LEDGEROCK GOLF CLUB MAINTENANCE: 2016

The year is winding down and we are still getting short bursts of warmer than normal temperatures. While I'm perfectly happy not to be dealing with winter just yet, the fluctuation in the weather adds some frustration when trying to keep the course open for play. While the warmer days make for a chance to get out and play, they also cause the surface to thaw, which can cause damage to the roots, so it has to stay closed. I've discussed this numerous times in previous posts but wanted to mention it again with some pictures from last weekend to show what is happening. The forecast is for some warm days over the holiday period so we plan on having the course open whenever it is possible without doing damage.

Standing water on 2 Green. The surface had thawed but the rootzone was frozen appox 1" down so the water sat on top as it had no where to go. Walking on the turf will cause damage to the plants as the roots will be broken at the point of transition between the wet thawed turf and the frozen rootzone. It is not an issue when the entire profile is frozen solid and less of an issue if the turf area is dry.

More examples of standing water on 4 & 5

The maximum depth of core that could be removed before hitting the frozen rootzone

This video shows how firm the frozen layer is. At the end you can also see how wet the surface is under the boot.

The bunkers suffered from the same issue. Here the bunker on 12 had standing water in it. The video below shows that the sand on the very top had thawed but underneath the sand had frozen preventing water getting to the liner & drainage.

We've been busy getting the budgets ready for next year, taking some time off, getting education & credits, mowing fescues and brush and working on extending the chemical room to provide more storage. Once the new year starts we will start some tree work and a few other smaller projects around the course.

I discussed the driving range project last time, however the other big capital project for 2016 was behind the scenes with the building of a new maintenance barn. The existing barn is over a hundred years old and in decent shape for it's age. It was modified before construction to provide a maintenance shop and some storage on the ground floor with more storage upstairs. There was an old barn to the west of the big barn that was in a poor state of repair so it was removed and this area became the topdressing storage bins.

The soil bins built in place of an old barn that was removed.

The recycle washpad attached to the soil bins.

Interior of the chemical and fertilizer storage with the mechanicals for the washpad

There was an alcove to the west end of the barn that was roofed and became the chemical room. With these additions the old barn provided a decent facility for a start up golf course, however due to it's age it needed work to handle the loads that were required of it. Last spring it was decided that a new structure be built to house the equipment. The cost to renovate the old barn to make it suitable to hold the equipment upstairs was very high, so it made financial sense to build a new barn from scratch.

The old equipment storage was very cramped (this is the old downstairs storage)

Upstairs storage was adequate with the original equipment fleet......

but it became cramped and overloaded as the fleet grew

The new barn was designed to house all the equipment. Cody cut out scale footprints of each piece of equipment and placed them in a scale floorplan to work out the best options for storage and how large a facility was needed. The new barn houses all the mowing equipment along one wall, while all the misc equipment is along the other. This makes it easy to access any piece without the need to move another. The center aisle houses all the utility carts with room to spare and also has enough room to park the plow truck which is really nice to come into when it snows! The upper stone parking lot behind the soil bins was also paved as part of the project and provides a nice additional staging area.

Site prep for the new barn

The builders moved fast, this was four days after they started!!

Each piece of equipment had its own dedicated parking spot

The upper parking lot is now paved and provides a nice additional storage area

The maintenance shop remains in the lower level of the old barn and in time it will be renovated to ensure it lasts another hundred years (as the base structure is sound) and to provide much needed storage for the clubhouse on the upper level. This winter the course staff have been working in the downstairs storage area of the new barn that is now vacant. Part of the storage is being walled off which will extend the chemical and fertilizer storage. This will provide more room when the sprayers are parked. By moving the mechanicals for recycling the equipment wash pad water outside to the washpad it will facilitate the installation of the new premix system in the chem room which will speed up and make safer the mixing process.

The new barn is directly behind 15 green. It changed the view a little with the tip of the roof visible and the new fence. There plantings along the fence will restore the view as they mature.

The entire maintenance staff love the new facilities and look forward to the planned renovations in the future. Over the next few months the changes the staff are working on to the old barn will make it flow even better, so equipment can be picked up easily.

As 2016 winds to an ends I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

As promised, the updates will be a little more frequent than they have over the last year. The course has been playing great. The weather has been unusually dry and mild so has provided great conditions for fall golf. The yearly battle with the leaves seemed to take longer than normal but the high winds that ushered in the winter weather over the last few days have taken care of the remainder of them. The next job on the list is to get the fescues and brush cut before the snow arrives.

The big project this fall was the renovation of the driving range tees. The tees were built in 2004 and over the years the surface has raised 6-8" from divot repair and the topdressing needed to keep them smooth and level. Over the last two seasons the complaints on the tee conditions greatly increased which was not surprising considering their age. Although the life span can vary - based on my research - most clubs look at resurfacing every 5-6 years so the build up and poorer quality surface is not as noticeable.

Lower Tee in early summer

Upper tee in early summer

Removing the topdressing build-up

Final grading before laser levelling

There was more material than we first thought!

The secondary issue was the club has become significantly busier over the last few seasons resulting in a lot more wear on the driving range tees. The mild spring this year didn't help either, as the tee was being used before the turf woke up, so there was no healing; therefore they started the season in poor shape. The solution was to add mats that can be hit from over the winter and not damage the turf. Additionally the mats will be used for outings and on days that are not traditionally busy to help minimize the wear on the real turf.

Among the complaints was that the driving range tees did not play like a fairway; which was something that is difficult to achieve as the range tees are sand based like a course teebox, whereas the fairways are grown on native soil. A sand based tee is beneficial as it drains well and in summer if it dries out it is not too difficult to push tees into. The turf on the range tees is bentgrass just like the tees and fairways on the course. For consistency it was used again to make them as close to course conditions as possible. Some other grass types that heal quicker were discussed but they would not play like the course.

The west end of the tee where the old bunkers were filled in to create un-level lies for practice

The tees were covered to help speed up germination - the bentgrass seed has germinated and will provide a head start for the spring

The two little practice bunkers were filled in and a larger more usable one was built in front of the tees. The new bunker was designed to provide different shot angles over low and high faces. The area where the old bunkers were filled in was regraded with the native soil to provide an area to practice uneven lies which provides more realistic fairway shots. The lip of the new bunker was built using Ecobunker (marketed as Permaedge in the US). Old synthetic turf is used instead of real sod to create the lip. This helps minimize erosion and contamination of the sand, and when coupled with a liner like Blinder greatly increases the lifespan of the sand and therefore the bunker.