Busy Spring

New Sod #7 Tee

New Sod #10 fairway

It's been extremely busy around here in the last month.  The weather hasn't always cooperated but we have managed to get a lot of work done and get the course in great shape.  The greens came out of winter great and are really starting to smooth out and putt well.  They might be in the best shape this early in the year that I've seen in the past eight to ten years.  The entire course really is in good shape.  There are a few areas yet to fill in from winter damage which we are slit seeding now.  We have also sodded the approach on two and the upper tees on seven.  The upper tees on seven are closed and the approach on 2 is ground under repair. 

The work on the tenth fairway, driving range and chipping green is coming together now that the ground has dried up enough to work on it.  The tenth hole is now open for play with the sod across the fairway playing as ground under repair.  The contractors that are working on the driving range and practice green are leveling the trench across the back of the range floor and getting it prepped for sod. The practice area is being rough graded to prepare it for irrigation work, then the new green will be built and finish work around the practice greens.

Chipping Green Rough Grade

We have another crew working on leveling tees and installing a bunker on the alternate 15 green.  So far the gold and green tee on 12 and 17 have been leveled along with the green tee on 15.  Today they are working on the bunker for alt 15. 

We ask for your patience and stay off the sodded areas and give them a chance to root and get healthy before they are opened to play.

Driving Range finish grade

Bunker addition on alt 15

Greens are looking good

#15 Green 4-12-16

After receiving 30" of snow the second half of March we have been rather warm and dry to start April.  The snowpack has melted significantly, you can now see a lot of green grass showing and everything is looking pretty good.  I have walked all the greens this week and they all are healthy with only a small amount of snow mold that has popped up since clearing.  There is snow in the forecast for the weekend and it sounds like we could get a fair amount of needed moisture from this storm.  This will help the greens by preventing them from drying out until we are able to get the irrigation system charged up.

ICE

Snow is all off now it time to work on the ice.

The ice has started to melt, time to shovel.

We cleared 15 green on Monday and found a nice ice layer.  It's not really a surprise but almost expected at this point of the season.  It's one of the reasons that we begin clearing greens the first of march.  This ice layer has plenty air in it and has not glossed over yet.  This means that it hasn't been here very long and shouldn't be much of a problem.  With that being said 15 green is notorious for giving us problems year in and year out and ice is not the only factor.  We will monitor it closely and will get out the green covers as soon as the next break in weather allows us to.
We will finish clearing greens this coming week.  Greens 8, 9, 10, 12 and the old 18 green will get cleared over the next few days.  In most years 8, 9 and 10 melt off by themselves.  In fact in the past nine springs this will be the first time I've done anything more than a little shoveling to those greens to finish them off.  We will have to get the blower on them this year because of the reemergence of winter for the second half of March.  We have picked up 30" of snow since the 15th and still have 12" to 20" of snow on the course. 



Finished!



Greens Clearing

nice view to start the day

It's that time of year again. We spent the first two weeks clearing anywhere from 18" to 30" or more off of the greens.  So far we have cleared 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, and the putting green.  Overall they look great.  We did have some ice built up on a few greens but once that layer melted off the green below looked good and healthy.  Number 2 green did have some snow mold pop up a few days after removing the snow but it should just be superficial and not cause any long term damage.  All other greens were disease free after clearing and before this last storm system dropped 13"of snow on us over four days. 

snow mold on the front of #2

#17 looking good

I've been asked if the new snow is good or bad thing after removing the snow and if we would have to re-clear the snow from those already cleared greens.  The new snow is a very good thing!  Once we clear the green the first time we put down a granular fungicide to get the snow mold protection to last until the end of the season and it needs the moisture to release the active ingredients.  Another reason the new snow is good is that it provides water to the plant to prevent it from drying out while we are waiting for the rest of the course to melt off and before the irrigation system can be fired up.  Once the skies clear this weekend and next week we will continue clearing more greens.  Greens 5, 7, 15, and 18 are next on the list while 8 though 12 usually melt off without having to do much more than some shoveling to finish them off.

Golf Industry Show

Scott and I spent a week in San Diego for the Golf Industry Show.  Although the weather was about as good as it gets we spent a fair amount of time inside the class room.  We had a number of classes to choose from on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Classes ranged from the business to agronomic practices, and equipment maintenance to staff supervision and many other topics that help us to do our job better.  The trade show was open on Wednesday and Thursday.  The trade show floor has so many pieces of equipment and tools of the trade it easily takes two days to get around to see everything.  Many of the things at the trade show will never be used in Vail but some will and it gives us the opportunity to see what is available to the Golf Course Superintendent and gives us ideas on how we can continue to improve the conditions at The Vail Golf Club.

First snow of the season

We received some much needed moisture in the way of a rain snow mix yesterday and last night.  There was about an inch of snow on the ground when we arrived this morning and .9" of an inch of rain and melted snow in the rain gauge from the last 24 hours.  The course is closed for the day but are expecting good weather for the last two days of the season this weekend and hope to be able to open by mid-day tomorrow so you can get a couple more rounds in before closing for the season Sunday.

Audubon International Re-Certification

Native area between 5 green and 6 tee

Native area behind 11 green

 This summer The Vail Golf Club earned our re-certification with Audubon International which began for us in 1998.  The Audubon helps golf courses to protect and enhance the natural environment that exist on golf courses. Some of the things we are incorporating now are additions of more native rough that is out of play to reduce mowing and water use.  With this we have turned off 8 irrigation heads and reduced the coverage of 4 more. Look for more areas like this to pop up as we continue to assess other possible areas. We also have added two wildflower beds and plan seeding more into native areas to help honey bee population and aesthetics of the areas. Certification helps us continue to improve on our standard environmental practices.  Making the golf course a great place to play and enjoy nature.

Turnaround at 17 green 

Wild  flowers starting to bloom in turnaround

Solid Tine Aeration

This week we aerated the greens with an X-tine.  In the past we've used a 1/8' solid needle tine but have changed it up this week.  The X-tine creates a larger hole but doesn't cause any more disturbance in the putting surface.  The holes created helps relieve compaction, allow water to percolate down into the soil, and provide better air movement around the roots.  All which helps the turf remain healthy and maintain a good putting surface.  We will be following up with a light topdressing on Thursday.  By Friday the holes should be non-existent.

May weather

This May was the wettest in at least the last 15 years with 3.55 inches of rain and snow melt. The next closest was 2010 but still .41 of an inch less than this year.  We even received one more inch of snow on the course in May as we did in April. While it may have seemed a lot cooler the high temperature was only about 2 degrees cooler than the past 10 year average.  All the cloud cover and moisture in the air definitely made it feel cooler.

While we needed the moisture to make up for the dry March and April it has slowed down the recovery of some of the winter damage in the fairways and rough.  Now the last week has been warm and sunny, this should help raise soil temperatures and get the course healing quickly. Next Tuesday we will be applying our first application of fertilizer to the course which will also help in the healing process.


With the GoPro games coming up this weekend it usually times well with Gore creek flows getting higher and this year is no different.  You will start to see high water on the course most notably right now in #1 fairway and around the cart path on #7.  Some years are worse than others as we all know so we'll see how much run off and ground water coming up affects us this year. 

Leveling Tees

We have started working on tees this spring.  Again we are continuing to level and shape tees and continue to make improvements.  The blue tee on #17 has already been leveled this year.  On number #5 blue / Black tee the rock wall has been removed and the gold tee has been slightly elevated and leveled.  The construction crew is now on 2 yellow tee and should have it leveled and re-sodded by the end of the day.  Other tees that will have work done on them are #9 black, #13 green, gold, blue, and #17 black. Once a tee is re-sodded it will be out of play for two to three weeks while it begins to root and recover.  The tees in the meantime the tees will be moved to the nearest playable tee. Please be patient while the sod recovers it will make for a much better tee once they are opened back up.

Opening weekend

It's opening weekend here at The Vail Golf Club! The weather has held up and the course is in great shape.  Thanks to the warm weather and lack of snow this spring the course is at least a couple weeks ahead of schedule.  

Just a reminder we are cart paths only until we the fairways fully recover and we get into a full growing season.  On Monday May 4th we will be dry-jecting the greens.  The back nine will be open but the front nine will be closed.  Dry-jecting is a fairly non-evasive form of aeration and should have very little impact on the playability of the greens.  Enjoy the weekend and get out and play!

More Snow!

More Snow!  After the driest and one of the warmest Marchs I can find on record we are starting to get back on track with moisture this month.  We only received .5” of moisture in 5” of snow, while the average high for this March was 46 also one of the warmest Marchs I can find.  I know everyone was excited to play golf in Vail in April but like it or not this snow is very much needed for the course now and going into the summer.  http://www.erwsd.org/files/snow/SnowWaterApr16_2012.pdf is the latest snow water equivalent graph which is very important for future water use and the heath of the course and all living in the Vail Valley

Spring Clearing

 

Thursday I began clearing greens.  We are a little behind due to being short handed on staff but with the good weather we had last week I had to get out and see what was happening under the snow.  So, Kirk has picked up a couple of grooming shifts for me and I’ve been working on clearing greens.  This is the first time I’ve appreciated the lack of powder days this year.  So far I’ve been able to clear 2 and 3 completely and they look great.  I was able to get 6 and 7 blown off but not completely shoveled.  Seven looks good and I should be able to get it cleared by the end of the day Wednesday.  Six on the other hand is going to be more work, as usual.  It had several inches of water standing on it along with some ice.  Luckily we have good weather through at least Friday and have plenty of time to get it dried out.  Overall clearing greens has gone well and they look pretty healthy.  This weekend I’ll get some help as an intern will be joining us early to help get things ready this spring. 

Winter Teva Games

The first Winter Teva Games are here!  We are all familiar with the fun and excitement that Teva brings to town every spring.  Now they have stepped into the winter.   There are competitions for all skill levels and activities.  The Vail Nordic Center is the site of the 5K and 10K Freestyle Nordic races.  There will be almost 100 racers of all skill levels battling it out for Teva gold.  Over the past two weeks Tony, Kirk and I have spent extra time widening the track and keeping it in top condition to accommodate all the racers that will take to the track on Friday.  With the lack of snow this season it has taken extra time and effort to keep the conditions top notch.  We have spent hours shoveling and plowing snow on to the track to keep it skiable.  I’ll be competing in the ski mountaineering, citizens comp, of course.   If you are not entered in any competitions you should at least be sure to check out some of the activities, I’m sure it will be fun for spectators and athletes alike.  

First snow of the season

Successful Day of aerating

Today we aerated all 20 greens.  I think that is a first in the five years I’ve been here.  Everyone on the staff really worked hard to accomplish it and Mother Nature helped out too.  Hopefully she is kind to us again tomorrow so that we can finish topdressing the last 11 holes.   The aeration process is a necessary evil for a green.  We start with a deep tine aerator which has a solid tine and goes up to 10 inches into the soil.  It fractures and loosens the soil deep in the profile.  Then we pull cores which helps to further reduce compaction, release gases from the soil, allow oxygen to reach the roots, and break up soil layering.  After the plugs are removed we top dress with a heavy layer of sand.  Some of the sand that you see on the green will work it’s way into the holes, the rest will settle into the turf canopy protecting the crown of the plant during the winter months.  As detrimental as this process seems it is very important to the health of the green throughout the growing months.

Looks like another beautiful weekend at the Vail Golf Club.  Fairway aerification was a success.  Everything went smooth and they came out great. The Course will be closed on Monday for deep tine and core aerification.  We hope to have the front nine open on Tuesday and all 18 opened by Wednesday morning.  Once the greens are finished we will aerify tees which will have little to no impact on play.  The driving range will remain open during any course closures. 

Fall Aerification

Monday we started the fall aerification process. Aerification has many benefits for the turf. It lessens compaction, allows air and water to penetrate into the soil profile and helps thatch to break down. All of this is very important to the health of the turf and help to provide great playing conditions year after year. We start with fairways during the last two weeks of September. The first week of October we hope to get greens and tees completed. Aerification is a weather dependent practice that we are not able to accomplish when it rains, or dare I say the ‘s’ word, snows. This week looks good and has started out a very productive week. By the weeks end we should have 1,9 and the back 9 fairways completed. The schedule for the rest of the season is shown below. On October 3rd we will be closing the course to deep tine and core aerify all greens. The back 9 will remain closed to finish the aerification process. During course closures the driving range will remain open.

Tuesday – Fairways 10, 17, 18

Wednesday – Fairways 12 & 16

Thursday – Fairways 13 & 14

Friday – Fairway 11

Monday 26th – Fairways 2, 7, 8

Tuesday 27th – Fairways 4 & 5

Wednesday 28th – Fairway 6

29th and 30th – These two days will be used to make up any rain day cancellations we may have.

Intern's View

As an intern you are pulled in many directions. Finding your niche can be difficult. At the Vail Golf Club I was given the opportunity to be in charge for the week. I must say, it was an unbelievable experience. As well as a humbling experience.


With the club championship two days away the weather decided that it did not want to cooperate. Almost an inch of rain fell in the day leading up to the championship, including the first day of the tournament. To watch the crew work in pouring rain for hours was inspiring. They came together as a team and I there leader for that brief time. It is an experience i'll never forget. "Attitude reflects leadership", and for that short time I was the captain of the team. I am proud to say the course was in fantastic condition. Not only for the club championship, but also for the 18 hole shotgun the Friday of that week. I am thankful that the crew respected and worked extremely hard for me. I am greatful for the opportunity that was allotted to me. Hopefully one day I can do the same for my intern.

Mike Martic

Steve's last day

Today is Steve’s last day as superintendent at the Vail Golf Club. He has helped the golf course accomplish a lot during the last six years. There have been many improvement projects completed including the installation of a new irrigation system, new bridges and the rebuild of #3 and #7 tee. He has also helped raise the standard of expectations. The staff and I would like to wish him all the best in his new venture at Pinehurst Country Club in Denver.


From all of us thank you, farewell and good luck.