Winter Playing Conditions

The weather conditions stay mild enough in the winter to keep the golf course open year-round.  We have had some winter storms that have kept the golf course closed for long periods of time, but this is not at all commonplace. The number of rounds played on the course shrinks significantly during the winter months due to a combination of members who are not year-round residents, to the simple fact that some days it’s just too cold or possibly snow covered to play golf. 

While the weather conditions are such that they allow for year-round play here at Kenmure, the temperatures are low enough to stop the growth of the turfgrass, especially on the shorter cut surfaces like greens, tees, and fairways.  This growth stoppage allows us to shift the focus of our labor onto other things like leaf cleanup, tree removal, drainage projects, and other needed renovation projects.  This is the time of year when we no longer mow any grass, change the pin locations with less frequency, and focus on things to make golf course better for the next season.

It is important to understand that the expectation level for course conditions is not the same as it would be during the growing season (April-Nov), because the turfgrass has no ability to heal from damages caused by the wear and tear of normal play.  This becomes especially evident on greens surface where ball marks are left unfixed by players.  Freezing and thawing of the upper level of soil in the green surface also contributes to uneven and bumpy putts.  We do utilize our greens roller to help smooth the greens some, but the weather generally doesn’t allow us to use it with enough frequency to make a significant impact.

Thank you for understanding the seasonal nature of golf here at Kenmure.  We do our best to keep the course playable throughout the winter, and ask that winter players help us by following cart path restrictions, frost delays, and fixing all ball marks on the greens.  

Weather pattern changing soon, it has been a very warm and dry Fall.

via Kenmure Golf Maintenance http://ift.tt/2enUYvv

Crabgrass Concerns?

 Late summer is when Crabgrass has reached its peak growth and is the most noticeable to golfers.  This golf course has never been crabgrass free, but I do agree that we are seeing much more crabgrass now than in the past.  Crabgrass is a summer annual weedy grass that germinates from the prior year’s seed.   This means that as you get more and more adult plants the seed production increases leaving you with a greater challenge for the next season.  The only good thing about the crabgrass plant is that it quickly dies when colder temperatures come and the first frosts of Fall arrive.

We treat the golf course every year with a pre-emergent crabgrass prevention chemical and in the past couple years it has only proven to be only marginally effective.  We also have a product that can treat the crabgrass after it has emerged but we can only achieve success with this chemical if it is used when the plants are very small and just appearing in the grass canopy sometime in late June.

I realize that crabgrass is very ugly and no one wants to see it on the golf course.  Unfortunately, there is not much we can do to the mature plants without hurting the bentgrass this time of year.  What we can do is re-evaluate our spray program and make some changes for next year.  We have a plan to spray a split application of pre-emergent herbicide next spring to increase the window of time the chemical can be effective; we also plan on using a post-emergent herbicide product to kill anything that comes through in June/early July.  I feel that this strategy will yield much better result than we are currently experiencing.

The crabgrass will soon be turning purple when we get some cooler nights.  Then it will slowly fade back into the turf canopy and out of sight.  The seeds will stay dormant in the soil until the soil temperatures start to rise again in the Spring.  This is when we can start to wage the battle against the crabgrass.  It will be a never ending fight but I think that with the proper tactics in place we can make a large difference next year.

Thanks,

Josh Laughridge

New Spray Equipment

It's always nice to be able to have the chance to get new pieces of equipment added to the fleet.  This is our newest piece of turf maintenance equipment.  The Toro Multipro 1750 is a dedicated spray unit that will assist in the many applications of different pesticides we apply to the course every year.

Still a compact design but more room in the cockpit.

175 gallon tank with excellent agitation.

Getting ready to spray #1 green.

A very nice machine.

Hand held sprayer and hose reel is a very important accessory.

Demetrio using the sprayer to treat Hemlock hedge.

Bunker Changes on Hole #12

There has also been a change to first fairway bunker on hole #12.  This bunker was the largest bunker on the golf course.  This change is similar to the change to hole #4 as it still poses a threat to the blue tee player, while becoming more forgiving to the gold/white tee player.

Many truckloads of dirt needed to be hauled in to fill the large bunker.

The new shape is taking form.

This is the back edge before compaction.

This is the back edge after compaction.

5 pallets of sod were used to fill the space.

Demetrio making sure the sod is installed properly.

All sod on the slopes are held in with staples while they grow roots.

The area is complete.  2500 square feet of new sod.

The back edge is looking good.

A view of the new bunker shape.

Bunker Changes on Hole #4

There has been a change to the first fairway bunker on hole #4.  This bunker has been decreased in size to a little under half the size it originally was.  This bunker remains an obstacle for blue tee players, while giving the gold/white tee players a large forgiving grassy area instead of the full size bunker that it used to be.

Sod is removed from around the edges of bunker

Some dirt had to be hauled in, with more added later also.

Mini Excavator regrading the area.

Would love to own one of these for all the tee renovations ahead.

The area is almost ready for sod.

The side of the bunker before compaction.

The side of the bunker after compaction.

Final grade prepped and ready for sod.

Demetrio cutting an edge on the overhanging sod.

Please stay of the sod until it has healed in. Take a free drop for ground under repair.

The finished product.

A view from another angle.

Misc Jobs

During the winter there are always plenty of odd jobs to keep the crew busy on some of the colder days.  This winter was no exception and we had plenty of things to work on.

Many of my staff have acquired plenty of indoor painting experience over the years.  This year we took advantage of the cold and rainy days to repaint many areas around the club.  Fresh coats of paint were applied to the walls in the Fitness Center, Charleston Room, Elevator Hallways, Men and Womens Locker Rooms, and some small touch up inside the Golf Shop.

This winter our staff also had to time to lend its talents to Sam in helping him fix all of the landscape lighting at the front gate.  There is a noticeable difference when entering the club at night.

Clyde Forrest, who is our flower gardener in the summer, takes care of many of the odd jobs in the shop over the winter.

My former assistant Ryan built these water cooler houses in 2005.

We bring them in and clean them up in the winter,

Kitchen doors refinished for Sears Room.

Clyde takes pride in his work here at Kenmure.

Cleaning and repainting trash cans.

Driving Range signs needed some paint.

Wet Weather Spring on #3 Fairway

This area on #3 fairway has been a problem in the past, we have made some temporary fixes but something more effective was needed this winter.  There is a very active spring that making a nice mess in the fairway.

Ditching machine was purchased new by Kenmure in 1984.

It still works great! 

A view of the area getting some attention.

Some old pipe, I would say 100% clogged.

Hopefully my arteries are in slightly better shape!

My men demonstrating how 4 people can get gravel from one truck bed.

Nice job guys!

Bunker Renovation Winter 2016

I recently read an article in an industry magazine about the current DIY movement in Golf Maintenance.  We have been DIY since the beginning.  Constructing tees, building bridges, renovating bunkers, installing miles of drainage, and burying our own 3 phase power cables.  All done in house by our maintenance staff.  We have used outside contractors for some very large jobs, but this is few and far between.  We have a talented staff and if given the time and resources we can achieve most anything one would ever need on a golf course.

In mid February we started the final phase of our bunker renovations here at Kenmure.  We had 20 fairway bunkers left to complete before the regular season started.  The weather cooperated with us and in a few short weeks we managed to complete a ton of work, well to be honest it was more like 500 tons of work.

The crew worked very hard and shoveled many, many tons of sand.  It was nice to complete the final leg of this bunker renovation.

Drainage was enhanced in most of the bunkers we refilled.

This is some drainage on the right fairway bunker on #1

4 to 6 inches of fresh sand was added to all the bunkers.

Some bunker renovations involved some reshaping for surface drainage reasons.

Emma finding some shade on an a nice day in February.

Laying the old sod back on #15.

New sod on a reconstructed #18 bunker edge.

Finished bunkers on hole #13 looking great.

17 truckloads of bunker sand averaging 24 tons per load.

The brown sand is the old sand was removed from the bunkers.

All this sand was removed by hand with shovels.

Defining the edges in a bunker that will soon receive fresh sand. 

Hand removal of the old bunker sand.

  The crew is getting back in shape for the Spring.

A look a 3 fresh bunkers on #8 and #1

Waiting for more manual labor.