Closer

We have exhausted our supply of fill material for the tees on #16, just shy of what we needed, so after the snow clears, we will haul a few loads of compost from our in house pile out to top off our new tee.  The mounds that used to dot the left side of the cart path are now only a distant memory, thankfully.  We will finish grade this area, spread native seed and lay down some leftover straw mat from another project first thing next week.  Irrigation should follow shortly thereafter.  We are all looking forward to some irrigation work, as it has been a little while since we were able to do more than add/move a head here and there.  Because #11 and #16 are completely new tees, obviously we need completely new irrigation for them.  Our parts are on order, and should be arriving in the next few days.     

#16 Tees

We have started hauling dirt to the site of our new forward tee on #16.  We have determined that it will play approximately 152 yard to the center of the green, shortening the hole by 20 yards for the forward tee players.  To facilitate quicker construction, we will be cutting into native mounds to the left of the cart path on the same hole.  The mounds grow nothing but kochia, so we certainly won't miss them.  We should have this tee completed by the end of the week.  I will post pictures as soon as I have them.  We anticipate installing our irrigation sometime late next week.  We are sharing a trencher with the Heritage, so we can save a little money on rental.  Based on nothing more than a hunch, I think this tee will be the most popular addition of the four we have done this winter.  It shortens a pretty difficult par 3 to a more manageable distance for most players.  i will add pics as soon as I take them.

A touch of moisture

To this point our winter weather has been nothing short of erratic, 60 degrees one day and 30 degrees with snow the next.  We haven't had the extended snow cover we typically experience from December to January, which means we are handwatering greens with our water trailer one day, and shoveling snow the next.  Winter desiccation can happen quite quickly with the strong winds common to the front range and without our irrigation system up and running, we are left to water with a 300 gallon tank mounted on a trailer.  Many courses enjoy irrigation systems with frost free components, we aren't one of those courses.  If we were to pressure up our irrigation system too early and get an extended cold snap, we could sustain a large amount of damage from freezing.  On top of that, most sprinklers aren't really designed to operate under winter temperatures, o-rings shrink, springs are slower, and plastics are much more fragile.  The point is, irrigating is far more challenging in the winter time than it is in the heat of the summertime, so the more snowcover we can maintain, the better.      

Good as new

There are days where working on the course isn't practical or possible due to snow or very cold weather. We are grateful to be busy in the shop cleaning, organizing and building instead of outside freezing our tails off. However one of the least popular tasks that must be completed each winter is repainting course accesories like tee markers and signage.  It won't be long until we will be gearing up for a new golfing season, so the more we can do to prepare, the better off we will be come spring. 

Geese....

One of our fiercest enemies this time of year, aside from mother nature of course is the Canada goose.  Aside from the copious amount of excrement they leave behind, when feeding on grasses Canadian geese tear the entire plant from the ground instead of just the foliage.  If left to feed on a given area too long, a gaggle of geese could consume a tee box in a short amount of time, leaving bare ground and many pounds of excrement behind.
While Canadian geese are traditionally migratory, interbreeding with non-migratory species along with plentiful year round opportunities in areas that were historically seasonal, they have changed their tendencies in recent years.  The last few years we have a tried a number of deterrents, with varying levels of success.  We have found that winter fencing around our lakes along with regular patrols by a staff member is typically enough to minimize our goose damage.

Even on an almost daily basis during winter months we are removing goose "stuff" from our putting surfaces.  After extended snow cover in the past we have had extreme amounts on other playing areas and been forced to drag and blow off the goose "stuff".  While Canadian geese do provide exceptional recreation opportunities in the way of waterfowl hunting, we would ask that no one attempt to harm any of the geese on the golf course.

#11 Tees

In between snow storms we have continued hauling fill material down to #11 tee complex for the addition of another new tee box.  This tee is located directly behind the forward tee which provides a much nicer angle of attack than the current white tee box.  The tee surface will be 1250 sq ft, which is ample teeing ground for a par 5, where the majority of shots are teed up.  Overall we are pretty happy with the look of it and are eager to get it irrigated and grassed.

Dave doing some grade fine tuning with the Lenker rod.

View from the new tee

You can see the current tee at the far left of the picture.  A shot from that tee box demands a high cut which not many high handicappers can play accurately

We plan to build one more tee this winter on #16.  We will discuss that hole in more detail, as there will be changes beyond adding a tee that will change the look and strategy of that hole.  Look for us to start the irrigation installation after the tee on 16 is complete. 

Happy New Year

For the first time in over a month we will have 18 holes open for play this afternoon.  We still have a couple of lingering patches of ice on a few greens that still need to be cleared.  Now that the snow is gone, we have to begin thinking about pressuring up our irrigation system to irrigate in the absence of moisture.  As we mentioned in earlier posts, winter dessication is a serious concern without snow cover and can set in fairly quickly with the warm dry winds we have had the last couple of days.  We try to give mother nature every opportunity to provide natural moisture, but when she fails us we have to rely on our irrigation system.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas day, all staff members are home with their families today where they belong.  The course is closed, but will reopen weather permitting tomorrow for those itching to play some winter golf.  Have a safe and enjoyable holiday. 

A day with Jim

Many superintendents will agree that the single most important position at a golf course is the Equipment Manager or Mechanic.  Without the mechanical knowledge, fabrication skills, preventative maintenance and attention to detail that a good mechanic possesses, maintaining a golf course is not possible and our facility is no different.  Without equipment to operate and carts for golfers, we wouldn't have much to offer our guests. 

Jim Bloesch has been the Equipment Manager at LRGC since grow-in was well under way in 1994 and has remained an incredibly valuable asset to the operation.  Prior to working at Legacy, Jim worked as the Equipment Manager at Riverdale Dunes, Heather Gardens, the local Toro distributor and prior to that was an over the road trucker hauling freight all over the country. 

Some of the equipment originally purchased when the course opened is still running as well as it did the day it arrived.  Jim has seen three new equipment packages and 5 cart fleets through his time here and adapted his maintenance plans to suit each wave of new machines.  Aside from a strict attention to detail in his PM schedule, Jim is an excellent fabricator, having built everything from implements for cultural practices (see our spiker post), to smaller items that make everyday tasks that much safer/easier.  He is responsible for the layout and organization of our entire shop, so we can efficiently store and access all of our equipment.  Here are a couple items Jim has built recently that makes our job easier:

Trailer for hauling inoperable carts back to the shop

Stabilizer for lifting bulk fertilizer bags with our forklift, a very dangerous endeavor before this baby was built

  These are small examples, but Jim is great at understanding the challenges we face in certain tasks, designing a safe, easy-to-use solution.   

It's rare to find Jim idle at any point in the day, especially during our growing season when he is constantly grinding bed knives and reels, servicing, troubleshooting and repairing damaged equipment throughout the day.  On top of all that, Jim also maintains our fleet of 64 Club Car golf carts for the golf shop. 

Because Jim operates at such a high level of efficiency, we are able to spin-grind all of our reels/bed knives on tighter intervals than many courses, which results in a much better cut and conditioning.  In a typical month during the growing season, Jim grinds:

Greens mowers:  10 reels x 4 times/month    40 reels
Tee mowers:  9 reels x once/month               9 reels
Fairway mowers: 15 reels x once/month       15 reels
Step Cut:              3 reels x once/month         3 reels

That's 67 reels per month, not including the rough mowers, utility vehicles, hand held power equipment, fly mowers, topdressers, sprayers, tractors and implements that all require preventative maintenance as well!  Keep in mind that with each reel, he grinds a bed knife also.  Reels and bed knives can only be ground so many times until they must be replaced.  That is an even more time consuming process he has to plan out in advance.  An EM of lesser experience and expertise would likely be overwhelmed by the volume of work Jim accomplishes everyday.  All tasks are done with same precision each and every time no matter the circumstances.    

It is important to note that grinding must be performed when the machines are not in use, so his time management skills are put to the test on a daily basis.  Throw in unplanned repairs and equipment breakdowns and it's a wonder he has time to eat lunch or take a break at all.  So the next time you are out on the course and you see a mower cutting to perfection, know that Jim is the one behind the scenes keeping that mower running as good as the day it was purchased.  Big thanks to Jim for keeping our operation going.

Tis' the season

We are STILL covered with snow and the forecast doesn't appear to be offering much in the way of melt.  We were ready for moisture three weeks ago, but at this point we are all experiencing some cabin fever. 

Since the snow arrived we have completed our GPS project, finalized our fertilizer/pesticide early order with the Heritage, taken a full inventory at both courses, created and printed new irrigation maps for the controllers, began working on our safety training information, and many of us have taken some much needed time off.  If snow persists and we cannot continue working on our tees, we will start refurbishing course accessories like tee markers, trap rakes, flag sticks and course signage.  This is an annual tradition and while time consuming, it's a great way to stay out of the cold and still improve the appearance of the course.  After the first of the year we will begin taking delivery of the years inventory and we will be busy storing and organizing everything for the growing season.

Just a reminder, the course will be closed December 25th and January 1st, two of the three days we are closed all year. 

GPS

The course is still buried under 6 inches of snow and with the temps barely climbing above freezing for the next week, we are hunkered down working primarily indoors.  One of the projects we have been working on the last few days is our new irrigation map.  Our irrigation computer operates Rain Bird Cirrus, and one of its many features is a map which displays our irrigation components over a map of the golf course.  Since 1997 we have used a fairly basic map utilizing a hand drawn version of the golf course taken from our scorecard.

This version worked well for many years, but we could improve upon this map and accomplish a couple other things if we made a GPS based map.  Any course built in the last 12 years was likely GPS'd during the construction process.  We weren't one of those courses.

In working with the City's GIS department, we put together a plan to map and catalog ALL irrigation and drainage components, calculate yardages for sprinkler caps, and verify the actual size of all playable areas.  It sounds simple, but the last piece will be very valuable for future project estimating and pesticide and fertilizer planning and calculations.  All of the pictures are of #14 and #15.

Wish they took aerial photos in June, not March...

To start we borrowed a Trimble handheld data logger for basically the summer of 2010 and began collecting data.  The data collection process was completed outside of normal maintenance duties, so it took a better part of a season.  We mapped sprinklers, valves, electric valves, splice boxes, drain basins and cataloged each by type, size, brand, model, and date installed. 

Any and all traced areas can be quickly measured

 

The completed GIS map, the yellow dots are sprinklers with yardage, the red dots are front center and back of each green.  The yardage info can be displayed in a tighter extent, pretty handy for replacement purposes



The second portion of the project was to define/trace various areas of the course (ie greens, rough, bunkers, etc).  We completed this portion during the winter of 2010.  To bring the new map over to our irrigation software, we enlisted the help of Brian Keighin, Owner of Irrigation Technologies a local irrigation designer, consultant, expert.  With his knowledge of both ArcMap, Auto CAD and Cirrus he was able to help us take the data from GIS into Cirrus.  The result is an aerial photo with dots representing sprinklers in their exact location.  Not quite done yet...



The dots are just dots at this point, stations from the database still need to be added to make the map usable in Cirrus



Looks a little bare without the shading.

Completed map in Cirrus

The last piece of the project was to populate our Cirrus map from our database, which basically entails placing individual "stations" where they belong on the map and labeling them properly.  I have a dozen more stations to add and the map is completely finished.  A nice added feature we incorporated was to display the address of each home bordering the course so that when a homeowner voices a concern we can quickly identify where they live and address the problem properly. 

We want to thank Joe Simpson, Dave Murray and Sandy Malesky in Community Development for all of their help in making this happen.  They were great to work with and excellent in explaining things in layman's terms so we grass-guys could understand. 



#8 Tee

I forgot to post these pictures last week when I took them.  #8 has progressed nicely and is basically ready for sod, though by springtime it will likely need some more finish work and cleanup.  Because we filled in a natural drainage way  between the two tees to add teeing ground, we had to add a drain basin to the south side of the tee.  It should capture water that would have ran between the two old tee boxes.   

 

The tractor is parked on what will be part of the tee surface.  Here's a pic of the added ground between the tees and to the south of the blue tee.

   

Overall, we are pleased with the way it came out, with a minimal amount of money and time we were able to add around 30% more teeing space to each tee box.  After the latest round of snow melts I will try to take pics of the finished product.

Let it Snow

Another beautiful day here at Legacy Ridge GC, today it's beautiful only if you love free moisture in the form of snow.  Though we can't continue working on our new tees, it is most definitely a blessing to have this blanket of snow.  One because it will insulate our drained-but-not blown out irrigation system, and two the recent weather pattern has left the course thirsty for moisture. 

On days like today we have a pretty standard schedule consisting of snow removal and more snow removal.  In addition to plowing/clearing all of the paved areas around the golf course,

we maintain 5 miles of bike trails and bridges that connect the neighborhood to a large network of trails throughout the City of Westminster.  Depending on the timing of snow storms, we run through bike trails at least twice each day to make sure they are clean and haven't drifted over.  If you happen upon our gator, tractor, or truck plowing, the operator will stop and allow you to safely pass them by.  We would also ask that sledders, snowshoers or walkers please stay off of the golf course at all times.  Golf course features like bunkers, drain basins, and other hazards can be hidden under the snow, making it an unsafe option for snow day recreation.   

Course work

This morning we started the week off right by changing pin locations and mowing greens and collars.  This time of year, mowing is less about managing growth and geared more toward cleaning and smoothing the putting surface.  As long as the weather is warm, we will continue weekly mowing to keep our greens in shape for play.  In the coming weeks we will apply a heavy layer of  topdressing sand as cold weather sets in.  The sand serves as a blanket for the winter, protecting the crown or growing point of the bent grass (and poa) plant from winter desiccation.  Desiccation is a concern without snow cover, and to this point we haven't had much in the way of snow and have been irrigating fairly regularly.

Just as snow protects the plant from desiccation, too much snow cover can lead to snow mold, and for that we are planning our second preventative fungicide application this week.  For this application we will be applying Instrata and Rhapsody, which should carry us through February.  About a month ago we applied Spectro90 which we use for a short term preventative in case of big, early snowstorm.  That product has all but worn off, so as soon as the wind dies down we will put out the Instrata/Rhapsody combo that has worked nicely for us that last couple of years in preventing snow mold.  As winter sets in fully, we will discuss different forms of snow mold and hopefully continue answering the age-old question, "so what do you guys do in the winter".

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a safe a relaxing Thanksgiving this Thursday.  The golf course will be closed for the holiday, but will reopen on Friday for play.  We are closed for only a few days a year and with the warm weather we are experiencing the course can use a break from all of the cart traffic.  Enjoy the holiday and we will look forward to moving our projects along next week. 

#8 is moving along

Blue tee will be expanded out to the right

Our next victim, ahhhemm tee project will be #8 blue/black tee.  This will be a little different than what we did on #6, in that we are connecting two tee boxes to create one large tee as opposed to creating a completely new tee.  The primary goal with this tee is to increase teeing ground with a minimal amount of disturbance.  The two existing tees are offset a little bit so we will be adding on to the north side of the blue tee to create a teardrop shape.  Our main focus for the coming days is hauling in soil to bring the grade between the two tees up.  There is only 4" height difference from the black tee top to the blue tee top, so the 40 linear feet between the old tees will have at most a 1% grade front to back.  



This area will become new teeing ground





   

Almost there

Shy of a little fine tuning our work on #6 is just about done for now.  We are planning to wait until after the first of the year to grass the new tee on #6, but in the meantime some moisture will do alot of good in settling and crumbing out the tee as it stands today.  The fine tuning will take place prior to seed and sod going down, but we are happy with the way it came out.

 

#6 Update

After 4 days of hauling 21 loads of material from various areas of the golf course, we have enough material to construct a tee, we think... 

With measurements we took prior to material being moved, we will restake the tee box and begin grading the tee top with the grade box.  Our goal is 1% of fall from back to front of the tee box, and a 4:1 slope off of the sides (or tee ring), tieing in nicely with the surrounding rough.

'Tis the season

In the last two weeks we have had two good snowstorms that dropped around 12" total, accompanied with some pretty cold nights.  Prior to the 1st storm we drained down our bridge crossings where the irrigation mainlines hang underneath, exposed to the elements.  We have four bridge crossings that we isolate and drain during very cold weather to prevent ice from building up in the lines.  Three of the crossings happen to be on holes 5 and 6, so we isolate those holes from the rest of the irrigation system, the other crosses the wetlands on hole #13, which is also isolated/drain from the rest of the system. 

On Monday we began draining down and blowing out the outlying areas including the clubhouse and entrance areas.  The process of blowing out is pretty straight forward if you understand the layout of your system.  We connect a 185 compressor set at 70psi as close to the water source as possible blowing water out of the mainline first. 

Once the mainline is clear we run each electric valve until it blows only air, working away from the compressor until the majority of the water is clear.  We usually run through each zone a second time to be sure all of the water has passed through.  Blowout of the outlying areas typically takes about one day.  This year we had a little extra time, so we blew out the entire driving range, and area that typically receives the least irrigation this time of the year.      

 

We irrigate the entrance to Legacy Ridge parkway at 104th and 112th including some medians in between.  When the course was built in 1993, there were no homes around the course but the entrance areas had to be landscaped to facilitate the development of the neighborhood.  The majority of landscaped areas along "the parkway" are maintained by HOA contractors and irrigated with direct connections to the reclaimed system.  For whatever reason, the entrance areas remain connected to our system.      

We typically wait until a little later in the year to blowout the on-course irrigation, depending on the weather.  It's a double edge sword, if we blowout too early the weather can dry out and the need to pressure back up arises.  It's also possible to wait too long to blowout, the sprinklers can freeze and crack and blowout will no longer effectively remove water from the lines. 

#6 Tee Addition

We are underway with one of many new tees we plan to build this winter, in this case on hole #6.  The tee is located between the white and red tee box.  Our plan is to use this new tee box as the "normal" white tee and move the blue and black tee forward or back as we deem necessary.  We are planning on a tee measuring about 1000 sq ft in size that matches the shape and height of the existing tee boxes.   

  

The stakes seen in the picture above represent the approximate size of the tee surface, as you can see there is a great deal of slope currently, so we will need about 76 cubic yards of fill material to bring the tee up to the proper grade.  We use the stakes to determine how big of an area we need to disturb to properly tie the tee in with the surrounding area.  

We sod cut a generous ring around the area we need to disturb, using as much of the sod as we currently can, and rototill the remaining turf.  At the moment we don't have a need for all of this sod anywhere on the course, but with multiple tees planned after the new year, we will reuse as much of that sod that we can.  

Once we have turned over all the existing turf, we haul in fill material to incorporate ino the base for our new tee complex.  As I mentioned before, we need about 76 yards of material, so for the next few days we will be hauling 4 yards at a time out to this location in our Adams trailer.  Repeat this about 18 more times and we are ready to start shaping our new tee. 

The new tee will play about 20 yards shorter than the current white yardage, requiring a 190-210 yd tee shot to hit the landing area.  #6 is one of our more difficult and also most interesting holes with a forced carry on the second shot over an irrigation canal to snug landing area.  For most players it is definitely a 3 shot par 5, and without a well placed tee shot, a difficult second shot can make or break the hole for most.