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| Steven tidying up pampus grass |
The weather over the past week has been drier than the previous week. However, Sandpines still received 1.15 inches of rain. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the week ahead looks wet. On a positive note, we were able to get the fairways mowed during our 40 hour stretch of nice weather earlier in the week.
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| Broken splice box |
Jerry and I continued our quest to find the fault in the power wire which supplies power to 3 irrigation control boxes between the driving range and hole 2. We had it narrowed down to a two square foot area in short order. The problem was a broken splice box on the driving range fairway that was just inches below the surface. Since, there was no access box present on the surface, we had no idea the splice box even existed. Consequently, it had been aerated and destroyed over the years. There was a nick in the common wire that had caused the circuit breaker to trip. Typically, there would be a way to access the splice box from the surface, much like a valve box gives access to below ground irrigation valves. The wires were re-spliced and sealed in a new splice box. An access box was also installed flush with the ground. The addition of this box will provide convenient access to the splice box. Additionally, the access box will be visible from ground level, and therefore, will be avoided during aeration.
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| River rock 1-2 inches below the surface of the turf? |
There have been many people that have worked at Sandpines over the years. These many people have had many ideas. Like all people, there were good ideas and bad ideas. Putting 6 inches of river rock just 1-2 inches below the surface of the turf 5 feet away from a green was a bad idea. Needless to say, aeration of this area has not been successful, unless you have a use for broken tines. Steven did a nice job digging up the first of two river rock "drains" next to the 18th green. Luckily, there are only a few more of these types of "drains" throughout the golf course.
For those of you out there looking to put drainage in a turf setting, please use pea gravel instead of river rock, it will be much easier to deal with in the future. Also, cap the pea gravel with 4-6 inches of sand. Additionally, if you are on top of a sand dune, start with improving infiltration (remove thatch), as sub surface drainage is likely to be pretty good.
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| Extremely wet area in hole 6 rough |
The golf course is as wet as I have ever seen it. The last couple of winters, the ground water did not surface on the golf course. This winter its back with a vengeance. We had no choice but to implement the rope and stake traffic control strategy. I prefer using only green traffic control stakes, but there are simply to many large areas that must be avoided by all traffic. One area that has suffered greatly with the arrival of ground water is hole 6. The low spot in the fairway that is approximately 70 yards from the green must be roped off. This forces all the golf cart and maintenance equipment traffic to travel through the right rough until the gravel cart path is reached. Conditions in this area have gotten much worse this year than is previous years. Jerry is working on extending the gravel path in this area in order to keep cart use available.
There are many areas of the golf course which should be avoided that have been marked with a mixture of ropes and stakes and stakes alone. If you happen to be using a cart while golfing a Sandpines, please avoid these areas. During heavy rain squalls, there may be additional standing water on the course. All standing water should be avoided if at all possible. Every effort will be made to provide the use of carts, however, there are times when it is simply not possible.
Something that drives me crazy is seeing excessive cart use. An example of excessive cart use is 2 golfers using 2 carts (4 golfers using 3 carts and 4 golfers using 4 cars are also excessive cart use). The only time excessive cart use is tolerable, is when players have joined up on the course. That does happen now and then. However, there are many times this is not the case. Please consider the wear and tear on the golf course. Excessive cart use definitely has an impact on course conditions. Not to mention, wasting energy to charge an extra cart, and having to wash an extra cart. Joining up at the range? Please take a moment to drop any extra cart or carts off at the cart circle before you tee off. Join up on the front nine? Please drop your cart off at the cart circle before continuing to the back nine.
