On the Course This Month

June has arrived although it feels like July after opening the 2016 season much earlier than usual. The recent rains have really helped the turf as there is nothing like the complete coverage of falling rain and the benefits of soft water over hard water (our irrigation source that we had to rely so heavily on from April 9th until May 20th). Aside from our usual agronomic programs we are working on a few different areas of the course and dealing with new issues that have arisen as a result (in my belief) of the changing climate.

1.) There are more worms than I can recall coming to the surface and depositing that small mucky pile called a casting. This began last fall and has not abated. In fact the heavy rains have made matters worse. The castings are flattened down when the fairway mowers roll over them leaving small unsightly mud spots that interfere with turf health. We are trying some products to help reduce the worm numbers and keep them away from fairways. It's a double edged sword as the presence of worms signifies healthy soil but they interfere with high quality turf surfaces. They are not present on our greens. I read that they typically don't like to ingest sand particles. As we slowly build up a sand layer on our fairways maybe this will help in the future.

2.) The ants are everywhere. In the past we have only had to concern ourselves with the tiny pests that are present around the perimeter of some greens and tees. However they have shown up in large numbers on fairways and the rough. Why? I'm not sure. Possibly because the milder winters aren't keeping their numbers in check. They bring a fine loamy pile of debris to the surface of fairways and the rough. Again when Turf Care mows these areas in the early mornings we end up with mud spots. We are using a registered ant control product with some success.

3.) The fairways are scheduled for a light topdressing before the middle of the month. At the same time we will core aerate the 2nd fairway in our ongoing efforts to improve the quality of turf. It has a small landing area that sees heavy traffic both from approach shots to the green and power cart use. Those cores are full of Poa annua seed head. They will be used in conjunction with Kentucky bluegrass seed to become our fairway nursery. It is under construction in the area adjacent to the 13th green, the 12th tee and the above the right side of 18 fairway (the same location of the TV crane during the 2013 CN Ladies Open). We will soon have turf that matches our fairways when we need to do small area repairs instead of using pure Kentucky bluegrass sod.

4.) The new washroom between the 13th and 14th holes is currently being landscaped. 3 deciduous trees have been planted to break up the row of conifers in that area. Val and Laurel are adding plantings to give it a  more naturalized look and our own wood chips (as opposed to the cedar bark chips we use elsewhere) will be laid down as needed. On the 7th of June the building will have the lightning rod and grounding equipment installed. It will then be safe to use as a shelter during a thunderstorm as are the other 3 structures at 3 tee, 6 tee and 17 tee.

The Week Of April 25th to the 29th

The cooler, wetter weather that one would expect this time of year has arrived. As a result turf growth has slowed considerably. Once temperatures warm up we will return to our daily mowing routines. In the meantime greens will be rolled, course setup will be dictated by the amount of play and other tasks will have more resources committed to them.

On The Course This Week:

1. Greens will be topdressed on Wednesday morning.

2. Bunker edging, sand adjustment and addition will be ongoing.

3. The perimeter of the property and "difficult to get to" areas will be cleaned up.

4. The ponds have been treated to deal with the flush of algae growth. Results have been very good.

5. The washroom construction on #14 is almost complete. The contractor was waiting for the correct door to arrive from British Columbia. Dave Quinn, in the meantime, is working on the landscaping and will move inside to install cabinets, etc. once the door is installed.

6. The walk off areas that see so much traffic will be consistently aerated, overseeded, topdressed and fertilized throughout the summer beginning this week.

7. The warmup green will  see sod work on the southern section. The mouse damage to the winter air lines was extensive and it is obvious as to what needs replacing. This green is front and center and in view of the Golf Shop and Spike Bar so waiting for natural recovery will take too long (as we struggled with 2 seasons ago).


We have begun the process of lowering mowing heights and moving away from our riding mowers to the walkers on greens and tees (approaches are always walk mowed) as more staff arrive in Turf Care. We will have our full compliment of employees by the end of next week. Our staff shirts are blue this season and head protection will be a dark blue plastic foam lined cap (similar in shape to a golf hat). Steel toed footwear is mandatory and they are allowed to have their mobile phones with them. It is a very quick and effective means of supervisor/employee communication. However, as one would expect in this day and age, we do have to closely manage the use of them. All Turf Care staff will be wearing light brown pants or knee length shorts. They also have a warm pullover and rain gear for inclement weather. Their safety and your peace of mind as you play golf amongst the staff is paramount at The Royal Mayfair.

Early Opening And The Latest Updates

I just heard from a longtime member that our opening date of April 12th is the earliest he can recall in his 28 years here at The Royal Mayfair. I remember opening The Ranch Golf Club this early about 20 years ago. Whether this a trend or an anomaly remains to be seen. Whatever the case the Turf Care department is hard at work getting a head start on many maintenance practices that would normally begin 3 weeks from now.

The irrigation system has been up and running very smoothly since April 9th; aside from many outdated fairway and rough sprinklers that need attention over the next few days before we have "normal" operations. The new pump station has been fine tuned and is a very welcome addition.

The new 14 inch mainline section to be installed up to the eastern edge of the actual golf course (#9 to the left side of the fairway bunkers) has been delayed for a few weeks. As a result Alpine Irrigation installed a temporary connection to our existing 8 inch mainline until we are ready for a quick switch; all weather dependent of course.

Even though we are open early I would like to remind the membership to keep their expectations in line with the fact it is still only mid-April. Mowing heights will not be lowered for awhile yet and the color is slowly returning to the turf with the warmer days (but nights are still quite cold) and the beginning of our fertility programs. The greens will be sprayed again on Monday. Tees have been fertilized and the fairways and rough are up next week as well. The all important sand topdressing program is underway too. This will help top up the aeration holes and smooth out the surfaces until more growth occurs and we begin to lower mowing heights in late April.

It was a tough battle cleaning the course up this spring especially with all the very dry windy conditions. Even though it seemed like a never ending task I think the tree lines are actually cleaner because of the weather. A lot of debris was pushed out from the perimeter of each hole into the middle and it allowed Turf Care to remove a lot of leaves and branches that would typically stay in the undergrowth areas if it was wet during a normal spring melt.

The forecast looks unbelievably good for the next week so conditions will continue to improve quickly on the golf course.

The arrival of our full complement of employees will not coincide however with the nice weather. We usually don't have everyone until early May so some tasks and routines will need to be modified until then. No matter. Enjoy the great weather and welcome back.

Pump Station Replacement

The pump station that powers our irrigation system was recently replaced. The old station was 25 years old and eventually like all high use systems was due for replacement. The new pump station is technologically up to date and very energy efficient due to the fact that each of the three 50 hp motors are driven by variable frequency drive control. A simple explanation of VFD control is that when the motors turn on they "spool" up slowly and then speed up as irrigation demand increases. Old motors would turn on full power immediately as their use was required. That would then result in an energy spike and it was also at that point when there was the greatest amount of wear and tear on the motors. It also resulted in extreme hydraulic stresses that need to be addressed with control valves and in our case a large pressure tank. The new pump station does not require a pressure tank and will also provide more direct feedback to the irrigation control computer in the Turf Care facility. We have also increased our pumping capacity from 1200 gallons per minute to 1500 gpm which gives us the option of shortening the irrigation window (the length of time required for a full irrigation cycle) during the short nights of mid summer.

The old pump station with the pressure tank front and center.

The old motors and pumps are lifted out through a removable panel built into the roof of the pumphouse.

The new pump station being off loaded.

The new pump station platform and control system in place.

The new pumps and motors installed.

A future blog will detail the power connections, drive shaft install and the link up of the discharge pipe to our existing mainline leading out into the golf course irrigation system.



Late Winter Update

After several months of winter its time to begin with a new year of blog posts. As we get closer to the 2016 golf season and we all start to think of spring I'm hoping that your interest in all things related to the Turf Care Department will also begin to pick up.

On the personnel front we are pleased to welcome Ashley Davidovich as our new 2nd Assistant. She brings 14 years in the golf industry with 6 of those as an Assistant at the Fort McMurray Golf Club. Her knowledge and skill set will help Eric and I as we continue to improve the golf course. Her presence will be very important this fall as we embark upon some course renovations and the installation of a new irrigation system.

If you are not already aware of it, work on the final stages of the LREP will begin in September. The second green will be redesigned, the north tee decks on #4 will be increased in size, the bunker in front of 10 green will be removed and some tree planting will give the 17th hole a slightly different look down the right side. More communication will be forthcoming from the Committee in a few weeks so look for an information panel describing the work to be placed in the clubhouse very soon.

The final piece of the work on the course is a complete upgrade to the irrigation system aside from the green sites that were finished in 2011. I will be blogging a detailed account of the plan in a few weeks. Part of that upgrade is the installation of a new pump station which is now underway. The old pump station has been disconnected and is ready for removal. The new platform and pumps will be installed late next week and a section of mainline (old 10 inch pvc pipe being replaced with 14 inch high density polyethylene pipe) will be installed and flanged to the existing pvc pipe next to the ninth hole. Work on the new irrigation system will commence from that position in September. Water is an expensive and very valuable resource and the new system will allow precise delivery of water using state of the art sprinklers, pumps and computer control. All things being equal (weather!!) we will be able to closely monitor our water use benefitting both cost budget costs and turfgrass health.

The old platform ready for removal after a crane is brought in to pull out the intake lines that extend down into the wet well.

This winter was the first time we covered all the greens with the bubble wrap/impermeable covers. Fresh air has been blown under the covers once a week since mid November. We had started out cautiously with the implementation of this procedure. Over the last 4 years we have increased cover use from 1 green to 4 greens to all of the greens. Past success will hopefully translate into future success especially with the unpredictable winters we are now experiencing. We've inspected 2 troublesome greens and the results are encouraging. Obviously when all the covers are removed we will have a complete analysis of the results. I'm certainly glad they were covered this winter, one of the warmest in living memory.

A solid layer of ice has formed on many of the covers.

Remove the ice, cut the cover, cut the bubble wrap and underneath is a crusty layer that formed as the humidity under the covers froze in late November. All normal and expected.

Scrape the crusty layer away and healthy turf is exposed on 16 green.

Same result on the putting green.

Assuming conditions under the other greens are similar we now arrive at a time of year when the covers assist in keeping the turf dormant during big temperature swings that are common in late February and March. The covers insulate the ground by keeping the temperature more or less constant and in the -3 to 0 degrees C range. Later on when melting snow is an issue the covers keep water away from the turf greatly reducing the occurrence of freeze/thaw injury that is so prevalent in late March and early April.

For those of you wondering about an early start to the golf season keep in mind it will only take one significant snowfall or a cold snap to put us back to the usual opening period which is typically late April to the first week in May.

November Update

The golf course finally got a skiff of snow last week and about 10 cm last evening. Its been very pleasant up until now considering the time of year. The greens were all covered during the first week of November and fresh air has been blown underneath the tarps several times already. It has been warmer and humid underneath the covers compared to the air above. However the last few nights have been cold and it is now frozen underneath the covers. Snowfall amounts will influence temperature fluctuations and how often we will need to vent the greens throughout the winter. So for now we'll continue to vent the greens every 5 to 7 days.

This fall we also staked and roped off all of the covered turf to keep wayward cross country skiers away from the greens. We now have a few deer residing on the property and the rope might keep them back as well although they aren't as much of a concern as the skiers would be.

• The washroom site at 14 tee is prepared and waiting for the building to be installed. It is being designed off site, taken apart and then moved here for final installation a few weeks from now. Next spring the interior work will be completed by Dave Quinn, the outside perimeter will be landscaped by Turf Care and Val will plant various shrubs, grasses and flowers for effect.

• At present Turf Care is doing some required pruning on the course and giving Ian's (our equipment mechanic) area of the Turf Care facility a thorough cleaning while he is away for a week. The concrete floor will be washed and painted as will all the steel benches and shelving.

As of the 24th there is not enough snow to lay down cross country trails. The weather is forecasted to warm up considerably as well. We'll keep the membership updated as to ski trail work when conditions improve. Feel free to venture out on your own until that time but please stay away from all tee complexes and green sites.

Aeration Update

The greens were completed last week and that is it for core aeration and topdressing on the golf course. The short game practice area will be aerated and heavily topdressed towards the end of the month to allow for practice to continue until closer to closing.

We typically do not post a closing date for the golf course but we will not stay open beyond the end of the month. If the weather holds I envision the last day of golf to be Sunday, November 1st.

The size of hole we punch and the amount of dry sand we use at this time of year does not lend itself to good putting conditions from now until basically the middle of next May. We remove a high percentage of organic material in October and the low growth rate of turfgrass at this time of year results in a very small amount of recovery. That is fine. I believe the open holes in the spring allow for some minor drainage of standing water (if any), better penetration of applied irrigation and good oxygen exchange as the weather warms and the turf begins to grow. Another important consideration is that the greens are basically kept in top condition from mid May until early October with no significant interruption in play for the membership.




Finished product. Holes filled which is great but also a lot of sand on the surface. We have stopped mowing by this time of year, the excess sand will not get removed and it can eventually work its way down into the profile.

 

On Tuesday morning we will be bringing in a contractor to perform a deep aeration of 18 green. We have been having some trouble with root growth beyond a few inches since we resodded the green in April of 2014. On the surface it appears fine but there is a layering issue underneath that needs attention. The machine used will drill down 12 inches, remove the existing material in each hole and then replace it with our topdressing sand. This will hopefully allow better root growth in the future. Going forward, if we see positive results this technique may be used on other greens. Visit the following website for a YouTube video of the process: www.westernrootzone.com  It is a very slow process that will take around 3 to 4 hours to complete. The green should be back in play before the first golfers arrive on scene.


Notes:

• It's been 2 weekends in a row of extremely windy conditions that has stripped almost all the leaves off the trees on the golf course. Turf Care did a nice job of cleanup last week but its back to square one on Tuesday.
• It is now time to begin applying protective fungicides on the golf course. You can assume that the sprayer will be out on the course almost every weekday from tomorrow until the end of the month depending on weather conditions. Please do not put tees in your mouth and make sure to wash your hands after a round of golf. These fungicides need to go down now. Waiting until we close is too late and bound to result in freezing temperatures or a snowfall that will end all activity on the golf course. We also need time committed to installing all the covers on the greens after we close as well.

Last weekend.