Irrigation Time

With the dry weather the irrigation system has been getting a workout! It seems no matter how much we test the heads, controllers and pumpstation problems creep up through the season. The system waters about 60 acres of the 240 we have at Rolling Meadows with irrigation in greens, tees and fairways.  The pumpstation can pump over 1400 gallons a minute to feed the miles of pipe and over 500 irrigation heads.

The pumpstation pumps from the main irrigation pond that is fed by runoff from the upper half of the golf course in addition to a high capacity well. The pumpstation maintain a pressure of 90 pounds per square inch in the system. Green heads are spaced in a square pattern and put out 30 to 40 gallons per minute 55' to 85' feet. The big heads in the fairway throw 60 gallons per minute up to 98'.

This week we had a faulty sensor four feet under the water in the pumphouse that would tell the pumpstation it was out of water so the pumps would stop running. In the morning we would see the error and assume we ran out of water and the 2 foot inlet filter was clogged. However we could not recreate this problem during the day no matter how much water we pumped. After three nights of a total system failure and watering 10-15% of the course we figured out we did not have a water flow problem but a faulty sensor. It was a quick fix but something you do not expect.

Because of that you may of noticed the challenge we have greening the turf areas back up after they brown due to our heavy soils. They hold moisture well but when they get dry and turn brown or dormant they stay that way for days no matter how much water we apply. Although we have caught up on our application rates the areas still look off color and will for the next few days until they slowly come back. This is different than the courses I have worked at previously with normal or rocky soils. At those facilities areas would be wilted grey and brown in the afternoon and a little water would turn them emerald green the following morning.

With over 500 irrigation heads one or two of them break every time we water either through wear and age along with partially clogged nozzles that change distribution. We spend the first few hours each morning trying to find those broken heads and improving coverage.

Often golfers ask why if we have a automatic system we still have sprinklers on at 7 AM. Early morning is the best time to water for plant health and to reduce fungus and disease problems so we start the system as late as we can but we can only water so many heads at a time without pressure and performance loss. So we water the early holes (1-5, 10-14 and 19-22) early in the morning and the later or finishing holes around dawn.

The worst time for us or you to water is in the mid to late afternoon. The grass does not like to be wet during the heat of the day and a lot of the water evaporates before it hits the ground.

How do we decide when and how much to water? We use information from our weather station and a e-mail service from UW-Madison to determine our Evapotranspiration Rate (ET Rate). The ET is a combination of how much water a the grass plants would use in a day plus the amount of water evaporated into the atmosphere. The ET rate is calculated by temperature, sunshine, wind, humidity and dew point. Believe it or not the rate is usually higher in June than it is the hot dog days of August because the humidity is lower in June.

So far in the month of June our ET has averaged an amazing .23" or almost a quarter inch a day of water use or evaporation with peak days of .34". University research has shown that plants are healthiest if we replace 80% of the ET. .23' x 80% equals .18" of water a day we need to apply for healthy turf.  Under normal circumstances we try to water ever second or third day so we try to apply .36" or .54' of water per application.

No matter how new or technologically advanced a irrigation system is they do not replace rain and in Wisconsin they are designed only to supplement rain. Long term dry periods lead to wet spots from too much water and dry spots from too little water. We do our best to find these areas and increase or decrease coverage but our biggest problem is right around the heads or right in the center of the fairway where extra water is spilt when the heads turn on and off and with the single row spacing the area is hit by three heads.

Perfect green is not our goal with irrigation. Our goal is healthy but playable turf and dry and a little brown is better than wet and bright green.

Greens aerification

This weeks players may have noticed we poked pencil thin holes in the greens to allow air and water to penetrate the soil profile and loosen the soil underground. Although this process does lead to a couple days of less than perfect putting the holes are almost invisible 5 days later.

I realize the greens had been near perfect the past three weeks but with the long spring and upcoming hot humid weather it was a perfect time to give the greens a break. Also the greens are good for three weeks at a time because of the verticutting, aerification, spiking and topdressing we do to them every 3 to 4 weeks.

It would be great to have perfect conditions all the time but greens are a living thing and need to be fed, groomed and protected just like your body does. Fast and firm and tightly mowed is great for periods of time but maintenance has to be done also.

At the same time we applied a light layer of sand topdressing and a granular fertilizer because we knew we would not mow greens for a couple days after the sand was applied. The challenge for us is working the sand into the tight turf so we do not pick it up with our mowers reducing the effectiveness and damaging the mowers.

As I discussed last time the sand has many purposes.

1. It smooths the surface by filling in little holes and marks to allow for smoother puts.
2. It reduces the thatch layer that can make the greens soft and bumpy by diluting the dead roots and shoots and rhizomes the bentgrass greens produce.
3. Protects the crown or growing point of the bentgrass plant by slightly buring it.

The greens were mowed, aerified, mowed, rolled, mowed again, rolled again, topdressed, fertilized and watered. The next two days they were only rolled and on the fourth day they were mowed. That fourth day we get some sand but by the 5th day we only get a little sand and the greens are nearly back up to speed.

The challenge of the process is the wet sand and fertilizer sticks to the ball when players putt in the morning dew. Also the sand tracks on shoes and drops off in uneven piles to cause small bumps until we roll or mow again.

Believe me when I say we only do the maintenance that is for the best of the golf course and if we could skip the work we sure would. Thanks again for your patience as we maintain the playing surfaces you love and for the next three weeks, putting should be near perfect!

Verticutting Greens

You may have noticed we verticut and sanded the greens last week to remove organic matter. This process is similar to thatching your home lawn and is needed to thin and smooth the putting greens by removing thatch. By topdressing right after the sand helps dillute more thatch and fill small depressions from ball marks, footprints and other surface imperfections.

Thatch is a layer of dead and living roots, shoots and leaf blades right below the surface. To much thatch will cause bumpy and soft surfaces that do not receive balls well and impede water penetration.

It is a time consuming process with many steps.

1. Mow the green with good reels.
2. Verticut with thatching reels while collecting the organic matter and dumping it into a waiting cart. The mower baskets are emptied every other pass or they overflow with material.
3. Loose material is blown off the greens.
4. Mow the greens twice to remove more loose material and cut straggler blades off.
5. Apply a light layer of sand.
6. Roll the green with vibratory rollers to mover the sand material into the green.
7. Water and wait for healing.

A freshly verticut and blown green. The green is then cut twice before sand is applied.

A muddy Cushman cart full of organic material removed from only two greens.

Although the lines in the green are visible for a few weeks ball roll is only affected for a day or two and greens are smoother and faster immediatly after sanding. The downfall is the sand is sticky in the morning for the first few days so it sticks to balls until the dew burns off.

You may remember we used to verticut 9 holes three Mondays in a row but found that interfered with putting for three weeks so now we verticut all three 9's in one day to increase course quality for all players. 

Although it seems we preform these agronomic practices just as the greens reach perfection, these projects are why they reach perfection! Thank you for your support.

Culvert Collapse

You may have noticed the gaping hole in the cart path on hole 1 for the first half of the season. At some point the 24" x 20' plastic culvert collapsed allowing the soil to fall in and wash down stream. Luckily the sink-hole was to the one side so golfers and carts could still gain access to the first fairway.

Oddly enough a 3" irrigation line crossed right over collapsed part of the culvert so our opinion is the irrigation crew damaged the pipe during installation and covered up the incident. That lasted 17 years until the area collapsed. Luckily it was over winter and not while a customer or employee was crossing the creek.

One challenge to the job was to stop the water flow so we could install the new culvert. We did this by building a dam upstream and pump downstream to provide as dry as workplace as possible.

It took three of us a full day to remove the old culvert, prep the area and install the new culvert. We have no doubt the new culvert will last 50 years of more without issue.

As you play the hole you may notice the creek is holding water. We did change the grade to get the new culvert under the irrigation pipe and after things firm up we will need to work downstream to improve water flow and clean out debris.

In case you have not noticed there is always work to do on the golf course!

Almost Showroom New

Each off-season we pick one special project that might not need to be done but could be done to make something work better or look better. This year we choose to paint a classic golf course tractor, our 1972 Jacobsen G-10.

The G-10 has a three point lift, belt drive PTO and 3 speeds. This tractor will never pull a plow but is a great unit for pulling trailers or a gang reel mower through the rough. Comfortable to drive the G-10's gasoline engine is quite for a 50HP power unit.

The decals were no longer available from the manufacture but we had some custom made by the Graphic Center in Fond du Lac at a great price.

The finished unit looks great thanks to James hard work and efforts to bring back that showroom shine.

Don't throw that tank away!

We have purchased a new sprayer for the golf course.  The old one was from 1997 and served us well with only a few parts and a new pump every few years.  Now what to do with the old one?  Some of the parts we took off to save for when we need them and others were taken to the scrapyard for a few bucks in the brat fund.

The 200 gallon tank was plastic so it could not be scrapped for metal but it was in good condition.  We decided to make it into the water tank for trees and flowers.  After we removed most of the parts we mounted it to a homemade skid so it would sit in the back of a cushman truckster without taking the box off.  Then a simple length of 1 1/4" hose with a valve at the end and off we went.

It worked great for planting last weeks trees and much faster then the old 35 gallon drum we had.  By using the skid we elevated the outlet to increase the gravitational push on the water so we can apply a large amount of water in a hurry if we want.

The tank should last 15 years until it is time for the next sprayer and we can do the job over again.

Shown is the 200 gallon water tank next to a new Cherry Tree.

Tree Planting

Stuarts Nursery in Fond du Lac had a stock reduction sale to sell their 2.5" and above nursery stock with great trees for only $90.   Considering these trees often cost $250 to $320 this was too good to pass up and we purchased a variety of oak, maple, cherry, beech, ironwood and coffeetree's for the golf course.

46% of our trees are ash and will expected to die in the next 10 years both due to age and the emerald ash borer, so it is important we keep planting trees.  Our goal is not to have tree lines fairways as that is not the type of course we have but to use trees as back drops and to provide definition to holes.

We took delivery of 16 nice specimens and planted them behind the greens on holes 5,7,8 and 20 to make up for ash and maples that in decline.  The current trees are too close to the greens causing problems with airflow, shade and roots encroaching under the green.  So although these trees are not close to the green they will be visually appealing for years to come.  Other trees were placed right of hole 8 to replace three pines that died and one oak left of 22 fairway to separate it from hole 16.  The last tree is a cherry and will be planted near the clubhouse area for aesthetics. 

On the subject of trees we have quite a few of memorial trees throughout the golf course and a plaque in the clubhouse stating the person the tree is for, the year, the type and location of the tree.

Mike Nelson steadies the tree while it is being backfilled.