February Divot Party

I wanted to thank all the members that helped out at our February Divot and Ballmark Repair Party.  There was a great turn out and the members were able to complete all 18 holes in a little over an hour.  Once we were finished on the golf course we all headed into happy hour and enjoyed some finger foods and a question and answer session. 

It was a successful repair party and on behalf of the maintenance staff we owe the members a big thank you for all the help.  The divots were filled perfect timing before a light rain.  If the temperature rise to the sixties again we should start to get some good germination. 

Stay tuned for the next repair party.  We are going to coordinate the next party around play volume.  We will definitely have another party in the near future.  The members have done a great job helping us out and it is a valuable time to answer any questions.

If you have any questions or comments or would like to find out how you can get involved don't hesitate to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@therimgolfclub.org

Monthly Green Committee Report February 2010

Monthly Greens Committee Report

Presented to The Rim Greens Committee

By

Golf Course Superintendent

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS

January, 2010

Course Condition

The cold weather has come back for a little while and the course remains dormant. Spring is just around the corner though and it won’t be long before we begin greening up.

Projects Completed

This month we have focused on trying to recover from the massive storm we had last month.
We finished fire-wise along the right hand side of #11.

You may have seen us over by #18 approach digging up a valve. We thought the valve was leaking, but the soil was so saturated in that area from the storm, water started to fill the valve boxes. Ground water was finding the least amount of resistance to surface, which was right at the valve. Luckily, no irrigation leaks.

Cart drive offs have been covered with new, finer, mulch and the rocks defining the paths have been removed. We are still looking into a more permanent fix for the rough conditions over time.

Projects in Process

The storm damage on #13 has become our priority. The large amount of water mixed with DG plugged the drain pipe. At construction they installed a 6” drain pipe that then reduced to 4” pipe toward the end of the drain. It is like coming down from the Rim on 260, Sunday afternoon; everyone races through the passing lane and then when it merges back to one lane everyone is hitting the brakes. All the water had to go somewhere so it washed out the whole trench containing the pipe.

The left side of #11 and #6 are currently getting fire-wised during frost delays.

Projects Planned

Once #11 is completed, the right side of #6 will be fire-wised.

Removing excess DG in drainage areas will take place this next month.

With frozen conditions letting up we can get back to working on pressure adjustments to the sprinklers.

Divot and Ballmark Repair Party

We completed another repair party the 26th of February. The members that volunteered their time were able to complete all 18 fairways and greens in a little over an hour. A big thanks goes out to those who -olunteered. It helps our staff and the course out tremendously.

Integrated Pest Management

March 1st will begin our degree day count and start our trap monitoring for this season’s insect pests. We will also begin checking soil temperatures to plan our control process for the root infecting disease, Summer Patch. If you would like to read about our IPM practices, click here.

Aerification Notice read more

Greens Aerification April 12th.

Fairway Aerification April 26th.

Side Notes

The Golf Industry Show took place at the beginning of this month in San Diego. I was lucky enough to get a portion of the conference and show sponsored by some of our vendors. I took a class about irrigation auditing to continue to make improvements on water conservation. read more I spoke about our water conservation efforts over the past three years to nearly 200 golf course superintendents in the innovative superintendent session.

Dan had mentioned in a previous newsletter about my use of twitter and blogging to increase communication to our members and with other superintendents in the industry. The February issue of Golfdom has a great article on the use of twitter in our industry. view article

Storm Damage #13 Vol. 1

About a month ago we had a week long storm that dropped 11 inches of precipitation.  The start of the storm yielded heavy rains while the tail end of the storm ended up dumping nearly a foot of snow on the golf course.  With that much rain we knew we were going to have our work cut out for us.                                         

Shortly after the snow melted we were able to assess the damage.  We had some fairly large DG deposits on the golf course that needed to be cleaned up.  There were a couple drains plugged that needed some attention but most of all, left of thirteen fairway had some serious issues.

To the left of #13, at the bottom of the "bail out" area, was a large washout in the turf.  The perforated drain pipe was clogged with DG.  When the large volume of water was stopped by the DG in the pipe, the easiest way for the water to go was out the perforations.  It also didn't help that it came to a screeching hault when the 6" pipe was reduced to four inch at about the same place as the clog.

The water literally bursting out of the pipe, began undermining the DG soil and pushing it down the original drainage trench.  This caused the turf above to collapse and all the soil to end up at the bottom of the hill in bubbles under the turf.

We are working on fixing the problem with the pipe reduction and the perforation.  I will keep everyone posted on the progress of this project, but as for now the left side of thirteen is a mess and is also roped off completely.  Please take care and look for our staff and we will make sure we watch for you so we do not get in the way.

If you have any questions about #13 or the drainage that will be installed please contact me.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS

justinr@therimgolfclub.org