Once again I find myself appoligizing for the gap in posts for this blog. I began to write this post right after the Men's Club Championship and am only now finding time to finish. The irony is that I had just written an article for our Association magazine on blogging for a turf department which pointed out how important it is to be timely. I will try to be more attentive in the future. Here is the post as I had written it a while ago.
Today is the day after the Senior Men's Championship and it seems as the membership had both a great experience and enjoyed the playing conditions. The real heroes of the day (or rather weekend) are the staff and the terrific effort that they put forth. Their attention to detail and desire to provide the best product they could is evident by awesome conditions present during the tournament. I am very proud of job they have done. Our goal is keep up the levels of effort for the rest of the summer and to continue to provide the best conditions we can (although the rain today is a welcome break).
John Conner, our Pesticide Application Technician and one of the key members of the Oakfield maintenance staff is leaving the golf course to work on the construction of Brunello Estates. This is an excellent opportunity for John to gain some valuable construction experience and further his already impressive resume. We wish John the best of luck and success at his new position. While not actively seeking a replacement at the moment, any keener's that would like to send a resume are welcome to apply.
This summer is shaping up to be ideal as far as weather are concerned. The cooler spring temperatures have obviously abated and we are in prime grass growing weather. The record breaking temperatures of the summer have provided the basis for some of the best golfing conditions we have had over the last few years. The key to success with a golf course (in very general and non scientific terms) is being able to control inputs. Specifically water. The well timed rains of June and July have built up water in the soil but were infrequent enough to allow for course to dry down. Green speed is greatly affected by the amount of moisture in the turf, too much and friction is increased.
This has been a big year for our irrigation system. In 2013, a wet summer by historical measure, we used 3.5 million gallons of water for the entire year. This year we have used 2.8 million to date. Obviously the amount of water used this year indicates that this year has been dryer as opposed to others. 2.8 million gallons sounds like a lot of water... it is a lot of water, so much in fact it's hard visualize.
On a regular night of watering we would use approximately 55,000 gallons of water to irrigate the greens. The area watered by the green side sprinklers is about 360,000 square feet. So that works out to about .15 gallons (570 ml) per square foot. Or this amount of water.
So basically, the greens receive the above amount of water (per square foot) whenever we run the irrigation on a regular cycle. We can alter the amount of water going out by the length of time that the sprinklers run. Our goal is to irrigate with enough water to keep the turf healthy and still provide decent playing conditions.
So here's the important part, we control how much goes out. In a moderate storm, we can receive 25 mm of rain, more 5 times the amount the sprinklers put out. In heavy rain falls the soil becomes saturated and can contribute to lower green speeds, soft ground conditions and growth spurts. This years lack of heavy rains and good timing of what rain we've had, has given us the opportunity to excel in our conditioning. The drier days also mean that cloud coverage is less then a wetter year and the plants are bathed in an abundance of sunlight, a input that is absolutely necessary for healthy turf. So as far as weather goes things are awesome.
Its also important to note that moisture levels are not the only aspect of our input that affect green speed but they certainly play a large part.
Over the past few weeks a large part of the comments about the course have been very positive. Usually when meeting members on the course I ask about the conditioning and lately I have been hearing a fair amount of criticism about the bunkers. Most of which revolves around how much sand is in the bunkers and when we plan to add sand. I have put together a video to explain our process for correcting the sand levels, but there are a few things that golfers should know before watching the video.
The amount of sand in a trap is not a static quantity. The level of sand is always diminishing but several factors at different rates. Wind, rain and play are the largest contributors to the sand levels dropping. The location of the trap also affects the rate at which the sand is diminished. A par three like thirteen that has three traps close to a small green will have more play and by extension more sand splashed out.
The sand is mobile. Given that if we never attended the maintenance of bunker, all of the sand would be in the bottom. It requires constant attention to make sure that the sand depths are at the correct levels. Factors like rain, raking (both us and members), players walking out the high side of the trap, the construction of the trap all contribute to sand movement. Maintenance of sand traps are the in the top three of all the labour consumers at the golf course.
The traps are hazards.
There are no specific guidelines. I spent some time researching the standard for sand depths in the golf course industry. I could find not specific indications in the CPGA or the RCGA, and the USGA had this to say:
"It is important to realize that the sand in a bunker is not at a consistent depth throughout the entire bunker area. Sand on the sloped face normally is kept shallow to help avoid plugging or fried-egg lies. The depth gradually increases to the flat portion of the hazard. Generally, the base or floor of a greenside bunker needs 4 to 6 inches of sand, whereas a fairway bunker commonly needs 2 to 4 inches. That said, the exact depth should be determined by the physical attributes of the sand and desired playability."
Here at Oakfield the base of the bunkers is predominately native soil. Whenever we get a large rain fall the sand washes down exposes the bunker base. If it rains hard enough that bunker base also erodes and then contaminates the sand with fine materials. Theses fines, then mix with the larger granules in the sand an are easily compacted. To avoid this situation we line the bottom of the bunkers with "Sand Trapper" a material specifically designed for preventing the base from eroding. If you have ever caught one of these liners with a club you know that it can really fetch up and hurt. We recognise this and as the final sentence in the USGA description suggests, must increase the amount of sand on the side to prevent the liners from interfering with playability. In the following video I explain how we check the depths and make adjustment to the traps.
In the video you will note that at the lower end of the traps there is often an abundance of sand that needs to be relocated to the slopes. Bunker sand is very costly, and simply adding sand is not the ideal answer. We locate excess sand, relocate it and then if necessary add more from our stock pile.
Its also important to note that this is an ongoing process, not a once or twice a year event. We try to check depths on a regular basis and immediately address any specific complainants from members.
To see the video click here.
Stay tuned for further posts.
Today is the day after the Senior Men's Championship and it seems as the membership had both a great experience and enjoyed the playing conditions. The real heroes of the day (or rather weekend) are the staff and the terrific effort that they put forth. Their attention to detail and desire to provide the best product they could is evident by awesome conditions present during the tournament. I am very proud of job they have done. Our goal is keep up the levels of effort for the rest of the summer and to continue to provide the best conditions we can (although the rain today is a welcome break).
John Conner, our Pesticide Application Technician and one of the key members of the Oakfield maintenance staff is leaving the golf course to work on the construction of Brunello Estates. This is an excellent opportunity for John to gain some valuable construction experience and further his already impressive resume. We wish John the best of luck and success at his new position. While not actively seeking a replacement at the moment, any keener's that would like to send a resume are welcome to apply.
This summer is shaping up to be ideal as far as weather are concerned. The cooler spring temperatures have obviously abated and we are in prime grass growing weather. The record breaking temperatures of the summer have provided the basis for some of the best golfing conditions we have had over the last few years. The key to success with a golf course (in very general and non scientific terms) is being able to control inputs. Specifically water. The well timed rains of June and July have built up water in the soil but were infrequent enough to allow for course to dry down. Green speed is greatly affected by the amount of moisture in the turf, too much and friction is increased.
This has been a big year for our irrigation system. In 2013, a wet summer by historical measure, we used 3.5 million gallons of water for the entire year. This year we have used 2.8 million to date. Obviously the amount of water used this year indicates that this year has been dryer as opposed to others. 2.8 million gallons sounds like a lot of water... it is a lot of water, so much in fact it's hard visualize.
On a regular night of watering we would use approximately 55,000 gallons of water to irrigate the greens. The area watered by the green side sprinklers is about 360,000 square feet. So that works out to about .15 gallons (570 ml) per square foot. Or this amount of water.
So here's the important part, we control how much goes out. In a moderate storm, we can receive 25 mm of rain, more 5 times the amount the sprinklers put out. In heavy rain falls the soil becomes saturated and can contribute to lower green speeds, soft ground conditions and growth spurts. This years lack of heavy rains and good timing of what rain we've had, has given us the opportunity to excel in our conditioning. The drier days also mean that cloud coverage is less then a wetter year and the plants are bathed in an abundance of sunlight, a input that is absolutely necessary for healthy turf. So as far as weather goes things are awesome.
Its also important to note that moisture levels are not the only aspect of our input that affect green speed but they certainly play a large part.
Over the past few weeks a large part of the comments about the course have been very positive. Usually when meeting members on the course I ask about the conditioning and lately I have been hearing a fair amount of criticism about the bunkers. Most of which revolves around how much sand is in the bunkers and when we plan to add sand. I have put together a video to explain our process for correcting the sand levels, but there are a few things that golfers should know before watching the video.
The amount of sand in a trap is not a static quantity. The level of sand is always diminishing but several factors at different rates. Wind, rain and play are the largest contributors to the sand levels dropping. The location of the trap also affects the rate at which the sand is diminished. A par three like thirteen that has three traps close to a small green will have more play and by extension more sand splashed out.
The sand is mobile. Given that if we never attended the maintenance of bunker, all of the sand would be in the bottom. It requires constant attention to make sure that the sand depths are at the correct levels. Factors like rain, raking (both us and members), players walking out the high side of the trap, the construction of the trap all contribute to sand movement. Maintenance of sand traps are the in the top three of all the labour consumers at the golf course.
The traps are hazards.
There are no specific guidelines. I spent some time researching the standard for sand depths in the golf course industry. I could find not specific indications in the CPGA or the RCGA, and the USGA had this to say:
"It is important to realize that the sand in a bunker is not at a consistent depth throughout the entire bunker area. Sand on the sloped face normally is kept shallow to help avoid plugging or fried-egg lies. The depth gradually increases to the flat portion of the hazard. Generally, the base or floor of a greenside bunker needs 4 to 6 inches of sand, whereas a fairway bunker commonly needs 2 to 4 inches. That said, the exact depth should be determined by the physical attributes of the sand and desired playability."
Here at Oakfield the base of the bunkers is predominately native soil. Whenever we get a large rain fall the sand washes down exposes the bunker base. If it rains hard enough that bunker base also erodes and then contaminates the sand with fine materials. Theses fines, then mix with the larger granules in the sand an are easily compacted. To avoid this situation we line the bottom of the bunkers with "Sand Trapper" a material specifically designed for preventing the base from eroding. If you have ever caught one of these liners with a club you know that it can really fetch up and hurt. We recognise this and as the final sentence in the USGA description suggests, must increase the amount of sand on the side to prevent the liners from interfering with playability. In the following video I explain how we check the depths and make adjustment to the traps.
In the video you will note that at the lower end of the traps there is often an abundance of sand that needs to be relocated to the slopes. Bunker sand is very costly, and simply adding sand is not the ideal answer. We locate excess sand, relocate it and then if necessary add more from our stock pile.
Its also important to note that this is an ongoing process, not a once or twice a year event. We try to check depths on a regular basis and immediately address any specific complainants from members.
To see the video click here.
Stay tuned for further posts.
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