Irrigation Project and Cross Country Skiing

I have two topics to discuss and you may be surprised that one starting depends on the other finishing. In a nutshell the entire golf course property will be closed to skiing until Alpine Irrigation is completely finished their work for November and any open excavations are fenced off by the Turf Care Department. Even if it snows enough to establish tracks, as long as Alpine is working and to ensure your safety we cannot allow anyone on the course. Signs will be posted early next week and notification from the Club will go out to all members. This won't be long term but likely until the end of the month.

Even though 90% of the mainline work is finished on the front 9 and lateral line/sprinkler installation is completed on 7 holes (1,2,5,6,7,8,9) there are still some open excavations in isolation valve areas. There is mainline installation ongoing across the 18th fairway, behind the 13th green and out onto the 12th hole in front of the tees. As of Friday Alpine is also installing mainline alongside the south tree line on hole 5. The lateral line/sprinkler installation on hole 5 is finished as noted above. Now that the ground is beginning to freeze the lateral line/sprinkler phase will cease and trenching of larger lines will continue for another week or 2. As long as the excavated soil can be backfilled into trench lines and packed work will be ongoing.

Considering that Alpine Irrigation began work about 2 weeks late, Jeff Monkman became seriously ill and it snowed several times in October the project is almost on schedule. The wet weather throughout the last several weeks has left some areas of the front 9 in rough condition especially where Alpine had to travel with equipment and larger holes were dug for cross connection of  larger pipes and valve installation. Fortunately most of these areas are in the rough and in or next to tree lines. Keep in mind that resodding in wet conditions and the fact that there is zero growth at this time of year will mean a lot of attention from Turf Care will be required next spring to improve the repair work. We have a large task ahead of us but it will get done and the scars of today will disappear over the summer.

The golf course has been "winterized" and now we leave matters to nature aside from the Turf Care staff monitoring oxygen and carbon dioxide levels under the tarps covering the greens and blowing fresh air underneath when required. The "final" fungicide applications on greens, tees, approaches and fairways went well but the continuous precipitation (especially the heavy rainfall on November 6th) that followed and very warm weather necessitated another application (last week) across the golf course. We have left small areas that didn't receive this last application to test results of not being treated one last time. We should now have better data to monitor the effectiveness of the fungicide that was applied in late October. This may save money if these same weather conditions present themselves in the future.



10 inch mainline up the side of #2 and then heading out across the 18th hole.

Lateral line and sprinkler installation on #5 earlier this week.

#14 green covered and getting a shot of fresh air blown underneath.

Closed For The Season But The Irrigation Project Is Ongoing

The golf course is now closed for the season after a difficult October. There wasn't a lot of golf due to the snow that fell and stayed around for a few weeks. The irrigation project was delayed by the weather and serious heath issues that affected Jeff Monkman, the hands on owner of Alpine Irrigation. I'm happy to say that Jeff is recovering but it will be a long and slow one. They are back on track and making good progress. The forecast for the next 5 to 7 days looks great and Alpine should have 5 holes completed by the end of next week. At the same time mainline installation is progressing as well. When the weather turns too cold to install laterals and sprinklers all efforts will be made to get more mainline pipe in the ground. Fortunately this work will be in the rough only on holes 3, 5 and 2.

So as of November 1st:

•  Holes 9, 1, 2, 8, are finished and 7 should be done in 5 days.
• There is a large mainline to run up the side of 2 and across 18 later this month.
•  Mainlines are crossing holes 6 and 7.
• Lateral and sprinkler install on 6 is next after 7 is finished.
• If the weather cooperates  some lateral work may begin on 3 and 5 if the mainlines get installed.
• We will be very lucky to get any work done down on the 4th hole. Fingers crossed.

Turf Care is tackling a job that I'm sure not many would think of when renovating an irrigation system. We are removing the old sprinklers as Alpine finishes each hole. Most of these obsolete sprinklers will be sold at a later date to those courses that need parts for their systems. Its been cold, muddy work but anything we can do now reduces the load for next season.



A 6 inch mainline crossing the rough on #6. Another 10 inch line will cross the fairway closer to the green.



Earlier this week a mainline crosses #7 before lateral work can begin.

Lateral work and sprinkler installation underway on #7.

Now What?

This was the scene on the golf course late Saturday. Since then it has melted a certain amount but not enough to consider opening for a few more days. When play does resume power carts will likely be held off for a day or two. The drying index is very low and there is sure to be standing water to deal with. As soon as we can get on the golf course the Turf Care staff will be busy removing water, setting up the course and removing the many leaves that have fallen over the last week. I know many of you want to get a few more rounds in before the end of the month so hopefully the weather cooperates over the next few weeks. Fungicide application on greens, tees and fairways will commence as soon as these areas clear off and will continue at various times until the end of October.


IRRIGATION UPDATE:

If you look closely you can see the line designating the 2 inch lateral HDPE pipe that was plowed in on the 9th fairway and then closed over with a large rolling packer. The open holes are sprinkler locations. The 9th hole is finally finished and Alpine Irrigation is now working on the first and second holes although the poor weather has also delayed them for a few days.

This is what it looked like before the rolling. Hopefully all lateral work looks this good moving forward.

On the other hand this is mainline installation work. It is very disruptive and causes delays and interruption to the golf course. The main lines that will be installed in a "loop" around the property will cross 7 fairways and run down the side of several holes. The main lines carry large volumes of water that feed all the lateral lines on every hole. The new mains are much larger than the old system allowing more sprinklers to be used at any moment in time and thus creating a narrower "water window". This is especially important during our short nights of mid summer when we only have approximately 6 hours to irrigate the entire course. We are hoping that mainline work can continue into November if the weather doesn't get too cold.


4th Tee/10th Hole Update:

The area around the 4th tee has been cleared for tee expansion, all construction materials are on site and Ted Locke has revisited the course so that we could review the design of the tee decks enabling us to get maximum use of the new surfaces. This may sound difficult to believe but the front of the blue tee deck was only 3 inches higher than the back of the gold tee. The eye can be easily deceived. What this means is that the two tee decks were sloped upwards, an uncommon situation when hitting from an elevated tee. Instead of a tiered separation of the blue and gold tee decks there will now be one tee surface built with a slight downward slope: a slope you will not notice. Unfortunately the golf course construction company (CTC) hired to complete the work is delayed while they finish work in B.C. Hopefully they arrive before too long. If not the tee will be completed next season.

The bunker on #10 was also part of CTC's project work. The Royal Mayfair Turf Care staff will take on this minor project if necessary. I have gone over the work with Ted Locke and we are confident it can be completed as Ted would like it done. Assuming the weather cooperates. What a difference one year makes! Last season daytime highs were in the low 20's (Celsius) with nighttime lows around 9C.

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.