Making progress

Here is the latest with the irrigation project. Mainline has been moving along nicely since Friday. By the end of Monday, they have trenched up to 12 green. Getting around the Water District's pump building behind the green could cause a bit of a slow down, but once they get into 13 tee, it should be smooth sailing through that hole. Fortunately, the trench is dry and we are through with groundwater, for now.

As for the laterals, by the end of the week, (which is Thursday, because of the holiday) they should be complete with #2 and #8. The high pressure gas line is causing some cautious digging through the course as the pipe line follows the frontage road throughout the course. They have to be extremely careful with this fragile utility line. The depth is not exactly known and hand digging is a must. If this line is damaged, it could do some serious damage to the golf course, river and highways, and not to mention the operators nearby. 

An Amazing Sight

The fertilizer yesterday required irrigation following the application. To my surprise and golfer's delight we were able to get #5 and #6 watered quickly. With the old system, we only had the capability to turn on up to 4 sprinklers per fairway due to the low flow.

This was the scene yesterday with the new system on the 6th hole. In about 10 minutes we had the fertilizer completely washed into the turf canopy. Our jaws just dropped when we saw how many of these heads were able to come on at once. we lost count after about 20 heads came on. Call us turf geeks or hydraulic geeks, but it's pretty cool.

Fertilizer Application

This week we have been finishing up with our second installment of our first application of fertilizer. Pictured here is Justin applying through a Lely spreader to hole #6. This fertilizer is one of my favorites. It is a quick release that provides great results. Very high in Nitrogen to get the turf into gear after hibernation from the wintertime. It also contains almost 4% Iron which gives the plant a deeper green color.

By applying this synthetic fertilizer it not only gets the turf actively growing, but it also helps reduce the amount of weeds throughout the course due to the dense turfgrass population. We apply this fertilizer to allmaintained areas except the greens.

Our second application or "summer application" contains a lot of organics due to the increased soil temperature to optimize its results.

First Official Round

I played my first official round Monday at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale. The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) had its monthly meeting there and it was a great venue. The day began with speaker Jim Moore of the USGA Green Section. It was held via the internet, using a power point presentation and he was speaking through the computer from his office in Texas. The handy part were his updates of the final round of the US Open.
Anyway, he discussed the many ways Superintendents and golf courses could look to cut costs in this economic downturn. Many of his ideas were good, however each course is different and there can be a fine line when determining if doing something different is actually saving.
As for the golf course, Superintendent Steve Ehnes and his staff did a fantastic job with the golf course, the greens were in excellent shape and the weather sure helped.
I am looking forward to going to our August meeting at Pole Creek in Fraser, CO. Landscapes Unlimited installed a new irrigation system there last year.

The New Private Course

Bethpage Black, the first public golf course to host the US Open. I think we'll start to see some more changes in course selection for championships in the future. Public is the new private, the demand for public courses have never been higher. There is something to be said about letting anyone play the same course that Tiger, Phil and the world's best play for our nation's championship, at a great price too!

The USGA and the PGA are thinking outside the box to increase numbers to the game of golf. I applaud the USGA for making this step and they are not stopping just with Bethpage. They continue to seek out great public courses around the country that can open the game to those who think it is still a "gentleman's game".

Happy Father's Day

Well it looks like the US Open will go into Monday to determine a champion. Great day to get over to the club to hit some golf balls or play a round. All eighteen holes are open today. 

As for the irrigation project, the 5th hole is near completion. There was a lot less rock in the 5th hole than the 6th, maybe we just got lucky. Certainly the bigger rock was found while opening a trench for the mainline. However, while pulling 2 inch laterals they certainly came across plenty of two-three foot diameter rock than needed to be removed.

Next week they'll finish up with #5, then move to the 4th hole and onto 7 and 8 greens. If you notice the new irrigation heads on 5 and 6, they do not have the yardages on them. Don't worry they are on their way. Once the heads are installed our designer, Larry Rodgers orders all yardages for sprinkler heads between 50-300 yards from the middle of the green. Some of the old heads are still in the ground with markers on them. They will be removed throughout the summer, but the new accurate markers will be installed shortly, so please be patient.

Putting in laterals

Here are a few photos of installing the irrigation heads on #6. The green half is done and by the end of today, the entire hole should be complete.
As you see in the second picture, the heads are laid out to the location where they will be installed. Notice two heads next to each other around the green. One head is meant to water the green only and the other head is meant to water the rough off the green only. This design give us more control on where to put water when needed. When you have one plant that is mowed at an 1/8th of an inch and another plant that is mowed at 2.5 inches, there demand for water will be different. The old system required both areas to receive the same amount of water.