Yearly leaf and frost reminder

Now fall feels like it has officially arrived- we had our first sub-40-degree morning. This time of year brings with it two key issues: leaves and frost.

The changing leaves make this time of year the favorite of many. The weather is typically still comfortable, and it is perfect for outside activities. Another aspect of autumn is that leaves begin to fall. Leaf cleanup can be very time consuming and, especially when the wind blows, it can be frustrating also. We spend time cleaning a particular hole and five minutes later the wind blows a new round of leaves across everywhere and it looks as though we did nothing! Nevertheless, here are a few key points to remember about our leaf cleanup efforts:

• If it is frosty or wet, we may have to wait until later in the day or for another day entirely before we can resume cleanup. Similarly, if it is windy, trying to corral the leaves is nearly impossible. We may choose to skip trying to clean the playing surfaces until a calmer day. So, playing through leaves may happen.
• Blowers will be running for several hours or more each day. They cannot stop for every golfer that is within earshot or we would never finish. The same is true for the vacuum. Please be patient.
• We make piles for the vacuum in the most efficient places. For example, blowing a large amount of leaves the entire length of a hole does not make sense. We make piles where most of the leaves are already located. Sometimes this will be near the line of play and balls can easily be lost in the piles. Unfortunately, this is a fact of fall golf. We will make every attempt to keep our piles away from play as much as possible.
• Lastly, while leaf cleanup overwhelmingly dominates our course prep attention, we do have other tasks we are trying to accomplish. We must balance our efforts. So, there may be days where there are clearly leaves to be blown, but the Grounds staff is working on other things also.

The second scourge of fall is frost! There is not a single good aspect to frost or frost delays. However, just because no one likes frost, doesn’t mean we can keep it away.  Just like with leaves, there are a few key points that everyone must remember:

·         There will be more than one occasion where golfers may leave their house and have no frost, but we can easily have frost here at the course. Our temperatures can get colder than in town.

 

·         The coldest part of the morning is just before sunrise, so frost can set right at the last minute.

 

·         During the delay, all areas of the course are closed. While frost can form in some areas but not others, trying to direct people to frost or no frost areas would be too difficult. A frost delay equals a full closure. This means no mingling in the grass around the putting green or first tee.

 

·         Walking on frost can cause damage or death to the plant, but carts are especially destructive because they are heavier. We must consider the cart traffic that will occur on the course when managing a delay, which can sometimes add a small amount of time to the delay.

 

·         Lastly, after most frost delays, some form of course preparation must take place. Anything from a full setup to a minimum of changing cups and blowing leaves, takes time. Here is the tricky part: we can’t go do that setup until after the frost- the Grounds staff is delayed too. So, we must balance allowing the golfers out onto the course as soon as possible, while also leaving time for some work. Frost may be clear near the clubhouse as golfers wait, wondering why they aren’t allowed out yet, but it may be because we are getting our work done.

 

Some veteran fall golfers will undoubtedly be experts in dealing with these fall issues. But a reminder for all is helpful and we hope that it will help mitigate some of the inconvenience of dealing with the leaves and frost.

 

Also, we will reduce posts to once per month starting in November, through February.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please stay off all grass surfaces during a frost delay.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

1st Spring Dead Spot application

As you read this, we are currently making our first Spring Dead Spot (SDS) chemical application. This is the most critical application we make all year on the Bermuda grass- and we won’t even know if it worked until April or May!

Research has shown that soil temperatures make the biggest impact on timing for this application. Temperatures must be below 70 degrees at least, and some of the most recent work shows that between 60-65 degrees is optimal. So, there is a general time of year- late September into October- when we typically make the application, but it is not a set calendar date.

This year’s applications are occurring slightly later than normal, partly to do with all the rain we had last week, but more importantly, because we had not reached the temperature threshold any earlier. We monitor our on-site temperatures with a soil thermometer every 3-5 days as we approach the historical application timing. There are also websites to check soil temperatures that we use. Putting all this information together and then marrying it to the weather and our golf schedule is the biggest challenge. Having the most important application of the season ready to be made, but juggling between rain, golf, and our regular maintenance can make it particularly stressful.

Last year, we also upgraded to the most highly recommended pesticides to treat SDS. For many years we used certain chemicals for two main reasons: 1. They were cheaper; with our acreage of Bermuda grass, a large volume of any material is needed and thus the price rises quickly. 2. There were very few, if any, other products that really provided any control for SDS. That has changed recently. Chemical companies have supplied several new chemistries that are providing much improved control for the fungus. The downside is that these new products come with a steeper price, however, after upgrading last year, the results were worth the price. This year, and going forward, we will stick with these newest materials because of the improvement in control provided.

The last key to a successful SDS program is water. The fungus lives in the thatch and soil- not in the plant. Any product we apply- the cheap or the expensive- is worthless if we do not water it down into the soil profile sufficiently. Recommendations are for at least 1/8” of water immediately after application. As we are driving the sprayer off the turf, the water is already started. It is very difficult to apply this much water through the irrigation system evenly, but the goal is to make sure the material does not remain at the surface.

Having healthy Bermuda grass in the summer relies very heavily on a strong Spring Dead Spot control program. We have made some changes in the last few years. Especially last year, we had great results from these changes, and we are continuing the process this year.

 

 

Starting in November, we will reduce new posts to once per month. Thank you

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please stay off all grass surfaces during a frost delay.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Project preview

The end of September marks a great time of year: the weather usually has turned cooler, the leaves start to get fall colors, and the course is in good shape. This time of year also marks the start of our project season. Bunker renovations, drain work, and anything else we can’t do during the summer, gets underway now.

If you have played golf recently, then you noticed we got a jump start on bunker work this year. We are scheduled to work on 13 green, thru 16 this year. After many years of the same procedure, the Grounds staff are pros at breaking down a bunker, removing the trash sod, and laying new grass. #13 greenside bunkers are relatively small, and don’t need a lot of grass, so we were able to squeeze them into this window between the Match Play Championship and Men’s Member Guest. We are just awaiting dry weather to lay the new sod.

You may also see some dashed lines painted in certain areas across the course. These are marking new drain lines that we will install through the winter. We have been too wet to do most things on the golf course lately, but one thing the rain was good for, was to help identify the exact track that water likes to take in these particular drainage areas. While the ground was saturated, and even with standing water on the surface in some instances, we went out and painted exactly where the new drain line should run to maximize the water we capture.

All this work will take place in and around the leaf cleanup that will be starting soon. We also have regular maintenance that still takes place throughout the fall. But the projects are a welcome change, both because it is a different type of work than the sometimes monotonous summer work, but also because we make the biggest strides in improvement doing these projects.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please be careful not to damage the lip of the cup when retrieving your ball after putting out.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Shop organization

September is probably our busiest month of the year for the golf course. The weather is nearly perfect, and the golf course is usually in peak form. Member play is at its maximum and our outing schedule is packed. Because of all of this, the Grounds department has several half days when it is counter productive to even be out on the course, so we tackle some other tasks on our list.

Since our property is so large, we usually have other work somewhere else on site that needs to be done once the golf course is prepped. Soccer, tennis, pool grounds, or just the acres green space, can use attention. When the golf course is too busy for us, these other areas can benefit. We have the opportunity to send several staff to work on projects we may have put off previously.

The stacks of pipe that we will
be sorting

Another area of focus during these busy times is at our shop. Cleaning and organizing inside and out of our maintenance building is important. Not only does it protect our equipment, but knowing where tools are when you need them is efficient. Also, maintaining a clean workspace shows that we value our job and projects a presentable facility to visitors.

One particular area at our shop that had been neglected was our irrigation and drainpipe storage. We keep several different sizes and lengths of irrigation pipe at our shop for when we need to make small repairs to our system. We only stock 20-30 of the most common sizes total, if we were doing a larger project we would make a separate order. But this allows us to make emergency repairs when something comes up and we can’t wait.

The same goes for our drainage pipe, although we keep less of this on hand because we don’t often have to make emergency drain repairs (although, 1 season was so wet, that we were adding drains left and right!). However, we do keep some on hand, mostly leftover pieces from past projects, as well as many different connection pieces.

All this pipe is stored around the back side of our shop, near the practice range. Part of the reason it gets neglected is due to our work on the rest of the property, but it also is not a place we need to get into all that often. It gets overgrown with weeds because there is not regular traffic, nor is it accessible for a mower. But starting last week, we mobilized nearly our entire staff to start organizing. Our first step was to simply move all the pipe out of the way, and thoroughly trim all the brush down, which we accomplished. We haven’t continued any further yet, but over the next few weeks our goals are: comb through all the pipe and make sure everything is usable, sorting as we go, and level the ground underneath so that we can set pallets down on which to stack the pipe.

This is the storage area for the pipe. It
has been partially cleaned out now.

Organizing the shop won’t affect anyone’s experience at Bretton Woods, but it is still an important aspect of our maintenance of the facility. Keeping our space and tools clean leads to taking better care of the course, which does directly impact every golfer.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please be careful not to damage the lip of the cup when retrieving your ball after putting out.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Newest tee markers

Many years ago, we had wooden tee markers that were nice, but plain. Next, we upgraded to metal markers that were cut in the shape of our tree logo. After years with the metal version, it was time for another upgrade.

Tee markers, like most accessories on the course, can be customized. Although some golfers may not even pay attention to the look of the tee markers, the markers are still important. Every player must play from those locations on every tee. Having unique markers allows courses to differentiate themselves and add some flair to the experience.

Items like tee markers also wear out over time.  The old wooden markers were especially prone to deterioration. Water and sun were tough on the wood, even with several coats of paint and sealing. The metal style that we had for the intermediate years were much sturdier and resistant to the elements. However, the paint on them would still be peeling by the end of the season and would require work each winter. But we are hoping this newest style will be longer lasting, both in terms of holding up to Mother Nature, as well as changing aesthetic tastes.

Our new markers are made from colored, recycled plastic to match our existing tee colors. Our logo is etched into one side of each marker. They are very solid and should be the most tolerant of the elements of any of our recent styles. Water should not be an issue at all, and the sun should not cause them to fade either.

When a tee marker design is nice or too plain, is the time they are noticed most. Our new design is not plain, so we hope everyone enjoys the change.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please be careful not to damage the lip of the cup when retrieving your ball after putting out.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org