I was asked a great question

I was asked a great question this morning.  "Why aren't you watering fairways?"  In all honesty, I have not altered any of the fairway programs from last year.  We water fairways on a 3 day a week schedule for which they receive 20 minutes of water per irrigation day.  It has been very dry lately and our weak spots are showing.  Unfortunately, we have a lot of weak spots in our fairways.  Our Irrigation system is close to 30 years old, and just like a 30 year old car it breaks down a lot.  We fix the plumbing breaks as quickly as we can.  But, we also have electrical breaks to worry about.  Every irrigation head on the golf course has 2 wires running to it(a hot and a ground).  Each head also has a solenoid that tells the head whether or not to operate.  These are two of the problems with our irrigation system.  Priority #1 is to keep the water contained in the irrigation system.  Priority #2 is to make sure that the water is distributed through it properly.  I believe that we have 50 of 54 zones of the irrigation system live with water,  The 4 zones that are not live with water are scheduled for repair.  On to the electrical problems.  the most inconsistent areas that we get irrigation to are our fairways.  We have some holes such as 3, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 that get what I would consider adequate coverage (over 50% of the irrigation heads come on because they receive an electrical signal).  We have holes such as 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 18 have what I would consider inadequate irrigation (less than 50% of the irrigation heads get an electrical signal).  Then there is #12 fairway that receives no water due to electrical failures.  As I stated earlier, faulty wiring and solenoids are usually the culprit for an irrigation head not coming up electrically.  The problem is trouble shooting the electrical issue  for 1 irrigation head can take up to 4 hours to determine the problem.  My priority for Irrigation control is in the order of Greens, Tees, Fairways and then Roughs.  That is the order of priorities for fixing things on the golf course.  I'm not trying to say that we don't work on electrical issues on the golf course, because we do.  Currently we are working on electrical issues with #6-7 greens heads.  After we fix that area I want to work on #13 Tee area that gets 0 water. 

This is one of the many jobs that we do on the course other than mowing the grass.  But, first things first we need to get the water to stay in the pipes. 

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask them.

New Bunkers

We have just finished sodding the latest group in the bunker renovation project. This group consists of #'s 17 and 18. On #17 the back green side bunker has been filled in and mounded over. The front green side bunker on #17 has been reduced in size and made much flatter. On #18 we renovated the front two bunkers and removed the back green side bunker. The front right bunker got considerably smaller while the front left is about the same size. There are pictures of #18 green surround below.

There was also a bunker eliminated in this round of work. #1 green side bunker has been removed. It is now rough height Bermudagrass. It is basically a catchers mitt now. If you come up short in that area now you will have a very difficult up and down. I did like the placement of the bunker on #1, but the slope was just too dramatic for a bunker here.

We also laid a lot of sod in other areas while we were finishing up the renovated and removed bunkers. We re sodded the exit from #6 fairway back to the cart path. This area has been a continual "thorn in the side " for us. We also sodded the removed bunker on #11 fairway, the exit to the cart path from the fairway on #12, and we also did some cleanup work behind the pump house on #18 where we did some repair work this winter.

We have already started working on the next round of bunker renovations. #'s 3 and 5 have already been shelled out and we are ready to begin cutting drain lines in them. we hope to button them up soon.

New Cart Path Policy

We have had a ton of rain lately. I'm hoping that we will be able to get the carts off the path in about a week or so. There are a few more chances for rain this week and we are already soaked.

We will be changing our cart path policy soon. We will be deviating from the standard 90 degree rule. We are switching to a new policy that will help us protect our roughs. Instead of being 90 degree, we will have a fairways only rule. There will be a green banded post at the start of the fairway, which will be the entrance point to the fairway. There will be a set of red banded stakes at the end of the fairway, which will be the exit point of the fairway. If you hit your ball close to the boundaries than you still have the option to drive down the cart path, but you may not drive in the roughs.

The reason for the change is milti-fold. Our agronomic practices have changed in the past few years. We have aerified the fairways twice in the last two years, which has created better soil conditions for the turf in the fairways. We have gotten more irrigation heads to work in the fairways in the last two years. I have seen this policy enforced at other courses with good success. The main reason is that roughs are not as recuperative as the fairways. We fertilize our fairways with at least 2 lbs of nitrogen fertilizer per year. Our roughs get 0 lbs of nitrogen fertilizer per year. I try to get 15 minutes of water per irrigation head in the fairways 3 times per week. Our roughs only get 10 minutes of water per irrigation head, when they are present, 2 times per week. So, put simply the roughs are not as healthy as the fairways.

I think that the new policy will benefit the course greatly. It's not that bad to have to walk from the edge of the fairway to the ball within 20 yards. Please check up in the golf shop the new rules will be posted there. The golf shop staff or myself will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the change.