Summer Recap

We had some nice curve balls thrown our way this year.  If you're close to the grounds department you'll know our crew foreman fell seriously ill during men's MG. He made a full recovery, but blog updates, as you can imagine, took a deserved backseat after that. 
I'm going to try to catch all the main events of the season broken down by month. Thanks for bearing with me.

June
In a word: Washout.  With 11 inches of rain, June broke records for Central New York and made for a dismal, soggy month.  The only upside was the course didn't see a lot of play so divots and ballmarks were less than if we'd been full to the gills with tee times.

Flooded again #6

We had some excitement down at the shop when the skid loader lost power to its hydraulics and sat on the maintenance road for a week.  When parts arrived, we made a plywood sled under the loader and with enough horsepower, were able to drag it close to the shop for the repairs to be made.

Physics for the win

Major surgery

In spite of the rain, the pavement job around the first tee and entry and exit roads went off without a hitch. It was a badly needed improvement to the clubhouse area.  As the dust continues to settle up there, and season winds down, we'll revisit the area between the cart staging area and the 9th green to plan for some visual and strategic flair.  So far, the ideas range from a gigantic flower bed to a mounded area with a few trees. More to come!

Waiting for asphalt

Much improved

 July
The first half of July was wet like the month of June except there was one difference - heat.  Unfortunately the few areas on the course that had no relief from standing water ended up essentially being par-boiled.  The turf literally suffocates from sitting in warm water on a daily basis when rainfall is too high and drainage can't move water off fast enough.

Water damage

The second half of the month was super.  Men's 3-day MG saw great weather, save for one evening, and perfect course conditions. The NYSGA held their Women's Amateur championship here and it was well attended. Course was fantastic and nice to see it hold up to skilled outside players.

#17 Picture perfect

August
With the rain tap turned off and heat in full swing, it was time to get down to some serious golf rounds.  The course saw a record amount of play in August between outings and internal special events. With that comes excitement and new experiences, like driving carts, and filling divots!

Unbelievably no one was injured

FYI - Over-filled divots are worse than not filling at all
as it dulls the blades of the fairway mowers.

Age considers; youth ventures

Hydraulic leak

#3 black tee starting to show potential and spawn more ideas

Water damage in 10 fairway grown back (dark green bits) after overseeding

September
The heat and dryness continue. The operating system upgrade of the irrigation system last spring couldn't have come at a better time.  It allows water to be applied more accurately which makes the system more efficient and less costly to run.

 

 Labor Day weekend has come and gone and the college and high school help have retreated back to their respective schools. The grounds staff, and pro shop staff are back to skeleton crews which require longer hours and a different way of looking at things.

It's been another busy, and great season. To quote Bill Moore's comment from this picture posted to facebook: "This place gets it"  Sums it up well.

 

#17

Fall and beyond

Pond algae

Pew

For new members, the reason the pond suffers in the summer with algal bloom is due to several causes

1) Phosphate/nitrate loading resulting in eutrophication. Inflow of manure runoff from the fields upstream during any rain.
2) Shallow bottom of silty organic muck/decomposing manure that heats up in the summer sun.
3) Low oxygen and water circulation through the water column.

The pond likely started out as a farm marsh/pond over 100 years ago before the course was built. At some point, someone decided to dig it deeper and create a water hazard and it's remained relatively unchanged to this day. Unfortunately, they stopped digging when they hit bedrock which, in some places, is only 3 feet deep.  

Tuscarora Proto Pond

Building a functioning pond at a golf course today would require specific parameters.  There are depth minimums, water inflow and outflow rates to be maintained, and a way to control the depth of the pond without adversely affecting surrounding drain pipes that empty into it.

We're giving barley straw another try in the pond to control algae. Decomposing barley straw is thought to give off a substance that inhibits algae.  We'll assess the results this fall and try again next spring.  The idea is to supress the algae before it can get a start each season.  If the Barley straw isn't the answer, the next strategy will be introducing triploid grass carp that eat all aquatic plants including algae.  We hope the type of algae we have is to their liking.

Barley straw caged up and ready to deploy

We'll exhaust all of the least expensive options available to improve the pond before we move on to invest in a permanent solution (which exists).  That will require completely removing the silty manure bottom with a special vacuum dredge as well as adding an additional hi-volume industrial subsurface water mixer/aerator (the same grade used in sewage treatment). This will remove the organic material (and resulting decomposition and nutrient loading that feeds algae) at the same time as making the pond deeper and less prone to algae outbreaks.  Once the pond is cleaned out, biological digestants and grass carp will be added to keep algae and organic buildups in check. 


Into Fall
As fall approaches, the talk of course projects ramps up. The Greens Committee has come up with a list of potential projects and has set a priority for them. There's never-ending potential for improvement of the course as well as work to do down at the shop.  More to come in a future post when projects are under way.
 

Happiest when she's helping

Let it Roll

Six Weeks In

Looking at the calender I see that tomorrow, May 18th, marks only our 6th week out on the course.  This was a later than usual start by two weeks. 

Drainage near 10 green  - April 6th, 2015

 On April 6th we were able to drive on the course for the first time with equipment.  In spite of that, a considerable amount of work has been completed.  It's a relatively short amount of time to take the course from dormancy, to in-shape and playable.  There's a small amount of work to button up but the bulk of construction and course improvements are complete.  It's time to shift gears into our course maintenance mode when we home in on greens conditioning, edging, weed control, and trimming for the remainder of the summer.   The spring grounds crew at Tuscarora is not a large one in number, but they make up for it in experience and efficiency.  I'm proud of my crew for their hard work and dedication to the tasks at hand. 


Change in Plans
Our normal spring aerifying that we accomplish in April was postponed due to the late thaw and subsequent time crunch.  Aerifying with small tines will happen in the normal June time slot.  Expect the holes to be filled with sand and closed up within a few days.  We did aerify 10 green two weeks ago to help the new sod knit together and to better survive the summer months to come.  New sod at greens and tee height tends to struggle under mowing pressure.  Aerifying gives it that little extra room to place roots and hang on.

Weeds, Bugs, and Pesticides
Spring time on golf courses means the use of herbicides and insecticides.  We do the vast majority of our spraying in the early mornings before play and post signs on the first and 10th tees when an application has been made.  This is state law and is also to give people the choice to be on the course that day or not.  Treatments are time sensitive in that they need to be done in favorable weather conditions and done as far away from people as reasonable.  As we are closely monitored by the state of New York, unlike a homeowner, we can't risk making applications unless conditions are perfect and risk to people is low.  This could mean you'll look at a dandelion for a few more days than you'd like, but we're sure you'd rather us be safe and make good decisions than try to spray when conditions are risky.  As always, your patience is appreciated as we try to bring you the best conditions in a responsible way. 

 New Tees
The new tees on 3 and 16 continue to come along nicely.  We have current tee space enough at both sites, and the support of the board, to open these tees when they're mature and can handle the foot traffic. The feeling of the board is to get these tees as healthy and as ready as possible and avoid opening them prematurely.  When asked, I relate their opening to the construction of a new course.  If a new course in Syracuse was seeded in the spring of this year, they probably wouldn't open until fall.   In our situation, it'll be more like a couple of months as I can push such a small area with fertilizer, rollers, and aerifiers.  Expect 3 tee to be in full play in mid-June. Since16 tee was started later I expect it to be playable closer to mens MG week. 

Bluebirds
Andrew Hickey is a member who is also a bird enthusiast and last winter he approached me about a project he wanted to take on.  Andrew was aware that we have a small Bluebird population at Tuscarora that hangs out between 16 green and the woods on 5/6.  Encouraging them to return every year is a good thing as they are ravenous insect eaters.  Here's some information Andrew put together explaining his project.  Thanks, Andrew!

As you may have noticed, pairs of bluebird nest boxes have been added to Tuscarora on holes #3, #4, #7, and #14. There are two main reasons (besides their beautiful craftsmanship, of course) why you will often see bluebird houses on golf courses.

Bluebirds and tree swallows (pictured) nest in natural cavities in trees. Golf courses provide terrific habitat for these species since there is an abundance of insects and open spaces. Many trees on golf courses that would have these cavities are usually removed, often because they are either dying or diseased, so these boxes help provide an attractive alternative.

Bluebird houses have also helped the species rebound after it was severely decimated by the introduction of non-native species, specifically house sparrows and starlings. These European immigrants are voracious competitors for food and nesting space, often killing bluebirds while fighting over nesting sites. Luckily we don't have too many house sparrows and the holes in the nest boxes are just large enough for bluebirds, but too small for starlings.

It is my hope that members of Tuscarora will enjoy observing these birds while they court, build their nests, and raise their young.  I will be going around and monitoring the boxes once a week to maintain and record any nesting activities for The Cornell Lab or Ornithology's NestWatch (http://nestwatch.org). If anyone is interested in learning more, including children, I would be happy to take you along to learn more about the process and peer inside the boxes.

Zoom in -- each box has a bird perched on it already.

     

On the Horizon
Over the next month here's what you'll be seeing relating to grounds work:

• Tees aerified and overseeded, especially ones that took winter damage 
• Greens aerified after Memorial Day
• Fairway divot filling crew
• More irrigation work on older pipe sections
• Flower bed addition and improvement
• New plantings to replace winter damaged ones around clubhouse
• Pavement work around the club and 1st tee

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

Sprung

This picture was taken 2 weeks ago.  April 6th was the first day we could get a cart on the course and move around.  My hat is off to our grounds crew for a quick clean up and some long days working around rains and inclement weather.

Course Conditions

From a grass growing perspective, we had a perfect winter with a deep freeze that came and never went away. There was never a chance for winter injury like we saw in 2014.  The difference between the two years, simply, was staying frozen in 2015 and repeated freeze/thaws in 2014.  Whenever we thaw out in mid winter, to the extent we did in 2014, the risk on poa annua greens (our grass type) skyrockets.  It's a dice roll when those conditions persist.
Other than some snow mold disease we see on some of the tees, the course came through the winter looking healthy.  
Worms/castings will soon be an issue in fairways and will be managed when they appear to be causing quality issues.  Over the next 2 weeks crabgrass control is being applied from tee through green. We'll do our best to avoid play, but we'd appreciate, and recommend, steering wide of the tractor spreader if you find yourself in the same area.

Projects

Tees and trees were/are the big work projects this winter and spring.  3 tee has been finished and 16 is ready but for a final coat of topsoil and seeding. Tree work was done mostly over winter and early this spring.  
Trees removed were either in poor health or creating thin turf and a poor growing environment for adjacent tees and greens.  
The mess down around the creek on 10 and 11 started with dredging the creek over winter.  Cleaning up such a wet area is slow work.  We made some progress on it over the weekend and added a new catch basin and another drainage ditch (and did the same on the 11 tee side). The drier it gets, the sooner we can get in there and finish what we began.  
The large pile of logs between 6 and 7 are being stored there until we have the time to dispose of them.  This will likely be when the college kids arrive and we have more hands on deck. 
Any trees we removed had the stumps pulled out as well.  These holes will be filled as weather and dry topsoil allows.  

We'll see you out there.

Winter Update

Happy New Year from the Grounds Department! We're well into the freeze here which means the grinders are sparking away down at the shop and every machine that's let out on the course is being serviced and outfitted for the upcoming golfing season.  We'll be busy right up to the snow melt with rebuilding and servicing the mower fleet.  

The daily grind - 30 to go

 Irrigation upgrade
We will be updating our computerized irrigation system this winter with a new operating system and new software and hardware from Rainbird.  Our old system was 16 years old and support for both the OS and irrigation software had been discontinued.  We'll be using Atlantic Irrigation, our new Rainbird distributor.  In preparation, we're making a "clean room" to house the electronics to mitigate the dust and dirt that is inherent with the grounds building.  

Pete Jacobs putting on the finishing touch

Fall/Winter Projects
Since the last blog update we've been busy on the golf course.  The Greens Committee and BOD met in the fall and decided new tees on 3 and 16 would be added. Tree removal was also on the project list with take-downs focusing on diseased Ash trees, storm damaged trees or dangerous/rotting trees, dying Austrian Pines, and trees that were either casting shade onto tees and greens or causing growth problems due to root encroachment.  
In total, we've removed over 50 trees this winter. 

3 tee before reconstruction

 

half way there

final grade

16 tee looking to 10 green

16 final grade

 Memorial Trees
6 trees went in this fall around the course.  We hope this trend continues as it's a great way to repopulate the course with species that thrive in our soils.  It's a positive and timeless way to add beauty to the property.  If you're interested in purchasing a memorial tree, contact the Superintendent, Steve Kurta, at the shop or by email through this blog.

American Beech on #10

 Ski tracks
We've groomed the ski track just once this winter with our new snowmobile that Scott Lewis generously supplied.  All we need is more snow!  Thanks, Scott.  It runs like a beast!

Running a track down 1 fairway

 

440 Panther - groomer duty

Course conditions
After last winter, all Superintendents are a little jumpy when it comes to watching their grass go under snow cover.  Happily, we're having an uneventful winter.  We haven't had any major melting events, no rain or subzero temps for longer than a few days.  Temperatures have been stable and we've avoided the freeze/thaw cycles that played havoc with the greens last year.  Fingers are crossed for the rest of the season.