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 .