Fall Update.

 The last month has been dreadful weather wise, and it's been difficult to present decent playing conditions for the membership.  We can say, with some confidence, that the summer was one of the best that we have had in a while, which has been both from excellent weather and a tremendous effort from the staff.  A long hot summer, which could be easily forgotten by the recent monsoon like weather, created challenges for the staff which were unusual for the region.  Both Hugh and I would like to thank them for their efforts and determination in making the golf course more enjoyable for the membership.  September was particularly challenging as the the incredible amount of rain we experienced created almost weekly renovations of the bunkers.  It seemed that just as we had repaired from the last storm a new one would decimated the bunkers again.  On the 23rd of September we received the worst of the rain, as you can see from the picture of my previous post.  We can expect similar damage from the rain from hurricane Sandy, and will undoubtedly be working on the traps in the next couple of days.  Here are some photos from the aftermath of the storm on the 23 of September.

Number 17 fairway bunker

Number 3 Green side bunker

Number 11

Number 9

Number 4

You can see from the pictures that the damage is extensive.  The darker material in the bottom of the bunker is the contaminate washed down from the sides of the traps.  As the sand gets washed away from the edges the material underneath the sand washes down and eventually settles in the bottom of the strap.  This material, or silt, must be removed from the trap before it can be repaired, other wise it will find it's way into the drainage and eventually clog the system.

The first step is to pump out the water.

The next step is skim the silt from the sand and leave it in rows to be picked up.  All of this work must be done by hand.  Bunker sand is very expensive and it's important to only take the silt from the trap and limit the the removal of the good sand.

The rows are then picked up.

The next step is to shovel the sand from the low point in the bunker to the washed out areas.  In smaller bunkers like the left hand side of number two, the work must also be done by hand.

In larger bunkers, like number 14 green, we use the blade on the front of the bunker rake to push the sand up.

The last step is to top up any bunkers with fresh sand.  Unfortunately, this process occurred all too often in September and October, but it`s part of maintaining the golf course and must be done.  With the late fall storm we are experiencing today, some of this work will be in our future.  Why not just leave until the spring?  Mainly because the contamination would only worsen over the winter and during the spring melt.

Stuart and Phil are removing all of the annuals on the course and around the clubhouse.  In addition to winterizing the course gardens and bringing in the blubs, the fellas are in charge of the fall display around the entrance of the club house. Here's the some of there work.

As the season winds down and the turf slows down, we begin taking on some of the normal fall projects and winterizing the course. One of our typical fall jobs is drainage work.  I guess the silver lining to all this poor weather, is that the areas on the course that need drainage work are very obvious.  Over the years, the maintainace staff has installed thousands of feet of drainage on the golf course, beginning with the areas in play, mainly fairways and walk ons.  One of the fairways that still gives us a problem during heavy rains is number 14.  Last week we tackled that issue.  Here's a video of the work.

Last year when we severed the old irrigation pump from the irrigation system on number twelve we found that the area in the center of the fairway around the valve cluster was very sandy.  We trenched a short drain to an existing drain and thought that would correct the problem.  Click here to see the post about that project.  During the summer when the conditions were so dry our fix appeared to have done the trick.  Only when the rains came in September did we realize that the drain was insufficient and would have to be extended. 

Here is a video of the that project and some work we are doing on the right hand side of six green.

 The next few weeks will mainly be drainage work and closing the course.  we have already begun to bring in the sundry equipment around the course, from ball washers to garbage cans.  Next week we will start blowing out the irrigation system and shutting down the washrooms on the golf course.  While the course is still open there will be a temporary washroom on number five, as the permanent one is run from the irrigation. 
On a personal note and totally unrelated to golf, my wife and I are celebrating the birth of our first child, Amelia Magdalene Fletcher.  This is probably not the correct forum for birth announcements, but I'm really proud and intend on telling everyone.

The newest member of team Oakfield.