Fairway aerification

     We are giving our Fairways some love.  We are pulling cores out of the fairways to help with thatch reduction and gas exchange in the root system.  Oxygen is very important to turfgrass, they get oxygen through the root system.  Pulling cores, also help water movement into the soil profile more evenly. 

     This is a very slow process.  The tractor pulling the Pro Core is going around 2 mph.  It took us 5 hours just to aerify #1 and #2 fairways.  After the cores are pulled out of the ground they need to dry down.  We then run a metal drag mat across them to break them up.  The final step is to sweep up what is left with our Smithco Big Vac. 

      Looks like we will be working on this for about 2 weeks if rain stays away.  We need lots of sunshine to help dry the cores out.  While we are doing this, we ask that all carts stay off the plugs in the fairway.  Please keep your cart on the path until we can clean up the cores.

Pro Core in action

Dragging plugs

Cleaning up the left-over plugs

Finished 

 Here is an article that makes a lot of sense.  I thought I would share it.

Eight certainties of golf course management

BRADLEY S. KLEIN, PH.D.

PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 27, 2023

© Adobe Stock

To paraphrase the otherwise dense 20th century German philosopher Theodor Adorno, when it comes to social criticism, only the exaggerations are true. In that spirit, I present the findings of my four decades of research into the everyday life of golf course superintendents. I can’t prove these hypotheses quantitatively. But I know they ring true.

1. The 90/10 Rule: At every club I have ever seen, 90 percent of the noise, complaints and discontent comes from 10 percent of the members. Half of them express themselves through a fog of self-induced, liquid medication; the rest of them are perpetual depressives intent on making everyone else as miserable as they are. No matter what, they are unhappy. My advice to greenkeepers, pros and general managers is to stop listening to them and to engage the rest of the members, most of whom are reasonable and agreeable to thoughtful measures of everyday management.

2. The 30/70 Rule: If you parse the operational budgets of most facilities, the golf course absorbs about one-third or less of the expenditure yet generates just under three-quarters of the revenue in terms of green fees, guest fees and share of initiation fees. Dollar for dollar, the golf course is a big moneymaker and subsidizes the rest of the facility’s operations — including every meal served.

3. The clubhouse is a sinkhole: Think of it as a variant of the Peter Principle (1969). What started as “people rise in a business hierarchy until they reach their level of incompetence” yielded “expenditures rise to meet income” and “junk expands to meet the capacity devised to store it.” In golf, the overhead costs of maintaining an enlarged clubhouse entail additional personnel, utilities and utilization such that you always end up falling behind. Whether it’s added service labor, HVAC, food waste or security, that new wing or expanded bar ends up sinking the operational budget further behind and puts the club in a deeper fiscal hole, which only drains funds away from the prime facility at any country club or golf facility: the golf course.

4. Cost per shot, bunker maintenance is a waste: More than 50 percent of all shots in a round are played onto, across or upon the putting surface. Meanwhile, your average golfer only plays three to four shots per round out of a bunker. From that standpoint, it is simply nuts that the cost for maintenance per square foot for bunkers is equivalent to that of greens. Economically, it makes no sense to groom meticulously what are supposed to serve as “hazards.”

5. Focusing on greens, fairways and tees guarantees 90 percent success: Given the perceptions and concerns that the vast majority of golfers have, a focus on “maintenance down the middle” is a guaranteed winner. The gains made by focusing on peripheral areas, especially the rough, flower beds and native areas, has what economists call diminishing marginal utility. In other words, it takes a lot of additional effort to make even very slight gains there. Start with the central lane of play and take care of that first.

6. Only 1 percent of play is from back tees: Most of the play at a golf course is from 6,500, 6,000 or 5,000 yards. Those are the players who are paying the bills. The back tees get about 1 percent of play, and most of that is from “industry comps” like college kids, ex-pros or golf business insiders. If you think I’m kidding, just check the divot wear pattern on those back tees. There isn’t any.

7. Defending par is easy: At most clubs there’s still too much emphasis on degree of difficulty or fixing a hole that is relatively easy. If you are really concerned about defending par, simply watch an average foursome play any hole. For the vast majority of golfers, the holes need to provide fun, variety and interest, not a masochistic obstacle course.

8. When it rains, the parking lot is empty: No matter how good the hamburger and onion rings, if weather conditions render the course unplayable for the day, the parking lot is empty. F&B consumption is a function of the golf. A modest menu and adequate service will thrive if the golf course is outstanding. If the golf course is lousy, the best steak in the world will go uneaten.

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Bradley S. Klein, Ph.D. (political science), former PGA Tour caddie, is a veteran golf journalist, book author (“Discovering Donald Ross,” among others) and golf course consultant. Follow him on Twitter (@BradleySKlein).

Why can't we drive in the Fairways

  

     With the current weather pattern we have lots of moisture on the golf course.  We must be very careful this time of year since our warm season turfgrasses are just starting to wake up from its winter nap.  We need to be careful not to expose the turf to any unwanted traffic that can cause wear and compaction.  Some members might think it is dry since they do not kick up or squish any water while walking into the fairway.  That does not mean the fairways are dry.  They still have moisture in the soil and driving carts on  the fairways will compact the soil.  It takes more time for the soil to dry down when you have limited to no growth taking place by the turf.   Wear and compaction are serious issues that can severely damage turfgrass.  We may keep carts on paths an extra day or two before allowing carts to return to 90 degree.  I hope you understand.  We will open up fairways to 90 degree as soon as possible.  No need to complain to Clubhouse staff they have no say to cart path only or 90 degree.  The decision is made by the Maintenance Staff.

Cart Damage 

  

 The Club is looking at installing a new state of the art Irrigation system.  I know there will be a lot of question concerning why we would need a new system.  Below I have written a synopsis of our current systems faults and the proposed new system advantages.  I hope this will give you some idea of what we have here a FCCC.  The new system that is propose will transform this golf course to a higher level.  All playing areas will be elevated to a higher level.  Washouts, rough areas with no or little grass will be transformed to health turf.  If you have any question please don't hesitate to contact me.

Our current irrigation system has a total of 434 heads. Holes #1-2, and #4-6 have Toro electric heads that were installed in 1992, and holes #8-17 have Rain Bird Impact heads that were installed in 1989. Holes #3, #7 and #18 have the original Toro hydraulic heads that were installed around 1965. These heads are installed in a mixed configuration. We have some holes that are double rowed, with irrigation heads running down both sides of the fairway supplying water to both the fairway as well as the rough. The remaining holes are setup with either single rowed configuration – a single row of heads down the fairway – or a mix of single and double. All of the supply lines running into these heads are PVC pipe starting with a 10” mainline that runs from the pump station, which reduces down to 8”, and then 6”, and then eventually 3”. The current limitations of this setup are as follows:

 

• The spacing between irrigation heads is too far apart leaving areas of the golf course without adequate coverage. The fairway heads are separated by 80-90’ and the green heads by 70’.
• The mainlines are undersized. This makes it difficult and in some cases impossible to run multiple heads simultaneously without losing pressure. This reduction of pressure correlates to a reduction in water coverage.
• A proper irrigation system is installed in loops, meaning each point on the golf course has water being fed from at least two directions. This creates a more efficient system overall. How is our current system setup?

◦     Holes #1-3 are looped together, but water is only being fed from one direction. The farther you get from the mainline the less pressure there is.

◦     #4-6 are not looped and each result in a dead end. Water comes in and stops once it reaches the end.

◦     #7 is not looped (dead end).

◦     #8, #9, and #18 are looped with water coming from two directions (good!).

◦     #10 is not looped (dead end).

◦     #11-13 is looped together but again water is only being fed from one direction.

◦     #14 and #15 are not looped (dead end).

◦     #16 and #17 are looped with water coming from two directions (good!).

            As you can see our current irrigation system is a mixture of dead ends and single fed loops with   only a few holes setup with proper loops. Having water come from at least two directions       allows for the entire golf course to be irrigated more efficiently without a loss of pressure. 

• There are very little isolation points for our current system. Any leaks in a fairway require shutting down entire holes, if not multiple holes, just to make a repair. If an extensive repair is required this means large areas of the golf course could go without adequate irrigation.
• PVC pipe has to be installed in sections, and these sections need to be glued together. Over time this glue eventually breaks down causing leaks and blow outs. We spend on average $5000-$6000 a year on mainline repairs. The average lifespan of PVC is 20 years.
• We have a mixture of irrigation heads on the course. While most are electric heads we still have 3 holes that are older hydraulic heads. The front 9 are Toro and the back 9 are Rainbird. Having 2 different brands and also different styles of heads causes us to have to stock separate replacement parts for each.

 

 

The new proposed irrigation system will include roughly 1000 RainBird heads allowing for a more efficient “wall to wall” irrigation setup, making sure every playable area on the golf course gets adequate coverage. Every head in the system can be individually controlled allowing for a more versatile system. This eliminates the need to have multiple heads running for a single dry area. This also adds the flexibility of running multiple heads for different durations. There will also be a considerable increase in the amount of valves on the course making it much easier to isolate a repair. Instead of closing down entire holes, we would be able to close off just a single line of heads. All supply lines and mainlines will be replaced with HDPE piping (high density polyethylene). This pipe is more flexible and all the joints are welded together allowing for it to be installed in one piece instead of in sections. This removes the need for glue which creates a much more robust system overall. The lifespan of HDPE pipe is 50 years. The mainlines for the new system will not only be larger in diameter, but they will also extend farther out from the pump station. This will increase water volume and pressure allowing us to irrigate multiple areas of the golf course simultaneously. Below are some general questions regarding the new proposed system:

 

• What are the head spacing's of the new system?

◦     Fairways – 70’

◦     Roughs – 70’

◦     Greens – 50’

◦     Tees – 50’

• What are the diameters of the new piping?

◦     12” from the pump house, reducing to 8”, down to 6”, and then eventually 4”.

• How does HDPE pipe compare to PVC?

◦     HDPE pipe is more flexible. As water surges through the system the pipe will naturally expand and contract slightly; HDPE pipe can handle this stress while PVC, being a stiffer plastic, will weaken over time.

◦     The joints of PVC are also glued together. This glue tends to break down first. HDPE pipe is “heat fused” together essentially creating one long piece of pipe. This heat fusing seals the pipe together like a weld and this seal is actually stronger than the pipe itself.

• How are the pipes installed?

◦     12”, 8”, and 6” pipes will be trenched. The 4” and 2” pipes will be pulled in by a vibratory plow

• How long will the installation take?

◦     Weather permitting, 2-3 months.

• How disruptive will the installation be to playing conditions?

◦     Using a vibratory plow on the 2” – 4”  pipe makes for a cleaner end result, eliminating the need to back fill a trench. The plow essentially pulls the pipe into the ground and the remaining hump is smashed down. This means there will be no trenching through fairways.

 

• Will the old system be removed?

◦     All the old heads, valves, and satellite boxes will be removed. All the old PVC pipe will remain in the ground (unused).  

• Will the existing wells have the capability to supply the new system?

◦     Yes, as long as all three pumps are operational.

• Does the new system come with a warranty?

◦     All heads and swing joints have a 1 year warranty. Pump station has a 3 year warranty. All workmanship is warrantied up to 10 years depending on the installer.

• Are there any other golf courses in the area that have this system?

◦     Meadowbrook Country Club

◦     Berry Hill

◦     Ballwin

◦     West Wood Country Club