9 green basking in the sun

The agronomy staff has been keeping busy just doing routine gold course maintenance tasks such as mowing, rolling, changing hole locations, fertilizing, hand watering, raking bunkers, repairing equipment, making irrigation adjustments, and weedeating. Our hard work is paying off, as I am continuing to receive compliments on the condition of the golf course. Most of those compliments have been specifically regarding the condition of the greens, which are rolling great.

Putter cam

The Boys & Girls Club Tournament is one of our biggest tournaments of the the year. This year it took place on Saturday May 31st. While mowing the 13th green in preparation for the tournament, one of the hydraulic lift arms blew apart, leaving a hydraulic oil spill right in the middle of the green (see the picture below). We had just enough time to get the reels cleaned up and swapped onto another mower so that the rest of the greens could be mowed prior to the start of the tournament. Needless to say, that really wasn't the way we were hoping to showcase the 13th green.

Hydraulic leak on 13 green

Jerry and I repaired the hydraulic leak with sod from the chipping green first thing on Monday following the tournament. The damaged sod was placed on the edge of the chipping green where the repair sod was taken from.

Jerry repairing the hydraulic leak on 13 green

The repair process went pretty smoothly. First, we cut the sod on both greens. Then, we took out the damaged sod from 13 green and swapped it with the good sod from the chipping green. Finally, the sod was tamped down and swept off. The repair turned out great. Hopefully, we won't have to try out our greens sodding skills again anytime soon.

Finished product

The new tee on hole 8 had filled in enough prior to the Boys & Girls Club tournament that I thought it would be fun for the players to try it out for the first time during the event. It wasn't perfect, but I think everyone enjoyed the opportunity to give the new tee a try. We will work the new tee into the rotation for regular play in the near future.

New tee on hole 8

I had a great time playing in the Boys & Girls Club Tournament. I think our group finished somewhere in the middle of the pack (67 gross). We had all the usual highs and lows associated with scramble golf. In the end, it was all about raising money for our local Boys & Girls Club and having fun in the process.

2014 Boys & Girls Club Tournament

A beautiful Sandpines rhododendron

We have had three days with temperatures around 80 degrees, and two days with temperatures over 90 degrees since my last post. For those that may not know, that is not normal for the Oregon Coast. Sandpines is more accustomed to seeing "warm" temperatures in the low to mid 70's. We also had a few spring-like days with showers and sun mixed. Overall, the weather has been nice for golf. It is a great time to get out and enjoy a round at Sandpines. I have received several compliments on the condition of the greens, they are rolling nicely.

Dylan's (my son) tee shot on hole 8

I was able to get out and play 9 holes with my son on Friday. The highlight of the round was the tee shot he hit on hole 8 (pictured above). He hit driver from the tee (the hole was playing about 170 yards) and he knocked it about 16 inches from the hole.

John aerating, Steven blowing, and Jerry shoveling during greens aeration

The greens aeration went very smoothly. We used small tines (1/4 inch), and the holes healed up quickly. The greens were aerated and cleaned up, rolled, top dressed, and brushed once. At this point, you can't even tell they were aerated.

Jerry aerating and Thaddeus harvesting hole 6 approach

Approaches were aerated using larger tines (5/8 inch). They are healing up nicely, but they will take longer than the greens to fully recover.

Syringing the green on hole 4

The turf at Sandpines is not used to 90 degree temperatures. On the afternoon of April 30th, the temperature hit 91. In order to cool the greens down, we turned on the greens sprinkler heads for 3 minutes (about 1 turn). This process is called syringing. We don't syringe greens very often (0-5 times per year). The purpose for the syringing is to cool the turf, it really isn't so much about the water. In fact, it is important not to over water when the temperatures are high. High temperatures and wet turf can lead to Pythium diseases, which are far worse than having dry spots. We normally hand water dry spots on greens with a hose instead of using sprinklers, but syringing allows us to cool all the greens in a short amount of time when the temperatures are hot.

Thaddeus mowing the new tee on hole 8

The new tee on hole 8 is growing in pretty well. It has been mowed a couple of times, which should help encourage lateral growth. It was recently spot seeded to help the thin areas fill in. It isn't quite ready for play yet, but we are getting closer.

View from the clubhouse conference room

Sandpines had a 10 day stretch in early April with no precipitation (April 7th-16th). We had to fire up the irrigation system again. Jerry and I have been happy the results of the new irrigation programs we put in place in the off season. We now have programs for dry spots on tees, fairways, and rough. In the past, we used multi-manual programs on the irrigation computer to achieve similar results. The new programs can be turned on or off and adjusted up or down quickly compared to adding or removing multi-manual programs one station at a time.

3 green basking in the sun

Peterson recently finished a complete rebuild of our primary greens mowing reels. The reels were in need of some attention and he put a lot of time and effort in to make sure they would be ready for our peak season. He really went above and beyond with the project. The reels look brand new. It reminded me of the type of work you would expect to see on American Restoration (History Channel) from Rick Dale and his staff.

Vintage 1993 Toro reels recently restored by Peterson

The driving range tee is now open for play. The hitting stations are painted with marking chalk and are designated with 4 green stakes with bag stands/club holders behind the hitting area. They will be moved as needed. In order to maximize the use of the grass on the driving range tee, please place your ball at the grassy back edge of your previous divot, removing just a small portion of grass with each swing (as shown in the picture below).

You may have noticed a gentlemen walking around the course with a weird looking back pack and antenna combination a couple of weeks ago. He was here on behalf of SkyGolf in order to create accurate maps and information for SkyCaddie products.

Member of SkyGolf staff working on hole 11

Greens aeration is right around the corner. Monday (April 28th) 9 holes will be aerated, and Tuesday (April 29th) the other 9 holes will be aerated. All holes will be open for play both days. We will have a delayed starting time both days. During the aeration process small (.25 inch) hollow core tines will be used. The healing time will be greatly reduced compared to large (.625 inch) hollow core tines. I feel we can get away with smaller tines during this aeration based on our current turf conditions. This will not always be the case, and we will likely use larger tines again in the future.

I am often asked why aeration is important. The video below does a good job answering that question. I encourage you to check it out.

Hole 5

March started off as a pretty wet month. Sandpines received 4.4 inches of rain during the first 9 days of the month. However, the last 14 days (March 10th through the 24th) have only yielded about an inch, and 60% of that came in one day (March 16th). Last week, the golf course dried out enough that we had to water a few areas (tees and fairway hot spots). Irrigation in March on the Oregon Coast is rare. It was especially strange considering we were dealing with frost delays for most of the week. It looks like we won't have to worry about either of those issues this week.

Hole 2

We have groomed the greens a couple more times since my last post. Greens mowing frequency has increased and we are starting to get some grass growth in all areas throughout the course. Fairways were mowed and fertilized (lightly). We have spot mowed the rough and surrounds as needed.

As we have time, we have been aerating areas of the rough in order to provide better playing conditions in the long term. In the short term, the cores will remain in the rough. The cores will be mowed up and will break down in the coming weeks. In the mean time, play winter rules in areas where the rough has been recently aerated.

6 green

The tees have been verticut a couple of times recently in order to remove some of the moss that has accumulated. The tees have also been fertilized with a high rate of ferrous sulfate following the verticutting processes. Moss does not like high rates of ferrous sulfate. Hopefully, after a few more applications, the moss will be gone.

We are in the process of top dressing the tees. We should get most of them done today. If the weather holds, we will finish them tomorrow.

The new tee on hole 8 is starting to green up a bit. We still have a ways to go before the tee will be ready for play, but I thought I would include a picture (below)  to show the progress it is making.

New tee on hole 8

12 green basking in the sun

The weather in February has not been as dry as the previous few months, but there have still been good days for playing golf. I have received a number of compliments on how well the greens are rolling lately. It has been awhile since I have played a round of golf, but I am starting to get the itch. Hopefully, I will get out soon.

Jerry mowing 6 green

Yesterday, we walk mowed the greens with the groomers engaged. We don't walk mow greens very often due to the extra labor required, but the triplex reels with groomers are being rebuilt at the moment. The greens are not growing a whole lot right now, but there is some lateral growth that we have been wanting to mow. The groomers are blades mounted between the front roller and reel that cut any lateral growth near the surface of the green. Grooming is similar to verticutting, but much less aggressive. Yesterday, Peterson set the depth of the groomers to about the thickness of a nickel (1/16 of an inch) below the rollers for a light grooming. Groomers can be set lower, but going more than 1/8 of an inch below the rollers is hard on the equipment. With verticutting, the blades are wider and the depth below the rollers is typically at least 3/16 of an inch. Grooming is used to reduce grain by cutting the laterally growing grass blades near the surface of the green. Verticutting is usually employed to remove organic matter (thatch) below the surface of the green.

Surface of a green after light grooming yesterday

Most of our time lately has been spent on routine maintenance tasks such as: mowing, changing hole locations, raking bunkers, moving tee markers, filling tee divots, and cleaning up wind blown debris.  In addition, we have been continuing our brushing clearing efforts between holes 3 and 4, and also between holes 3 and 13. The chances of locating and playing a ball that goes into the trees in these areas has improved dramatically.

Hole 17

27 degrees and snow mixed with sleet as I am writing this post

I have been waiting for a good opportunity to do some blogging. I knew today was going to be the day when the snow and sleet began to fall. The weather has been mostly great for golf so far in 2014. In the past few weeks we have even seen some highs in the 60's at Sandpines. There was a 15 day stretch in January with no precipitation. It was the first time I can remember thinking that we may need to irrigate in January. Thankfully, we received some rain at the end of the month and irrigation was not required.

 Jerry filling up the top dresser

Jerry top dressing hole 2

The dry stretch of weather was a great opportunity to top dress the fairways. Anytime we get a chance to top dress fairways it is like killing two birds with one stone. Obviously we get the benefits associated with top dressing, such as firming and smoothing the surfaces of the fairways. However, we also get an opportunity to get rid of some sand that is encroaching onto hole 7 from the adjacent dune. Having an abundance of sand is a nice problem to have, but only if you have the ability to use it before it takes over the golf course. This past summer, we accumulated sand much more rapidly than we could use it. We have tried to use as much as we can, but as you can see below, we are not going to run out anytime soon.

Encroaching sand dune on hole 7

We have also been clearing brush between holes 3 and 4. Many players have found themselves looking for their ball between holes 3 and 4. While the combination of shore pines, wax myrtles, salal, and huckleberry bushes is beautiful to look at, it is nearly impossible to play golf out of. We have not finished the project yet, but we are making good progress.

Area between holes 3 and 4 before brush clearing

Area between holes 3 and 4 after brush clearing

In addition to brush clearing between holes 3 and 4, we have also been removing snags and lower limbs in order to open the area up and make it more playable. A couple of huge tree debris piles that have accumulated over the past few years were also cleaned up. Chris Gibson, owner of Wildtree Enterprises brought in an 18" Vermeer chipper and turned the huge debris piles into wood chips. We are in the process of using the wood chips to stabilize a recently built sand road.

Huge pile of tree debris turned into wood chips

The new tee box on hole 8 has been a work in progress. We have worked on it as time has permitted. Last week, it was leveled, seeded, and peated. I don't have a time table for when the new tee will be open. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, please stay off of the new tee so it can grow in.

A lazer level was used to establish proper slope for surface drainage

Our Sandpro lightly fluffed the surface prior to seeding
After seeding, the Sandpro was used to wheel walk the sand and seed

Peat moss was applied with our Ty-crop Quickpass top dresser

Jerry mowing the collar on hole 13

According to the weather forecast, Sandpines is going to see plenty of sunshine over the next couple of weeks. I have received a number of compliments regarding the condition of the greens. They are really rolling nicely right now. I would encourage anyone who has been waiting for a good time to play Sandpines to make a tee time and enjoy a round right away.

Today's putting stroke view

The final precipitation total for 2013 was only 42.56 inches. In some places that may sound like several years worth of rain, but in Florence, Oregon that is not much. That is less than half of the precipitation that Sandpines received in 2012 (89.51 inches). Someone from southern California told me they received less than 4 inches for all of 2013. Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about our current "drought".

Tee marker restoration

You may have the noticed the tee markers are looking much better lately. We were able to get them restored during some of the frosty weather in December. The old paint was removed from the tee markers as needed. Then, they were touched up with new paint. Next, the paint was baked on in Peterson's shop oven. Finally, the tee markers were put back out on the course.

14 green under brilliant blue sky

Some of our recent accomplishment include: initiated brush clearing in the landing area between holes 3 and 4, tee divots filled, tee yardage markers edged, greens mowed, greens rolled, hole locations changed, greens fertilized, approaches fertilized, parts room re-organized, 9 fairway top dressed, sand was added to 6 fairway bunker, bunkers were raked, scotch broom was removed, needles blown off greens, irrigation repairs were performed, and material safety data sheets were audited and updated.