Extreme cold

     We have had it all this winter.  Lots of snow, rain and bitter cold.  As I am writing this blog post it is -3 degrees.  The high today will be around 8 degrees.  The good news it will be near 60 degrees this weekend.  The bad news is the green might not be thawed down to 2 inches.  I am optimistic if the course is not open Saturday it should be open by Sunday.  Playing on thawing greens can cause root shear.  Root shear is the sharing off of the Bentgrass root system at the freeze line.  I feel if root shearing occurs at 2 inches plus we can overcome the damage before summer.  If we allow play on the greens with less than 2 inches of thawing it is very difficult to grow the roots back to proper depth for summer.  With roots at very dangerous short length we could lose some turf  this winter from Winter Desiccation.  It is very important we protect our greens from any damage. Not all of our greens thaw equally.  The greens that get the most sunlight will be the first ones to thaw.  # 7 and 18 greens will be the last ones to thaw because they are push up greens. Below is diagram on the sudden thaw dynamics.  Please call Pro Shop before you come out.  We will be monitoring the greens and when all greens are thawed down to the 2 inch level the course will be open.

Tree Removal

     We have been busy removing trees the last few weeks.  We have 11 trees that died last year. We have 7 Ash trees that were removed because they had 1/3 of canopy dead.  The Emerald Ash Bore (EAB) is here in Missouri and they will attack and kill all Ash trees.  We have a lot of Ash trees on our golf course.  The good news is we will not lose all of our Ash trees.  They have some very good insecticides out that will control the EAB.  We will be treating most of our Ash trees.  The treatment is good for 2 years.  After 2 years we have to retreat.  Any tree that is already damaged or becomes damaged will be cut down. We have some really nice Ash Trees we can't afford to lose.  Dave and I will be evaluating all of our Ash trees and determine which tree need to be treated.  Below is a few pictures of some of our work.  We have cut down Oak tree in front entrance, Oak tree right 12 rough, Locust tree bottom of hill between 9 and 18, Oak tree next to 18 white tee, and the 7 Ash trees #10.  We still have 8 trees to remove when we can get back on the golf course.

 Ash tree removal #10 rough

 We took 7 Ash trees from #10 rough

 Oak tree from 12 rough

Oak tree from 18 white tee.

The Oak on 18 was little tricky to clean up.  Big limbs kept it in the air on a side slope.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to FCCC membership and co workers.

Frost Delays

   It is that time of year again we need to discuss frost delays.  When temperatures dip down  to freezing and below frost forms on the grass blades.  If you walk on the turf the frozen turf will break much like an ice cube.  This will cause damage to the turf.  Please wait until the Maintenance staff opens the course to play.  That includes the putting green.  I have had some people in the past think it was ok to practice putting when we have a frost delay.  Please go into the Clubhouse and have some coffee or hot chocolate until the frost burns off.  The colder it is the longer it takes to burn frost off.  If we have cloudy skies it will delay the opening even longer.  Below is a video from the USGA on this topic.

New Equipment

     If you have been out playing golf you might of seen some new equipment maintaining our golf course.  We have a new seeder, topdresser, leaf collection system for our Ventrac and 2 new used utility carts.  Also in early 2019 we will be getting two new fans for greens 10 and 11.

     The  new seeder will helps keep our roughs in top condition.  The only seeder we had did not slit seed.  It was a aerator and dropped seed in aerification holes on 4''x5''  centers.  We now can lay seed in rows 1.5'' apart.  With all the new sod from the bunker construction and the new sod we are laying around our green perimeters this seeder will help keep our rough in top condition.

     Our old topdresser was 20 years old and very unreliable.  We must topdress greens to have good greens.  This machine is state of the art.  You program it to put down a certain amount of sand and no matter how fast or slow you go it puts out the amount you calibrated for. You get consistent topdressing from green to green.

     The leaf collection system is a great tool to help us eliminate leaves.  In the past we blew the leaves and mulched them.  Now we can pick them up and remove them.

    Last we purchase 2 used Utility carts.  Dan and I have been using 2 old golf carts to work out of.  Golf carts are not made to work out of.  They are made to play golf.

     The 2 new fans will be here in February/March.  These fans will help # 10 and 11 greens.  These two greens lack air movement.  Air movement is what helps turfgrass cool itself in the summer time.  In the summer the prevailing wind is from the southwest.  10 and 11 greens have no air movement when the wind blows from the southwest.  The new fans will be mounted on a pole and will oscillate to cover the entire green.  We had some portable fans we used on #10 green in the past.  These fans were not big enough and did not oscillate.  We need a minimum of 3 mph air movement over the entire green.  You will see a noticeable difference in these greens next summer.
   

Im Back

     It has been a while since my last post.  We have had some technical difficulties with At&t.  Our phone and internet was  broken for 2 months.  The last month we have been very busy on the course and now I finally have some breathing room to starting blogging again.
     Lots of things have happened since my last post.  # 10 green we had to sod, plug and over seed a big portion of the greens.  As you can see from the picture we lost a lot of grass that runs through the middle of the green.  The reason the turf died was because of a broken drain line.  We received a 2 inch rain June 30th.  All of the water leak out of the broken drain line into the green profile.  This over saturated the green profile and cause rapid root suffocation. You can see a perfect line on either side of the dead area.  This is in the swale of the green.  We repaired the drain line and that took care of the problem.  The green will be back to normal next spring as we wait for the sod, plugs and seed to fill in.

     We did get 3 tee's Laser Leveled this past summer.  # 7 gold/red, #10 white and # 13 white and front of 13 blue.  We will continue to level more tee's each year.

 Schaefer-Meyer leveling tee # 7 red/gold

 Installing sod # 10 white

  Tim ready to water #10

     One of the last big projects we are working on is sodding our green perimeters with Turf Type Tall Fescue.  We have sodded a 9 ft. swath around 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Putting green.  This is very labor intensive.  We are doing this project completely in house.  Cutting and removing the old sod and installing the new.  We plan to sod all 18 greens.  We are about 1/3 of the way done.

 Picking up old sod

 Installing new sod

 Almost done

# 5 completed

     Sorry for the long delay in posting.  I will try to keep you better informed in the future.  

Blog update

     I have been little behind with my blog post.  Not by choice.  We have been without phone and Internet for 2 months here at Maintenance facility.  Ameren put a new pole on Hwy A across from the shop entrance.  They bore right through our phone line.  We have to have a new line installed from across Hwy A to shop.  It seems AT&T is having trouble getting permits from Highway Department.  We have had 5 scheduled completion dates come and go.  Our next scheduled date is 9/11/18.  Hopefully we will be fixed next week.  I will catch you up with course activities once we are fixed.  Thanks for reading my blog.