Interns

Andrew Evans completed an internship for the 2010 season and he did a fantastic job. He graduated Iowa State University in December and has a bright future ahead of him in turf management.

I was forwarded this blog post from Dr. Nick Christians at the University about his experiences here in Vail. There are some gret pictures to... Click here to view the post.

2010 Review

Another year gone by. Not a bad one at all. A warm year, lots of golf, very little weather delays and rounds were good. 2010 brought a decent amount of spring snow, sustained high temperatures, flooding, drought conditions and somewhat early snow.

This year we finished up the pumphpouse landscaping, new cart path in areas, new tees on 4 & 8 and we now have a final master plan. This year we also began perfecting the irrigation system, tore into the 7th tee, built two new bridges and a new weather shelter.

The weather numbers for the year are as follows:

warmest month: average high, July 74.9, highest temperature: July 18th at 85 degrees; coolest month: average low, January 6 degrees; lowest temperature: January 8th, -13 degrees. At the golf course we measured 26.43" of moisture with 197.75" of snowfall for the calendar year.

2011 is looking real good right now. We'll start the year with better knowledge of the new irrigation system, finishing touches on the bridges, #7 tee and the weather shelters. The master plan is beginning to open the door to possible new projects on the horizon.

Thanks to the great staff here in the Vail Golf Maintenance Department, especially to Equipment Manager, Kirk Hower; Assistant Superintendent, Justin Gompf; Second Assistant Superintendent, Tony Giroux and a special thanks to VRD Facilities Manager, Scott O'Connell for making us look better.

Happy New Year!

July By The Numbers

This has been a funny season weather wise. The winter seemed to drag on with some late snowfalls through May. June started summer with temperatures reaching well into the high 70's and some days in the 80's which lead to flooding and bank erosion.

July started off as an extension of June with very warm days before coming back to center. Fifteen days in the 80's which we haven't seen since 2007. We only had one day in July in the 80's for 2009. Our average low for July was 43.7 degrees, which was almost 6 degrees warmer than 2009. Our average high temperature was 77.4 degrees and we received 2.24 inches of rainfall. Overall July seems to be getting back to normal, but June was much drier and warmer than normal.

So what do these warmer temperatures mean? Well it's great for growing Kentucky Bluegrass and Ryegrass, however the extended periods of high temperatures for this climate does affect the poa. When the poa is stressed it will produce more seeds and begin to lose color. Light daytime handwatering of greens can help cool them down to help prevent stress.

Recently Mother Nature has been quite helpful. Prior to the heavy rains there were many stressed areas around the course leading up to the last week. On the 28th we received just over a half inch of moisture. Today we arrived at the shop to see another half inch had fallen overnight. The moisture and cooler temperatures mixed with last week's fertilizer application, means that you just need to get out here and play. The course is getting into top shape and some of the finest conditions I have seen in five years.

We'll continue with irrigation tuning through the rest of the season and the system should be as close to 100% as possible by next season.