Water Savings Hard Data

The water issues at The Rim have been a common topic each summer for many years. There has been some changes in the where we have gotten water in the past and how we get it now. In the past there were well on site that used to supply us with some water and now we rely on the sanitary department for our water. These past years have left the range and the rough of the golf course thin and in some areas dead from lack of water.

The past two years have been different. We have been able to make it through the summer with the range in tact and the golf course healthy. We did a large reassignment in the computer to get the computer and the field on the same page with water usage. We also made hundreds of head adjustments along the perimeter to correct alignment so all the water being applied is being used efficiently with as little over spray as possible.

The next step was balancing the irrigation system. Many people like to say they do this each winter by reseting their system and adjusting from that point on but unfortunately that is only part of the balancing process. The way we make adjustments from that point on is a major portion of the balancing. This is where we have succeeded in saving water and being more efficient.

This chart shows the average water use from 1999-2008 and our last year to date water usage. You can see the extra use during monsoon season because of the lack of monsoon moisture. If we had a normal monsoon season you would see even more savings.

The average water usage for the past nine years has shown our savings over all. We have tried to keep the course firm and dry with some off color areas. The soil media that supports the grass is made up of mostly organic matter (thatch). Growing grass in thatch is very difficult. There is not much between too dry and wet. Our aerification process and additional sand topdressing will begin to alleviate this issue.

2009 is on track to be the smallest amount of water received from the sanitary district. Not only did we have the lack of rain but, we are also looking at the population of Payson being much smaller. Less people using water, equals less reuse for the courses.

We are on the right track to keep saving water and begin to have consecutive years of healthy grass. This will help the turf stand get thicker and healthier. Over time with sound cultural practices and proper irrigation management the course will get better year after year and produce better and better playing conditions.

I have mentioned quite a bit about our water management process and I will be presenting our practices at the GCSAA show in 2010. We are always trying new ways to save even more water. Our next procedure that I will present to the greens committee will be the idea of removing some turf to help save even more water. Essentially this is our BMP program. A combination of practices to save water.

If anyone has questions about our processes or anything about irrigation please contact me.

justinr@therimgolfclub.org

Course Work

The three years that I have been at The Rim Golf Club I have dealt with many challenges. The first major challenge that has plagued the golf course has been water. The second was disease and insect pressure and as we peeled away these issues, we are now dealing with bunker contamination and drive off path deterioration.

The water problem has been addressed in earlier posts and how we have dealt with that issue. I will have much more information in a near future post to show the hard data on water savings over the past few years. I am completing my presentation for a BMP plan for water conservation for The Rim which will potentially give us a guideline to continue to save more water each season.

The disease and insect pressure has been discussed in detail as well. Two years ago we created an IPM plan for outlining a combination of approaches to monitor, and control insect and disease pressure. Not only have we been successful in our efforts but we continue to grow our IPM plan and eventually introduce more biological control and begin to move away from synthetic pesticides.

To make a long story short we have made large advancements in what I have always deemed the core of golf course management. Playability and presentation. These two attributes go hand in hand by complimenting one and other. When I first got to the property both were suffering and the course was in a downward spiral with the grass being under every kind of pressure you could imagine. Heat and drought stress, insect and disease pressure and excessive thatch. We have been able to reduce some of the stresses through water management and preventative plant protection applications.

So that brings us to now a sigh of relief when we talk about getting to the drive off's and the bunkers. Our efforts can be better directed to getting these areas better. We have finished the bunker work which has given us consistent depths across each bunker for better playability. We are looking at better ways to get sustainable cart exits from the turf.

The root of the problem in our bunkers was the lack of lining when the bunkers were reconstructed. We have revealed that all the renovated bunkers are not completely lined. They were lined on only faces or the steepest part of the bunker which helps that area hold sand during the rain, but this does not aid in keeping rocks from surfacing from the underlying decomposed granite.

We are trying to get the Nolte sand cleaner into the bunkers when we stop water around the bunkers. The machine is relatively effective in removing rocks off of the top 2-3 inches. The inevitable truth is that the rock will continue to come back from underneath. This process will at least give us some temporary playability. We will also try to couple this with back pack blowing the rocks off of the surface into a pile and removing with a shovel. Both processes are both a temporary fixes until the bunkers are ultimately renovated and lined properly.

The Drive offs around the course are definitely a tough fix. We have tried many ways to get the paths to hold up to cart traffic but they have all failed and the paths have gradually gotten worse. I am looking into a soil stabilizer or mixing cement into the top few inches of the granite to see if we can get better stability.

We are trying what we can for the issues on our course. That is what makes this job interesting and fun. Problem solving is rewarding when you can figure out the solution. So far we have done a great job with insects and water. We will find the solution to the bunkers and the drive offs. We just haven't discovered the best fix.

The Rim Golf Club Clip Show

Here is a clip show of the past few years at The Rim Golf Club. These are the issues we have dealt with over the past while. Great shots of lightning damage and all the work our crew has done.

Hope you enjoy!

Justin Ruiz, CGCS

justinr@therimgolfclub.org

Using Growing Degree Day Prediction Models

Only a few years back The Rim Golf Club was devastated by multiple pests. Disease and insects attacked fairways and rough brining the course to it's knees. My first season here my assistant and I created an Integrated Management Program to directly address our specific pests. Our best way to predicting for the problems so that we would not endure the same damage ever again we decided on using growing degree days to anticipate our pest's development. We started out with our worst pests.

A growing degree day is basically a measurement using a base temperature at which insect development begins. If the average of the high and low temperature is above that minimum threshold than degree days are accumulated. This can help us predict when different stages of an insect will develop and when we can target the most vulnerable stage.

With this information in our hands we were able to anticipate our pests for the last 2 seasons and have become very successful. We have since expanded our IPM program to cover more pests and one day plan on becoming accurate enough to make use of strictly biological and organic control methods.

Now that we know when to expect certain stages of insect development we can also make use of cultural practices to help discourage egg laying or disrupt critical stages with cultivation. This powerful tool has helped us bring The Rim Golf Club to the next level in quality. Our effort have been recognized by the positive movement in our national rankings.

Even though our process is not an overnight change in quality but as each season goes on and we reduce the stress to the turf from multiple directions we will continue to get healthier. Each season will be better as the turf will gain more endurance against outside antagonists. If anyone has questions about our program or how we calculate the degree days feel free to contact me. We have stumbled across some great information to make things even more accurate each year.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS

justinr@therimgolfclub.org

Greens Aerification

It is that time of the year. We will be aerating greens on Tuesday of next week. 9-22-09. The process will be as follows:

Will will punch the greens with 1/2" quad tines. This will be smaller than in the spring but will yield more holes per square foot.

We will clean the plugs off the greens by hand and haul the material to the back of the driving range which we will clean up over the week with our dump truck and loader.

After the greens a clean we will topdress with USGA spec golf course sand. We will apply enough sand to fill the holes on the green completely.

Once the sand has dried on the greens we will drag the sand with a pull behind brush two times over and then follow with the buffalo blower. This help insure all hole are completely full and no excess sand is left to injure the grass.

Once this process is completed we will follow that with organic fertilizer. I have selected a oceanic blend of sea weed, kelp and crustacean shells to help the biology in the greens. We have already put down a pre-aerification fertilizer application to push growth coming into aerification and this will be the sustained release product to give us the boost we need to close up the holes in a timely manner.

Our first mowing will be san pick up. These mowing are necesary to remove the larger particles that were unable to work into the turf canopy. In no way do we remove enough sand to make a difference. We will start out at a raised hieght and work our way down slowly to our normal mowing hieghts. The greens will be a little slow for this transition time.

Our overall projected recovery will be no later than three weeks if the ambient temperatures remain up. This is where we trust mother nature to help us out a little. If we get a cold snap the recovery could be sluggish but inevitable.

If any members have any questions with the process or any other comments please feel free to contact me directly.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS

Turf Removal for Water Savings

This past spring we made a big push to redefine the perimeter of the golf course. We had many areas on the golf course where the sprinkler heads were trying to water turf behind the heads. Over the years the heads along the perimeter have had to be adjusted for a greater and geater arc to maintain turf outside the perimeter of the golf course. We decided to take back the original design of the golf course.

Not only did the turf begin to creep ou into the native areas it gave us a tough area to maintain in the heat of the summer because of the lack of irrigation coverage. We were waiting the water that was needed to basically water behind the heads. Some heads were outfited with tails to pick up areas that were tough to get by simply advancing the arc. All these adjustments and modifications were eating into our water usage for the year.

We began the taask of sod cutting the edge of the turf back

to the perimeter heads. Then followed that up with the reseeding of the native mix. We reused the sod for animal damage that plauged us through the winter months. We were able to remove quite a bit of turf throughout the golf course an not even change the playability. Each are we adjusted all the sprinklers and were able to save a good amount of water. In the big picture every drop counts.

All these projects have added up to help us have a better season. Not only are the members happy with the summer season at The Rim but prospective members can now truly see the golf course the way it should

be.

Running Out of Water?

Over this summer we have been challenged by mother nature. Not only have the monsoon weather been underwhelming but the dry heat at our altitude has started to compromise out water storage lakes. We have have done a lot of work over the last winter and spring to make our irrigation system more efficient and save as much water as possible. Since I have been at The Rim Golf Club I have been told that the course has been too wet in the past and firm and fast is the ideal conditions. With my passion of environmental conservation I have made that my #1 priority. Save water and make the course firm and fast.

The first obstacle that we encountered was the amount of disease and insect damage. This was causing massive destruction each season and in turn using up valuable water to either grow-in damaged turf or combat root eating insects. With the creation of a Integrated Plant Management program we were able to significantly reduce our pest problems and focus on turf maintenance with less stress.

Our second obstacle was the irrigation system not only being out of adjustment along the perimeter but also the computer's database being incorrect. We had every head on the course assigned as an impact head. The only impact heads we have are portable irrigation that we have made for hot spots. Going through the database and making sure everyhead was properly assigned not only made the dry run on the computer match the actual usage for the night but also gave us the flexibility to water more accurately using more accurate Evapotranspiration Rates.

The last obstacle in our quest to save water came with the balancing of the irrigation system. My assistant Joe Trombino did a ton of work on the irrigation system and started to think about how the system was set up. We had rough heads on hillside turned up to outrageous percentages throwing to fairway heads that were nearly zeroed out. This cause wet areas along the edges of the fairways and dry in the middle. His thought process consisted of thinking "triangular". Every area is watered by three heads. When you adjust one you manipulate that area and affect the other two. His ideas basically were the opposite of what I knew were normal. He took the holes and adjusted the heads to become more balanced thus creating a consistently firm and fast condition. He was right on the mark with his thought process.

With the history of how we got to where we are today with great conditions year round we can explain our water issues this year. The monsoon season gave us little to no moisture. rolling in each afternoon but just not giving us rain.

We got through June and July with great course conditions and then we began to drain our storage. We were getting a small percentage of what we water each night from the sanitary department each week. We were watering at a great deficiet but with our work in the past with irrigation we continued to conserve water with no effect to the courses condition. This last month we were starting to use the storage held on the golf course. Our off site storage was completely gone.

In the past our driving range was the first casulty but with our conservation techniques we were able to keep our first impression intact. We may have been getting close to the red zone on water supply but I knew we were going to get the cooling of overnight temperatures and the Sanitary would once again catch up once ET rates declined.

So the question is are we going to run out of water? My answer is no. We could have a severly dry year that can give us an even bigger challenge in the future but rest asure we have done everything possible to conserve water which has given us the ability to endure a dry year and pervail. Not only has our hard work payed off but we have changed the perception of summer at The Rim Golf Club.