There's Nothing Like It

How many sporting events attract thousands of spectators for a week to watch athletes where the youngest competitor is 50 years old? Colorado Golf Club in Parker, represented the Colorado Golf scene very well this week. The golf course was in fantastic condition and proved to be a great championship site.
Click here to view Golf Channel's recap of today's final round.

Senior PGA

I am headed to Colorado Golf Club to check out the final day for the Sr PGA Championship. No phones or cameras allowed.

Tree Clearing

Tom Talbot and his staff from the Town of Vail have been doing a fabulous job removing dead pine trees on the course. Friday the crew came back to #3 to remove and mulch a dead tree near the tee boxes.

Their help and willingness to comply with the golfers on the course has been fantastic. They never want to upset a golfer or interrupt with their game. When the fire crew is on the course the golfers are notified and the specific area may be altered for the safety. Their work is certainly appreciated.

If the GCM staff were responsible for removing all of these trees over the past 4-5 years we would not be getting much of anything else done around the course. But, we would be really good and taking down trees!

One At A Time

Yesterday, the cart path on the 18th hole and around the pumphouse was completed. Now we can start moving forward with dressing up that building and make it fit into the scenery. The landscaping will come next once we get into to a rhythm of day-to-day operations on the golf course.

First we need to bring in soil for planting and tie in the slopes with the new path. Then the irrigation lines will be installed for plantings. Many areas will be planted with some native grasses around the pumphouse buildings and along the creek. Spruce trees, honeysuckle and dogwoods will also be planted around the buildings to bring back that "mountain touch".

I would like the soil temperatures to increase before incorporating new plants.

Inverness

The May outing for the RMGCSA was held at Inverness Hotel and Resort in Englewood yesterday. Jeff Bollig (right) was our guest speaker from the GCSAA. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to marketing and public relations for the Golf COurse Superintendent. I head the public relations committee for the association and during the round we chatted a lot about advancing the Superintendent.

Over 70 members of the RMGCSA were present. The course was in fantastic shape and Superintendent Joel Christensen, had those Press Maxwell greens rolling great. The round was fun, I also played with my good friend Mark Krick, Superintendent at The Homestead, Lakewood. The short game was less than desirable again, I shot a 91, which for me is alright.

Getting My Rounds

Yesterday, Alice, the boss and I began our weekly meetings on the course. We meet in an office each week to discuss upcoming events with the golf course. Now that the course is open and the weather has turned, we took the meeting to the links.
Walking the back nine while the weather began to clear for a couple hours was quite productive. We inspected the entire operation, from turf conditions to the starter.
Each week it will be nice to see the course develop and mature, especially as the tee times fill up. I just hope there is room for us to continue our meetings.
I have 5 rounds in now, which means I have completed 10% of my goal so far.
Next Tuesday, the RMGCSA has its May Meeting at Inverness Hotel and Golf Club in Denver. Jeff Bollig, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the GCSAA will be our guest speaker. I have gotten to know him a little over the years and he should be very good. Marketing the golf course is certainly in our job description as a golf course superintendent.

Nordic Remains

This is what we have seen happen around the course from the Nordic track. No worries, this is under warranty and is a minor fix. All that seems to have happened here is that the sprinkler head heaved out of place. No other damage yet, the head seems to work just fine. If this is not repaired properly, a mower will level it out nicely.

Overall the golf course came through the winter pretty good especially with the low snow depths. There are only a few irrigation heads that need to be repaired. Turf-wise, we have some slow spots on the 3rd, 5th and 18th.

Drip

Tony Giroux has been planning this project out since he returned from Turf School. Tony is making some slight adjustments to the irrigation system.

We planted 78 new trees around the course at the end of last season. Tony has begun installing drip irrigation lines to each trunk.
Pictured here is the valve used to tie into a 2 inch lateral line. The valve reduces the pressure and into a 1/2 inch flexible pipe. The pipe is run by every tree and tacked down to stay in place. At each tree an emitter is installed into the pipe allow water to seep out. The nozzles used release 1 or 2 gallons per minute (gpm), depending on tree size. Extra communication wire was initially installed near these valves so drip lines could run alone from the central computer.

This has been a nice learning experience for Tony. We plan on doing more tree planting in the future as we continue developing our master plan.

Rating The Course

The Colorado Golf Association (CGA) visited to rate the course today. They used a GPS device to locate all of the greens, tees and landing areas. I spent a few minutes speaking with Jerry and Eric as we met by the 5th green.

They were surprised to see a little bit of snow around the course.

Fox Hollow

Sunday I was in the Denver area and was able to sneak away to one of my favorite public courses of all time. Fox Hollow in Lakewood is a fantastic site and very well maintained.

I consider it a "must-play" for Colorado golf.

Superintendent, Bruce Nelson, co-starred with me in Grand Junction for the NBC affiliate at 10pm last month. Bruce certainly knows his stuff and keeps me coming back to play his course.

I played the Links and Canyon nines with some of the locals. It was a beautiful day and a great way to officially begin the summer.

Moving Out

It is nice to see some blue sky headed our way. Today we opened the back nine for play. The turf remains soft due to the heavy amounts of moisture we have had recently. Yesterday we measured over an inch of rain/snow fall over a 24 hour period.

No carts are available yet, but they should be rolling out soon, when things firm up. The staff and I were certainly excited today as the sun came up. We kept busy with lots of cleaning around the clubhouse and practice areas. Then we moved onto the course to clear away and debris and touch up the sand traps.

The course opened at noon and we expect a good number of people ready to start the season.

Make that 5

Five consecutive days now with new snow on the ground. The golf course is extremely soft and wet. The greens are too soft to have any sort of equipment on them, even a mower. We do plan to open sometime this weekend. The weather is looking better next week. First, the course must dry out to do almost anything. Cart path work will be delayed a little bit due to the moisture.

Be sure to check in here on this blog for more information on further course openings and happenings.

Four In A Row

We are on a streak. Four days in a row of snow cover upon arrival at the course in the morning. We should have a quick melt off, but the course is very soft. So we continue with clean up and training on certain items around the course. We can also focus on other details around the course such as signage and some of our landscape beds.
Mowing, brushing and topdressing will not be done today due to the amount of moisture. The course must dry out before completing these tasks efficiently.

Preparing the Greens

Getting the golf course ready for play is an exciting time of the year. Pictured here are Chris and Steve who are emptying baskets full of thatch and plant material out of the greens from scarifying.

Following this we aerified with solid tines. The solid tines leave no clean up, but allow gas exchange and avenues for topdressing sand into the soil profile.

With the recent snow fall, we are forced to delay sand applications. Moving sand is most effective under dry conditions. This weekend looks like warmer and drier weather will arrive in the valley. Keep your fingers crossed so we can begin getting more and more of this course open for play.

Cleaning Up

With this morning's snow we are able to pay attention to some of the finer details around the course. Today we are removing mulch and the landscape mat along Sunburst Drive, adjacent to the practice greens. By removing this material we will be able to have a nice turfgrass edge along the street. Frequently through the season we battle weed encroachment into this area and the wind kicks much of the mulch onto the putting surfaces.

Once the material is removed, we will back fill with dirt and seed the area.

Sodding the tees

Before the snow came, again, we started the finishing touches on the new tee boxes on #4 and #8. Pictured here is our intern Brendon, who is putting a nice clean edge on the perimeter of the new tee box. Once the edge was defined, the old sod was replaced around the slopes of the tee box.

Next week the tees will be seeded and covered. It should take 2-3 weeks for them to grow in properly. Then they will be ready for play.

USGA: Construction

USGA: Construction
This article has been on the USGA website for some time now and it provides so much good information. Take a few minutes to learn some of the guidelines to successful renovation and construction projects on golf courses.
Keep in mind that every golf course environment is different.

Relief for Middle Tennessee

Click here to give what you can to help our friends in Tennessee.

Opening the Range

Opening Day for the driving range! Sans snow of course. I took this picture last weekend and really liked it. I'm afraid we haven't seen the last of the white stuff this year.

Friday, after the dusting of snow melted off we spent our time preparing the range for this weekend.

Today, we are sodding the new tee surrounds. Next week will seed the surface and begin growing them in.

Enjoy use of the range and please hit off mats. Our soil temperatures are not ready for growth to recuperate from the damage.

A Cold Start

Today was certainly not one of the warmest or driest, but it was productive. The new tees on 4 & 8 were finished being shaped by Landscapes Unlimited and will be sodded tomorrow. We are using the old sod from those sites to put back on the sides of the tees.

The tee surfaces will be seeded with perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass. Within 2-3 weeks from being seeded and with some help from Mother Nature, they should be ready for play.

Most of the staff was in today as well and we began with many of the clean up efforts around the course. Our goals? To open the driving range this weekend and to have the back nine ready for play by the end of next week. We are all hoping for better weather to help the process.

Damage

I knew I would get your attention with that title. Well it's true, the voles attacked again underneath the snow this winter. This family resides next to the second green in and around the bunker. You can see their tunnels of soil, sand and decaying organic matter.

Their activity not only disrupts the surface, but the most damage is one underneath the turf. You may notice in this picture how there is a slight depression in the turf between the trap and the green. The voles moved most of the soil to build their home and have created a sink hole.

To correct this problem, the turf must be removed, new soil placed in the depression and then the turf set back into place.

Training

Today we had eight more staff members start. It was actually very productive. We took care of many training issues, paperwork and housekeeping details around the maintenance facility.
We were able to attend to a few items around the property but with 5 inches of snow still covering the course there just isn't much more to do with that many hands.
So we will see how the weather does this week to warrant staff. It seems that looking out the window is still the best report.
Well let's look at the upside here. This weather not only brings moisture which is very helpful, but it slows down the melting. A slow melt from above ensures that our stream flows will last a bit longer for the growing season.

Hello May

Welcome to the month of May in Vail. This picture was taken Sunday morning next to the 3rd green. The weather is looking favorable (at least right now) for the rest of the week for the course to melt off and then dry out before we are open for any kind of golf.

We have seven seasonal staff members beginning tomorrow. With the snow on the ground we can take care of some housekeeping items and address some entry level maintenance items around the course. This is exactly how I prefer the staff to start the season, properly educated and not rushed.

Shaping Tees

On Wednesday, A small crew from Landscapes Unlimited was in shaping the new tees on 4 & 8. Kevin Atkinson identified the right location for the tee boxes. Vail GCM staff removed the sod and hauled dirt to the site. LU used a box blade with leveling equipment to ensure the proper grade. Before the snow fell they were able to complete the forward tee on #8. They made plenty of headway on #4, but they will need to come back when the snow melts to finish.

We ask that no foot traffic into these areas until they are completed. With all of the recent moisture, the soil is very soft.