Back 9 In Good Early Season Condition. Front 9 is Bruised

Now that decent spring weather seems to have arrived it is clear as to how the golf course has come out of winter and the cold, wet April we just experienced. The back 9 is in good condition aside from some small fairway damage caused by standing water that froze in mid winter in a few low areas on 15 fairway. There is evidence of the ski trails and other traffic that will recover as it warms up. On that note the Back 9 will open on Tuesday as planned. Some mainline work was completed across the 14th and 16th holes last week so that there would be less interference with play once Alpine begins work after finishing the 3rd and 4th holes. They will be working on the remainder of the front 9 (#3 and #4) over the next 2 weeks. Expect the 3rd hole to be shortened as sprinklers are installed before the turn on the fairway and at the tee. There are several locations on the front 9 that need serious repair work to bring things up to our standards. The right side of #2, the right side of #5, the right side of #6 and a few areas on #9 need more prep work and sodding. That work begins this week with the Turf Care team taking the lead. Smaller spots will be repaired after the large areas are taken care of.

The front 9 has experienced varying degrees of damage that is now very apparent. The 2nd and 6th greens have exposure damage that occurred due to a lack of snow cover after the tarps were over inflated. The existing snow cover slid off a bit and the lack of further snow over the last part of winter robbed the turf of insulation from some extreme cold that followed. These 2 greens are overseeded and covered and the plan is to put them into play when we open the front nine on May 10th. Expect extra aeration, overseeding and heavy topdressing on these two greens.

Damage on the ridge at 6 green

Snow shoe, footprints and ski trail damage

Standing water that became ice in February

The fairways on 2, 6, 7 and 9 have seen ice damage, traffic damage and standing water damage. The type of turf on these fairways (Poa annua) is fine if their is enough snow and no areas of standing water in February. Unfortunately last February was very warm then very cold. It is obvious to see footprints from snow shoers, ski tracks and areas of ice or standing water. It affected this area of the course worse than others because of the tendency of theses holes to hold water. Same issue in the summer after heavy rains but there is no draining in the winter, only ice formation. Recovery will take time but we will also begin a bentgrass overseeding program on these holes. This was planned on all fairways over the next few years but we now need to expediate the process out of necessity. Hopefully we will see bentgrass begin to establish and compete with the annual bluegrass (Poa annua).

The practice green also suffered from low temperature damage. We didn't over inflate the tarp on that green but the snow cover was greatly reduced in February. The warmup green was damaged by a lack of insulation and more mice damage. We can no longer depend on adequate snow cover and trying to keep the mice at bay. The warmup has been resodded with turf from our nursery. We used the creeping bentgrass section as we need to take a different approach to get this green through the winter if the climate is changing. One only needs to look at the chipping greens to see how well bentgrass can survive tough winters. They were subject to the same conditions as the other two practice greens and they look great.

Later this week look for another blog outlining Alpine Irrigation's Back 9 installation schedule.


IMPORTANT COURSE NOTE:

• The course washrooms and drinking fountains are closed indefinitely as the 1 inch water line has been cut by irrigation installation work. We have begun to fix each cut pipe as they are flagged by Alpine. Until all the repairs are finished portable washrooms will be in use at 3/6, 14 and 17.

4 Tee and Billy Bunker Work

Aside from the major work with the irrigation system there are 2 small projects to be started later this spring. The north set of tees on #4 will be renovated and as touched on in an earlier blog post we will be testing a new bunker base that will drastically reduce sand wash out and contamination after heavy rainfalls.

A new brick retaining wall will replace the old railroad tie wall on the north edge of the gold tee. The entire right side of the blue and golds will be moved north creating a slightly different angle to the shot and both tees will be one level with the slope between the 2 tees removed resulting in some much needed extra square footage. Par 3 tee surfaces should typically be quite large to allow for divot recovery. That tee is one of our smallest.

The wall will be moved north and replaced with Allen Block. The blue and gold surfaces will be one level.

CTC does not want to begin work on the tee until they are sure the frost is out of the ground and they can begin the wall construction on a solid foundation. That means a project start in early to mid May. There is a 2 week timeline from start to finish (sodding) and then approximately one month of turf establishment. The tee is projected to be back in play by the end of June. The north tees will remain open until work begins.

The Billy Bunker work cannot begin until night time temperatures stay well above freezing and conditions are dry. CTC is doing the work at a reduced cost for the Royal Mayfair as part of a licensing agreement with Billy Bunker. The Royal Mayfair only needs to fund materials for 10,000 ft2 of work. CTC is providing the labour at no cost. We will be doing two bunkers on the 2nd hole, the bunkers on #16 and the bunkers at the 5th green. Those bunkers give us the most trouble during storms and will provide a good test of this technique. Visit www.betterbillybunker.com for a look at the procedure. The holes will remain open while CTC works on the bunkers. The work is also slated to begin in May.


GOLF COURSE UPDATE

• We were finally able to begin clean up on drier areas of the course this week however the western sections of the course (4,15,16) are still wet and even frozen in the shaded tree lines.
• Heating covers are on greens 2 and 6. This will give us a better idea as to the extent of recovery required in May. The greens will remain in play but expect some thin patches and more intensive turf management than the other greens would normally receive.
• The Poa annua on the course is basically in "neutral" until we get some sunshine and normal temperatures. Please keep your expectations in line with the cool early season spring weather.
• The warm up green will be completely resodded next week. It did not fare well this winter. We will need to rethink how we can get this green to survive less than ideal winters and the mouse problem. Our nursery sod will help as it has a much higher percentage of creeping bentgrass, a much hardier turf for our climate. At the same time new irrigation will be installed around the perimeter. The green should reopen in mid May.

Next Weeks Blog Topic: A review of the  irrigation cleanup required on the front 9 and what is in store for the remaining holes.

Course Update and Irrigation Project Review

After another winter of fluctuating temperatures and low snowfall totals we now have a clear picture of the spring course conditions. We removed the covers on the greens earlier this week and most of them have wintered well. However there is some damage to greens 2, 6, the putting green and the warmup green. I can explain the putting green (water got under the eastern edge of the cover during an early February thaw and created a solid ice layer). We will have to dam that area next fall by inserting the cover into the ground. As for repairs the green is big enough that we can keep it open while it recovers.

 The warmup green was once again the victim of mice even though we had mouse poison laid down. Something (maybe even squirrels) got under the cover and chewed the plastic lines on the north edge of the green cutting off fresh air to 2/3rds of the green. The extra line we added on the south edge was not chewed and that turf is fine. By early next week we will have a better idea as to the extent of the damage and how we are going to get the green repaired as quickly as possible. That green still needs new irrigation installed and we had planned on removing the perimeter ridge that has built up over years of topdressing at the same time. A faster solution than waiting for turf recovery might be to resod the entire surface while that work is ongoing. The section of our nursery that we would use for this green has come through in good shape. Stay tuned.

Greens 2 and 6 have areas of damage that are difficult to explain. We think we know why and our air exchange procedure may be to blame. Again we will need to guard against the same thing happening next winter. I caution anyone from thinking that the covers might not be the best solution just because we had a few issues. This is year 2 of the complete covering of the greens and obviously there are still have some kinks to iron out. I firmly believe the covers are the most dependable method of getting our predominantly annual bluegrass (Poa) greens through the winter. As for recovery it is our preference to not sod these greens and with our help have them recover over time.

The rest of the course has wintered fairly well. The tees are fine and the fairways look good. There may be some damage in low lying areas due to ice buildup during the winter thaws but that remains to be seen. Also the snowmobile left some scarring when we were trying to groom the cross country ski tails in less than ideal snow conditions but things will recover quickly. There is extensive leaf and debris cleanup required too. The early October snowfall and ensuing wet weeks interrupted our usual thorough fall cleanup.

The irrigation project should be completed by the end of June. Holes #3 and #4 remain to be completed on the front 9 and there is some considerable cleanup work required from both Alpine irrigation and the Royal Mayfair Turf Care team on holes #1 to #7 and #9. Most of the work is trench related alongside the perimeter of each hole. Some settling occurred over winter and the sod that was replaced by Alpine in late October and early November needs further attention. It certainly isn't "Royal" out there but it will get repaired properly as the weeks pass. Please abide by all signs, plywood paths, stakes and roped off areas when you do get on the golf course.

There is still some mainline installation when Alpine begins work on the back 9. They will cross 2 fairways but most of the open trenching will be alongside treelines. The majority of the project will involve far less disruptive plowing and directional drilling. Over the next few months expect temporary tee closures and possible short day to day hole closures if necessary. We will take all steps possible to minimize course disruption but do expect some inconvenience.

I don't want to sugar coat anything about the content in this blog. It is going to be a difficult few months for all involved. Please accept my apologies but this important project needs to get finished as quickly as possible. Alpine will begin work in earnest on April 17th by which time the ground should be ready to support heavy equipment.

Communication from Turf Care to all other departments and especially the Membership is a very important goal for us. Now that the season has arrived expect a weekly blog from myself and once the course opens, daily updates from the Golf Shop and/or Club Management. My last request: reread this blog and make sure as many members as possible are in the "know".  Feel free to call me anytime for more detailed information. My cell number can be obtained through the Club office. Follow me on twitter @MayfairSuper for more up to date information and pictures.

In advance, I thank you for you patience.

Wade Peckham