Winter Projects

The leaves are almost done falling, and the grass has gone brown and is completely dormant, that means only one thing, Winter is officially here!  Today, December 21st, is the winter solstice.  This day is significant because not only does it announce that winter has arrived, but this is also the shortest day of sunlight all year.  The one good thing is after today, all the days slowly get a little longer and Spring is the next season to come.  While Winter time makes is much less enjoyable to be outside, our grounds crew has a few projects we are working on this winter to make an impact on the golf course.  One project is to remove trees in certain areas around the golf course.  We have started to remove trees to the short left of #14 green.  This grove of trees is in play if a golfer hits short left of the green and currently we are unable to grow any grass near the trees at all.  This makes for a difficult lie if you are to hit your ball in this area.  Take a look at the pictures to see a little better what I am talking about.

Our plan is to remove all the trees you see in this picture above, and then sod all the dirt and thin areas this spring to make it all grass "rough".  This new grass will be installed across all the dirt and exposed area of the existing bed, all the way to the edge of #14/#16 pond edge.  We think you will like the new open look, and no doubt it will be a much better place to play a chip shot to the green from rather than hitting off dirt trying to avoid the trees!  We will continue to update you on other Winter projects as they come about, as this is only one of the many we plan to get finished over the next few cold months!

New Arrival! Callie Sophia Hayes!

It is with great pride and joy that I announce the arrival of Callie Sophia Hayes!  She was born on December 14th at 3:31pm and weighed 5 pounds and 14 ounces!  Baby and mommy are now at home resting and trying to learn our new schedule.  We are so blessed to have a healthy baby and a great start to our little family.  We look forward to bringing Callie to the Club when she gets a little older to meet all her new friends and MCC family! 

Buddy has been excited and comforting to the baby, but still a little puzzled as to what happened!  He is no longer #1 in our household, but I think he is going to be just fine with that!

Santa Claus Open!!!!!

The S.S. Kneen is back in the water and that could only mean one thing.....Santa Claus Open!  We hope everyone had a lot of fun playing this year!  Even though it was a little bit Chilly!

Test Bunkers

The Test Bunkers on #4, #9, #13, and #14 finally got a chance to show their abilities when it rains.  After finally receiving  2 heavy downpours totaling 3.25 inches of rain on the golf course this week, we got to see how well the new bunker liner and sand handled the rain.  As expected, the new Capillary Concrete liner which we installed to replace the cloth liner reduced washouts tremendously.  Take a look at the pictures below for proof.

 These are pictures of one of the Greenside Bunkers on #5 after the heavy rain Monday.  This is pretty typical conditions of most of the bunkers after a heavy rain event.  Notice the washouts on the edges of the bunker and the displacement of sand.  Our crew has to go through and shovel sand back up to fill in voids on the edges, and then use a mechanical rake to get the bunker smooth again.  One bunker is not too bad, but when you have over 50 to do across all 27 holes is gets to be a lot of labor to fix. 

 These two pictures show the Test Bunker on #4.  You will see how there is only one slight washout on the right side of the bunker.  Most of the sand just needs to be raked, as we do with daily maintenance.  The washout will be easy to fix and will not take any more labor than normal.  This bunker on #4 has a very steep face which is hard to hold sand, much steeper than the bunker on #5 pictured above.  This bunker typically  washed out just as bad if not worse than #5 before we renovated it.

This new construction of bunkers will save us a lot of labor in the future!

The streak is over! 2 inches of RAIN and counting!

After 62 days of dry weather and not a drop of rain, the sky has broken open and we finally got a much deserved downpour!  We have so far received a little over 2 inches of rain and the sun is just now starting to poke out!  It will be Cart Path Only today unfortunately, but it has been over 3 months since we had to restrict the carts!  The lake between #3 and #13 is now completely full, and Overlook lake came up over a foot!  (Even though it is hard to notice)  With more rain forcast over the next 24 hours, it sounds like we will keep getting more of that much needed moisture!

60 Days without RAIN!!!!

Today marks day number 60 since the last rainfall, which was on September 27th.  It has been a record setting drought and has taken a toll on all sorts of trees, shrubs and grass across the entire state of Georgia.  Our staff has tried our best to water all the areas needed over the last 2 months to try to minimize any damage some of the plants may have incurred.  Overlook lake, as seen in the above picture, is almost 2.5 feet below full level, and our irrigation lake on holes #3/#13 is over 2 feet low as well.  The state of Georgia has just recently mandated a water ban which only allow watering of lawns 2 days per week.  One good thing to note, rain is in the forecast finally!  The local meteorologists say that Tuesday and Wednesday of next week we have a 90% chance of rain, but we all know they are hardly right even half the time!  If we do get rain on Tuesday, that will be 63 days without rain!  Any rain will help, and we will be happy no matter what!

Frost Delays

I hate to say it, but today we had a heavy frost on the golf course, and even the greens!  No doubt it is that time of year again where we deal with the occasional Frost Delays.  Frost is very hard to predict, and sometimes lasts much longer than we want.  There is no doubt Frost always causes confusion as to when the golf course will open, or what is happening to tee times because of Frost Delays.  This year we will be using the Marietta Country Club App to send out the Frost Delay notifications.  If you do not yet have the App on your phone, please take a minute to do so.  Go to the Play store, or whatever your phone uses to sell Apps, and type in Marietta Country Club.  The App is free, and is full of helpful information about the Club and current events going on at any given time.  We will no longer use Trumpia to send out notifications on Frost Delays, only the Marietta Country Club App!!!  If you still need help getting the App on your phone, contact myself or Judi at the front desk of the Club and we would be glad to help.  Thank you!

Battling Moss on the Putting Greens!

If you have been out to play golf recently, you may have noticed some black or white colored spots on the greens and wondered what was wrong.  Take a look at the pictures below and you will see an example of what I am talking about.

This is a picture of the Putting Green near the Clubhouse, the white area is the dying moss.

This white area is what the moss looks like after it is treated with a chemical designed to kill it.  The moss we are battling is technically called Silvery Threaded Moss, and is a nusanse in putting greens.  The  main reason it is such an aggressive pest is because it can tolerate very low mowing heights, such as putting greens are generally maintained.  Most of the time when you think of moss growing, it may be in the woods on old logs or on top of rocks in a pond.  On putting greens there is really no rhyme or reason as to where it shows up.  Some spots are shady and damp areas on edges of greens, others are in full sun, such as the putting green.  Another bad area of moss we are dealing with is on #3 green, in front of the large fan which blows all summer.  One would think that in full sun and with a constant breeze it would be a place that moss hated, but it actually grows very aggressively there.  

We are currently working with different herbicides which will effectively control moss, while still being unharmful to the creeping bentgrass turf.  That is the thing, there are products that will reduce and remove the moss, but they are also very dangerous to turfgrass.  So please be mindful when you see these areas that we are working to remove the moss by damaging it and allowing the healthy turf to fill in the voids.  We will plug some of the worst areas out, but will wait until the greens out grow the damaged moss in most areas!

What a difference a year makes!

As most of you know, we are currently in a very serious drought, with no rain in the immediate forecast!  We recorded 0.0 inches of rain for October, which is an all time record.  Not only for October, but for every month of the year!  I ran across these pictures the other day and thought it would be very interesting to show you the difference between last year on November 4th, after we received 3.8 inches of rain in October 2015.  You can see how green the rough and particularly the fairways on here on hole #10.  

Here is a picture from 11/4/15 after a month of average rainfall

Here is a picture from 11/2/16 after receiving ZERO rain for the month of October.  

For everyone who is tired of seeing brown spots in the fairways and burned up rough, so is our grounds staff!  This record setting hot and dry weather has really done a number on the golf course, and we will really need some rainfall before it turns cold this winter to save us from too much damage.  We will continue to use our available water as much as possible, but have cut back drastically over the last 6 weeks.  Without any rain in the forecast, we can not use up our reserves too quickly.  

Test bunkers completed

This week we finished up our "Test Bunker" project.  On Monday we installed the Capillary Concrete liner in the bunker #13, and in the small right greenside bunker on #14.  We have now completely installed new liner and sand on holes #4, #9, #13, and right side bunker on #14. This liner has already made a huge difference in the appearance of the bunkers.  We will not yet know how well the new concrete liners perform in a heavy rain storm, as it has not rained now for 29 days, and the forecast for the next 2 weeks does not look very promising.  We have installed a total of 3 different sands in the 4 test bunkers, replicating one of them on 4 and 14.  The new sand we have installed during the test is still soft and a little fluffy, but will settle in and firm up over time.  Rain helps with this process too!  Please take note of the different bunkers over the next few months to help us determine what sand to use when we completely renovate the bunkers.

Will it ever rain again?

If you have been outside at all lately, you have probably noticed that it has been extremely dry.  How dry you might ask?  Well let me give you a few facts to think about.

The last time it rained at the Club was on September 27th, which is 19 days ago.  The amount of rain we received on the 27th was a little over a quarter of an inch.

The previous rain before the 27th was on September 18th, and it was .77 inches.  So that makes for a total of 1 inch of rain since September 2nd!  Over 6 weeks of hot weather and only 1 inch of rain to show for it!  

This is very unusual, and is no doubt frustrating.  Take a look at the picture below.  The rough and surrounding landscape is brown and struggling to grow.

It is not hard to see how brown and dry all the grass on the golf course has become.  You can see how the green and some of the surrounding turf has stayed green, but everything else around it is completely brown.  Because of a lack of water and rain, we have cut back on our irrigation and only water greens and tees now.  Fairways will get watered once a week, but this little amount of water does not do much help.

Please help us dance for rain!  Maybe that will help to cure the drought!

Test Bunkers Cont.

Last Thursday we had the concrete truck finally show up and bring us our new bunker liner, Capillary Concrete.  This new type of liner is a concrete like material that is made up of small gravel, mixed in a binding agent like concrete.  The great thing about this type of liner is that it drains incredibly well because of the large pore spaces.  This good drainage helps the sand to not wash out as badly during bad rains, and also helps from keeping the bottoms of the bunkers too wet and firm.  Here is a picture of us starting to install the Capillary Concrete on the bunker on #4

Here is a good example of the installation procedure.  The concrete truck dumps a load of the material into the green utility cart in the top of the picture.  We then take the cart and dump the material around the perimeter edges of the bunker.  After the material is dumped, it is then spread around the cover the entire surface of the bunker, consistently at a 2 inch depth.  After the material is spread to a depth of 2 inches, a paint roller on an extension stick is used to roll the material smooth and to compact it down.  If you look closely you can see the parts that have been rolled smooth (shiny appearance), and the part that is still rough.  We repeated this process until the bunker was full of the Capillary Concrete, and the entire surface had been rolled smooth.  

Here is another photo of the guys rolling the material smooth.  The lighter colored material is the gravel that makes up the floor of the bunker.  The darker material is the Capillary Concrete.

After all the Capillary Concrete has been installed and rolled, it has to be covered up with a tarp for 24 hours.  This helps to lock in moisture and protect the material while it drys and "cures".

Here is what the liner looks like after we pulled off the plastic.  The material has dried hard and consistent like concrete.  Our staff member is blowing off any loose debris or small rocks that did not bind with the rest of the material.  The next step will be to start adding the new sand.

New sand is added to the bunkers the same way that the Capillary Concrete was added to the bunkers.  Our large utility carts back up to the perimeter of the bunkers and dump the sand.  Then our staff spreads it throughout the bunker at a consistent depth of 4 inches.

We then have a member of our staff wet down all the new sand with a hose.  This loose sand is very fluffy and will need to be tamped down.  The water helps to pack down the sand and makes it easier to work with.

After the sand has been saturated with water, we tamp the entire bunker with a vibratory plate tamp.  This tamp is a large, flat, heavy piece of metal that has a motor on the top which allows the machine to vibrate at a high rate of speed.  This tamp helps to pack down the new sand and try to make it a "firm" but "fluffy" surface.  We will truly need a few good rain storms and to tamp the sand a few more times until it displays its true characteristics.   

Here is a photo of the finished product.  The sand will be a little softer for the next week or two, but will slowly get more compacted and firmer when you walk into the bunker.  The bunkers are ready to play out of and to evaluate now, but please give the sand a few weeks to settle in.  I think you will really like the way the new sand plays!

  

Test Bunkers

This week we started our process of installing "Test" bunkers around the golf course.  These test bunkers will be used to help us determine what the best available bunker sand is on the market.  We are removing all the sand and bunker liner from the bunkers on holes #4, #9, and #13.  Each bunker will have a new style of bunker liner installed next Wednesday, and then each will be filled with a different type of bunker sand.  We are hoping that these test bunkers will help us determine which products to use if the Board was to approve a wholesale bunker renovation.  I will post much more information on the progress next week as we add the liner and new sand types.

Please remember while we the bunkers are Ground Under Repair you get a free drop outside in the grass if you hit into the bunker!

New Parking Lot is finished and now OPEN!

I am glad to announce that the new parking lot has been completed, and is now open for daily use for all members and guests.  It was no doubt a long and dirty process, but the end result looks really nice, and provides up to 29 new parking spaces!  These additional spaces will really come in handy during holiday events or the dreaded summertime swim meets!  Take a look at some of the pictures below to see from start to finish the work that went in to building this new parking lot!

Here is what it looked like before any work began....

Here was the finished product once the trees were removed and the parking lot paved...

Here is the finished product after all the landscaping was done and complete.  The hollies were planted around the perimeter of the parking lot will grow together and form a nice hedge to hide the cars.  What a nice edition for the Club and will certainly help a lot on busy days!

Water Main Leak at Clubhouse

Over the past few weeks we noticed a water leak coming from the Clubhouse.  This leak was very hard to detect, and it took us a lot of investigating to find out what the root of the problem was.  On Sunday morning, we decided to dig in front of the Clubhouse where the main water line comes into the basement.  What we found was a very large leak, so we decided on Monday we had to get it fixed.  It turns out that the ground has settled slightly over time around the Clubhouse, and when it settled it cracked the pipe which is running through the basement cement wall.  The wall did not give, but when the ground moved with the pipe something had to give, and it was the pipe which was the weakest point.  So, after digging out a large hole to the left of the front door, were able to locate the pipe, remove the broken piece, and begin the repairs to get the water back on and working with no leaks.  We apologize the repair has taken so long and the Clubhouse had to be closed today.  It should be no problem to open back up first thing Wednesday morning ready to go.  Here is picture from outside the front door of the Clubhouse:

You can see here even Buddy is surprised by how deep the water line is located!  The black pipe at the bottom of the hole is the main water line, and it is about 7 feet below the surface of the ground!  We had to cut a new hole, remove the pipe and run an all new piece to repair the broken section.  What a mess!

2016 Fall Member/Member

Congratulations to Jim Mutimer and Jay Gratwick on winning the 2016 MCC Fall Member/Member tournament this weekend.  We had some great weather to play golf, and I hope everyone had a good time!

Abnormally Hot Summer

I was watching news one evening this last week and the meteorologist showed a very interesting slide on television showing very clearly how much hotter this summer has been over previous years:

Our average number of 90 degree days has been 37 over the last 130 years, but this summer we have had 76, and probably a few more still to come including today!  The hot temperatures coupled with severe drought conditions have  made it a very difficult summer on the golf course.  Luckily we have some much cooler temperatures coming out way in about a week if the meteorologists are telling the truth!

Fall Armyworms!!!!!!!!!!

This morning, while doing some scouting, we noticed we are starting to see an outbreak of Fall Armyworms!  These insects can do some major damage to Bermuda grass, and quickly!  Armyworms get their name because they eat the grass in large numbers, a lot of times "marching" across the grass in a straight line.  When the outbreak is really severe, you can actually see the grass moving there are so many worms crawling around.  To do some tests to see if we have any worm outbreaks, we do a "soapy flush"  We take a bucket of water, and add dish soap.  This soapy water gives a burning sensation to all bugs, and every bug in the turf canopy will come up to the top for fresh air!  Here is a photo of one of our assistants doing a soapy flush:

This soapy flush is something you can do in your own yard to test for Armyworms.  A lot of times Armyworm damage looks like a brown spot that would appear dry.  After closer inspection, these spots are brown because the Armyworms have started eating all the leaves of the grass plant!

The good news is that once detected, Armyworms are very easy to control.  After we noticed an outbreak on hole #12 this morning, we mixed up the sprayer with insecticide and sprayed all the rough.  This will kill all the Armyworms currently feeding on the turf, and prevent any more from spreading to other areas of the golf course.  Be on the lookout in your own home lawns and do a soapy flush to test and see if you have an outbreak!  If you need help on how to control the outbreak we would be glad to answer any questions you may have!

Different Environments, Different Results

Today, while checking the golf course over in the morning, I noticed something interesting.  Even though our staff aerified the greens on the same day, # 9 green is much further along and has recovered much quicker than #1 green.  These greens were punched 26 days ago, and Monday will be 4 weeks.  However, #9 is almost fully recovered, and #1 still has some filling in to do.  Take a look at the pictures side by side below to see what I mean.

 This is a picture of #1 green.  It definitely is not flattering, and very tough to look at, but it is slowly filling in.  The large pine trees surrounding this green look beautiful, but do rob the turf of valuable sunlight in both the morning and the evening.  These trees also reduce the wind and air movement across the green, which is why we have a fan installed behind the green to help move air and cool the grass canopy. 

After 26 days, #9 Green looks much better.  One reason is because it receives full sunlight every day, and the daily winds provide the much needed ventilation.  We treat these greens on the exact same program, and yet you see different results.  Hot weather has played a large factor effecting the putting greens recovery.  When stress levels are high for the turf, the difference of environmental conditions and small microclimates that our putting greens live in become much more noticeable.  Thank you very much for your patience and understanding at this time while the greens are slow to fill in.  We will begin plugging the slowest areas on Tuesday, and should continue to see steady grow as we have the last 2 weeks.   

Greens Update

Man, how nice is the cooler weather and less humidity for a change!  That is not only what I am thinking right now, but what the greens are thinking too!  After receiving and inch of rain overnight on Thursday, it has been nice, less humid  and overcast the last 2 days.  This weather helps to signal the first feelings of Fall, but is also exactly what our greens need to help them recover.  Take a look at the pictures below of #8 Overlook Green:

This picture of #8 Overlook was taken last Sunday, it shows the typical damage we have seen from the aerification.

This picture was taken this morning in the same location as the previous picture.  While the badly damaged spots are still evident, the grass has filled in more and is greener than 6 days ago.  We will begin to plug and sod the worst areas this week to help speed up recovery.  We have seen a lot of good growth and the greens are healthy, it is just a long road to recovery. 

Greens Recovery

          This Monday, August 29th will be 3 weeks since we aerated the greens and topdressed with heavy sand.  While this process takes a minimum of 4 weeks to fully recover, we have seen a pretty good recovery rate so far.  However, it has also become evident the greens were damaged in some areas during the process.  Many of the worst areas appear to be where too much sand collected and damaged small areas or lines on the greens.  This amount of sand combined with the 90 degree temperatures over the last 2 weeks really damaged these areas badly.
           The only good news is we have seen good recovery over the last week, and though extremely slow,  I am confident these areas will fully recover over the next few weeks.  Also, our staff will focus on plugging and sodding the worst areas, which will instantly improve the surface.  Believe me this is a  worst nightmare for a golf course superintendent, and I want the conditions to improve more than anyone!                
           Good thing is we can fix the problem, and in the future we  will change our schedules to reduce the chance of this heat damage happening again.  Instead of aerifying the first week in August, we are moving the date to the week after Labor Day.  Typically by the first week of September the weather has started to cool off and the greens should recover much quicker.  Later in the season will also help ensure we do not see the damage we suffered this year.  We will do all we can to prevent this from ever happening again.

Thank you,


Mark Hayes
Grounds Superintendent

You can see some sand spots on the green that are slow to recover.  These spots are slowly filling in and will be fully recovered within a few weeks!

Aerification Successfully Completed!

Last week our staff successfully aerified all the greens on the golf course with no problems!  This is always an unpopular time for golfers, but once all the plugs are removed and sand is added to the greens, all there is to do is wait for it all to grow back!  Over the next few weeks it will not be fun to putt on the greens, but by the time Labor Day weekend rolls around, the greens will be almost fully healed and back to putting true again!

Greens Aerification August 8th!

This is a reminder that next Monday, August 8th, we will be doing our Fall Greens Aerification.  This will be the BIG HOLES and HEAVY SAND!  I know this is the time all golfers dread, but it will be very beneficial for the greens this fall golf season, and for continued annual health.  The greens will be fully recovered within 4 weeks!

Parking Lot is Paved!

This Wednesday we had the chance to pave the new parking lot and get closer to completing the project!  The crews showed up after a few weeks off and added 6 inches of crusher run, which is a form of gravel.  Next, they came in with a large road grader to smooth out the surface and prepare for the asphalt.  When pouring the asphalt, they had to roll it constantly to flatten and harden the surface to help it cure.  After about 4 hours they had completed the pour and the lot was left overnight to harden and cure.  Thursday and Friday our staff has been hard at work to repair all the piles of dirt around the edges of the lot and get it ready to seed.  The seed and straw mat we put down will help to hold the dirt and stabilize the steeper banks.  In the middle of September we will install landscape plants surrounding the new lot to help hide and beautify the new area.  Here are a few pictures of the paving in action!

This guys job was to roll the light colored gravel and pack it very firm, then he rolled all the hot black asphalt to pack it smooth!

Here was the first pass with the asphalt machine!

Here it the entrance to the parking lot after it was all paved.  Now we will work to finish all the dirt piled up around the curbing and get ready for the landscape planting this Fall!

Here is Colten working on smoothing out and packing all the dirt left over!  We are on the home stretch and will be done in the next week!  Once the we get the lines painted in the parking we will open it up for daily use!