Monday, December 28th, 2009

No, this is not another one of those cardboard silhouettes used to scare away the geese, its our own Willey Coyote. I caught a glimpse of him this morning as I was checking out the course. He has been pretty regular about his activities and is often seen first thing heading to the deep woods after an evening of hunting. I just wish we could count on him for keeping the geese away!

We are a little frosty again this morning. We have had a number of cold mornings which has made it difficult to change the cups as often as we need given the amount of play we have had recently. I have to recognize Zeferino for his extra effort this weekend. I checked in with him Saturday afternoon to see how the course was fairing and he told me that the ground was to frozen to change the cups and he knew that they needed to be done so he was about ready to head out and change them after play had finished and while the greens were still soft. I would never expect someone to head out in the dark and very cold and change the cups but Zef felt it would be best for the course. He and Jorge went out together and got the job done. Please take a moment and thank both of them for their extra effort. Guys like them are what makes this place rock!

It's another short week so we are going to focus on making sure everything is in "Tip-Top" shape for the Tip Bowl on Thursday. From what I saw this morning we shouldn't have to do to much. I am pretty sure we will be able to get the new tree planted on eight.

Best wishes to all over the New Year and may 2010 be the "Year of the New Economy!" I have a good feeling about our future.

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Now that it has warmed back up for the time being it is sure nice to see the golfers back at it again. Aside from the winter dessication and their brown appearance the greens came through the cold snap relatively unscathed. The course conditions remain in great shape for this time of year. Last week we managed to mow the greens, tees, and fairways without incurring any damage as a result of too much water.
The cart barn came through the frost ok, only the water filters for the ice machine were damaged. Unfortunately Sig was off during much of the ice otherwise he would have implemented a complete draining of the system. The pressure washer came through ok. The restrooms on the forth tee were overlooked and didn't get shut down properly. We had to replace both flushing mechanisms. They were up and running within 6 hours of discovery.

The staff continues to impress me each week with their up and can-do attitude. While the course was frozen the carts and mowers received a fresh coat of wax and we began to sand the benches to prepare them for a fresh coat of stain.  Many of the guys took some time off to get some Christmas shopping done during the freeze and were back and ready to get the course playable as soon as conditions allowed.

We tore apart the walk bridge on thirteen last week and resurfaced it with the left over "Trex" boards from the fourteen bridge project. The old boards were loaded with carpenter ants. It turned out great and should now give us years of service.

Friday, December 11th, 2009

The "Big Chill" has been reeking havoc on a few things around here. We don't normally shut down the irrigation during the winter because the frost rarely gets deep enough to damage anything. So far this frost has far exceeded last years depth and we are starting to see broken sprinklers. We have shut down the pump station so we won't have a big mess as things thaw out. We will have to turn the system on slowly with a watchful eye and look for wet spots developing.

Everything around the shop has been shut down and winterized. I did not make it down to the cart barn assuming that it was all taken care of. After inspection on Friday I found the water filters for the ice machine shattered and the hoses still connected to the pressure washer. I guess I should have gone down there earlier and had them drain the entire system knowing that it was going to be a long and hard freeze. To avoid oversights in the future we will write up a procedure for all weatherization for the entire property and make sure all department heads are properly trained.

The most dicey time of a major freeze is when things start melting. Aside from the usual freezing rain that can occur and potentially drop the nets, pipes that have cracked will start leaking and will need to be addressed. The greens are frozen well below the bottom of the cup and will need some time to thaw. If we end up with a lot of rain that can be good and bad. Good that it will enable the frost to thaw more rapidly but bad because the greens will get real swampy. Until they are able to perk water through the profile we will need to stay off of them. If we were to allow traffic on the greens in the swampy state we will damage them severely in which they would not heal until spring. They would also be unplayable due to the standing water. However, the tricky part is if we have started play for the day and the rain begins and the greens start puddling, it will be imperative to end play for the day and issue rain checks.

I will be around all weekend and will be watching the weather closely as we transition from the cold to the warmer rain.

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

The old cottonwood on the eighth hole is finally down. By the look of it I would say it would have come down on it's own pretty soon. Once it was down it was evident how weak it really was. It hit the ground and shattered in many pieces opening up rotten parts of the log revealing many large beetle grubs. These were inside the branches which were of concern for safety.

Now that the tree is down we would like to replace it with a Red Oak.   The Red Oak  grows to 80 feet and will grow 2 feet per year. I believe this will be a much stronger tree and will ad an aesthetic value to the hole. I have priced a 3.5" caliper tree from JB Sod and can pick it up for $225. Obviously we will need to wait for the ground to thaw before it can be dug so it may be a week or so before we will get it in the ground.

Monday, December 7th, 2009

After a long and busy week in North Carolina it is good to be home. I cannot express how fortunate I feel to have such a strong assistant and staff to take care of everything in such a good manor while I was away. Last week we managed to topdress the greens, fertilize the rough and topdress the forth and fifth fairways. Mike and Steve Pearce also attended the Pesticide Seminar for two days and Brian attended a half day seminar as well. The weather cooperated and couldn't have worked out better.

Brrrrrr!  This week may be a different story with the cold front moving in. We could be experiencing frost delays or if the wind continues we should be able to get them out pretty early. For the next few days I don't think we will be above freezing. We will be busy chipping the brush pile at the shop and will start working on benches and tee markers.

The grass will remain frozen this week so we are going to limit cart usage to the cart paths to prevent the loss of turf. The rough between the fairways and the paths will take a serious beating if we allow carts. The damage may seem insignificant now but when it tries to grow again the crowns will be to damaged to support it.


We will be alternating between the two hole on the greens and will be changing them as soon as the ground softens up enough to allow it.

Thursday, December 3rd

Today we are at Wake Forest University. Negotiations will be our subject.
It has been three very enriching days in which the education has been top notch. I will be able to apply many of the skills that I have learned right away.

Yesterday it rained all day, well over an inch and a half. Today we are blessed with sunshine and the high 50's. I can't say how valuable this week has been. This is Syngneta's first year putting this on and they are committed to build upon it each year. I cannot thank them enough for providing this opportunity. I met many superintendents from around the nation and enjoyed getting to know each of them.

                                                                                               William Davis, Wake Forest University

Tuesday, December 1st

So far the Syngenta Business Institute is everything I hoped for. There is nothing commercial, it is simply pure business education. This morning we discussed basic principals of a balance sheet and the different types and their uses. This afternoon was focused on personnel management. This was the best session in that we talked about performance feedback and motivation. There will be two more days of intense education one day we will actually be at Wake Forest University.
The Graylyn Conference Center was actually North Carolina's single largest residence built in the 30's. The original owner was the founder of the Wachovia Bank. Wake Forest University has since purchased it and runs many of their conferences' through it. I didn't know it but the University was actually relocated here in Winston-Salem where it is now. It was in Wake Forest previously. (duh) Most of the money around here is from the tobacco industry so if you need to move a university you just do it.

Monday, November 30th, 2009

This week I will be in North Carolina attending the Syngenta Business Institute at Wake Forest University. I am looking forward to the event. It should be very enlightening.
We have a busy week at the course this week. It finally looks like the weather is going to cooperate for a change  but the only drawback is with clear weather in December comes frost in the mornings. From what I can see so far Tuesday on will most likely be our frosty days.

While I am gone Mike will try to get a couple fairways topdressed; it will most likely be on Friday so we can be sure everything is as firm as possible. Mike will also try to get some sand on the greens as well. It is entirely up to his discretion as to when he can get it done. The clean up went well last week and the course was pristine for the long weekend. After speaking with Doug on Thanksgiving it was nice to hear that we had a pretty good crowd for the day given we accumulated over an inch of rain. I really hope we finished the month off strong.

Mike and Steve P will be attending the OGCSA Pesticide Seminar on Wednesday and Thursday. George and Gordon are going to attend the OGCSA Sports Turf Seminar on Tuesday. All of the events will be occurring down town at the Oregon Convention Center. Brian will be attending a break out session on Thursday which is meant to prepare for the Oregon State Pesticide License examination. Zeferino and Steve M will oversee the operations while Mike is off Wednesday and Thursday. I will see if Mike can make it in in the morning before he gets off to the seminar to outline the jobs for the day.

We have ordered more sand which will not be billed until January. We still need to do a flow test on the well in order to complete the water rights. EnviroLogic Resources will be performing the test in a couple weeks and that should rap it up. We are still working within the $5,000 we budget for the year to complete the process.

Steve M finished the driving range markers last week. We just realized that we made 4 inch pipes and the ones on the range are smaller. We are waiting for bigger sleeve pipe to arrive so we can set them in the targets. They are really going to look nice. Steve did a fantastic job.

I will try update my report this week while I am away and will try to load some pictures of Wake Forest. Have a great week.

Oh and don't forget........

GO BEAVS!

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Another wet week! It seemed like winter came awful fast this year. I don't recall too many nice days in October but then again once the rain hits it seems like it's every day! The weather still doesn't stop the course from shining. I am still so impressed on how well the crew is taking the weather and still able to keep the course in top condition. They have really come together as a team and every one of them is doing their fair share. Saturday night left us with a mess to clean up. The crew on Sunday got the greens and tees cleaned up plus the front nine fairways. We should be able to get everything else cleaned up on Monday.
We are now just cutting the greens a few times per week which is allowing us to start in on some projects. Last week Zef and Jorge stripped the sod off of the back of 14A and re graded it so it was a much smoother transition off the back of the green. It seemed to have settled since we built it last year. The result will allow us to have a much more uniform collar. Zef has now started working on the lows behind the clubhouse. He is installing a much larger catch basin which should keep it from turning into a lake after heavy rains. He will also be using new sod grown on our nursery this fall.
We will be updating the driving range posts on the targets this week. Steve is constructing  new ones complete with matching stripes. We will install permanent sleeves in the ground which will keep them perpendicular.

If the weather cooperates we should get the greens sprayed next week. The weather man says we should have some nice weather Tuesday and Wednesday. We will keep our fingers crossed. It is not looking too good for Thanksgiving, probably a good day to stay indoors.

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Fall is such a beautiful time of year especially when the sun shines. This was the case Saturday morning. The 7:30 shotgun didn't actually go off as planned due to the frost but the crew managed to get the course ready and everyone teed off at 9:30. I am sure it was a great day for everyone.
I don't think we will be seeing as much rain this week as we did last week but it looks like we will be seeing quite a bit of wind instead. So far the crew has taken on everything that Mother Nature has thrown at them and has managed to keep the course clean and in phenomenal shape. The leaves are almost done and we will be focusing on getting the leaves out of the tall grass areas.

Greens
Lots of great comments on the condition of the greens. On the days that we are receiving heavy rain we have not been mowing them. The roll that we put on them for the ProAm really seemed to smooth them out for quite some time. We will try to put down a roll more often in lieu of mowing from time to time this winter.  We should be down to one fertilization a month. I just ordered our last Redox shipment for the year.

Tees
Since our sulfur application the fusarium patches are beginning to sprout new shoots. Ryder is pointing at two spots that are filling in nicely. It is nice to see them recover so well this time of the year. I am having Bob continue to put seed in the sand/seed boxes. He keeps the level low so it doesn't germinate before it can get used. The new tee markers weathered the season pretty well this year. A few of them have lost their bark but they still look nice. We will probably bring them in and give them a fresh coat of lacquer. This winter we will cut up some more branches and make plenty of extras so we can sub them in as we need.


Projects

Steve has been swamped in the shop and has been cranking out the reels off the grinder every day. With the new greens mowers it has allowed us to set up one of the old tee mowers as a nursery mower. We are cutting the bent now at .250 and it is filling in nicely. It is nice to have the nursery back. We should set up a croquet tournament next year, it would be perfect for that. The Beaver Creek pumps and motors will need to be serviced this year. It has been some time since we have done so and would be good insurance to get it done. The wet areas behind the clubhouse along the cart path are in our sights and we will be getting to those real soon. Starting to think about the new tournament facility and how we are going to handle the early tournaments this spring before it gets complete. I really don't have any good ideas right now but it wouldn't hurt to put our heads together and come up with some options.

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Given the recent weather it is good to say that we are on top of all of our regular maintenance. The crew has done a fantastic job keeping up on the leaf removal while staying on top of the mowing. The course hasn't softened up to much which is good for the equipment getting around to pick up the leaves. We finished up on the fairway topdressing earlier last week while the weather was still good. The course is till growing given the recent mild weather. Once we get a few good frosts under our belt things should slow down enough to allow us to start working on some winter projects.
Greens
We managed to get the sand down last week which seemed to really help. We tried a different technique this time and mowed first, sanded then drug them with a cocoa mat instead of the brush. This allowed us to stay ahead of play which is always a challenge in the winter plus the mat isn't as abrasive on the grass.
Last week I mentioned that we were going to fertilize and spray but after further discussion we decided to let the fertilizer go another week and we aren't due to spray until the 23rd.
Tees
We sprayed the tees this week with fertilizer and elemental sulfur to deter further disease development. The color looks great.

Fairways
I am very pleased with the condition of all the fairways. We have finished all of the topdressing except those that we are planning on hitting later this winter, weather permitting, to alleviate some of the worm cast issues.

First Green Program Update 
Thursday was the second field trip for Mrs. Mull's Environmental Science class. The topic was water quality and the steps that Stone Creek takes to ensure that we are protecting our ponds and streams. We sampled water from three different ponds and tested for pH, nitrates, and ammonium fertilizer. The students found varying results in pH and were perplexed that they couldn't detect any nitrates. The process enabled them to apply what they have learned in class to a real life situation. The long term take home message will be that these kids are going to possess the knowledge that golf courses do not pollute the environment and when managed correctly can be beneficial to the environment as well.

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

I must start my report out commending Maggi for cutting costs to our budget by seeking alternative meat sources for our hamburgers. Most men will go a life time and will never have the success that she accomplished in one month. Way to go Maggi!

Looks like we will be in a frost pattern with this clear weather. Let's remember to maintain clear and concise communication throughout the delays.

Today Mike, Jason and I will be attending the OGCSA Environmental Meeting at Royal Oaks. Normally this is on a day when it is stormy and our time is well spent learning. Well, it looks like today is going to be one of those days which we wish we were here doing fair weather chores around the golf course. It looks like we are going to have a break in the weather this week and we have a few tasks that we will need to get done while the weather lasts.

Greens
We have a list of items that we need to get done this week on the greens starting with topdressing. We will do so probably on Tuesday. I will ask Rich to see if we have any groups going off first thing. We like to get a head start if we can. We are due for our plant protectant application this week as well as fertilizer. With good weather comes lots of golfers and we will do our best to get everything done with minimum impact.

Tees
Along with greens we will need to spray the tees as well. We are planning on spraying some elemental sulfur along with some nitrogen and some iron. The sulfur has plant protectant characteristics and will help them recover from the dollar spot and fusarium outbreak.

Fairways
Three more to go (three, four and five) and we will be done topdressing, excluding four, five, and seven. We will continue to topdress those this winter as weather and plant canopy allows. This will help alleviate some of the worm cast issues. 

Rough
We still have not fertilized but as the weather is warming this weekend I have noticed quite a bit of lush growth in the rough. We will still be fertilizing but on a as needed basis and as the weather allows.
We are starting to see a few soft spots showing up, mainly in the lows and along the cart path edges. These will make great projects as the mowing slows down. Some of the first areas I would like to see us focus on will be the lows behind the clubhouse along the cart path.

Projects

As stated above we will start repairing soft spots when the mowing slows down. This week Zef will finish the pipe repair on four which will allow us to fire up the pump station again. We had to turn everything off in order to get all of the water out of the pipe. Apparently we have a large gate valve that doesn't seal completely which keeps us from isolating that particular area.
The barley bails are out, it will be interesting to see how things look next spring. I mentioned in our manager meeting that we replaced one of the light fixtures in our equipment bay and it made a big difference. Jack is now working on getting us a rebate for replacing the remaining lamp fixtures in the shop as well as the ones in the cart barn. I believe we should be able to save quite a bit on power with the new lamps as well as possibly installing motion sensors. I need to contact Energy Trust and see if our new cart fleet would qualify for a rebate since the charging system is supposed to be more efficient. 

Monday, October 26, 2009

Tuesday was our first field trip with Kristen Mull's Environmental Science class from Oregon City High School. Our topic of discussion was biodiversity and golf courses. This was a great opportunity to share the benefits of the golf course to the surrounding community and the wildlife. We are planning three more field trips this fall and will be doing some water and soil testing.

So far the high school is very excited about the opportunity to explore ecosystems and do outdoor lab experiments so close to the school. The possibilities are endless from what we are doing now with water testing to having the kids propagate native plants and actually have them plant them back out on the course after they have grown in their green house.

Greens
This was a good week for the greens as far as growth goes. I am real pleased where they are right now. Weather permitting we will apply a light topdress next week.
We are still experiencing some anthracnose on sixteen. We were hoping it would disappear after we aerified but it is lingering here for some reason. Anthracnose can be a difficult disease to control on Poa once you get it. At this point we will continue to treat it to keep it a bay the best we can. The key next year will be to treat early and prevent it from surfacing. Now that we are buffering our spray mixture we should see far more efficacy from our treatments.

Tees and Fairways
Dollar spot is lingering on this fall. I would have expected it to slow down once the daytime temps started dropping. We are seeing spots on the fairways as well as the tee boxes.
The tees have reached the threshold now where they are mostly Poa annua and we will need to put them on a treatment program. We have outlined a treatment program in the 2010 budget to prevent mainly fusarium patch.

Projects

Carl has wrapped the barley straw bales and we will be putting them in the ponds this week. I am sure they will float so be prepared to answer questions. The answer is that as the barley straw decomposes it gives off an enzyme that will help maintain pond clarity. 
We have put the rails on the new trailer and will be taking the cans to the store later this week. Bob says we have somewhere around 30 bags that have accumulated since we lost the old trailer.

Winner electric installed the new light over the man door at the cart barn. Sig says it is so much better now he can even see once he gets inside the door.







Local News
This fall has been interesting for a few courses in the Northwest. As you know many courses chose to aerate early September and a typical practice is to increase the fertility rates to allow the greens to heal quickly. If temperatures and the humidity are just right it can create the perfect environment for pythium blight. Last month some courses experienced the "Perfect Storm". Temperatures were 94 to 95 degrees with the humidity around 89%. Consequently they are now sodding large areas of their greens and have many of their greens on temporaries. This can happen to anyone and is truly a catastrophic disease. Portland Golf Club here locally and Glendale Country Club in Seattle were two that I know and both supers are good friends. My heart goes out to each of them. I am confident with their abilities and expertise they will have their courses playable in no time. If by any chance anyone hears that the superintendents are to blame, please stand up for them and explain that this is something that can happen to the best of 'em.  It just happened to two of the nicest country clubs around.

Monday, October 19th, 2009

I spent some time yesterday going through and organizing my old photos from the construction and it brought back some old memories. Looking back we have come a long way and have certainly made a jewel out of this piece of land. I know it is a cliche but this place is like a good bottle of wine that keeps getting better with age.

Here are some photos that I found that have taken me back in time.




Greens
The greens have been a little slow to respond but after the weekend we have made some great progress. We fed them on Friday which was enough to get them going. We are due for another fungicide application this week which we will get out as weather permits.

Tees
The tees are in great shape this week. The overseeding was very effective this fall which should really be beneficial going into the winter.

Fairways
We managed to get a few fairways done last week but as the weather forecast goes we have learned not to count on it. There were many days where rain was forecasted and  it would have been perfect for topdressing. We will make another push this week and get the back nine wrapped up and on to the front.
The growth has slowed down enough to go to mowing two days a week which will allow us to get some other things done.

Rough
We just received two tons of amonium sulfate which we will get down on the rough soon. We are planing on spot treating where we need it the most. Fertilizing with 21-0-0 will allow us to give the rough a jump start going into the winter and also saves us around $1,000 in fertilizer costs.
The bunkers are due for a mowing and edging this month.

Projects
Mike and I are working on a project list for the winter. Topping the list will be bunkers. We still have many bunkers that need to have the sand reallocated and drained. After our rain event over the weekend we are already seeing where we need to pay attention. Tree work will have to be on hold until 2010. I am budgeting for it in January. We did loose a large branch on the eastern most Cottonwood tree on eight last week which makes me want to drop it for safety reasons. I don't think it would be much more than $500 to $700 to get it done. We would replant with another tree in the same area to maintain the integrity of the hole.

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Course Conditions
The course is about as dry as I have seen it in October. Given the weather forecast that will not last for long. The temps have been on the cool side over the last week which has slowed the grass down quite a bit. Our average minimum temp has been 40 degrees and the average high has been 60 degrees. I was banking on some higher temps to help the greens recover a little quicker.
We cannot always predict what the weather is going to do but it is a good lesson on the risks of aerifying late in September. Ideally we should aerify in early September to guarantee some warmer temps to give the greens time to heal. I know we have to weigh the benefits of waiting for a few tournaments and allowing them to play on good greens but we have to be aware of the risks. For next year I would like to make our aerification dates a decision that we do together as a team so we all can all be aware of the pros and cons of each situation. Again, it all depends on the weather and we could easily have a warm October and all will be good.


Greens
As I stated above, the greens are a little slow coming out of aerification. They have everything they need to grow except warm weather conditions. The temps are going to warm a little but there will also be plenty of moisture to go along with it.

Tees
For the most part the tees are looking alright. Some are on the dry side but that will be all good starting this evening around 11:30. According to the weather forecast we should be getting over 3" of rain this week starting tonight.
The driving range tee is in pretty good shape. We should have been watering it more often for this morning things were a little on the dry side. Sig and I noted a few sand piles that apparently the evening crew is not leveling the sand out after the dump the buckets. I am confident the Sig will handle that one and it shouldn't be a problem.

Fairways
We have begun topdressing and so far we have 12, 13, and 15 completed. Our priority was to get the tricky ones out of the way to avoid accidents sliding on the slopes. We will continue to plug along as weather permits. Rain will not hold us up as long as it is not to heavy.

Rough
The rough is dry like everything else. If we had a slice seeder this would be the time to start seeding the thin areas. We are seeing quite a few wear areas that we will need to start roping off as people are entering the fairways from the path. With the rain we will need to start being a little less lenient on allowing carts out on wet days. We will not have the weather to help the grass recover.

I picked up some bales of barley straw last week that we are going to wrap up in chicken wire and place them in the lakes. Research has shown that bales of barley straw placed in ponds reduces the algae bloom in the following year. What do we have to loose, it's worth a try. So if you happen to seen some bales floating around you will now know what we are up to.

NTA Recap
Overall the NTA was a good event even though we had 6" of snow on the ground. It melted away quickly and I was at least able to get out for a 5 mile run.
The first day was focused on water use. Dr. Brian Horgan discussed new technologies that can save water when implemented. Mainly moisture sensors and moisture meters. I can see a use for a portable moisture meter to monitor the moisture level on the greens on a regular basis to maintain consistency.
Mark Esoda, CGCS from Atlanta Country Club discussed how their golf association worked through the drought in the south politically. Through their efforts of education and outreach the superintendents in Georgia are now the go-to guys when the state is looking for information regarding water conservation. Initially golf courses were looked upon as huge water users but as the state became aware of their water conservation practices and the fact the golf courses only use 1/2 of 1% of water used in the nation they were able to avoid strict regulation and were able to maintain their turf in an acceptable manor.
Rob Golembieski from OSU spoke on growth regulators and green speeds. The common belief is that Primo will increase your green speed but that is not what his trials were showing. The role of Primo is mainly turf density and growth reduction. To get the most speed out of the green regular rolling showed to be the best tool.
We had a couple other talks form WSU on organic fertilizer and the City of Spokane study on the use of effluent water.

Memphis
The Golf Channel event at Mirimichi Golf Club was a great experience. It wasn't easy speaking to a camera and a teleprompter. The number of takes I had to do is testimony to that. I have a lot of respect for those who do this for a living. Although, I am glad I did it, it gave me a great sense of accomplishment. The vignettes should start airing late this fall and through next year during PGA Tour broadcasts. Thanks for allowing me the time to go.

Monday, October 3rd, 2009

Course Conditions

could safely say that conditions at Stone Creek are far better than conditions at Sunriver. We were supposed to play golf today at noon but it appears that we won't be doing that.

Greens
Aerification went well. I don't think we could have timed it better with the rain coming that evening. We fertilized and applied calcium on Tuesday and now we are off to the races. Mike will spray the greens Monday and at some nitrogen to give them an additional boost. With the nice weather we are expecting this week we should see some good healing happening.

Tees

Tees are still strong. We are seeing lots of growth and recovery.

Fairways

I am glad we applied Primo. The fairways are in great shape. More sand is coming and we will begin topdressing this week.

Rough

The berms behind the 9th green have looked off all season. I think it is the result of bill bug. Further investigation has revealed the larvae that is shown above on the left. The damage is very typical to what we are seeing. These insects are becoming more and more wide spread in the area and I am afraid we are not exempt. We aerified, seeded, topdressed and applied an insecticide to the area and should see it improve in the coming weeks.

Equipment

The trailer was finished Friday but I didn't have time to pick it up. I will have to pick it up next week when I am back in town.

Staff

This next weekend we are going to have Steve Pearce and Brian Nishimoto run the weekend chores. I will be home and will check in with them to make sure everything is going well. It will be good to train some others and give them some more responsibility.

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Conditions
People have been telling me that the course is in as best shape as they have ever seen it. I must agree, it has been a banner year for green conditions and overall playability. Unfortunately all is going to change as we begin our fall aerification today. Yet only a temporary set back, I expect them to heal nicely.
The weather looks like it is going to hold out for the day but will turn for the worst later this evening. (Good timing!) It looks like we will be out of the 80's for some time, perhaps a good nine months.

Greens
As we punch today we are following up with a Nature Safe fertilizer application as well as a lime application. It will be good to get both products down near the roots where it can have a good effect.
It has been over four weeks since we have applied nitrogen which is a testament to the fertilizer program that we are on. The greens are starting to wane a little but that is what we expected to see. It was good to see where they were in terms of nutrition. The Nature Safe should add a nice slow release component to complement what we are already doing.

Tees
The tees continue to heal from the aerification. We overseeded them and are continuing to fill the divots with sand and seed. We have seen some bad areas which look like anthracnose. It makes sense now that they are mostly Poa.They are still looking pretty good. We plugged and seeded the lower driving range tee last week and the teeing area is back on top. This week we will be mowing the tee box on Tuesday and Friday due to our busy day today.

Fairways
Staab sprayed Primo last week which has saved us in terms of fairway quality already. With the recent fertilizer application and the cooler nights the grass was beginning to jump out of the ground. This Primo application is the last of the season and should hold back the excessive growth until our first frost which will pretty much signal the grass to slow down naturally. We have been trying to spend as much time as possible filling divots in the landing areas which seems to be helping. If the PA's have time that could be a good job for them as well.

Rough
In terms of fertility we are going to hold off fertilizing until we see where the rough actually needs it most. If we do fertilize, it will be a spot application to save money.
We are spraying weeds today in the tall grass areas during aerification. I really don't like to make blanket spray application during play so we felt this was a good time to do it without disturbing the golfers.

Equipment
The new greens mowers are working great and Steve is especially liking them because we can use the old ones for munching the sand after we aerate and not have to worry about grinding them right away. We are planning on switching the old greens tractors for the tees because the steering is much easier on them and then we will use the old tee tractors to run the sand reels and the verticutters. The trailer was not finished like I had hoped but am confident it will be completed this week.

My Up Coming Schedule
I will be attending the Annual Northwest Turfgrass Conference next week in Central Oregon. October 5th and 6th. The following are the speakers this year:

Dr. Brian Horgan
University of Minnesota
Water Conservation: Technologies That Can Save You Money

Mark Esoda, CGCS
Atlanta Country Club
What if They Turn the Water Off?

Tod Blankenship, CGCS
Oregon State University
How Thirsty Is Your Turf?

Dr. Bill Johnston
Washington State University—Pullman
City of Spokane Golf Course Water Reuse Pilot Study

Dr. Brian Horgan
University of Minnesota
Soil Testing to Predict Available N

Dr. Eric Miltner
Washington State University—Puyallup
Organic Fertilizer Effects on Turfgrass and Soil Systems

Dr. Robert Golembiewski
Oregon State University
Mowing, Rolling, Primo and Green Speeds

Larry Gilhuly
USGA
2009 in the Rearview Mirror

I will return home on the 6th and then I will be taking the rest of the week off to go to Memphis on to shoot some environmental vignettes for the Golf Channel at Justin Timberlake's Miramichi Golf Course. I will be back at the golf course on Saturday.
I may not have time or the means to do my weekly report but I will resume on the 12th.

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Course Conditions
Today is the first day of fall and it still feels like summer. Lets hope this weather continues for at least another two months.

Greens
The greens are still strong. It is ashamed we have to put holes in them but as you know it is the unnecessary evil every year. With out aerification we would seal up the greens and the root zone would not develop and we would eventually end up loosing turf. Given the conditions of the greens today, the healing process should be a snap.
Last week we chose to hold off on the Endorse/Daconil fungicide application until this week so we will be able to reap the protection throughout the aerification process next week. The Signature/Daconil application seemed to hold off further development of the anthracnose anyway.

Tees
We have finished aerifying and today Pearce will be fertilizing the tee boxes.

Fairways
Staab will be spraying the Primo this morning which will ensure growth control for the next 8 weeks which should carry us into the late fall.

Rough
We are going to try to spray for broad leaf weeds on the day we aerify the greens since the course will be closed until noon. A lot will depend on the man power needed for the day. I have spoken to Mike Foley and he has agreed to help us out once more. If there are any other PA's that would like to help out just have them contact me.

Equipment
The new greens mowers are in along with the core harvester and attachment kit. Now our next goal is to get organized so we can get everything inside the barn.
The new trailer should be completed this week. With the new brakes on the trailer they will have to install a brake system on the vehicles that are going to tow it. We may want to have George install a system on his vehicle as well.
When the trailer is ready the first line of order will be to trade out the trim mower and get George is regular one back.

Ball Field
We now have a small laptop to keep the payroll but now we need to have a separate chip put in the time clock to enable us to poll it directly. It is a good thing the company is located here in Beaverton, it makes it easy. Some times I think it would be easier to just pay for the phone line.

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Conditions
We had a great week of weather to put the course in shape topped by a great weekend. The greens are good, the fairways are still firm but with more grass and the ponds look low but clear.
Check out the photo above. This plug is off 14B. I have never seen roots like that on this green. I found this on Saturday while changing the cups!

Greens
We fertilized this week and actually left out the nitrogen on purpose. We have been seeing a trend of longer residual growth and now dips in color so we decided that the greens were doing fine on their own. We also sprayed Daconil and Signature this week which should slow the anthacnose a little on the Poa but we will spray again on Wednesday with something a little stronger. A couple greens are getting hit hard but the bent is filling in right in its place.
Today would have been a verticut plus topdress day but due to the tournament schedule we will have to postpone it. We will try to get one more in before we aerate.

Tees
We are going to aerify this Wednesday and get as many done as possible. What we don't finish we will pick up on the following Wednesday. We are working around the tournament schedule.

Fairways
We were also able to get the fertilizer down on Wednesday and we have started seeing a response by Friday. It was 12 weeks since our last application and probably could have gone longer but we needed to get it down before all of our other fall projects come due. We cut out a fertilizer application this year which is great. I will plan on the same scenario next year.
I had Staab skip the Primo application in August but am going to having him spray now that the fairways are growing again. I was mowing 17 and 18 this morning and was "bailing hay". The Primo will leave the fairways much cleaner after mowing.
We will start topdressing as soon as the greens and tees are done. I expect the majority of it to be completed in October.

Rough
We are continuing to irrigate that rough and the range in spite of nights that we have turned everything else off. It is great to see the grass come back to color again. If we do fertilized this fall it will be on a case by case basis.

Projects
One of the things we have been wanting to do was control the broad leaf weeds in the tall rough. now that it is all mowed down it is a great time to spray it. This year we saw way to many weeds which only blow off into the rough and the fairways. It is time to control. It will cost around $90 per acre to do. By only hitting the worst areas we should be spraying around 10 to 15 acres. I have budgeted for up to 22 acres in September.

Equipment
The new greens mowers will be delivered on Wednesday. We needed to make a fairly sizable order with Les Schwab this month. Many of our tires are beyond safe operation and now that the wet season in imminent we felt it was time to start changing them out. We budgeted $3500 in July which should more than cover it.

Ball Field
The phone line is now disconnected so I went ahead and purchased a small laptop for $330. I will load the software and will use it to download the payroll information on Wednesday.

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Course Conditions
Course conditions continue to improve. The rain certainly helps the rough come back and has helped clear the ponds up. The weekend was a little stormy which created a lot of blowing this morning. It shouldn't take long to clean everything up. The weather promises to be nice the rest of the week. I hope we can make up for some lost revenue due to the weather.

Greens
The greens are due for fertilizer and fungicide. Another strong testament to the greens fertilization program in that the color and growth has not dipped significantly, even after 15 days. We are due for our scheduled Signature/Daconil application which should happen later this week.

Tees
The black portion of the 15th tee box has not really recovered from being scorched. We may have to aggressively aerate it and re seed it to bring it back. I know Zef has been working on it but I thing it simply got to hot for to long. Over all the rest of the tees look great. We are going to start punching as soon as we can work it into the schedule. We will let you know which days we will need to reverse the nines.

Fairways
I have noticed a few thin areas where annual bluegrass got scorched. We are thinking about spot aerating those areas and inter-seeding them to help them recover. I have been real pleased with the overall appearance of the fairways. We have only fertilized them once this year and the color and growth has maintained very well. The next batch of fertilizer has arrived and we will be getting it out this week. I canceled the Primo application a few weeks ago but am thinking it might be good to spray them once more after the fertilizer is applied. With the extra moisture this fall and the cooler temps we are sure to see a lot of growth.

Rough
We ran the irrigation on the range and rough all weekend to get as much water on it as possible. Keep an eye on it and watch how fast it will recover. With fall so close we really don't need to watch the pond levels and will be putting more water on the range and in the rough than usual.

Projects
Tall grass mowing is pretty much all done aside from a few small places around the 14th tee box. Right now our focus will be on aerfying the tees, fertilizing the fairways, topdressing the fairways and finally aerating the greens. Once we finish with our fall cultural projects we will probably get back on the bunkers. We will need to drain and continue to push the sand back up the faces.

Equipment
Steve continues to do a fantastic job keeping the equipment in order. He is assembling the core harvester today and gave the beverage carts a tune-up this morning. We should be seeing the new greens mowers this week some time.
Speaking of the beverage carts...Maggie called me this weekend to let me know that there was a problem with the carts. That is about all she knew. I had Steve check them out this morning and each had a note on it..."BROKEN! HAVE MAINTENANCE CHECK ME! and ALMOST BROKE! HAVE MAINTENANCE CHECK ME! It would be helpful if they could use phrases such as runs rough, sputters, or blows smoke. That way Steve will have an idea where he needs to start looking. Steve mentioned that one cart seems to get used more than the other. It is best if they can even out the hours of operation on the carts so one isn't used all of the time. I hope we can replace these carts with the new cart lease next year, both are burning a tremendous amount of oil and need to be checked regularly. Please mention to the girls to have them swing by the shop at least a couple times a week to have Steve take a look at them so he can monitor the oil use.

Facility
Not to much to report on other than the dust control seemed to help us out this summer around the shop. Other than dealing with rocks being flung into the reels and the strange odor I may budget for it next year until we can find a way to pave the yard.
Leaves are going to begin to fall and we will need to be mindful of slip hazards in the parking lot. Also, the back gutter on the cart barn is growing small trees and should probably be cleaned out before the fall rains arrive.

Personnel
Matt Coombs will finish his summer job this week. It has been great having him on the staff this summer. I hope to land more summer interns in the future from OSU.

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Course Conditions
The course condition continues to be firm. I have seen some improvement in some of the drier fairways as Zeferino continues to spot water. I took some profile samples to see what kind of root structure we have and was very pleased with what I saw.
Now that most of the tall grass is cut we should see less time spent looking for lost balls.
We lost a goose last week. It had a broken leg so I took it to the Audubon Wildlife Care Center and they determined that it could not be fixed and they euthanized it.

Greens
Monday we were able to verticut and topdress the greens which certainly helped. By Wednesday they looked perfect. We have cut the nitrogen back by half to control the growth and maintain the speed which seems to be helping. We are seeing some disease on some of the greens but it is mainly on the Poa annua and not in large amounts. As long as the bent is actively growing we will just keep an eye on it.

Tees
We are going to try to start aerifying as soon as we can fit it in. Probably next week after Mike gets back from vacation.

Fairways
Fertilizer is scheduled for next week. This is only the second application of fertilizer this year. We will go with the same plan next year with the Verde-Cal in March and just two fertilizer apps for the year. Soil tests have shown that the Verde-Cal that we applied this spring is still working and increasing our pH which subsequently increases the efficacy of our fertilizer. A stronger soil means less inputs which helps save us dollars in the long run.

Rough
This is the tough time of the year for the rough. It has taken a beating all summer with cart traffic and has not received much water to say the least. The positive side is the fine fescues that make of the large percentage of the rough has the ability to recover quickly as soon as the fall rains come. If we get the rain the forecasters are predicting later this week you should see some drastic improvement. If we hadn't used fine fescue in our mix our range would be mud by the fall.

Projects
The tall grass mowing is almost complete with just a few small areas between 10 and 18, in front of 4 tees and next to 15 green. We should have that all wrapped up this week. We are planning on mowing the bunker faces on Wednesday.

Equipment
Steve has repaired the Sand Pro and it is back in service. The core harvester was delivered Friday and the greens mowers should be delivered any time. Steve has his hands full this week with a lot of sharpening to do.
I will be purchasing a new trailer this week from the same people as before. This time I will have them construct it without the two posts on the back which made it hard to load the mowers.

Facility
The bathroom fan is fixed in the club house but they didn't give us much time on the motion sensor. I experienced that first hand, mid stream if you will, sorry about that. It should be fixed now and hopefully it will smell better in there. I also had Jack Rawlings bring out some deodorizers that will fit in the dispensers. I don't think we were getting serviced well from our linen company which is responsible for that. Just a reminder to have Sig or someone change the air filters at the club house. I am ordering some new filters for Sig today.

Personnel
We are moving our start time to 5:30am this week. We are mowing greens and changing cups in the dark up to 17 green each day. It is difficult to do a quality job changing cups in the dark. We will be starting at 5am on those days which shotguns are scheduled and should be wrapping up the course right at 7:30 so it will be important to communicate with us just before you send the groups out to be sure we are ready for them. I will be going off of the Google calendar for scheduling our starts so it is important that those dates are kept up to date.
The guys did well at the crew tournament last week, 3rd Low Net!

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Course Conditions
The course is still pretty firm. We have been spot irrigating focusing on the dry areas and trying to get more water to the rough. The greens are smooth and running consistently from hole to hole.
Keep an eye on CNBC this week for the airing of their sustainability story on Stone Creek. It was a great morning to shoot video and the course should look awesome.

Greens
Since we were down a greens mower early in the week we were unable to verticut and topdress. Steve has the mower up now and we will resume topdressing on Monday.

Tees
Still fighting some dry spots but nothing major. Fertilizer may be due soon but they are still holding pretty well.

Fairways
Still playing very firm. Great to see so much ball roll; the golfers have got to be loving it. Many of the really dry spots have recovered nicely by supplementing them with additional irrigation in the morning. The areas that were hit worse were the ones with lots of Poa annua. This will be a good argument for the slice seeder which we have budgeted for next year.

Rough
We have been able to run some extra water on the rough this past week given the higher pond level. It certainly helps but still nothing beats a good rain. The slice seeder will also benefit the rough in the fall after the hot summers.

Projects
The bunker work will continue this week, pending Sand Pro repair, as well as the tall grass mowing. Mike has been trying to mow a bit each morning when the dew is still on the grass to keep the dust down.
I don't know if it a coincidence but the large group of geese have been absent the past week or so and Broken Wing and his mate are now hanging out in the lake on six. The new lake beacons may be working. We will see this fall for sure. We may need to order two more, one for the upper part of lake C and the other for lake D on six.

Equipment
The greens mower is fixed and the ball field mower is ready to go back. George is going to check with Kevin to see they can pick it up with a county trailer. Steve finally replaced the last original starter on a club car. They have served us well but are in serious need of some work. We have a few that back fire constantly and could probably us a valve job. (It is embarrassing when it happens when golfers are on the putting green) It is definitely time to replace the fleet. We hope we will be able to work something out with the golf car lease next year and purchase them then. The Sand Pro went down Friday. With all of the sand pushing the front fork has loosened to the point where Steve is worried that it may break. We still have a back up that we can use in the mean time. Steve has ordered the parts which should be in tomorrow.
Western Equipment got the P.O. from the County but it was off by $600. It was probably a typo and should be fixed before the equipment is in.

Facility
Now that it is more than evident that the yard is a popular spot for thieves it may be time for a surveillance system as well.
The men's restroom fan is out again in the club house. There is still have an extra fan from the last time it broke. I have called Winner Electric and they should be out this morning to repair the light ballast, switch and install the new fan. Hopefully we can get that restroom smelling like cherries again!

Personnel
The crew will be playing in their annual crew tournament at Arrowhead next Tuesday. Mike, Carl, Bob and I will hold down the fort after the morning chores.

Ball Fields
Fields are all aerified and ready to go. The weather cooperated this year! The night time temps have cooled down and the water use should be decreasing. I will meet with George this week to make sure he is adjusting the water accordingly.

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Course Conditions
We firmed up things nicely for the Men's championship. The rain was timely which enabled us to firm up the greens slowly. The water level in the irrigation pond has risen which makes me feel much better.

Greens
We never stop learning and the greens have taught us another lesson. This year the greens have been very healthy, probably the best year to date. In this case to much of a good thing can create a problem and what I have seen is excessive organic matter accumulate in the top of the profile. This is the leading cause for the scalping which has plagued us on 14B lately. Difficulty in maintaining a consistent green speed is also affected by this. This year we have utilized a new greens fertilization program which targets root and plant health, not just green and pretty grass. In doing so the greens have become much healthier and are producing a lot of growth. We should have been a little more proactive and adjusted the nitrogen levels accordingly. Also, topdressing could have been a little heavier as well. We will be adjusting our N levels as well as increasing our verticutting frequency in conjunction with heavier topdressing throughout the rest of the season.

Tees
We have actually been over watering a few of the tee boxes which are starting to show some soft areas. We will adjust the water accordingly.

Fairways
As I mentioned under course conditions we were able to get a little more water on the fairways with the cooler weather lately. The fairways are still playing real fast which is a great thing and rewards the golfers with some extra distance.
We have only been watering the dry spots in the morning and have been able to bank quite a bit of water in the last few days. We have been using some of the extra water to give the rough a drink or two.

Rough
With the small amount of rain that we received the rough has demonstrated it's ability to recuperate quickly. It is nice to see the green grass come back so quickly.
We have been re shaping some of the bunkers which has caused to inconsistent conditions. Much of the sand has sloughed down from the banks and we have been pushing it back up. When we do that it obviously softens the sand which creates the fried egg lie. They will firm up with rain and time. Just so you know in case you get complaints about it. We hope to get them all done before the winter rains hit us.

Projects
We will continue to work on the pushing the bunkers this week. We will start flail mowing the tall grass as well this week or soon after. We will start with the outer areas and finish with the middle of the course. It would be great to be able to burn it to take care of the weed seeds but I don't think that would go over to well with the fire department. We will try to spray the broad leaf weeds this fall so it will look much better in the spring.

Equipment
Starting with the ball field mower, it had an electrical problem which we can't seem to duplicate here at the shop...go figure. The greens mower that flipped over the weekend seems to be alright. It will cost us around $200 for a new muffler and bracket. Other than that it seems to be running alright. The seat got a little tweaked but I think we can bend it back and make it usable for now. Good thing the new mowers are on the way. Speaking of which I am still hoping to hear from the County regarding the PO.

Ball Field
The summer doldrums have hit and there isn't too much going on. Fields are being aerified today and topdressed tomorrow. The weather is perfect this year and shouldn't see the damage we experienced last year.

Monday, August 10th, 2009

ConditionsI would say that the overall condition of the golf course remains the same. The absents of rain in July has definitely contributed to dryer and firmer fairways. The recent cooler weather has allowed us to conserve some water and focus on some of the dryer areas.

Greens
I knew we had a lot of grass on the greens but never imagined that we would get the amount of grass off that we did after we dethatched. We literally had an entire pickup load of grass on the compost pad by the end of the morning. Mike laid down the perfect amount of sand which filtered into the green nicely. I actually had a golfer ask me when we verticut. He was surprised when I told him it was the same morning.
With the Men's Club Championship coming this next weekend we will be focusing on getting the greens smooth and a little bit faster. We will lighten up on the water to firm them and do some extra rolling as well. My goal will be to have them around 10 to 10.5. We will keep the pins easy in order to keep the pace of play going.

Tees
Zeferino has been able to adjust and reset some sprinklers around the tee tops. There are still a few to go. What I am seeing are heads that are on a slope that need to be leveled or heads that have sunk below grade and need to be lifted in order to operate unobstructed.

Fairways
I have been seeing some improvement in the moisture level by running some multi-manual cycles on the hot spots in the morning. This cooler weather will allow us to actually turn the fairways off and spot water in the morning where it is needed most. By doing this we will hope to gain some level back in the irrigation pond.

Rough
The water is still off. As you can tell by the photo above a lot of the areas are completely brown. I am not to concerned in that I am confident that the fine fescue's will make a fast and complete recovery as soon as the rain returns.
Also, please note in the photo above the work of the crew this week in reshaping the bunker. We hope to get through all of them and reallocate the sand within them. Many faces are void of sand and by simply pushing the sand up from the bottom of the bunker we have been able to successfully reshape them without adding sand.

Personnel
The BBQ was a success. Gordon thank you for coming. Doug I am sorry you could not make it, Teddy enjoyed your T-bone for you. This has been a good year for the staff so far this year. The guys have been working very hard and have managed to complete many small projects. They all take a lot of pride in the course and it really shows.

Projects
The bridge project is finally complete and I am very happy with the outcome. I am confident that this should last for many years to come. While the bridge was out of service I had the guys go through and remove any alders that were obstructing or will soon obstruct the view of Green B. The result turned out great. You can't even tell they were there but now you can see the entire green from any tee.
We have begun to mow down some of the tall grass along the perimeters. We will be using the Counties flail mower which does a real good job. We will begin in earnest following the Men's Club Championship.
We mowed the bentgrass in the nursery this week! The rye/fescue blend is not quite ready yet.

Equipment
I have sent Lane all of the quotes and am waiting for him to issue the purchase orders. We have spent a few dollars on some pieces of equipment in order to maintain them in peak operating condition. The old core harvester needed two new belt rollers which to our surprise were $400 each and since Steve had it all apart to replace the bearings we felt it would save us time in the long run. We have been having some grief with our walking greens mowers mainly on 14B. For some reason the unit wants to scalp along the back left portion of the green. Steve has been pulling his hair out trying to figure it out. We found out that the mowers require a different bedbar when operating at heights lower than .125. Since we are currently at .105 we went ahead and purchased a more aggressive bedbar. It seemed to help a little bit but still doesn't look right. We have borrowed a new mower from Western Equipment to see if it is equipment related or simple the green that is causing the scalping. I will keep you posted on our progress.

Ball field
George has been taking some much needed time off and has laid low for the past few days. The fall ball season should be picking up later this month and into September. Pacific Sports Turf will be aerifing and topdressing the turf on the 16th and and 17th of this month. I will make sure that George picks up some seed to hit those areas that got burned out in the hot spell.