Preparing Another Major

It has been a good year for my former interns. Three of them are hosting major golf championships this year. Two of them being at The Broadmoor this year and the third is preparing for the PGA Championship in a few weeks at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

Kasey Kauff is the Superintendent at the Highlands Course at AAC. I was privileged to have Kasey working for me during the summer of 2003. That season, I realized that Kasey was going to be a star someday in this profession. Follow this link for a neat video on preparing the course for a major championship in the south, in August! http://turfnet.com/tv/latest.php

For all of you that are green about turfgrass management; ultra dwarf bermudagrass won't survive in Vail.

Soil Conditioning

Since our customers would have a real big problem if we tilled our fairways each year, we spike them instead. Getting oxygen into the root zone is highly important for root growth. Spiking also allows water to penetrate into soil profile. We began on holes 7,8,9, and 18 on Wednesday. Today we will continue on the back nine, starting on the 10th hole.

Using an irrigation pin flag I can measure how deep the spiking goes into fairways. This leatherman tool is 4 inches long. We are getting about 6 inches of depth, the fairway root zone is about 5 inches in depth.

The Road To Recovery

The golf course couldn't be playing better right now. We are in the process of recovering from the flooding areas. Many of them, (like this picture of the 9th fairway) will rebound with fertilizer and time. Other areas are being replaced with sod.
Yesterday we cut out a number of areas on holes 1,2,7,8 & 9. Today we will begin to sod these areas. It is much nicer to hit off grass!

Setting The Course

Back when this course was originally constructed, the tees were not built square with the landing areas.
Sometimes it creates a challenge for mowers and even golfers to aim correctly on some tees. Our master plan and the tees that have been constructed over the past three seasons correct this issue.

You wouldn't believe how many people do not take the time to aim properly when they approach their tee shot.

This tool is something any superintendent can construct to help line tee markers correctly. Most supers have the PVC parts laying around the shop. I picked up the idea while setting the course at the Broadmoor East Course a few weeks back for the Women's Open.

It is fool proof and this tool is used each morning to get players off in the right direction. We just can't hit the ball for them.

What We Are All About

 Today was the first time I witnessed the range tee completely full. The weather was perfect as we topped out at 75 degrees. Days following a heavy rain in the mountains always seems to be cooler. It is hard to publish these weather conditions considering every other Superintendent across the country is dealing with extreme heat. I can not complain about the weather even the moisture, but now is the time to visit Vail Golf Club and get out of the heat.

The course is finally beginning to dry up. We'll spend the next couple of weeks recovering from minor flood and water damage. Most areas will rebound nicely, but some sod and seeding will be required. Today we hosted the CJGA with the 14-18 year olds. The event went smooth and the course was a nice test for this group. They just need to work on their pace of play. A five and a half hour round for this course is not exactly the greatest way for the younger players to develop their game. But today is over and tomorrow we'll be back to our normal four hours and seven minute pace.

When The Best Irrigation System Goes Wrong

First of all, the best irrigation system is rainfall. We have four points of collecting rainfall at Vail Golf Club. Each  rain event they record within one hundredth of an inch. That is as consistent as you are going to find and far better than any man made irrigation system. Vail Golf Club does have one of the best man made irrigation systems around, but it just can't top Mother Nature.

However, in this climate when she decides to dump 2 inches of moisture on the Vail Valley within 6 days, it is not exactly the best for one's golf game. I heard a lot of comments about how long the course was playing today. Honestly, the course looks great, fantastic as a matter of fact. The course is green, the turf is lush, but the ball isn't rolling far under these conditions.

Fortunately, we live in Colorado at 8,000 ft above sea level and when she wants to dry things out, she can rather quickly. So give us a couple days of drier weather to get this place rolling again.

The creek is dropping and the water is beginning to subside. We will have all hands on deck with mowing, seeding, topdressing and doing whatever possible to have the course to normal conditions as soon as possible.

Thanks for all of your patience and let's play golf.

Details

Catching up on some details today with edging irrigation heads on fairways, approaches and greens. Keeping the irrigation heads clean and neat allows for efficient irrigation applications. Most heads on the course have distance markers to the middle of the green. Keeping the heads clean allows players to read distances clearly.

Filling fairway divots throughout the course. It is important to fill a divot with sand to encourage new growth and keep the surface flat. When filling a divot, do not mound up the sand. Use your foot to smooth out the surface. Doing this allows for better ball roll and prevent damage to mowers.

The Practice Rounds

There is something magical about major golf tournaments. Maybe it is because I just love the game, but putting on a show for thousands of people around the world is special.

 I began my week back on my old stomping ground, The Broadmoor East Course. You can catch coverage on NBC this weekend as the best women golfers in the world try their luck on the old Donal Ross design.

  Here is 14 West green being mowed at dawn. This green is used as a practice green for back nine starts on the East Course.

Tuesday I helped with setting the course. Pictured above are USGA officials using a measuring instrument to square tee markers correctly. This is a neat idea I picked up and will incorporate something similar into our tee set up daily in Vail.

Pictured here are the same USGA officials and a couple of Broadmoor employees setting the cup and researching future pin locations for the tournament. They check speeds all over the green and find the right challenge for each round.

Christie Kerr teeing off the 3rd tee on Tuesday.

When Will The Water Recede?

Honestly? With the weather patterns we have been experiencing, we will most likely see water on the golf course into August. The creek is running at an average of 1000 cfs which is almost 200% of normal. When the creek is full it can only take on so much water. Even pumping water to the creek is not a sure thing because there is more ground water behind what is being pumped.

On top of the large run-off we have seen .8" of moisture in the last 20 hours at the golf course. Even under dry conditions the golf course struggles to maintain playable conditions after a rain event such as that one.

So bare with us, we are doing everything we can do to make the round as pleasant as possible.

One final note: Yes, the master plan does address some of the drainage issues we are experiencing. However, we are finding some more areas that need attention. We have begun looking at solving drainage problems for the future. Even though this is the worst flooding the course has seen, I am a believer that it will happen again some day.

Exposed

Tuesday evening, quite a storm rolled through the valley. There was a lot of rain further down valley but mostly wind attacked the golf course. By 5 pm, we lost two trees on the course. Shortly after that a second wave came back through and knocked down eight more trees. Our weather stations clocked winds at 80 mph.

When a golf course sustains those kinds of winds it is normal to lose that many trees, especially in a golf course setting. Open areas such as fairways can leave trees exposed to become victims of powerful winds.

Cutting up and cleaning tree debris was not exactly what we had in mind doing Thursday morning, but the staff responded very well. Most of the debris was cut and cleaned before golfers had a chance to view the mess.