Minimum maintenance

As we all continue to do our part by social distancing, we are doing the bare minimum on the golf course. Several crucial maintenance practices must be done at this time to ensure a good season.

At this point we still expect to re-open at some time this season. In order for the course to be the best possible whenever that is, we must accomplish several key tasks. First, we must control seed heads on greens, which is very important. Allowing the plant to go to seed uses a great deal of its energy reserves and weakens the plant as we head into summer. We have already made several applications to prevent seed heads but the process continues through the spring.

Next, we also must begin our first round of control for the Annual Bluegrass weevil. This pest has consistently increased the amount of damage it inflicts and missing the window for the first control of the season can be devastating. This first application targets the adults and the more that are controlled the less eggs that are laid. This application will be upcoming this week.

Lastly, we must begin our pre-emergent weed control. Some of this is already in place. The pre-emergent on the Bermuda grass has been down for 2 weeks now. In another week or so we will make a herbicide application to kill any non-Bermuda grass weeds also. We also must make a pre-emergent application in all of the rough to prevent weeds through the season. This is still upcoming and should be done by mid-April.

We still have not brought our staff back to work, for everyone's safety. We will continue on these essential tasks but as of now the more regular maintenance will not be completed. Please be patient and bear with us as we all try to weather this storm.

Thank you

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Virus notice

As global concern about the current COVID-19 outbreak grows, our top priority is the health and safety of our staff and members. We have been closely monitoring the situation, and following recommendations from the CDC and local, state, and federal health agencies we have decided to suspend all operations at Bretton Woods until further notice.

Due to the virus, work on the grounds has stalled. Please expect routine maintenance to be deferred as there is no staff currently working. We are doing our best to maintain the absolute essentials in hopes that when some normalcy returns, we are not too far behind to salvage the season.

Please leave flagsticks in and discontinue use of bunker rakes and ball washers until further notice. 

Do not use the bathrooms or water coolers on the course. Any point of shared contact should be avoided.

We will continue to update the website regarding frost delays. Please check there first and obey any notice or signage. Also, please read any updates that come via email regarding Bretton Woods.

Thank you. Stay healthy.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Entrance ditch revitalization

As you drive down our entrance road towards the tennis and soccer facilities, you drop quite a bit in elevation. As water comes down the slope towards the creek at the bottom, it has brought a lot of silt over the years. We just completed the task of reopening the ditch on one side of the road to better allow the water to make it into the creek.

When you are driving down the road, the last stretch of the ditch along the right side of the road had become clogged with debris and soil. This section flattens out considerably before reaching the creek, especially in comparison to the slope of the road. Water had moved silt and other material down the hill very effectively, but then had bogged down in the flat area. The soil had deposited here and had begun to create a dam. Water always finds a way to flow downhill; in this case it was turning out towards the road.

We wanted to clear the ditch and reestablish the direct path for the water to enter the creek. First, we needed to remove the brush that had been encroaching for years. The next step was to remove all the built-up soil, sticks, leaves, and other detritus that had accumulated. Following the path that the water would naturally want to travel, we began excavating a new trench.

The final step was to place stone in the trench to help control erosion in the future. While we did not lay the rip rap the entire length of the hill, we did fill in the last 30 yards, which includes the last steep section, as well as the entire more level area.

This was a relatively minor and simple project, but one that needed to be done. The trench is much cleaner in appearance and will function much better now.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Sprinkler wiring repair

Last year, as part of a stormy period, we had lightning strike a spot in #7 fairway. You can read about it and see the pictures here. Some damage occurred to our irrigation system and we repaired what we needed to at the time to remain functional. However, there were a couple of damaged wires in the ground that we elected to delay repairing. Last week, we finally were able to complete the project.

Two individual sprinklers on #7 fairway were not working properly since the lightning strike. Neither was in a high priority area, like around the green. Instead of trenching in these locations during the season and disrupting the fall golf season, we waited. We still had the ability to manually operate the sprinklers; they were just not connected to our central control nor to our radio control system.

One of the new trenches after completion

With guidance from our irrigation consultant, we were able to narrow down, but not perfectly identify the exact location where the wire malfunctioned. The wires had most likely been damaged by the lightning, but not knowing physically how the lightning impacted, spread, and damaged the wire, locating the exact location turned out to be too hard. Thus, a new wire became the only viable repair option.

So, instead of trenching a new wire from our satellite box (the gray boxes scattered around the property), we chose to trench just from the closest sprinkler and wire them in tandem. Now, the two sprinklers are paired (which is very common for us and other facilities) and will operate together as one station.

We were lucky the lightning strike did not do more damage to the sprinklers on #7 or any other hole. Replacing to wires, over a relatively short distance is not too steep of a price to pay to maintain the full operation of our irrigation system.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Early spring update

While spring is not officially here yet, we have been out doing some spring-like things so far.

Last week we aerated greens. This may seem early in the season for such a task, but we have a very clear reason for this approach. Later in the spring we will be using Plant Growth Regulators (PGR’s) to control the seed heads that our primary green’s grass, Poa annua, produces every year. These chemicals are excellent at limiting the seed heads by severely stunting the growth of the plant. In doing so, the PGR’s also restrict the healing of aeration holes. By aerating so early in the season, we can separate the time of aeration from our first PGR application by as much as possible. We achieve as much healing as we can before we shut the growth of the plant down.

Getting aeration completed early in the season is great for several reasons.
But it also means a very dark start to the process!

The Grounds department has also been cleaning out all the flower beds. We remove any debris that has collected over the winter. Trim any plants that need it and edge the entire bed for a crisp look. We will be adding new wood chips also, but we are still currently waiting for our wood pile to be ground into said chips.

We also accomplished one job that we don’t usually do at this time of year: we trimmed around all the sprinklers on the course. Normally we will wait until much deeper into spring before tackling this, but not only did we have time and conducive weather, but we also believe this timing will provide a cleaner look through spring. None of the grass is growing well just yet, so the trim that we completed now should last much later into spring.

We also are slowly getting our accessories back out onto the course. As we gradually lose sight of the bitter cold of winter, we will be getting things like ball washers and water coolers placed back out. Tee markers will be swapped out; benches and cart posts will return; and new flags will give a fresh look.

Spring does not officially start for another couple of weeks. The Grounds department is working to get a step ahead though.

Also, we are now returning to weekly posts. Thank you

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org