Some good information

Good morning Everyone,

Wanted to share some information with all of you that you may have questions about.  We have started going through each course and picking out our trouble spots for re-sodding.  In the past, these spots were more abundant.  Now that we have addressed some shade issues brought on by an over abundance of trees, these areas are either getting smaller or not a problem anymore.  We continue to identify areas that are being affected by shade due to trees and with the help of our new Greens Committee we are making decisions that will either allow us to manage the trees or remove them.  We are exploring the idea of a tree fund that will give us opportunities to plant new trees in areas that make more since with better varieties of trees.

You will also notice that we are in the process of changing out the collars on the Lakes course.  We have had some issues this season that we have never experienced before with the collars not transitioning.  In the past, before we did any of the renovation work to the greens and collars, they transitioned fine.  Reason is because the grass at that time was more mature and established.  Now that we have installed new collars, our maintenance practices need to change to adapt to these new issues so that we give ourselves the best chance to transition each season.  Some of the new practices we will use is an aerification in April and March to these areas.  We will use a tine the size of a #2 pencil so the disruption will be minimal but the relief to these compacted areas will be huge.  Some of the causes that are bringing about this problem revolve around foot traffic and mower turn.  This constant impact to these areas have some devastating affects if not relieved in the form of aerification.

This also leads me into my last bit of information dealing with high traffic areas.  Most of you know that with our greens and tees and how they are situated, you may only have one way in and one way out.  The constant foot traffic in these areas produces compaction that can only be corrected by either aerification during the season or with the use of rope and stakes.  If you do see an area that has been roped off, please walk or drive around the area so as to not compound the problem.  We will do our best to move the ropes every few days to give other areas some relief.

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer and hope to see you soon!

Damien

Grow Baby Grow

We are now just over three weeks into the growing process of our new Dunes greens.  The new Tif dwarf is coming in very well.  We anticipate our first mow to be in the next 7 to 10 days.  We have begun to hand topdress some of the areas that are a little weaker with a combination of greens mix sand and very fine mulch.  The addition of the mulch will allow the area to retain moisture better and for a longer length of time.  It will also drop the pH of the soil and allow the fertility in the soil to become more readily available to the plant.  This will allow the very young plant to take advantage of the nutrients we are providing it before it is leached through the soil due to all the water being applied.

Thanks and have a great day!

Damien

Dunes Greens Update

We are just about finished with all the construction to the Dunes greens. They should have everything ready for grass by middle of next week. The sod for the collars is scheduled for installation on Wednesday and sprigs are scheduled for the Friday after. We should have all construction and grass completed before July 4th week. Very exciting.

The Arroyo and Lakes greens are transitioning very well. The Lakes greens are probably about 7 to 10 days behind the Arroyo greens, but that was expected. The Arroyo greens have a year of maturity over the Lakes. Lakes #4 and #8 have some shade issues that we are dealing with. This is setting them back a little further than rest of the greens. We did go in and clean the trees on both of these holes that are causing the shade problems. This will definitely help.

Have a great day,

Damien

And you thought all he did was cook!

Department Heads participated in some cross training with Golf Course Maintenance to get an idea of what other departments are doing and how they operate.  Chef Jeff stole the show when he jumped on a Tee mower and started mowing like a seasoned pro.

Bye Bye see you later!

Say goodbye to the old 328 Bermuda greens.  We will make one more application on May 24th giving us 3 total applications to make sure we get a good kill.  You can expect the green speeds to increase over the next few days.  We will also keep the irrigation going just so we have some moisture and they don't become hard as concrete.  Construction is scheduled to begin on June 4th and will continue throughout the summer.

Thank you,

Damien

Good morning Everyone,
We have now started our bi-monthly vertical mowing and lite topdressing program to the Lakes and Arroyo greens.  Today we started with the practice putting green and 1 - 9 of the Lakes course.  The process is to vertical mow the greens two directions which will produce better ball role than a single direction.  The next step is to mow off any clippings left behind from the verticut unit.  We do this with our walking mowers with the bristle brushes lowered down in front of the mowing unit.  By brushing the turf, we get a better cut and it helps stimulate the Bermuda growth.  The last two steps in the process involve sanding or topdressing the greens with lite layer of sand to help fill the vertical mower grooves.  After the sand has been applied we then water it in with our irrigation to help the sand migrate further down into the canopy so we do not pick it up during the next mow.  Our schedule throughout the spring and into the early summer will be to double verticut each set of greens 2 times per month and topdress one time per month.  Being that the greens are new and less than a year old, this will be enough to control thatch build up and offer consistent putting quality.

Thank you

Damien

 

Vertical mowing and Topdressing Greens

Good morning Everyone,

We hope everyone is having a wonderful spring this season.  We will begin our vertical mowing and topdressing program next Tuesday the 17th.  We will start with the Lakes course and then continue to the Arroyo course the following Tuesday the 24th.  This will help with our transition from overseed  back to our new Bermuda grass and also create a smoother putting surface.  We will try our best to stay ahead of play so that we do not interrupt anyone.  Thank you for your help and please remember to fill you divots and repair your ball marks.

Sincerely

Damien Smith
Director of GCM

This week the guys on the Arroyo have been working on improving the drainage on #9 fairway on the left side. As you know, we have struggled with this area due to the intense shade produced from the tree line on the South side of the hole.  A plugged drain line has made the issue worse.  We will be digging out the old section of drain pipe and replacing it with a new section.  This will allow more water to flow easily away from the fairway and begin to dry out the area.

Thank you

Damien

Landscape Beds

You may have noticed some new landscape beds being created throughout the property.  Most of these areas posed some very difficult growing conditions for our turf due to either not enough water or the area has too much slope and will not hold enough water to produce good turf conditions.  We are turning these areas into new landscape beds that eventually will have some native plants installed to soften the rock.  Even though we know it will take more to beautify Rudy and Javier, we hope these small additions will add beauty and eye catching changes to all 3 courses.

Rudy Lopez on the left and Javier Diaz on the right both work on the Arroyo course. Both men have been at Gainey less than a year and are doing an exceptional job.

Thank you and have a great day!

Damien

  

Today you will see our main line leak just in front of the forward tees on #6 Lakes course.  We are in the process of repairing the line right now.  The first 100 yards will be roped off due to water that leaked from the pipe.  We will do our best to get this repaired quickly and we do appreciate your help.  Have a great day!

Damien

9 Green Lakes dry spots

You may notice today that 9 green Lakes has some odd looking spots throughout.  These are areas that have become stressed due to the high winds and hot temps yesterday.  The greens will dry out faster than normal because of the new soil profile.  Over time this will correct itself when the profile accumulates more organic material.  Once the pure sand underneath builds up more organic material, then it will hold water for longer periods of time allowing the turf to weather some extreme conditions without the help of hand water and wetting agents.

Have a great day!

Damien

Welcome Followers

Welcome everybody,

This is the very first post for Gainey Ranch GCM blog site.  I hope you find this to be a very informative tool to keep you up to date and aware of the happenings in Golf Course Maintenance.  We will also profile the employees that are behind the scenes who make your experience here a great one.  This site will also come to serve as our news as it happens and will take the place of the monthly newsletter.  You can also use this site to keep an eye on the place throughout the year in case you are not a full time resident.  Just go to www.aggieturftalk.blogspot.com.  Its that easy! We hope this will make your member experience here at Gainey Ranch a great one.

Thank you

Damien Smith
Director of GCM
Gainey Ranch GC