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

Miniature golf pond

One of the winter projects for the Grounds department this off-season was to put a new liner in the mini golf course pond. After several months of short bursts of work, we completed the job last week.

Some people may not even be aware of the miniature golf course that is located on Bretton Woods property. Those who are aware may not have ever been up to the location though. The course sits on the knoll above and to the left of the clubhouse parking lot as you enter.

The new liner was just installed. The smaller
stone lines the bottom.

The course landscaping was fully renovated back in 2014. The new design included adding large amounts of stone between holes and new plants to freshen the look. Also, there was a new water feature added, consisting of a reservoir pond that is pumped slightly uphill to the top of a recirculating creek.

We have had issues keeping water in the pond since the renovation. Every few days the pond would be nearly empty with no discernible leak or other outlet for the water. So, this year we laid a new liner directly over the existing one to help retain water better. Though we never found a leak in the original liner, refraining from disturbing it and possibly creating a leak, we instead left in place and the new liner simply adds another layer of protection.

A picture of the completed pond,
with all of the stone replaced on
the new liner.

The pond itself contains stone that needed to be moved before we could get the new liner in place. First the grounds staff moved the large stones out of the pit. Then, in half of the pond, the smaller stone was shoveled all the way down to the existing liner. The new liner was laid on the clear half and then all the stone was shoveled from one half, back to the other, onto the new liner. Finally, the remainder of the liner was stretched out and half of the stone was moved back over the top, fully covering the new liner.

The miniature golf course doesn’t see as many rounds as the main golf course does. But it keeps the Grounds department busy making sure it is in the best condition possible.

Weekly posts will resume in March. Thank you.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please avoid walking through overly saturated or puddled areas on greens if possible.

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

Winter weed spray

We have begun our winter weed treatment program. We are making spot treatments on tees and fairways.

As we discussed in December, we wanted to wait a little later into the winter to begin spraying weeds. Although the Bermuda grass has been brown and visually dormant for a long time, it can actually take much longer for the very deepest parts of the plant to harden off.

The blue tinted areas are where the
spray was applied. You can see
large areas where there is no blue
that no chemical was necessary.

Although the temperatures can swing wildly, the actual main driver of dormancy is soil temperatures. And the soil temperatures do not fluctuate like the air temperature. The soil temperatures have been steadily dropping since the fall and we are now well into a safe time to begin our applications.

Last week we started our tee and approach applications. These will take place over several weeks because we must do it with a backpack sprayer. The tees are too small and confined to work with our big 300-gallon sprayer, especially considering that anything that gets sprayed will die. We can’t take the chance of accidentally spraying the rough around the tees.

We also started and completed the spot spraying of fairways. This process consists of driving our large sprayer up and down the fairways, but only spraying where weeds are present. This is a very targeted and efficient application, which uses a very limited amount of chemical.

Prior to the Bermuda grass damage sustained in the winter of 2017/2018, we were nearly weed free in all Bermuda grass and had not made a winter weed application in 2 years. Starting with this winter’s treatment, we are working to get back to a clean slate.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not try and remove a flag stick that is frozen into the cup. Turf damage may occur.

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