With a stronger plant we can focus more on improving ball roll, speed, and firmness without jeopardizing turf health.

Finally, we will soon begin repairing any damaged areas on greens (such as the front of the putting green) and removing bermuda grass contamination from the greens. In order to accomplish these tasks we must first establish a nursery. We currently have plans to construct a new nursery to the right of 18 Tee.


Prosed Nursery Green Location

Drought Conditions

While some parts of town have been fortunate to catch isolated rainfall, it has been almost 6 weeks since we have received any measurable precipitation at RCC. The lake is almost 7ft low, and the majority of Mclennan County is in the "Extreme" drought category according to the U.S. Drought Monitor on 8/20/13 (see below).

Fortunately we have been able to stay within our water budget so far this year, by focusing the majority of our irrigation on tees, fairways, greens, and other areas that are considered "in-play". Our irrigation system is very good, however it is designed to supplement rainfall - not replace it. The end result during extended drought conditions is a combination of wet and dry areas throughout the course. We are working hard to minimize these conditions by adjusting sprinklers, completing repairs, hand watering, and re-programming our central computer.

Click the link below to learn more about irrigation systems and drought conditions:

http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/moore-why-6-24-11.pdf

We are also working on long term plans to improve our overall water use. A few the items that we are currently discussing include: addition of ET based weather station on site, upgrades to our controllers and central computer, reducing our irrigated acreage (in conjunction with a master plan from John Colligan Design), and incorporation of satellite and GPS mapping tools. All of these improvements will be discussed in further detail later, and will be incorporated into our drought conservation plan. In the meantime we will continue to closely monitor our irrigation usage and continue to focus on high priority areas.

As I mentioned above, the lake is almost 7ft low. This means that we must rely completely on our transfer pump setup as seen in the picture below. The result is that the amount of water that we can apply at one time is reduced by about 30%. We can still apply enough water for irrigation, however it takes longer to irrigate the entire course. As a result, we are forced to complete some irrigation during daytime hours. Please understand that we will keep irrigation from disrupting play as much as possible.

With the lake 7ft low, our intake line to the irrigation system is exposed.

Course Update 8/7/13

All in a days work... Monday's are typically the busiest day of the week for golf course maintenance.  Closing the course not only provides relief from traffic due to golf carts, but allows our maintenance crew to accomplish much needed tasks - without interfering with member play.

The photos below illustrate a few of the things that we accomplished this past Monday:

Jacob Heppell checking sand depths in all bunkers

Kenneth (Humpty) Thomas using a string trimmer near the parking lot, and other areas that are hard to get to during the week.

Kevin Hejl and Rod Ryer fertilizing the sodded areas around bunkers and greens

Duane Kemp using the Planet Air to vent the greens. This process helps the greens tolerate the summer heat.

Vertical mowing was completed on all tees and fairways by Tuesday morning.

We did have a hydraulic leak on the front of number 1 green while completing the planet air procedure. We will wait a couple of weeks to determine the extent of the damage before completing repairs.

  In addition to the work listed above, we were able to hover mow all bunkers, spot treat several areas for weeds, edge greens, and complete normal mowing. 

Unfortunately, technical problems are preventing me from posting more at this time. Please check back later for more updates.

Course Update 7/26/13

Good Afternoon,

I will begin today's post by introducing two new members to our team....

Ruby (left) and Roxy (right) inspecting 17 Green following last week's rain

Ruby and Roxy are our 2 1/2 month old Australian Shepherds. They will soon begin training on picking up trash, moving tee markers, and chasing off unwanted pest. Check back for more photos of the pups.
All areas of the course have greatly benefited from the 4.5" of rain that we received two weeks ago. As a result we have been extremely busy staying on top of our routine mowing and other maintenance practices. The list below will give you an idea of a few of things that we have been working on since my last post:


• Completed edging of all cart paths
• Edged bunkers two times
• Fertilized entire golf course (tees, fairways, and most roughs) on 7/22
• Successful planet air, topdress, and vertical mowing on greens last Monday
• Edged greens two times
• Topdressed sodded areas and drainage ditches
• Repaired several more irrigation heads
• Flower bed maintenance
• Continued work on re-aligning tees
• Spot treat of weeds
• Fire ant control
• Continued with spray program on greens
• Equipment inventory and evaluation

A quick look at our daily job board. The board is used to schedule employee shifts, daily jobs, mowing patterns, and more

A few of the items we have plans for next week include:

• Edging greens
• Continue tee alignment
• Sod/plug weak areas on the putting green
• Continue topdressing sodded areas
• Add sand/move sand in several bunkers
• Grub and ant control around tees and greens
• Weed control
• Possible vertical mowing of tees and fairways
• Finalize plans for replacing water cooler stands and other course accessories

Unfortunately, we had a hydraulic hose break on one of our tee mowers while mowing the main tee on #3. We treated the area with charcoal and fertilizer to help the grass recover, however the burn lines from the hydraulic fluid will be visible for the next two to three weeks.

Hydraulic leak on 3 tee on 7.24.13

Course Update 7/16/13



RAIN!!!!!!  Over the last 48 hours we received right at 4" of precipitation. The rain came slow and steady resulting in minimal damage to the course. It had been over 34 days since our last significant rainfall, and the rain was sorely needed. We are open today and are not restricting carts to paths only. The rain did force us to reschedule our planet air and fertilization practices which were scheduled for yesterday. We are currently working with the golf shop to reschedule these important tasks with minimal disruption to play.



Rainfall as of 2:30pm on 7/15/13

One of the biggest and most important challenges facing not only Ridgewood, but the industry as whole is water. Water is arguably our most important natural resource. Issues such as: quality, availability, and cost have and will continue to become more critical to the game of golf. As such, one of our biggest goals this summer to is to develop a water management plan for Ridgewood. This plan will focus on drought conservation and defining our best management practices related to irrigation. To learn more about how we will develop this plan please click the link below:

http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/gross-developing-7-12-13.pdf

Many of you are aware that we currently have a set amount of water allocated for irrigation on an annual basis and that in most years we do not have the option to purchase additional water. In order to make the best use of our water we must first develop a water budget.

A visual look at our water budget for this year. The New Budget is updated monthly based on previous months actuals. Note: July usage is month to date as of 7/12/13

I developed our water budget by dividing our water allotment (300 acre feet) over the 12 month contract period. Each month is assigned a certain amount of water based on historical usage and weather patterns. We then enter our actual usage for each month and re-adjust our budget accordingly for the remaining months - resulting in a total usage of 300 acre feet. It is also important to note that currently the elevation of Lake Waco is 5.28ft below normal, and that U.S. Drought Monitor places Waco in the moderate to severe category. If drought conditions worsen we may face drought restrictions and ultimately a reduction in our current water allotment. For this reason, we will continue to focus our irrigation in high priority areas and make every effort to stay within our water budget.

Other Course News...

We have been very busy working on several areas of the course. The list and photos below will give a brief insight into what has been going on over the last couple of weeks:

• Repaired several irrigation leaks and problems
• Re-Aligning tees
• Spot weed control
• Shop improvements
• Topdressing sodded areas
• Planet Air on sodded areas and trouble spots on the practice putting green

Jacob and Jaime replacing sprinkler heads on 16 Tee

Ropes and stakes are used to properly align tee boxes

Taking advantage of a rainy day the crew rebuilt two picnic tables

Completed picnic table

Topdressing sod on #7 fairway



Joe Nava topdressing sod on #3

Course Update 7/9/13



Good Afternoon and thank you for visiting the blog. I hope that everyone enjoyed the 4th of July weekend and all of the festivities at the club.

This week I will discuss bunker maintenance. To get started I would like to share a photo and quote that may give you a laugh...

 

And a quote from Old Tom Morris: "Bunkers are not meant to be places of pleasure, they are prisons for punishment and repentance".

Ok, enough with jokes. Bunkers are serious business. It is our goal to provide you with the best bunker conditions possible. The recent renovations have given us the opportunity to accomplish this task, and it is our responsibility to do so. As I mentioned in the newsletter, one of our main priorities this summer is to develop a sustainable bunker maintenance plan that satisfies the needs of our golfers. The information below will give you an idea of that goes into this plan.

Daily Preparation: First, all debris (leaves, dirt, grass clippings, etc) are removed from the bunkers using a hand blower. After debris is removed the crew then hand rakes every bunker. Occasionally, we simply rake any footprints and do not disturb the rest of the bunker. This is done to conserve labor hours and to allow the sand to further compact. The entire process typically requires three to four employees and requires about 3.5 hours to complete.

The crew preparing the bunkers on 5 and 7.

Weekly Maintenance: Every one to two weeks we must mow and edge all of the grass surrounding the bunkers. This is one the most labor intensive practices on the golf course. There are several steps involved which are illustrated below.

1. The first step is to pull the sand away from the edges of the bunkers. This exposes the turf and allows for the use of string trimmers to edge the bunkers. This process is completed by two crewmembers.
2. Once the sand is pulled down, two to three crewmembers use string trimmers clean up the edges of the bunkers. Proper edging keeps the bunkers defined and helps maintain the original design.
   
3. A third crew of two is working at the same time to mow all the grass around the bunkers. This is accomplished using a specialized type of mower that is capable of mowing very steep slopes. We recently purchased two new Hover Mowers to accomplish this task.

   

   David Nava and Ramiro Tenorio III using the new Hover Mowers.

4. After the first crew is done pulling sand away from the edges, they then return to the first hole with hand blowers to remove any grass clippings from the above practices.
5. Finally, as the "edging crew" and the "hover mower crew" finish, they begin the process of pushing the sand back up on the edges, and hand pulling any grass that was missed by the edging.

   

   Kevin Hejl pulling runners.

Monthly Maintenance: Approximately once a month the bunkers must be checked to ensure that sand levels are consistent. Often time more sand must be added, or the sand must be moved from one part of the bunker to another. The frequency of adjusting sand levels depends on the individual bunker. For example, the chipping green bunkers (which receive more play than others) must be checked more frequently.