One thing I notice in my travels around the course is that we seem to have three different types of members with regard to care for the course:
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
3 Types of Golfers - A Superintendent's Perspective
One thing I notice in my travels around the course is that we seem to have three different types of members with regard to care for the course:
Friday, March 4, 2016
Bunker Etiquette
RAKE PLACEMENT - PLACE RAKES IN BUNKERS
There always seem to be some confusion regarding where to place the rake when your finished smoothing out your tracks in a bunker. This is understandable as different courses handle this detail differently based on their specific set of circumstances. The USGA and the PGA prefer that rakes are left outside the bunker to minimize the need for any type of special ruling and to prevent an in-coming ball from being trapped in a precarious lie. But here at Greensboro Country Club and a great many other courses the staff is instructed to place the rakes in the bunkers after each raking. This is done to minimize the amount of time spent mowing around the bunkers. With over 50 bunkers on each course and well over a 100 rakes at each property, when the rakes are left outside the bunker in the grass it requires a considerable amount of time for the equipment operator to get off the mower and move each rake out of the mowing zone. During the growing season bunker surrounds are mow as much as twice a week. Therefore, rakes left outside the bunker will and does add countless hours to mowing bunker surrounds and ultimately that is time lost to doing other and more constructive things on the course. While we do not always expect members to place the rake in the appropriate position once their done using the rake we do hope with continual communication on this subject we can get the vast majority of members at our club to understand the wheres and whys of our preferred rake placement.
In addition to placing the rakes in the bunkers, versus outside, the staff is instructed to place the rakes in a specific way, which is intended to benefit the golfer. Rakes are to be spread uniformly throughout the bunker to minimize the distance a golfer will need to walk to retrieve a rake before smoothing his tracks. Rakes are to be installed in a way that is parallel to the line of play of the hole and set at a 45 degree angle along the inside edge of the bunker in an effort to minimize the chance of trapping an incoming ball against the edge of the bunker. Staff is instructed to not place rakes on steep slopes that will entice golfers to enter or exit in these portions of the bunkers for the safety of the golfer and to avoid golfers from making deep footprints in the steep face of a bunker.
REMEMBER TO ALWAYS RAKE THE BUNKER
If you are unfortunate enough to hit your ball in a bunker please remember to always rake behind yourself. Golfers failing to smooth out their tracks in a bunker only ranks behind golfers failing to fix their ballmark. At Greensboro CC bunkers are not raked everyday by the staff. During the playing season bunkers are raked on an average of 4 days a week. This can result in a lot of golfers playing out of a bunker before it is completely re-raked by staff. Everyone knows bunkers are hard enough to get out of with a good lie. It becomes even much harder and much more frustrating when a golfer is forced to hit out of someone's footprint because some golfer before him failed to give golfers playing behind them due consideration.
There always seem to be some confusion regarding where to place the rake when your finished smoothing out your tracks in a bunker. This is understandable as different courses handle this detail differently based on their specific set of circumstances. The USGA and the PGA prefer that rakes are left outside the bunker to minimize the need for any type of special ruling and to prevent an in-coming ball from being trapped in a precarious lie. But here at Greensboro Country Club and a great many other courses the staff is instructed to place the rakes in the bunkers after each raking. This is done to minimize the amount of time spent mowing around the bunkers. With over 50 bunkers on each course and well over a 100 rakes at each property, when the rakes are left outside the bunker in the grass it requires a considerable amount of time for the equipment operator to get off the mower and move each rake out of the mowing zone. During the growing season bunker surrounds are mow as much as twice a week. Therefore, rakes left outside the bunker will and does add countless hours to mowing bunker surrounds and ultimately that is time lost to doing other and more constructive things on the course. While we do not always expect members to place the rake in the appropriate position once their done using the rake we do hope with continual communication on this subject we can get the vast majority of members at our club to understand the wheres and whys of our preferred rake placement.
REMEMBER TO ALWAYS RAKE THE BUNKER
If you are unfortunate enough to hit your ball in a bunker please remember to always rake behind yourself. Golfers failing to smooth out their tracks in a bunker only ranks behind golfers failing to fix their ballmark. At Greensboro CC bunkers are not raked everyday by the staff. During the playing season bunkers are raked on an average of 4 days a week. This can result in a lot of golfers playing out of a bunker before it is completely re-raked by staff. Everyone knows bunkers are hard enough to get out of with a good lie. It becomes even much harder and much more frustrating when a golfer is forced to hit out of someone's footprint because some golfer before him failed to give golfers playing behind them due consideration.
Thursday, February 4, 2016
GCC Golf Course Winter Update
Thus far the winter of 2016 has been very interesting. The El Nino effect has brought much needed rain to the west coast but the east cost has also experienced its fair share of rain as well. In addition to rainfall the temperatures in December and early January were unlike any I have ever seen. A picture of our fairways in early January looked as if they were either overseeded or painted.
A few short weeks after this scene there was a completely different landscape in place. A winter storm in late January blanketed both the courses with 4-6 inches of a snow sleet mixture.
All in all, while the weather has been interesting it has also been very manageable. During the middle part of January we experienced some temperatures in the mid teens but none that were low enough to trigger any type of winterkill concerns.
In amongst the rain and snow, the staff on both courses has been actively working to implement actionable items included within our 2016 Tree Program. As such, both courses have seen a significant number of trees removed from the courses. The Farm course has had close to 40 trees removed in recent weeks and the Irving Park course has seen around 45 trees disappear. We still have another 6 trees on list at Irving Park slated for removal. Once all the removals are complete, we will begin grinding stumps and removing the stump grindings. Once the stumps are dealt with the staff will be begin the final repair of these areas. Several of these areas are large and will require sod work. The sod work will most likely not begin until sometime this spring when we can get some good quality sod and are not worried about it winter killing.
A few short weeks after this scene there was a completely different landscape in place. A winter storm in late January blanketed both the courses with 4-6 inches of a snow sleet mixture.
All in all, while the weather has been interesting it has also been very manageable. During the middle part of January we experienced some temperatures in the mid teens but none that were low enough to trigger any type of winterkill concerns.
 |
| One of the many dead Pines marked for removal |
 |
| On the ground |
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Understanding Frost And The Reason For Delays
"Frost occurs when temperatures approach 32 degrees,
freezing the dew upon the plant surface and more importantly, the water that is
present inside the plants’ cells. The expanding pressure of the freezing water
inside the cell stretches the cell membrane, and subsequently the membrane
loses all of its elasticity and resiliency that enable it to withstand outside
forces such as foot traffic, etc. In
this state, the membrane cannot absorb impact or stretch and re-conform to
pressure, so it breaks, causing the cell fluid to leak after thawing, killing
the cell completely. If enough cells are affected, the whole turf plant will
die, and if enough plants are affected, large areas of turf, whether it is
greens, tees, fairways, or rough, can be killed.
An easy way to understand this phenomenon is to imagine a
water balloon. The balloon skin is elastic, flexible, and can easily supply
generous “give” to forces exerted upon it. But when the balloon is frozen, the
skin is stretched by the expansion of water as it turns to ice, and it becomes
thin, rigid, and brittle, unable to flex against outside pressures. Its only
“give” is to break
By delaying play until the frost is gone and the
temperatures moderate, we give time to allow the plant cells to thaw and the
cell membranes to regain their original elastic qualities that enable them to
withstand traffic." We are well
into the time of the year where nightly temperatures often result in large
scale frost throughout the courses so on those chilly mornings please call the
Pro Shop to see how frost might affect your tee time.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Aug 12 - Farm Range Re-Opens This Week
FARM RANGE
The Farm range was closed for repairs on July 13 and sprigs hit the ground on July 15. We are now in week four and as we originally hoped we will be opening the range on Friday of this week on a limited basis as follows:
The Farm range was closed for repairs on July 13 and sprigs hit the ground on July 15. We are now in week four and as we originally hoped we will be opening the range on Friday of this week on a limited basis as follows:
Monday Closed all Day
Tuesday to Friday Open
at 7:30 am Closed at 6:00 pm
Saturday and Sunday Open
at 7:00 am Closed from 11:00
to 12:30 (for Handpicking)
Saturday and Sunday Reopens
at 12:30 Closed at 6:00 pm
The above schedule has shorter operating hours included to allow for staff to hand pick the range. Once conditions improve and the range firms up enough to operate the mechanical ball picker the range schedule will return to its normal operating hours. We understand this is a highly valued facility by many of the members and we appreciate your understanding as we continue in our efforts to return this part of the club back to a fully operational status.
 |
| Farm Range 7-14-15 |
 |
| Farm Range 8-12-15 |
FARM COURSE
The GCM team at the Farm continue to make repairs to small areas throughout the course. While the Farm fared well in the Zoysia fairways, the amount of damage in the Bermuda roughs was almost identical to the size of damage incurred in the roughs on the Irving Park course. The primary difference between the timing of repairs was a very busy tournament schedule on the Farm course that did not allow us the opportunity to keep the same pace as we executed on the Irving Park course. Our original plan to have these repairs finished by the end of August is still our goal. With the vast majority of our seasonal staff having already left for college the remaining year round staff still has a lot to do but I have the utmost confidence they will put in the extra effort to make the final repairs before our Club Championship on August 29-30.
 |
| Repair Work #13 |
 |
| Repair Work #14 |
 |
| Repair Work #15 |
IRVING PARK
The Irving Park course has come a long way from when we first started making repairs back in the month of May. We continue to try and grow in the last few areas of sprigs that have been slow to recovery (mostly in shady areas). In additon to pushing sprigs the IP staff also has a small amount of sod work left on the table to get to before the Club Championship.
And before you know it the aerification season will be back upon us:
 |
| Irving Park #13 |
And before you know it the aerification season will be back upon us:
Greens Aerification Irving Park
August 31 - September 1
This aerification will be especially important this year as we deferred the June aerification on greens due to extremely hot weather and a huge workload related to winterkill repairs.
Monday, July 20, 2015
7-20 Sprigs on the Range and Presidents Cup Nearly Here
Sprigging the Farm Range
Day 1 - 2 (7/13 - 7/14)
The first two days were spent heavily aerifying the damaged areas where the new sprigs would be planted. The entire site was also fertilized with a high rate of starter fertilizer
Day 3 (7/15)
Sprigs were hand planted on the Farm range on Wednesday, July 15. The process started with the delivery of the sprigs at 5:00 A.M. The dump Truck that brought the sprigs had a mechanical failure, so for the first three hours the sprigs were off loaded via our backhoe reaching into the truck and pushing the sprigs out the back a little at a time. But by 8:00 our Mechanic, Wayne Vernon, had helped the driver fix the hydraulics and the load finally hit the ground. Much like on the Irving Park course the sprigs were manually loaded onto carts where the crew of 30 plus guys drove to the damaged areas and spread them out evenly across the ground. Once the sprigs were on the ground two guys came behind with tractors and cut the sprigs into the ground. Once the sprigs were cut into the ground two more guys topdressed the planted sprigs with a moderate level of organic compost. The last step of the process included irrigating the entire site to the point of saturation. Despite the slow start to the day, the crew did an excellent job and the process of planting the sprigs couldn't have went much better.
Day 4 - 14 (7/16 - 7/26)
The first week and a half will be spent keeping the newly planted sprigs saturated, which will allow them to sprout new roots into the wet and softened soil. As the roots begin to develop the amount of water required to keep the plant alive will lessen a little bit everyday.
Day 15 (7/27)
By this point the sprigs should be firmly established and the amount of daily watering should be down to a limited amount of watering just a few times a day. Day 15 is the first chance we will have to get back onto the site and fertilize everything for the second time.
Day 22 (8/3)
By now we should be watering just at night and this will be the approximate day where we put out our third fertilizer application.
Day 29 (8/10)
This should be the day we put out our fourth and final fertilizer application. If all goes well we will have the driving range reopened by this date on a shortened and structured schedule to allow the range staff enough time to hand pick the balls off the range.
Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup begins on Friday night with a new nine hole Par 3 Tournament on the Irving Park course. Saturday's first official round will be held on the Irving Park course. It seems like a long time ago when the sprigs were planted on this course but 5 weeks really isn't that long when it comes to growing sprigs. With that said, we are very pleased with the establishment rate of the sprigs on the Irving Park course. While numerous areas are still very visible there are also areas that are now far enough along you would never know they were sprigged just a little over a month ago.
Sunday's final round will be held on the Farm course that just hosted a very successful Carolinas Am. While we continue to make repairs to several areas in the rough the vast majority of the in-play areas of the course are in very good condition and should make for some very good playing conditions.
Day 1 - 2 (7/13 - 7/14)
The first two days were spent heavily aerifying the damaged areas where the new sprigs would be planted. The entire site was also fertilized with a high rate of starter fertilizer
Day 3 (7/15)
Sprigs were hand planted on the Farm range on Wednesday, July 15. The process started with the delivery of the sprigs at 5:00 A.M. The dump Truck that brought the sprigs had a mechanical failure, so for the first three hours the sprigs were off loaded via our backhoe reaching into the truck and pushing the sprigs out the back a little at a time. But by 8:00 our Mechanic, Wayne Vernon, had helped the driver fix the hydraulics and the load finally hit the ground. Much like on the Irving Park course the sprigs were manually loaded onto carts where the crew of 30 plus guys drove to the damaged areas and spread them out evenly across the ground. Once the sprigs were on the ground two guys came behind with tractors and cut the sprigs into the ground. Once the sprigs were cut into the ground two more guys topdressed the planted sprigs with a moderate level of organic compost. The last step of the process included irrigating the entire site to the point of saturation. Despite the slow start to the day, the crew did an excellent job and the process of planting the sprigs couldn't have went much better.
 |
| Innovative Unloading |
 |
| Hand Planting Sprigs |
 |
| Cutting, Rolling and Topdressing |
 |
| Brooks Running the Water |
Day 4 - 14 (7/16 - 7/26)
The first week and a half will be spent keeping the newly planted sprigs saturated, which will allow them to sprout new roots into the wet and softened soil. As the roots begin to develop the amount of water required to keep the plant alive will lessen a little bit everyday.
 |
| Saturated Sprigs |
Day 15 (7/27)
By this point the sprigs should be firmly established and the amount of daily watering should be down to a limited amount of watering just a few times a day. Day 15 is the first chance we will have to get back onto the site and fertilize everything for the second time.
Day 22 (8/3)
By now we should be watering just at night and this will be the approximate day where we put out our third fertilizer application.
Day 29 (8/10)
This should be the day we put out our fourth and final fertilizer application. If all goes well we will have the driving range reopened by this date on a shortened and structured schedule to allow the range staff enough time to hand pick the balls off the range.
Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup begins on Friday night with a new nine hole Par 3 Tournament on the Irving Park course. Saturday's first official round will be held on the Irving Park course. It seems like a long time ago when the sprigs were planted on this course but 5 weeks really isn't that long when it comes to growing sprigs. With that said, we are very pleased with the establishment rate of the sprigs on the Irving Park course. While numerous areas are still very visible there are also areas that are now far enough along you would never know they were sprigged just a little over a month ago.
 |
| Irving Park #4 (7-20-15) |
Sunday's final round will be held on the Farm course that just hosted a very successful Carolinas Am. While we continue to make repairs to several areas in the rough the vast majority of the in-play areas of the course are in very good condition and should make for some very good playing conditions.
 |
| Farm #12 (7-20-15) |
Thursday, July 9, 2015
7/9 - Irving Park Reopens Limited Number of Holes and The Farm Plays Host to the Carolinas Am
Irving Park
The Irving Park course reopened 13 holes today. Five holes (7-9 and 14-15) still need a little more work and time to grow. Based on what we are seeing today we fully expect to open the entire course by next weekend (7/18). Outside of a small amount of sod work in thin areas in select fairways that were sprigged the bulk of the sod work at Irving Park has been completed.
Farm Course
The Farm course watched the first round of golfers go out today for their chance to be recognized as the best amateur golfer in both North Carolina and South Carolina for 2015. The Carolinas Am is the flagship amateur tournament conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association and the field is composed of the leading leading amateurs in both states. While the Farm course is not up to the high expectations of a normal year, this is in no way a normal year. In conversations with Jack Nance, CGA Executive Director, the CGA is very happy with their decision to bring this event to GCC's Farm course and very lucky as well with their timing. While there is still work that needs to be accomplished, the Farm course with it's Zoysia fairways and tees has resulted in conditions well above average compared to other courses in our region within the Carolinas.
Farm Range
The Farm driving Range will be closing on July 13 to allow for sprigging on the landing area and chipping fairway. The club will be sending out more details related to this closing in the next few days.
Lightning
Last week a small storm blew through the Farm course and struck a very large pine tree located directly behind the scoreboard to the right of 18 green. Just one week later and who knows what could of happened? This is just a simple reminder of how dangerous lightning can be on the golf course. The club has invested in a lightning detection system, which in addition to the detector located at the clubhouse includes three sirens located throughout the golf course. When the siren goes off golfers are required to immediately quit play and return to the clubhouse or the nearest shelter. In a recent study by the National Weather Service there were 8 golfer deaths by lightning over the past six years. While 8 deaths over a six year period may surprise some the mere fact still exist that lightning can and does kill people. While golf accounted for 8 deaths, all other listed outdoor sports accounted for 119 additional deaths, so the next time you hear one of our sirens go off don't think twice about calling it quits.
The Irving Park course reopened 13 holes today. Five holes (7-9 and 14-15) still need a little more work and time to grow. Based on what we are seeing today we fully expect to open the entire course by next weekend (7/18). Outside of a small amount of sod work in thin areas in select fairways that were sprigged the bulk of the sod work at Irving Park has been completed.
 |
| #1 - Late May |
 |
| #1 Early July |
Farm Course
The Farm course watched the first round of golfers go out today for their chance to be recognized as the best amateur golfer in both North Carolina and South Carolina for 2015. The Carolinas Am is the flagship amateur tournament conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association and the field is composed of the leading leading amateurs in both states. While the Farm course is not up to the high expectations of a normal year, this is in no way a normal year. In conversations with Jack Nance, CGA Executive Director, the CGA is very happy with their decision to bring this event to GCC's Farm course and very lucky as well with their timing. While there is still work that needs to be accomplished, the Farm course with it's Zoysia fairways and tees has resulted in conditions well above average compared to other courses in our region within the Carolinas.
 |
| Hope Still Exist for All 157 Competitors |
 |
| #3 Farm - Practice Round |
Farm Range
The Farm driving Range will be closing on July 13 to allow for sprigging on the landing area and chipping fairway. The club will be sending out more details related to this closing in the next few days.
 |
| Farm Range |
Lightning
Last week a small storm blew through the Farm course and struck a very large pine tree located directly behind the scoreboard to the right of 18 green. Just one week later and who knows what could of happened? This is just a simple reminder of how dangerous lightning can be on the golf course. The club has invested in a lightning detection system, which in addition to the detector located at the clubhouse includes three sirens located throughout the golf course. When the siren goes off golfers are required to immediately quit play and return to the clubhouse or the nearest shelter. In a recent study by the National Weather Service there were 8 golfer deaths by lightning over the past six years. While 8 deaths over a six year period may surprise some the mere fact still exist that lightning can and does kill people. While golf accounted for 8 deaths, all other listed outdoor sports accounted for 119 additional deaths, so the next time you hear one of our sirens go off don't think twice about calling it quits.
 |
| Lightning Strike From Top to Bottom |
 |
| Bark Blown Off From Lightning Strike |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)