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. 

She is in charge....

It has been a few weeks since I teased our audience by saying the next post will cover green speed. "Green Speed" is a sexy topic for golfers as they hear about fast greens on tour and most players think they like fast greens. I had the post written in my head weeks ago but have been tossing around the title for weeks. I thought "speed kills", "the need for speed" or even "how low can you go" in reference to shorter mowing heights but settled on "She Is In Charge.....".

Who is she you may ask? Is it Wendy from our staff who often rolls or mows our greens? No, it is that often cursed fickle woman Mother Nature who gives you good golf conditions one day and just as quickly she can take them away. Although the weather has a major impact on ball roll and putting conditions but we humans also have our say. So why are the greens faster one day then the next or one year to the next? I will try to explain this complicated topic and how it effects your game at Rolling Meadows.

The stimpmeter designed by golfer Edward Stimpson in 1935, is a machined tool
to release a ball at a consistent height or release point. 3 balls are released and then from the
point those balls stop 3 balls are released the opposite direction to achieve a average greenspeed.
The stimpmeter allows a measurement of green speed from green to green. 

Mowing height is a key component to green speed but certainly not the only factor. We mow greens at .120 or just under a 1/8" during the main season with heights of .140 or 9/64 in the shoulder season. The height of cut determines how much grass your ball is rolling on, the less grass, the less friction, the faster the putt; in theory anyway because there are many more factors to it.

• It takes consistent mowing for the height to be reached on a green due to the fact the grass is always growing and the rollers that set the height ride on the very grass we are trying to mow. For instance if we were to take a greens mower onto a tee mowed at 1/2" it would take multiple mowing to reach 1/8" even though that is the bench setting of the mower. It is why greens are mowed multiple times on tournament courses or you may see us mowing greens a second time in the afternoon during grass growth surges. 
• 1/8" on our Jacobsen Greenskings is not exactly the same as 1/8" on a Jacobsen walking mower or Toro and John Deere mowers. That is why it is difficult to simply compare mowing heights from course to course because the type of mower and how it is setup varies. 
• The greens at the recent U.S. Open were mowed 2 to 4 times per day at .09" to reach the consistent green conditions for the worlds best players. The speeds were listed at 13 to 13.5 on the stimpmeter. 
• Then why doesn't everyone mow at .09 if that is good enough for US Open conditions? Some courses do but the lower the height of cut the less room for error and more time is spent monitoring and caring for the greens. More time correlates to increased labor costs and higher green fees. At .120" we can provide good greens with a consistent ball roll through most of the season. We know a couple of our customers would enjoy a green speed of 12' but many of our customers would struggle on our contoured greens. Our greens average a speed of 9' to 10' but can be faster on dry windy days and slower during growth spurts. Yesterday they were 10'4" under dry conditions and after being topdressed Monday. On the fast side for us but still enjoyable. 
• Height of cut is only one of many factors in green speed. 

When Homer Fieldhouse designed our greens in 1970 6'6" was
considered a medium green speed for daily play. The faster our
greens putt the higher the challenge which will lead to more putts
and slower rounds. 

Surface smoothness is the other key component to green speed. Smoother greens allow the ball to roll without interruption or bouncing that would reduce speed of a putt. A bumpy green at a stimpmeter reading of 10 will seem slower than a smooth green at 10 mainly because the ball will not "roll out" around the cup. Smoothness is achieved by:

• Rolling which we have done nearly every day for 2 years as multiple university studies have shown the best putting quality is reached when greens are rolled daily and mowed daily. Second best was rolled daily and mowed every other day which is what we try to follow.  
• Verticutting or thatching the greens removes thatch and organic matter while and increases smoothness. We verticut 3 to 4 times a year. 
• Brushing stands the grass up to provide a closer cut and less stragglers.
• Topdressing with sand dilutes thatch, fills surface imperfections from shoes and ball marks while providing a surface that tends to drain quickly. 
• Thin grass blades provide for less friction and a smoother surface for increased green speed. Blade thickness of individual pieces of grass is somewhat determined by grass variety, moisture levels and nutrient levels.
• Controlled plant growth has a major impact on green speed especially afternoon green speeds when the plant has grown all day. This year we are making a concentrated effort to apply less fertilizer to the greens and keep them a bit "leaner" while still leaving them growing enough to heal from ball marks, traffic and environmental stresses such as heat, cold and drought. Grass is not a carpet to be mowed once in a while and forgotten about. It is a complicated living and constantly changing life form that putts perfectly one day and is bumpy the next. Growth is controlled by many factors but some of the main ones are:
• Fertilization is key to growth and we spray our greens every 14 days on average with very light amounts of nitrogen and other nutrients as shown by our tissue and soil tests and iron mainly for color. We can do everything right with mowing height, topdressing, rolling, fertilization and water applications but if mother nature gives us rain and humidity the grass is going to grow faster and the greens are going to be slower and require more mowings to provide the same quality we had before it rained. Although our nitrogen inputs can be controlled during warm wet weather a natural process called nitrification releases nitrogen from the soil and the plants grow faster. It is why your lawn lawn looks greener after a rain even if you didn't fertilize it. In the summer of 2016 nitrification from perfect growing weather slowed green speeds around the state despite turf managers best efforts. 
• Moisture is key to green speed because it effects surface smoothness as wet greens are subject to foot-printing, faster growth, fatter leaf blades and ball marks. Dry greens are usually firmer than wet greens and dry greens often putt faster than wet greens. The dryer and firmer the greens become the more skill it takes to get a shot to hold, especially from the rough or a club with less loft. Golfers without the skill to hold a shot often need to consider a bump and run approach to reaching the greens. As a general rule grass and especially putting greens are healthier and play better when they are on the dry side. 
• Growth regulators have been shown to reduce vertical plant growth while still providing a healthy plant. The use of regulators started in earnest in the late 80's with some new products that could reduce growth while providing a healthier plant and other products that controlled growth and left plants on the verge of collapse. We have been very happy with the growth regulator use on our fairways but have found on the greens controlling fertilizer and moisture have been more effective ways to control growth. In 2016 we along with many other courses had little luck with controlling growth on greens because mother nature decided the grass was going to grow and there was nothing we could do about it. 

I have heard more comments this year about green speed than any year in my career and I will admit the greens have been faster this spring than most. We have not lowered our mowing height, we are actually mowing less and rolling the same amount as last year. We did purchase a new style of greens roller the Smithco XL70 and it does do a great job. The XL70 is very visible compared to our vibratory rollers that looked and operated like greensmowers. From a distance most customers thought we were mowing. I believe the biggest reason the greens have been faster so far this year is because we had a cold spring that controlled growth and we are applying less nitrogen.

I may not have fully explained green speed but if you take anything away from this topic I hope it is that greens are a living organism and we take great effort to control their quality but mother nature is in charge and we just go along for the ride.  

We hope you enjoy the golf course and mother nature gives you great playing weather. 

Why is that ........?

It is past time for a spring update and I will write while answering common questions I have been asked this spring. Spring.... is this spring? Our memories of weather are short as we remember the best and worst of the weather patterns and forget the many average days in the middle. Having said that I believe this has been one of the worst springs for cold and wet we have seen in many years despite seeing on the Milwaukee news we just finished the 3rd warmest April on record.
It may have been warm in Milwaukee but it was far from warm in Fond du Lac and we had plenty of moisture to keep golfers off the links. The good news is sunshine and golf are in the forecast for the next several days so we hope to see you playing. Now on to the common questions:

Why is that pond so high? Why is that pond so low? With 12 ponds that answer depends on which pond you are looking at. The 4 ponds across the lower part of the course (Holes 1,9,10,18 and 27) are kept low so we can accept water from the industrial park without flooding. The ground is saturated so every drop of water is run-off coming our way. The golf course ponds take the water and slowly disperse it down stream so the house do not flood across the street.
The pond on 5 was very high due to a collapsed drain line and then we pumped it low to allow us to work on it without drowning. The line was original (1971) corrugated tile and you may remember we patched a section last spring. The replaced section was good but a different section collapsed so we waited for a dry spell, pumped the pond down and replaced 150 feet of corrugated tile with solid PVC to fix the problem permanently.
The pond between 7 and 13 is a little low on purpose to allow it to take water without flooding. That pond overflows above ground so we keep it low during wet periods so the cart path is not washed out.

How long is that dead willow tree going to lie on hole 27, it looks like heck from the highway? In a normal year we would have taken care of this big willow right away however it has been too wet to 1 drag it out of the marsh and 2 haul it away. We were able to drag the tree to dry land and cut some of it up last week and should get the job finished soon. We have planted 3 new trees in the area to replace the one that fell.

Speaking of trees... what is going on with the trees? Are you going to replace all those you cut down? As a reminder due to the Emerald Ash Borer and the advanced age of our ash trees we removed 120 ash over the past 2 years. We also removed 2 misplaced pine trees on hole 2 because they were too large to move and in the wrong place for the design of that hole.
So far this spring we have planted 40 new trees with 10 more on the way. 20 of the 50 have been donated by golfers with the course purchasing the rest. For agronomic reasons the new trees are not as close to greens and fairways but will still provide beautiful scenery and a challenge for players for generations.

This birch on hole 17 is one of 40 new bare root trees planted in April

The ladies bathroom looks nice so when are you going to redo the men's bathroom? Thank you, we did a lot of the work in house and are pleased that the women's bathroom has been well received. Our plans will be to work on the men's room for the 2018 golf season.

I thought you were getting new carts? The new cart fleet is scheduled to arrive 3 weeks ago... and now we expect them soon. Fortunately we still have the old fleet to serve our needs until the new ones arrive. Our cart vendor has been very apologetic but has to wait for the supplier to deliver the carts.

How is the course? The course came through winter good although the cold wet spring has things slow to green up. We have a couple patches on fairways to sod but overall things are growing and we are mowing as much as possible with the weather. The ice cover in winter and up and down temperatures had us worried but overall the course did well.

I heard you bought a new greens roller, are the greens going to be lightning fast every day? We did purchase a new style of roller to provide a more consistent speed. Smooth greens that putt similar day in and day out should serve our varied clientele well. Not the fastest, but a good speed every day is the goal. University research has shown daily rolling and every other day mowing provides the most consistent putting surfaces. Green speed is a combination of many factors and although rolling will smooth greens, rolling is a small part of the entire green speed equation. I will address green speed in depth in my next entry.

The Smithco XL roller is a change for our staff to learn to drive
sideways but will help us provide consistent putting surfaces.

In closing the staff, golfers and grass are ready for sunshine and fun on the links. The weather averages out so we should see some improvement soon and will see you out on the course.