Despite the rain, golf was played and work was accomplished

It has been a wet 15 months not only for golfers but farmers and anyone with a lawn with low spots. Although rain provides for green playing conditions and for the most part healthy turf it can also be frustrating when leagues, outings or the weekly game is cancelled.

We are fortunate our property drains well and has an extensive underground drainage system but every property has its limits and I think we have reached ours. I have been on the course since it expanded to 27 holes in 1996 and have seen wet periods and dry periods but this is the first time I have seen water just oozing out of hillsides and banks as we have the past 2 months. Hopefully some above average temperatures and normal rainfall will greet us next spring.

Rain coupled with temperatures well below normal has brought a early end to our golf season and sadness to the golfers hoping for one last round. Overall, we have to thank our hardworking grounds staff led by James Juoni and assisted by Jeremy Ruplinger on the work they have done to bring above average conditions in a below average weather year. What was accomplished in 2019? Lets look back:

The mat on the back of the range tee was replaced with new technology turf that will take a tee and provide a lie similar to turf. The mat isn't perfect compared to being on the natural grass tee but it is the best available.

Member Craig Peachy lends a helping hand in removing the old tee line. 

The material for the new tee line can accept a tee and provides a lie closer to real turf.
Using the mat isn't ideal but a necessary evil when the turf on the regular tee is not growing or soft. 

Between the rain drops our staff was able to add to drainage on holes 9, 10, 17 and 27 to help drain water away quicker. These drainage projects include a lot of physical labor and their crew worked hard to get it done in a timely manner.

Brushing our bentgrass greens help stand the grass up and provides for a cleaner cut. However brushing before mowing required a extra employee to come in early and do the extra work pulling a brush behind a cart. We could by an attachment for the greensmowers but they are thousands of dollars each and looked to be bulky and difficult for employees to work with in a timely manner. So James and Jeremy put their heads together to invent brushes that go on the front of the greensmower grass catcher buckets but are easy to remove on days we did not want to brush or to empty the buckets. For less than $200 we have a set for each mower saving money and providing better putting conditions. A win for everyone!

The brushes and buckets are labeled to match the custom made system with the correct bucket. 

The brushes come off in seconds to empty the bucket with ease or for days we do not brush. 

The roof was replaced on the clubhouse: Luckily the roof had not leaked yet but the shingles were brittle and falling off in every wind storm. Watching the roofing crew work on the high steep barn roof gave customers something exciting to watch for the 10 days.

A view from the south shows the roof deck boards look the same today as they did in the early 60's when the barn was built.

The new bunker complex on hole 6 is taking shape and was opened up for play in late fall. The 3 new playable and maintainable bunkers are a well received improvement over the large hole in the ground bunker that was so prone to washing out in the past. This labor intensive but much needed project will save labor forever.

Besides extra grass to mow one good thing the fall rains gave us was greens aerification healed in record time. Aerifying any part of the course is not a happy time but especially the greens. With the abundance of growth from the rains most customers could not tell we had aerifyed greens a week after they were done. Aerification is a necessary evil to provide air pockets to help produce healthy turfgrass with increased drainage, and room for roots to grow.

Green Freshly Aerifyed

Nearly healed in 5 days. 

 The big fall project was resurfacing the bridge on hole 14. Not a sexy project but still needed. Our staff determined the deck boards were failing prematurely due to the 3 rows of stringers not providing support where the cart tires rode, causing flexing of the deck boards. The bridge was taken apart down the pillars in the marsh and 5 rows of 20' stringers were installed per section to provide for support for cart traffic in the future. It is never easy working over the water but the only casualties were a tape measure and socket.

                          Stringer work is underway as they rebuild the 6 20' sections.
                    5 rows of stringers will replace the 3 original ones to provide stability.

Bridge decking underway. I will add although the angled boards gives the illusion the bridge leans to the left I can
ensure you it is perfectly level. It is hard work but fun to see a project come to completion. 

A fall project that will move into winter is the rebuilding of the irrigation pumphouse behind 11 green. This often forgotten about building is looking shabby and years of humidity and wetness has taken it's toll on the wooden structure. In house staff will rebuild the pumphouse to last into the future.

Thank you for your support through the year and we look forward to seeing you in 2020.

The Melt

For northern golf courses the biggest winter concern is ice. Both ice that comes in December and suffocates the grasses slowly over time and ice that forms in February and March and causes crown hydration.  Crown hydration occurs when the sun shines on ice on greens, tees and fairways and acts like a magnifying glass melting the lower layer of ice. This melting forms a thin layer of water on the surface of the grass and as the turf starts to wake up from dormancy it fills its cells with water.

Crown hydration is the main cause of winter damage in our area. The danger comes when the sun sets and the layer of water under the ice re-freezes as does the ice in the cell plants. Each time this happens more cells in the plants die until the plant can no longer recover.

To make a long story short snow is good for grass but ice is bad and we want to get rid of it as fast as we can especially in mid to late March when the sun is getting higher and has more power. We have a few methods to help speed up the "ice melt" when we see a warm spell coming. Without human help mother nature can takes days or weeks to melt the ice and snow off the greens. We cannot control mother nature but we can help her out. 

First thing is to remove the snow from the greens to allow the warm sun to melt the ice without melting snow adding to the ice problem. This is normally done with our snow blower but we had so much ice and the right weather this year we were able to use the dump truck and plow to clear the greens.

Plowing the 4th green to remove snow to hasten ice melt. Removing
the snow also reduces the chance of more ice building up from the
melting snow. 

The putting green looks like a skating rink.

Once we are down to the ice we used a combination of mother nature, shoveling the swales where the ice was thickest and darkening the ice to increase melting. We darken the ice buy using green dye and black sunflower seeds.

15 green after 2.5 hours of snowblowing with our riding blower. 

Green dye hand sprayed on the ice on 15 green. 

15 green with the ice gone but the green still surrounded by snow.
This area with dense woods to the left (south) is one of the limiting
factors to opening the golf course. The rest of the course is 95% clear
but holes 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 23 are covered in snow near the woods. 

To go back 10 days ago the first step to prepare for a warm spell and the resulting melt was James went out on the course and snow-blew paths so we could get around and to allow the water to flow. At the same time he found and cleared culverts and drain basins to ensure the water could go into the drainage system when the melt started.

We mark many of the key drains in fall so they are easy to find in the winter. This year James actually had to use a ice auger to go through the 12 to 18 inches of ice and snow to get down to the drain. It is through this preparation for the melt that we reduce our susceptibility to flooding and damage from water running where it isn't supposed to.

Sunflower seeds hand tossed on 5 green

The seeds surround with a quarter for size relevance after the snow melt.
What the birds and squirrels don't eat we will blow off the green.

Sometimes hand work is needed to bust up the ice and hasten the melt. 

This will be my 34th spring on a golf course and the only thing consistent about them is they are inconsistent. This was the fastest I have seen a property go from snow-covered to ice covered to 95% clear in 48 hours. This winter may not be over but so far we are happy with our progress and how the golf course looks for this time of year.

As always if you have any questions feel free to reach out to us.

Winter... I wont miss it.

What started out as a mild winter with opportunities to play golf for much of December and early January quickly changed to a "harsh winter". We have had snow, rain, ice, snow rain ice and 3 days of what they called "generational cold" with temperatures at 30 below and wind chills at 50 to 60 below zero. The course went from fully snow covered to fully open 4 times since Christmas.

The golf course was last clear in Mid January after rains and a few warm days melted what snow we had. But since then we have had 8 to 12 inches of snow on the ground and plenty of rain and snow melts to give us a good ice layer under the snow. Snow is great for the golf course, ice can be damaging depending on how long it stays and how it melts off. We are not worried yet but if we see a stretch of warm weather we will do what we can to clear the snow and help get the ice off the greens quickly. We will use a mix of Milorganite fertilizer and dye to darken the ice and increase warmth from the sun to melt the ice before it causes problems. (we use Milorganite because it is dark, non-burning and actually a very good slow release product.

Snow and ice can be annoying but yet beautiful at the same time. 

After 2 winters of rebuilding bathrooms and digging up concrete floors in the clubhouse it is pleasant to just have staff work on equipment maintenance through the winter. It allows Jeremy our mechanic more time to go over each piece and find/fix little problems that could become larger problems during the season. We have 60 reels to disassemble and grind both the reel and the bedknive so that takes some time to get done with only one set of grinding machines.

In the clubhouse, we made a major change and moved from a year round full time employee Golf Professional to a contracted Teaching Golf Professional. Unfortunately, a good person and a friend lost his job. On the other hand another good person gained an opportunity to teach without the hassle of worrying about tee times, leagues and outings. This change was driven by budgetary concerns and the seasonal basis of our operation.

What does it mean for you, our customer? Not much. Mike and Terry and the rest of the staff will still provide great service in the clubhouse. Don Du Chateau and his staff will provide valuable player development services in the form of lessons, clinics and club fittings. Tiffany and her staff will still provide great service in the 28th Hole Bar and Grill.

I will still be the General Manager / Superintendent only now I will be based out of the clubhouse, not the maintenance building. James and Jeremy will take on more supervision in the maintenance department. James has run the day to day crew assignments for over 5 years without any issues and I am confident he will continue to do so.

I will be in the clubhouse more but still plan to regularly:

• Change cups because it allows me to see the entire golf course on a regular basis. 
• Help with fertilizer and plant protectant product applications because we have a big property and it is all hands on deck to spray fertilizer every other week to greens, tees and fairways. Through light targeted applications we provide better growing and playing conditions with less overall fertilizer. 
• Help with the maintenance of the irrigation system because most of it is antiquated and takes a little extra TLC and inspection to keep things going. Changing cups is a great way to see how the irrigation system is performing. 

  

  Changing Cups is my favorite job because I get to see every hole on the course. 

It has been a interesting winter as I refresh my knowledge of golf club specifications, the rules of golf, apparel trends and which golf ball really does fly further. They say change keeps us young, so I should have a new look by Memorial Day.

These changes, although not ideal, are made possible by the great staff we have who can step up, work together, and get the job done. I am looking forward to getting this season going, and hope the cold and snow now means a decent April / May for our local golfers. As I write this on February 26th I have the spring fever bug and cannot wait for golfers taking those first shots of the year soon.

As always, if you have any comments or questions feel free to reach out to me at davidb@rollingmeadowsgolfcourse.com .

Winter Play, Why Aren't You Open?

After the horrible fall weather pattern we have enjoyed a stretch of sunny and mild days with temperatures 40 to 45 degrees here in mid December. We would have enjoyed this sun in September and October.

We did receive a few phone calls from golfers asking if we were open to play, and although we would like to be, we were not this time. I also have a couple comments from members who said they would be happy to play here rather than take their money to Camelot if we could be open. Nobody complained but they did ask why we were not open.

We appreciate that and I will admit Camelot does a good job being open in the winter and I play there in the spring and rarely see any effect of winter play or cart traffic. I am glad those that want to to play in the winter have a regular place to go.

So why isn't Rolling Meadows open when Camelot is? The courses are only 12 miles apart as the crow flies, the weather should be pretty much the same... My response is varied depending on the situation and the weather we have had but the answer normally it is:

• Our property tilts South to North limiting the melting effect of the sun this time of year when the sun is low to begin with. For instance most lawns in Fond du Lac had no snow this past week. The clubhouse lawn had no snow the past week. However on the course travel from hole 2 to 3 was solid snow or worse ice. Same thing from 6 to 7, 7 to 8, 10 to 11, 12 to 13 etc. Until Thursdays rain, all these areas were near impassible with a cart, much less walking with plastic spikes. 15 green is our biggest challenge due to the woods to the south. The course can have 2 inches of snow and 15 green will drift in with 6" of snow. 

  

  15 green in spring of 2016. The rest of the course was dry and playable,
  but this snow persisted for days. Every year is different. 

• Agronomists and Turf Scientists have shown that in the winter the greens, tees and fairways are most vulnerable to traffic when the ground is froze, but the top 1/4 to 1/2 inch is thawed which is what happens on a 45 degree sunny day. A twisting foot can easily tear the gushy grass plant  away from the root system, leaving a plant that will die the first dry day of spring. Unfortunately the best days for winter play, are the best days for this condition. 
• Our property has clay soils that have limited drainage when they are not frozen, much less when there is frost in the ground. We are often left with puddles or ice rinks that are slow to melt. When the frost is coming out of the top 6" of ground our gravel paths turn to mush and are difficult to drive or walk on without sinking 3 inches. 
• We do not have staff on in the winter doing other things, at the ready to check in golfers on that first 35 degree sunny day. To bring in staff costs money, to turn on the heat and lights cost money. We don't mind investing the time and money when we are going to see regular play but winter play is fickle and hard to forecast. 

We have opened in the winter in the past, and will again in the future but it will require some warmer weather to thaw the top few inches of the soil for us to do so. Area players are lucky we have a property nearby that is able to be open through most of the winter. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and maybe we will be open in January this year... every year is different. 

The season of 2018

Writing this blog can be interesting because it is written for our golf customers but primarily read by others in the golf industry. Oddly our stats show more page views from France than the United States in the past month and I have a few regular readers from Ukraine. Jacobsen G10 is one of the top search terms used to find our blog so that can explain the overseas views. Google analytics is amazing and scary. No matter where you are from I hope you enjoy the blog and I am sure golfers John and Steve will be the first to comment!

2018 was a year of mixed weather with a horrible snowy spring a great summer and a horrible cold wet fall. Overall it is best to save the good weather for the summer months when the daylight is long and most of our customers play but the wet periods were frustrating. I have been on the property 22 years and have never seen water oozing out of hills and tee banks as we have had this year.   

2018 was a year of highs and lows. The high point of the year was hosting the Wisconsin State Golf Association Boys Junior Championship. 17 year old Piercen Hunt of Hartland won with an amazing 12 under for the 54 holes to win by 7 shots. Hunt is the 2 time state boys high school champion and all eyes will be watching to see if he can pull off the 3-peat.

Hosting a statewide tournament is exciting for the staff and
members who volunteered their time. 

Prepping for a big tournament is exciting for our staff inside and out. Agronomic practices for the year are set in spring with a goal to peak for these 3 days of competitive golf. Extra shifts before and during the event ensure the course is playing at its best and the players and spectators enjoy the event.

The other highs were from our many successful outings and events that go off without a hitch in thanks to our hard working staff.

The lows were mainly weather related as we saw multiple April snows just when golfers are trying to get out to play. Then after a pretty good summer flooding rains in late August closed the course for days and left some damage to fairway turf in its wake. Grass can sit under cold water without much issue but when it is warm and the turf is trying to grow it can “suffocate” fairly quickly. All the bad areas have been seeded, underwater again and seeded again. Fortunately the damage was not widespread and only effected 1% of our 40 acres of fairway turf. 

The floods from late August had most of 1 fairway along with parts of 9 and 18 under water for days.
This water comes from off the property and has a lot of silt in it causing it to look like chocolate milk.
The water in our other 9 ponds is a nice blue color. 

The other low of the year was it was the first time we had a difficult time finding staff in both departments. We are fortunate to have a great core group of long time employees but both the clubhouse and grounds departments had a challenge finding employees to replace our students who moved on to internships or their careers.  It was almost comical as we are used to new employees working for years and instead we had a steady stream of employees quit before their first day or last only a few days. If you know of a local student or retiree looking to join our team in 2019 have them give us a call. Most of our staff is part time and we have a great group of people working for us. 

Despite the rain we were lucky to finish a few projects in late October. Over 1,000 feet of 4" drainage tile was added on holes 1, 4, 5, 20 and 21 to fix areas found to be problematic during this wet season.  Along with drain tile on hole 5 the berm on the left front of the green was extended to divert water away from the approach and to fill in a perennial low area that held water and was prone to damage from cart and foot traffic.

The bunker reduction on hole 14 was finished to switch from a difficult to play and maintain 3,000 square feet bunker to a grass area with 800 square foot bunker that will not wash out. 

A reduction was started in November on hole 6’s 5,500 square foot prone to wash out bunker. The portion closest to the tee will be grass and 3 small bunkers that will not wash out will replace the upper potion of the bunker. Fill material for the project was given to us by the city of Fond du Lac from a nearby project. It saved them a lot of time hauling and saved us from buying material. This project will continue into 2019.  

14 Bunker was prone to washout from water off the green.

The new bunker will not wash out and save a lot of time in labor.
With woods left and marsh right and the pond protecting the green the hole is still difficult. 

It sounds like an easy thing to fill in a bunker and grow grass but there is a lot to it as sand in and around the bunker has to be moved or it will cause turf issues for years. Drainage often runs through the bunker and has to be protected and saved or replaced. The benefit of the bunker reduction is reduced maintenance costs and in hole 14 and 6 I believe a better golf hole for the average golfer. 

The new silver tee on hole 14 to give a yardage separation between the red and silver placements is nearing completion. Top mix has been graded and allowed to settle and we need to give a final hand grading and then sod the bank and seed the top. It is planned to complete this yet this year with a dormant seeding on the tee surface so the grass emerges in early spring.

That is the highlights, hopefully I will see you on the fairways on a warm sunny November or December day!

Sometimes even frost is beautiful.

A Snowy Spring

As I write this the bountiful amounts of snow we have received in April are starting to melt and there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel as we near opening day take 3. One would think with the late opening and the many days of inside work I would have had time to update my blog weekly. Sometimes life does not work out that way. So what did we do all winter?

Our main project was a complete update in the men's bathroom. Not a sexy project by any means but one necessitated by aging cast iron pipes in the floor and some ugly tile and features from 1985 the last time the room was worked on. We did most of the work in house including digging up the concrete floors and removing the old pipes. Hundreds of labor hours were put into the project that has been well received. Special thanks to Jeremy and James on our staff. Jeremy provides the construction expertise while James is our designer and we all dig, pound and paint.

The old floor and features

The new floor and features

The new sink area

Many customers have noticed the crane near our pump-house behind 11 green as it stands out with no leaves on the trees. Our high capacity well is being re-rehabilitated. The well was drilled to 850' and the pump is set to 600' to fill our irrigation pond. After 24 years our pump was still working but our 600' of 6" drop pipe  had developed holes causing a loss of water being pumped. Naturally occurring bio-film forms on the pipe and actually feeds on the carbon in the pipe causing corrosion and holes.
The pump and pipe were pulled, the well inspected with a camera and it was decided the well would be blasted with 15 one pound charges of dynamite to remove bio-film, mineral incrustation and small particles in the well and allow water to flow fully. After blasting the the particles are allowed to settle to the bottom and then pumped out to return the well to 850'
Our well has a 16" well casing to 400' that not only prevents sand and ground from collapsing into the well but it also prevents water in aquifers above 400' from entering our well. This is important for the area homeowners who have wells in the upper aquifers.
When the pump is reinstalled  the first 200' of pipe will be steel but the next 400' will be a new style of PVC that can withstand the weight and torque of the well pump and water. The PVC will reduce the chance of future holes in the pipe from bio-film.

The well pipes on the left are rusty but in good condition, the center a little bio-film
but the black ones on the right are fully corroded from the bio-film. As a note, the bio-film
stinks and does not come off your hands despite multiple hand washings!

Winter is a time of education and I was able to attend a few educational events put on by the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association, The Northern Great Lakes Golf Course Superintendents Association, The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and The Wisconsin Turfgrass Association in conjunction with UW-Madison and our great UW Turf Team of professors and staff.
The continued theme in many of the talks is how to maintain quality turfgrass with less inputs of fertilizer, chemicals and water. Less inputs reduce costs and labor. The goal is healthy grass that tolerates traffic and damage from divots and ball marks but yet does not grow too fast requiring extra mowing. 
Honey bee hives are becoming popular on golf courses although I am not sure our team has time to develop the hives I know many residents around Fond du Lac have. Honey bees are crucial for crop and food production through pollination. 1/3 of our food production depends on pollinators. Bee's have been in the news as their numbers have reduced due to mites, bacteria and misapplied insecticides.
Our conference topics range from bees to fertilizer to social media to irrigation technology and employee management to what color flowers work best in different situations. Feel free to track me down and ask me what I have learned!

Our projects from last fall (and my last post) are still in progress. The grass around hole 14 bunker should be germinating soon and we will get the drainage and sand in the new bunker as soon as we are able to drive in the area. The freeze thaw periods and plenty of snow and rain should have helped the new silver tee on hole 14 settle so we can start shaping it in early May.

Hopefully in two weeks snow will be a fleeting memory it will be time for a spring update and what we are doing on the golf course this year. Until then, keep I look forward to seeing you on the links!

Fall activities at Rolling Meadows

Happy Thanksgiving! As of today 18 holes are still open for play but the end is near as we enter the last week of November. It has been a year of ups and downs in the weather with an early opening followed by a cold wet spring, a wet and mild summer followed by a cold September, a warm October and what has to be the coldest November ever. Oddly October was very warm with beautiful but it rained 7 out of the 8 weekend days. What will December and the winter bring for the Badger State? I guess we will just have to wait and find out.

Thank you for your business and support this year and I hope you enjoyed the course. One of the highlights included planting 69 trees throughout the course to replace some of the ash that have been removed. Thank you for all those who donated specific trees or money towards the trees.

Our fall work including mowing much more than average due to the warm October weather, our other time was concentrated on putting the golf course to sleep and getting ready for winter. Some of our fall activities included:

Leaves – Leave cleanup is a major part of fall operations. This year many of the maple trees leaves have hung on much longer than normal extending the leaf removal season. I have heard different explanations as to why the leaves were on so long but all of them tied to the weather and ample moisture we had all year. The past 3 years we have averaged 340 labor hours blowing and mulching leaves to keep the course playable for the fall season.

Leaves are generally blown from the greens tees and fairways and mulched into the rough. 

Patio – A year ago we removed the wooden deck on the south side of the clubhouse because the boards needed replacement and provide a better staging area for the cart fleet. This year we took the second step with the project and installed a patio on the South East side of the clubhouse near the putting green for your enjoyment. There is seating for 44 and the walk to the bar area is more convenient than the old deck.

14 Bunker – Sometimes it is better to cut your losses and move on as is the case with hole 14 greenside bunker. We rebuilt the bunker 12 years ago and it performed better for a few years but it is just in the wrong place. The entire green drains into the bunker washing out the sand and mixing it with the clay subsoil each time it rains. The mixed sand/clay creates a hard pan on the lower bunker and the sand that is pushed up after every storm is soft and provided fried egg lies on the slope of the bunker.

The current bunker is 2,960 ft² . After the work most of the bunker will be removed with a small portion of the bunker (approx. 350 ft²) remaining as a visual aid to the hole more than a hazard to catch balls. Our other goal to improve the hole is to keep the reeds on the edge of the pond mechanically cut down do improve the view of the green from the fairway.

With the reeds cut and the bunker removed the hole has a new look.
This change should be well received by customers who would carry the pond
and then have their ball plug in the bunker face. 

The large bunker will be replaced with grass swails and a small bunker.

14 Silver Tee – Along with the bunker project we are installing the long talked about silver tee behind the current silver/red tee on hole 14. The base material has been hauled in and shaped and will be allowed to settle over the winter. The tee was needed to reduce problems during match play when a male receives a stroke while playing a female from the same tee surface.

A golf course is rated with two handicaps, male and female. Hole 14 is odd in that 3 “mens” tees have a forced carry over the marsh and 1 (the silver) does not.

The additional tee will not fully equal the playing field in match play but it will help. We did look at adding a tee over the marsh but the location of the bridge and the worry errant shots from hole 13 could hit a forward silver tee the new location behind the red tee is the best option.

Irrigation – The irrigation system is tuned up, the heads are all trimmed around and the water is blown out of the pipes hooking up a large air compressor to the system. This two day process helps ensure pipes do not shatter from water freezing in them.  

Blowing water out of the lines on hole 20.

As we move into the last week of November we hope to:

• Remove some more dying ash trees on the practice hole, hole 16, 17 and 20.  
• Mow rough one more time to shorten it for winter. Normally we are done mowing by this time of year but this year the rough just kept growing with the warm temperatures in October. 
• Put a layer of sand topdressing on the greens to protect them from winter winds and provide the benefits of a normal topdressing of smoothing the surface and diluting thatch. Here is a story from the United States Golf Association regarding the benefits of fall topdressing. 

  

  8 Green covered with sand topdressing.

Thank you again for your business and support. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments and we look forward to seeing you in the spring.