Irrigation Q and A

When is the new system going to be used in its entirety?

The new irrigation system is up and running and has been for about a week. We are now making adjustments at many of the sprinklers (arc, rotation, nozzle requirements, etc.) and at the central computer: an important requirement for any new system. This is not a simple process and the current hot weather is actually making it more urgent than cooler weather might. There are both wet and dry areas that were never present before. As time goes on (all summer) our attention will focus on fine tuning the system. However there is one major point to consider. The irrigation system is new but the golf course conditions are not. By that I mean the underlying factors that make up the golf course are not new. The soils are good and bad, drainage can be and is an issue and hot spots will always be present.

Why are we hand watering if we have a new water system?

Hand watering prevents over watering nearby areas that don't need water. Remember the irrigation system is a "large area" watering tool. Small dry areas and sod cannot be watered by a sprinkler without overwatering surrounding areas. There a two separate issues here. First sod requires a lot of water especially at +30C. Turning on overhead sprinklers to water what are generally small sections of sod will over saturate everything. Secondly, hot spots are usually a function of issues with soil (localized dry spots or LDS) that require precise watering in addition to cultural practices such as venting and application of wetting agents. This is very relevant on greens and tees and common on almost all golf courses.

Most of the hand watering seems to be on greens. Why?

In addition to treating LDS with hand watering, using hoses and not the large area sprinklers will  prevent putting surfaces from getting too soft over the entire green. Too much water, high temperatures and high humidity can also lead to disease issues. Hand watering the greens should come as no surprise to anyone at The Royal Mayfair. We have been doing that for 7 years even though that section of the irrigation system was upgraded in 2010 an 2011 although new Toro sprinklers were installed last summer. You would be hard pressed to find a golf course that doesn't hand water.

When is Alpine completely finished their work?

Alpine should be off the property by July 14th. They still need to directionally drill some control wires and a communication line to the new Toro controller at the short game practice area. In addition to that they will spend the week adding soil and seeding the many small scars in the rough left behind from their work when using the backhoe. Also, their work is under warranty and with all large projects there will likely be some issues to correct as the system is used extensively. They will also be supplying us with a GPS mapping of all the sprinklers, valves, etc. by the end of the season. This map will make future writing of programs on the computer even more accurate.

Course Update and Irrigation System Progress

Some areas of the golf course are still not where we would like to see things in terms of conditioning. As stated in the previous blog we have been extremely busy with 2 main tasks: looking after the course and working overtime with irrigation cleanup. We have managed to hire more staff and we have made good progress on all work fronts. The following is a list of procedures that will be undertaken by Turf Care beginning tomorrow morning and continuing throughout the week:

• Greens 2 and 6 require an aeration and heavier sand topdressing to help even out the surface. As we lower the mowing height to match the other greens it becomes very important that the new sod is as healthy as possible. The holes will heal quickly at this time of year.

• The other greens will be verticut and lightly sanded Monday morning. Mowing heights will be lowered later in the week. We are getting close to our usual summer time greens condition.
• As fairways 2, 6,7 and 9 reach the latter stages of recovery they also need an aeration, spot overseeding and a topdressing. That will occur throughout the week. The other fairways (as per usual) will get a light topdressing after the Father's Day weekend.
• Many of the wood chip beds need weed control and we can finally task some labor to spraying Roundup and or Killex as required.
• The bunkers need edging and sand adjustment but that will still have to wait until later this month. They aren't too bad but do need attention sooner than later.
• The 4th tee is sodded and should be open for play soon after the Canada Day long weekend.

 
Irrigation System Project

• Alpine will be finished the majority of their work on hole 13 by Tuesday morning and then move on to the 12th hole at that time.
• Hole 11 will follow with a mainline connection from the north side of 12 to the edge of 10 fairway. This will link the irrigation work done previously on hole 10 in 2011.
• Hole 18 will be the last on course work with irrigation to be installed around the large practice green and the nursery as the final phase. If all goes according to plan hole 18 should be completed during the last week of June.

Irrigation Cleanup

• Turf Care is working on the 9th hole at present (not including the haul road repairs). The haul road repairs will commence towards the end of the month when we are certain Alpine will not be needing the route.
• Trenchlines down the tree lines on 5, 12/13 and other areas difficult to grow turf (basically under trees) are going to be hydro seeded. We have borrowed a small hydro seeder that will spray a seed and cellulose fiber mulch on the dirt. This will protect the seed and allow carts to drive over these areas without too much trouble.
• Turf Care will be returning and taking care of many small locations in the coming weeks to give the project a final "cleanup". July and August are always good growing months so that will help as well.

We are getting close to the finish line. At the beginning of May that "light at the end of the tunnel" cliché felt like a Mack truck about to run us down. Now it does feel we are finally getting to a point where the hard work has  made a difference and results are definitely more positive.

Irrigation Project And Course Update

The irrigation project is moving along but will be held up for a day or two by the heavy rains. Alpine Irrigation will trench in a run of mainline alongside the north treeline on 15 and then cross over in front of the 15th tees and connect to the section of mainline that was installed across the 14th fairway earlier in May. By Friday they will also begin working on the lateral pipe lines and sprinkler placement on the 15th hole. As per usual the hole will play as a par 3. It had been suggested that there might be some temporary hole closures during the remainder of the project but I don't believe this will be necessary based on the procedure we have followed so far. After 15 is completed the next hole to be worked on will be #14 with mainline work continuing across the 13th hole and down the north side of #12. This pipe will  connect to the pipe that is presently supported out of the ground in front of the 12th tee. We will update the final phases as Alpine finishes the major work on #14.

To reiterate previous discussions please realize that this work is akin to major surgery. It is invasive and time is required for the golf course to recover. By time I don't mean a few weeks. It will take months. In fact we will likely be mending certain areas for the remainder of the season. Trench lines might settle, some sprinklers will need more leveling, sod that doesn't survive will need to be replaced and seeded areas take time to grow in. Good weather will help as will the efforts of the Turf Care staff. Alpine will need to finish up certain areas in addition to their install work but we want them to get the system in the ground, get out of the way of the membership, do their final touchups and leave. The new Toro system is active on the entire front 9 and on holes 16 and 17 to date.

The work is not pretty and is difficult to accept for some. The alternative was to keep irrigating with an outdated antiquated irrigation system that was limiting the future of the property. We have taken a step backwards in 2017 but have set ourselves up to take big steps forward beyond this season. At present the fit and finish of The Royal Mayfair are not what we are accustomed to but we are now at the forefront of irrigation management. 

Golf Course Update

• The heavy rain and strong winds have left the course wet and in need of a major cleanup. At least 6 large trees have come down and there are a few hanging branches. A tree company will need to assist with some of the work.
• The sodded greens are progressing well considering how quickly we put them back in play. They will be slower than the others but will get progressively smoother over the coming weeks.
• Recovery on damaged fairways is slow. The type of turf on our fairways (predominately Poa annua) needs time and warm weather. That warm weather has finally arrived and as night time temperatures stay above 10C the Poa will finally begin to respond.
• With the Turf Care team having to embark on extensive irrigation repairs something has to give. We are stretched to the limit having to look after the usual tasks in addition to the extra work. As a result we are behind on trim work, tree line rough mowing and bunker improvements such as edging and sand adjustment.
• We are also behind on our topdressing of greens and aprons (not for long though). Mowing heights will be lowered next week on the greens and fairways. 

All for now

Change Of Plans

As the title suggests there has been a change in regards to the recovery plan for the 6th and possibly 2nd green. Our initial idea was to aerate, overseed with a new quick germinating bentgrass and give the Poa annua a chance to recover as it always does. Unfortunately the golf season being as short as it is in Edmonton does not lend itself to the type of recovery we initially wanted. This thinking does not synch with member expectations. Therefore we will sod the 40% of the green that is damaged on #6 on Friday, give it a a few days to recover and put it back into play. The end result will be better than waiting until the end of June for a slow recovery. The 2nd green is more difficult to deal with. There is less damage overall but it isn't concentrated so it may be a sod project completed in a few stages. That decision will come in the next 24 hours.

The warmup green will be ready for use by the May Long Weekend. The putting green will be aerated and overseeded and allowed to recover over time.

Note to consider:

• Newer golf courses with bentgrass greens and or tees and Kentucky bluegrass fairways will fair better than older courses with predominantly Poa annua surfaces after winters such as we just experienced. There isn't an older Poa golf course in our area that hasn't had some degree of damage on some area of their course.
• We came out of winter in March, April was terrible and now we have a warm beginning to May. The grace period of April which in the last few years has been very helpful to turf recovery was non existent. Overall conditions will improve daily. Keep in mind the course was covered in snow on April 24th. Nature does not care. It is what it is and no amount of money or expertise can change that. 

The irrigation work is progressing well as Alpine will move to the 16th hole on Friday. The 3rd hole reopens as the Par 5 but the back tees may need to be moved up to the whites for a few hours. The Turf Care team has been working on larger repair areas over the front 9 but we are changing that plan as well. We are now going to start on the first hole, complete all the repairs possible at this time then move to the 2nd hole and so on. The repairs are required because Alpine could not do a proper job of backfilling and sodding in cold wet and then ultimately very cold conditions in early to mid November. That was the trade off for doing work in the fall as opposed to the summer months. The repair work Alpine is doing now  on the back 9 should require much less attention from the Turf Crew.

Front 9 Opens And Irrigation Timeline

The Front 9 opens today after a week of nice weather that allowed Alpine Irrigation a much needed head start to finish the work on #4 and enough of #3 to open it as a par 4 for a few days. They will be working out in front of the tee and on the tee itself for the remainder of the week. Please advance around the corner to find the tee blocks approximately 400 yds. (white, blue and gold tees) and 300 yds. (red tees) from the 3rd green. Be mindful of the workers in this area and realize that there will be constant motion and noise as they install pipe, wire and sprinklers.

The Club will publish a work progress report from Alpine in the very near future but for now I can outline the next few weeks of work:

• After #3 is completed they will work on #16 and also extend a short mainline pipe down the south side of the 16th hole to the east of the 17th tee complex.
• #17 will be next and a section of mainline will be installed down the south side of the 18th hole and join up with previously installed pipe behind the 13th green.
• The 15th hole will then be worked on with a section of mainline connecting to the 16th hole, running up the north side of #15 and connecting to the mainline (previously installed across the 14th fairway) near the Thor Guard location south of the 15th tee.

During this work holes will be shortened and possibly closed for very short periods if necessary (unlikely but no promises). Expect holes to play as Par 3's such as occurred last fall on #9. 

The Turf Care team will be continuously working on front 9 repairs over the foreseeable future. The task is daunting but we are making some headway. Large areas take priority and then hole by hole work following. The next few months will involve a lot of sod patching, aerating and verticutting/overseeding throughout. Warm weather will certainly speed up the recovery timeline.

Front 9 Notes:

• Greens 2 and 6 are recovering albeit slowly. They will be constantly top dressed and many smaller spots will be plugged out. Larger areas will be monitored over several weeks and it is possible some sod may be used to help with recovery. The greens will stay in play but lower your expectations for the time being.
• There is some plugging required on greens 7 and 8 that will commence soon.
• The new fairway overseer purchased by the Club has arrived and will be put to good use on damaged locations. The Turfco Triwave 60 (google search for info) is now part of an ongoing program to introduce bentgrass on the fairways as we introduce a turf species to compete with the Poa annua. Our approaches are quickly becoming bentgrass dominant so it is hoped we can have some success on the fairways over time.
• Turf from the 8th fairway is being used to replace dead sod or to compliment existing turf on fairways mainlines such as the mainline crossing the 18th hole. We will sod the area on the 8th hole in the near future.
• Haul road repairs (specifically down the side of #9) will commence when the irrigation project is completed.

Last Note:

We have limited options for irrigation scheduling at present. As a result some watering will begin before dusk and run into the early mornings. The new system is slowly coming online and we should have automatic control soon which will help with front 9 turf recovery and also keep us from going insane . Lol. All for now.

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.