Course Update 5.15.15

More Rain!!!

The new weather station located near the maintenance facility

Don't cuss the rain! We are having a great spring in terms of rainfall. It is a fact that the rain makes it difficult to get work on the course done and results in sloppy playing conditions, but we will likely benefit from these rains for the rest of the summer. Take a look at few statistics in terms of rain this year:

• Lake Level is 463.5' compared to normal of 462'
• RCC has recieved 2.2" since April 23rd and almost 18.5" YTD
• Average yearly rainfall for Waco is 34", and average YTD rainfall is 11.5"
• Our weather station (pictured above) has recorded 18.5" of rain at RCC compared to 14.29" at the Waco Regional Airport

Hopefully, the rain will continue into summer and Lake Waco will remain at normal level throughout the year. 

Driving Range Project Update

The upper tee near the teaching building on 5.15

We are making progress on our renovations to the driving range tees. All work is complete on the upper tees are they are growing in nicely. We should have no problems with getting these tees looking and playing great by the June 1st opening date. The renovations to the main tee and parking are still on track to begin June 1st. Currrently, we are in process of finalizing documents and plans with contractors. 

The renovated upper tees near #9 and the newly constructed small tee (far)

 General Course Update

·    Spring is always a busy time on the course. We have been working hard to get the course in shape for several tournaments, completing routine maintenance, and have several small projects in the works. and  Checkout the list below for a few of the areas that we have been working on.

• Greens- Completed third "Planet Air" procedure of the year on 5/10/15. The greens are healing nicely and should be in great shape by early next week. 
• Tees- Tee alignment will begin next week. 
• Fairways- We are continuing with our monthly spray program on fairways. We are using a combination of foliar applied iron and growth regulators to promote turf density and color. In addition, we completed our spring preventative grub control applications last week. 
• Weak Areas- We have working to promote growth in certain areas of the course including 3,7,8,18 and others. The goal is to limit traffic in these areas, increase our cultural practices, and apply additional fertilizer to get these high play areas looking great
• Sod Work- Completed sod work on several holes including: 6,7,8,9,10,13
• Bunkers- Overall the "new bunkers" have handled the rain quite well, however heavy downpours have caused the bunkers to wash on multiple occasions. We have put forth more labor to ensure to the depths are as consistent as possible. The sand on the greenside bunkers on #9 was replaced due to contamination from the pond in front of the green. 
• Weed Control- Weather permitting we will be making herbicide applications to the greens surrounds and bunker faces to control nutsedge in the next couple of weeks. We are also continuing to spot treat other weeds. 
• Tennis Area- We have been exceptionally busy at the tennis facility this spring. Work includes: trimming trees, removing poisen ivy, mulching large areas, sodding along the new cart path, fixing drainage and erosion issues, sewer line repair.
• Other Items- 
• Updating course accessories including new cup holders on the water cooler stands, 
• Completed drainage work on #1 and #10
• Continuing with irrigation audit and repairs
• Completed spring flower change out
• Repaired several minor damaged areas on greens

Additional Information

The prolonged cloudy and wet condtions have resulted in several outbreaks of a common fungal disease known as Dollar Spot. This disease is especially obvious on our bermuda grass tees and green surrounds. While, unsightly it will like go away once sunny and dry weather returns. It can be treated with costly fungicides, but at this point we will let mother nature take care of it for us. If it increases in severity will consider applying chemicals. See photo below:

Dollar Spot on 12 Tee on 5.14

Maintenance Facility

We are continuing work on plans to renovate our maintenance facility. Currently our site plans are being prepared for submission to the USACE (Army Corps of Engineers). Check out a few of the conceptual I drew using Google Sketchup based on our latest plans. 

Course Update 4.16.15

Course Update

Water and Rainfall: We finished our 2014-15 annual water contract with the city of Waco with no issues. Our new contract renewed April 1. Like last year, we will closely monitor our water usage and follow our "water budget". For more information on our water budget and allotment take a look at this post from July of 2013 - Ridgewood Water Budget. Since installing our new weather station on 2/28 we have recieved 6.24" of rain. The recent rains have certainly benefited the course and Lake Waco - elevation is almost back to normal. Current elevation is 461.73 compared to a normal of 462.

Course Work: We have been busy working on several areas of the course. Check out the list below:

• Driving range tee work (see below)
• Completed Planet Air applications to greens on  3/23 and 4/13. These critical aeration procedures will help our greens survive the summer months
• Fairways, tees, and most roughs were fertilized on 4/13 and all preventative weed control was completed in mid-March
• Drainage has been added to the right side of #1 green. 
• Goss Tree Service has continued their work on several trees around the club - including major work near the Tennis Courts
• We are currently preparing the area between 10 tee and main driving range tee for planting to Tall Fescue. These are will recieve further improvements beginning June 1st as part of the larger driving range project
• Steady progress is being made on our irrigation audit. We are now in the process of updating our maps and making wiring changes at controllers.
• The old gravel was removed from the parking lot islands and mulch was added in its place - providing a much needed aesthetic improvement
• Coming soon: aligning tees, spring flower change out, edging cart paths, bunker work  

Other Notes:

• We are constantly working to ensure our bunkers are the proper depth. We recently added a significant amount of sand to right hand bunker on #3. The purpose of adding the sand to this bunker is to help prevent balls from rolling all the way to the far edge by the lake. The additional sand  bunker may play a little bit softer than the rest but will hopefully result in less difficult shots. 
  
• One of our best grass for heavily shaded areas is tall fescue. This is a cool season grass that can be difficult to establish. However, once established it is able to survive the Texas heat as long as traffic is limited and it receives adequate irrigation. During the summer of 2011, severe drought prevented RCC from irrigating many of our tall fescue areas along the main entrance road resulting in major loss of tall fescue. Assistant Superintendent Duane Kemp has done a great job of working to re-establish tall fescue in many of these areas.

  

  Duane's hard work has paid off and the tall fescue looks better than ever.

Driving Range Tee Update:

The renovations to the practice tees located at the teaching building and to the right of #9 fairway are in full swing. Weather has delayed us a bit, but we are on schedule and look forward to getting these tees open for play as soon as possible. As I mentioned in last month's post, the goal is to have these tees in great shape prior to closing the main tee for renovations on June 1st. Check out the overall project timeline by scrolling down to last month's post or by clicking here Driving Range Timeline. Our basic process in renovating the teaching and #9 practice tees is as follows: 1) Strip old grass, 2) Lightly till the top 3 inches of the teeing surface, 3) Add top soil, 4) Rough grade, pack, and level, 5) Add drainage and/or irrigation where needed, 6) Laser Level tees, 7) Fine grade and sod preparation, 8) Plant, smooth and roll sod - Celebration bermudagrass, 10) Grow in sod- top-dress, aerate, and steadily lower mowing heights.  By tomorrow we should have all of the sod planted and will beginning the  "Grow In" phase on all of these tees. The photos below illustrate a few of these steps.

The Teaching Building Tee after tilling

Sergio Zapata adds topsoil while Joe Nava (rear) smooths and levels the tee box

Joe Nava did a great job of preparing the tees on #9 for laser leveling

Jacob Nava adds much needed drainage to the rear of the tee

Greg Smith using a Laser Level to put the finishing touches on the added tee to the #9 side. We now have three teeing areas on this side of the range. 

Greg Smith of Greensmith Golf uses a Laser Level to complete the final grade.

Greg Smith uses our new bunker rake with a homemade attachment to put the finishing touches on the tee

The crew works on planting the new sod

Course Update 3.10.15

Timeline of events for driving range renovations. Click the picture to see more detail.

Golf Course Update 

Believe it or not - spring is right around the corner. We are working hard to finish our winter projects while shifting gears into our spring practices. We have an exciting year ahead of us and we look forward to beginning a new golf season. Here is the quick list of happenings with on the course:

• Driving range renovations approved and scheduled to begin later this month (more info below)
• Plans for renovating the maintenance facility are progressing. We are hoping to submit all work to RCC, the City of Waco, and to the US Army Corps of Engineers in the coming weeks
• Tree work continues - Neil Goss with Goss Tree Service has started work trimming all of the trees near along the entrance road, clubhouse, parking lot, and swimming pool. Work will be completed mostly on Mondays. See photos below. 
• Upcoming maintenance items
• First "Planet Air" procedure has been postponed to March 23rd. We are scheduled for April 13th. Depending on weather - one of these events will be a complete aeration and the other will be much lighter and less disruptive.
• Spring preventative weed control will be applied as soon as weather permits - hopefully later this week 



Randy with his TDA License

• Several key applications to greens will be made in the next two weeks
• Tournaments - we are excited to be hosting several important tournaments this year, including the State Women's Amateur in July. 
• Irrigation Audit - To date we have inspected over 1500 irrigation stations, made dozens of repairs, and working with a professional irrigation designer to update all of our maps and plans. The next steps will include: re-programming our irrigation computer, incorporating all maps, utilizing weather data (see below), and combining all of the above data into a written Water Best Management Practices Plan for RCC. I was also able to take a day and half class at our annual education conference specific to conducting irrigation audits on golf courses. 
• Education Update - Thank you for allowing Duane, Randy, and myself to take part in educational opportunities over the last couple of months. We all three attended the Texas Turfgrass Association Winter Education Conference and Trade Show in Ft. Worth in December. We received a ton of great information on wide variety of topics including: weather, fungicides, mowing practices, new products, water conservation and more. In addition, Duane and I attended the Golf Course Superintendent's Association of America annual show in February. We were able to to attend more than two and half days of educational seminars that again covered a wide range of topics. Also, Randy Stewart was able to meet all state requirements is now a Licensed Pesticide Applicator in the State of Texas. We currently have four licensed operators on staff - ensuring that all pesticides are properly applied. 

Photos and More Information

Driving Range

We will be leveling the upper and #9 tees later this month. Our goal is to have these re-opened by Memorial Day (before the renovations to the main tee begin). We are officially planning to start the renovations to the main driving range tee on June 1st. These renovations will make the teeing area larger, create a better parking area, and improve the surrounding area.

Snapshot of the construction plans for the main tee.

  

Rendition of the new retaining wall on the main tee.

Crazy Weather and Water

We received 2.8" of precipitation over the last 7 days. The grass on the course is just as confused as the rest of us when it comes to deciding if this is spring or winter. Don't worry we will be back in the 70's by this weekend. The rains have certainly been beneficial and lake has risen over a foot to 460ft (two feet below normal). We will also finish our current water contract at the end of this month with no issues. Our new contract begins April 1st. Take a look a few of the pictures from last week's ice and snow.

18 Fairway

Practice Putting Green

Practice Putting Green

#1 Fairway, notice river of ice

Tree Work

I have been asked several times why we are using an outside contractor to complete the current tree work taking place around the club. The answer is that we simply do not have the tools or knowledge to safely and effectively prune some of the largest most visible trees at RCC. We met with five separate Arborists and received four quotes before choosing Goss Tree Service to complete scope of work. Goss will be focusing on eliminating safety problems, improving clearance for trucks and emergency vehicles, removing mistle toe, improving the health of the trees, obtaining clearance along power lines, and ultimately improving the overall visual appeal of our some of our most important and valuable trees. Special precautions are also being taken to reduce the risks of Oak Wilt infection.

Workers from Goss Service work on a group of Live Oak trees near the power lines on number one.

As you can see, it takes expert climbers to safely prune some of the taller trees along the entrance road.

Maintenance Facility Plans

·         Currently we are working with RBDR to finalize a site plan, building design, and estimated cost of completion for review by the RCC BOD. If the BOD approves the plans then they will be submitted to the City of Waco and the US Army Corps of Engineers for approval. We are hoping to begin work sometime in 2016. Also, significant progress has been made on cleaning up the entire maintenance facility area and along the 17^th fairway. 

Rendition of possible improvements

One potential site plan in progress...

General Course Work

We have been busy working on several areas of the course over the last few months. A few of the items include: irrigation audit, tree work, shop clean up, clean up on 17, mulch behind 16 green, fence work along Fish Pond and Ridgewood, refurbishing course accessories, and more. Check out a few of the photos below for more information. We are also selling a lot of materials that are no longer of use to RCC on Craigslist. Items include golf cart parts, pipe, stone, and other misc items. If you are interested in viewing any of the items please click here: Shop Items For Sale. All proceeds will be used for our employee BBQ fund.

Effective immediately we are going to try using a digital level to help determine acceptable hole locations. Photo Credit - USGA Green Section Record - http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/hartwiger-big-2-21-2014.pdf.

We recently purchased a scientific weather station. It will soon be connected to the internet and will provide real time weather conditions and historical data. This station also calculates evapotranspiration (ET) and will be used to help make irrigation decisions

We recently added mulch between 16 green and 17 tee. This area is simply too shaded for grass. The mulch should help keep everyone out of the mud.

Golf Irrigation Auditor Class

Golf course superintendents from around the world attending the Golf Irrigation Auditor class in San Antonio

Shop work continues. The crew has done a great job this winter with cleaning up our maintenance facility. Notice the before picture above taken last year. 

Large pieces of styrofoam are pipe are removed from the trees near 17 fairway

We were able to reuse an old sink found in the shop yard as a new hand wash station for employees

New cart rules signs have been installed on #1 and #10

Course Update 12.12.14

2014 was a great year for our maintenance operations. Our staff has done a tremendous job over the past year and we thank you for your continued support of our operations. The new equipment purchased by the club in early 2014 allowed us to work safer, more efficiently, and provide a better overall product for our golfers. We are excited to begin a new year and to continue working to improve the course in 2015. On behalf of the entire crew we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! 

Upcoming Major Projects

Plans to renovate the main driving range are in the works.

There are two big projects that we are currently planning for. Both of these crucial projects are badly needed and it is exciting that RCC is continuing to work towards their completion in 2015.The first is a potential expansion of the main driving range tee. It is a well-known fact that our practice tee is sorely undersized for the amount of use that it receives. We are currently working on plans to expand this tee and improve the surrounding area in early to mid-2015. See more pictures of this area, possible plans, and renditions (my amateur drawings) by clicking this link - RCC DR Pics. We are also continuing work on plans for renovating our Golf Course Maintenance Facility. Our main goals are to provide a safe, functional, and environmentally friendly facility that will serve RCC for many years to come. In addition, a high focus is being placed on improving the view from 18 tee box of this area. Both of these crucial projects are badly needed and it is exciting that RCC is continuing to work towards their completion in 2015. I have attempted to draw a 3D rendition of possible renovations to the main building using Google Sketchup. Check out the video below: (if the video does not load click 3D RCC SHOP)

Winter Course Work

Have you ever wondered what the golf course maintenance crew does over the winter months? After all, there is minimal grass to mow and it is too cold for golfers to be using the course. The reality is that from December to February we are working hard to complete several important tasks. Much of this work cannot be completed during the growing the season and we have a limited time window to accomplish a wide variety of maintenance items. We typically break these items down into three categories: 1) Course Setup, 2) Annual Maintenance, and 3) Projects. We then prioritize the tasks in each group accordingly. 

Randy Stewart removing leaves on 12G.

Course Setup – The weather in Texas is constantly changing. We may have several days of very cold weather, followed by a week of mild and pleasant weather for golfing. For these reasons, we must have the staff on hand to setup up the golf course for a busy day of golf. This includes the general course setup tasks that we complete year round such as: mowing greens, changing

cups, raking bunkers, emptying trash, changing out water coolers, checking ball washers, moving tee markers, blowing leaves, etc.

Joe Nava and Sergio Zapata paint tee markers

Annual Maintenance - These are the tasks that we typically complete every winter and include: re-furbishing course accessories (tee markers, ball washers, cups, etc), completing preventative maintenance and repairs on all equipment, tree trimming, irrigation work, bunker maintenance (checking sand depths, packing, rakes, edging, etc), leaves and debris clean up, flower beds, pond clean up, etc. 

An aerial shot of the 5th green illustrating our irrigation coverage

We created an "app" using Google Docs
 to aid in our irrigation audit. 

Projects – Every year we have several small projects that we attempt to tackle. Often times these are Annual Maintenance items that we have decided to work on in depth. This year we are working on the following areas: 1) Irrigation Audit, Programming, and Repairs 2) Tree Work, 3) Maintenance Facility Clean Up and Organization. One of the highest priorities this year is working on our

Irrigation Audit. We have almost 2000 irrigation heads on the course that controlled from a central computer located in the maintenance facility. These heads are then assigned to programs through the computer based on the area that they irrigate. We are currently checking every head for proper operation, matching it to our maps, and then working to re-program the computer in such a way that we will be able to more efficiently irrigate the course. All of this work will then be incorporated into our broader Water BMP and Conservation Plans.  A second area that we are placing high priority on is the clean-up and organization of our maintenance facility. We have made considerable progress over the last year, but still have a long ways to go. This winter we are working to organize our irrigation parts storage and to clean out our equipment repair area.

New shelving in the old pump station is allowing us organize our irrigation parts

Course Update 10.10.14

This limb came off the Cedar Elm right of 13 Green in Thursday's storm

I apologize for the long lapse in updates. Overall, things are going well and we are in full swing getting the course ready for the fall season. Hopefully today's post will provide a good overview of course conditions and happenings. 

Storm Damage 

The wind from last Thursday night's storm took its toll on the course. We lost three entire trees, had damage to dozens more, and had debris covering most of the course. The crew did an excellent job cleaning up the mess and getting the course ready for the annual Member/Member tournament the next day.  The new tractors and other equipment purchased earlier this year allowed us to safely and efficiently tackle the job. All in all the damage could have been worse, and we did receive a half inch of rain - our biggest rain in two months.

Joe and Jacob Nava work on a large Cedar Elm in front of 4 fairway. The far left tee may play a little different now...

Water Situation

August and September were exceptionally dry. The lake has dropped back to three feet below normal and we are now on the brink of relying on our transfer pump once again. Our irrigation budget and water allotment are in good shape, but we are definitely in need of a good rain to help prepare the course for the winter months

Greens

The greens are certainly benefiting from the shorter days and cooler nights. We have experienced substantial recovery from the summer heat over the last 30 days. We are now in a position to shift gears from promoting recovery to focusing more on performance. 

High Rough Areas
After much discussion, the decision has been made to return to uniform mowing height on all rough areas. We will be re-evaluating the location of these type of areas over the next several months. We will be providing more information about this decision in the next couple of days via email. Click here to for more information: High Roughs Letter

Sod Work

This week we planted several areas on the front nine to Celebration bermudagrass. We focused on weak or thin areas near the fairways on holes 1, 2, 7, and 8. The grass will not completely blend in until the spring, however it should help the course play better over the winter months. Please avoid driving on the new sod. We will be keeping these areas heavily irrigated for the next couple of weeks.

Duane inspecting the prepared sod areas on #2

Planting the new grass on the left side of #7

Driving Range Tee

We overseeded the lower driving range tee and the two small tees near number nine fairway this past Monday. The warm temperatures have helped the seed germinate quickly, and I anticipate re-opening these tees in the next 10 days. We are also working with Colligan Design to develop plans that will increase the square footage of the lower tee from 10,500 square feet to approximately 18,000 square feet. We should have conceptual drawings in the coming weeks. 

Other Course Happenings

• Fall fertilizer applications completed on greens, tees, fairways, and roughs
• Preventative weed and disease control products applied to greens
• New course accessories - flags, flagsticks, cups, etc - Prisms will be installed on flagsticks next week
• All cart paths edged
• Tennis facility clean up - mowing, edging, trimming hedges, tree pruning, removal of vines, etc completed earlier this week
• Wet areas on 7 and 13 - we have made changes to our irrigation system that will help the low areas on these two hole remain much drier
• Continuing work on plans for our maintenance facility

Coming soon

• Fall preventative weed applications to tees, fairways, and roughs will be completed in the next two weeks
• We are scheduled for the "Planet Air" aeraration procedure on greens on 10/27
• Tall Fescue seed will planted next week in several shaded areas on the course beginning next week
• Finalizing bids for tree work along entrance road, clubhouse, parking lot, pool, and tennis facility