Irrigation Project and Fairway Aeration Update

The fairway aeration continues at a slow and steady pace. Cloudy weather, frost and shorter days at this time of year only allow us to do 1 or 2 fairways each day. We could move faster but the cleanup would not be satisfactory. The cores need to dry for a few hours so that the pickup and blowing off of each fairway is thorough. Topdressing will commence early next week on those fairways that have been aerated. You have been very accommodating by not driving on the cores. Any traffic will flatten the plugs (cores) and make them more difficult to remove. Warm weather will definitely help with the process.

Cleanup takes time on cloudy cool days. We don't have the luxury of waiting for ideal weather at this time of year.

The Irrigation Project has progressed onto the golf course with extensive work occurring on the 9th hole. Mainlines are being trenched in from the pumphouse across the beginning of the hole and also up the west side of the rough. The tee now has 8 individually controlled sprinklers all of the same type and size. In the past we had 5 sprinklers of varying sizes that were controlled in 2 blocks. This led to both over and under watering. The 2 fairway laterals (and sprinklers) that come off the line in the rough will be installed later next week. Work will progress westward from there onto holes 1, 2 and 8. Weekly and daily emails will keep you notified of the work plan and any course modifications. If you have been down to the Royal Mayfair you already know that #9 is playing as a Par3 and will continue as such for the next few days.

A mainline trench for 6 inch pipe down the side of #9. The existing 8 inch pipe is in the bottom of the picture. It is still pressurized.

A 3 inch line is feeding the new 2 inch lines for the 9th tee. Those lines are being installed with the directional drilling machine on the right so that the cartpath is not damaged.

Various sizes of fused HDPE await installation.

This machine is used to plow in and pull the miles of wire needed for the irrigation system.

Irrigation Project Begins

The irrigation system replacement project begins on Wednesday. All the components are on site, more pipe is arriving daily and Alpine Irrigation will begin fusing the 14 inch section of mainline that will be installed from the pumphouse out to the southern edge of 9 fairway. Once that is in the ground you will see the work move onto the golf course itself.

Keep in mind that all the green sites were completed in 2011. Alpine only needs to link that HDPE pipe to the new installation in front of the greens as they complete each hole. The work this fall will go as long as weather permits. We want to get as much done in 2016 to minimize the work required in 2017. As I've stated many times in the past this project though not "glamorous" is very important to the continuous and long term goal of presenting outstanding playing conditions. The efficient delivery of irrigation water benefits turfgrass health, is environmentally responsible and makes sense financially in 2 very important ways: we use and pay for a municipal supply and the new pump station is very efficient which has reduced energy costs (approximately 30% compared to the old pump station).

I won't sugar coat the following. There will be some disruptions throughout the term of the project. Tees will need to be moved up, perhaps onto the fairways at times. There will be equipment in the way and unable to move as the contractor works. There will be damaged turf and scars that will need time to heal. No different than any other work we have completed in the six years since we began the current LREP program at the Royal Mayfair. As always the Turf Care Department will restore and repair everything back to normal. Please be patient over the next few months. My thanks to the Board of Governors, the LREP Committee, Mr. Wade Hudyma and most importantly you, the Membership, for having the foresight to embark on this project.

I will post weekly blogs and use twitter to keep you informed of the work and any changes to hole routings that will occur. Emails from the Club or the Golf Shop will be widely used so please read them if you plan on coming down to the golf course from now until the end of the season.



The temporary connection that served us all summer will be replaced by a 14 inch iron "z-pipe".

Some of the installation equipment you will see on the golf course. 

The 14 inch HDPE pipe that will be fused and installed from the pumphouse to 9 fairway.






 

Aeration Season Has Arrived

Its been 5 months since the golf course opened for play on April 12th, approximately 3 weeks sooner than usual. In between we experienced drought conditions which then led into a very wet summer that has continued to this day. The seasonal core aeration of all playing surfaces is now needed more than ever. The relief of compaction, the easier exchange of gases and water, the raising of mowing heights and the heavier applications of topdressing all result in healthier turf. Our maintenance programs are very intense and now is the time to begin preparing the golf course for next season.

Beginning tomorrow cores will be pulled on tees. They will then be heavily topdressed on Tuesday and not mowed for several days following. Approaches will be next and the long process will continue with fairways next week. Please be prepared for some interruption throughout the next few weeks and have patience with the Turf Care staff as we complete the work. The greens will be aerated in late September or early October depending on the weather so there is plenty of time left to enjoy good putting surfaces until then.

Pictures from 2015 showing fairway aeration and core cleanup and the heavy topdressing applied to tees.







 

Weather Problems and More

Since the Men's Member Guest, when it was washed out due to an early afternoon thunderstorm on July 27th, the course has been hit by heavy rains on numerous occasions. Each storm was topping up the subsurface moisture levels throughout the property. The Royal Mayfair drains very well and with the added drainage we have installed over the past few years we were doing "okay". However yesterday's early morning storm flooded the course. We did what we always do and put everything back together but the course was obviously very wet and almost unplayable. Last night around 7:00 another major storm brought more heavy rain. As is typical in our area many areas of the City didn't see a drop of rain but the river valley was hit hard.

This is the worst I have seen the course in my 6 seasons at the Royal Mayfair. All the bunkers are washed out, all the fairways have some level of standing water (or small lakes if you will) and all the turf, no matter where you are, is soggy and much of the course is unplayable. I know it is easy to stand on the patio and take a look at #1, #10 and #18 and think everything looks okay but that could be no further from the truth. A few pictures below serve as an example of what happened.

What we need now is time. Time with no rain, time with warm, windy conditions. The Turf Crew is working hard again to get the course open but without some help from above we won't be very "Royal" for a few days. When you do get out there it is imperative that you repair any and all damage from playing golf. Retrieve that monster divot, replace it properly and repeat that each and every time. You can't carry enough sand with you to repair your divots especially if you are walking.

Ballmarks will stand out on greens and approaches. Fix them as per the rules of golf. We need your help to keep the Royal Mayfair in great condition for the remainder of the season.

Topdressing Update:

• Fairways 12 to 18 need to be finished.
• Front 9 approaches need to be finished.
• Tees were completed.
• Greens will be lightly sanded on Wednesday, August 17th.
• Spiking of greens was completed.

#7 late last night

Every bunker has varying degrees of flooding/washout. Drainage lines are overwhelmed.

#14 fairway last night and not any better this morning.

Fairways and approaches will be finished when it dries out.

Irrigation System Update

The irrigation system is undergoing a major renovation this fall as I'm sure you are all aware of by this point in the season. All pipe, sprinklers and control will be replaced except for the green sites, the entire 10th hole, the short game practice area and the driving range. That work was completed in 2010 and 2011. The new Flowtronix Pump Station was installed in April and is operating as expected. What has not been discussed is a conversion from the existing manufacturer to Toro irrigation components. After careful consideration and using the latest technology from the other company around the greens we made the decision to change. We were going to leave the sprinklers around the greens even though we had considerable performance problems for several seasons after they were installed. We did overcome most of those issues but they are still, in my opinion, an inferior product.

Toro Canada offered to replace those sprinklers with their top of the line product. We were presented with this option after the project pricing had been submitted by the independent installer (Alpine Irrigation). Our only obligation was to supply the labour to install them and then Oakcreek Golf and Turf (the Western Canada Toro distributorship) would then take the old sprinklers in exchange.

Throughout the remainder of the summer Turf Care will be working around the greens to switch out those sprinklers. Simply put it was an offer we couldn't refuse and we are getting a superior product. The other manufacturer' sprinklers on hole 10 and the driving range will remain in place. They are a different model than the greens sprinklers and work fine for our needs in those areas.

The new sprinklers being installed around the greens are of the same design that will be installed on the rest of the golf course. What is unique about them is that they can be upgraded in the future as new technology hits the market in the years to come and they don't have to be dug up.

Eric and Sam are seen here at 17 green replacing the old sprinklers laying beside Tia with new Toro Infinity sprinklers.

Divot Repair and Early Morning Golfers

Divots replacement has always been an issue at golf courses and always will be. The same as ball marks. Its an inherent part of the business. Our task in Turf Care is to reduce the amount of improperly repaired divots and to educate the membership as to the best method of repair that relates to the turf conditions at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club. What other clubs do should have no relevance here. I'll repeat the message in word form and then feel free to watch the video below.

Quite simply, if you take a divot please retrieve the turf plug and put it back in the divot hole. If the turf flies apart into small pieces use the sand seed and fill the area completely level with the ground.

Early morning golfers that tee off before the first posted tee time cannot be afforded the same courtesies as those members that do. Turf Care must prepare the course for daily play without any interference. They have been instructed to keep working so that all the work can be completed without having to worry about golfers and possibly getting hit in the early morning hours. They are only looking for that first tee time group (7:00 am on weekdays for example) that approaches them and only then are they to defer all work until that group passes. If you are an early golfer you must not play golf until the Turf Care staff leave the area. You also have the option of skipping that hole but keep in mind that we have multiple groups of staff throughout the course. If you come upon another group you must again make the decision to wait or leave the area. There have been several very close calls this season and this policy is has been enacted as a result. thank you for your consideration in this matter.

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.