Get-It-Out Lift

If you have played golf in the last week you probably have noticed the black rings around the bottom of the flag stick.  These rings are called Get-Out-Lift, and are designed to help remove the ball from the cup without sticking your hands in the hole.  With the rules of golf changing this year allowing the flag stick to remain in while putting, many people have adapted to the new rule.  However, when putting with the flag sticks in, sometimes golfers will reach their hand in to get the ball without removing the flag stick.  This can cause the edges of the cup to get damaged if not careful, and we have noticed more wear than usual this summer.  To see if we can reduce any damage to the cups, we have decided to try the Get-Out-Lift.  Please let us know your feedback as you use these new devices and let us know your thoughts!   

Verticutting Fairways

Fairway maintenance took our full attention over the last week!  Trust me, the last thing any Golf Course Superintendent wants to do is tear up beautiful grass!  Sometimes, it takes a little roughing up the stone to make it shine, and that is the outlook we used on the fairways this week.  So, why do we verticut the fairways?  What is a verticutter?  Will it ever grow back?  Those are all great questions I have been asked over the last week, and I wanted to shed some light on this dirty, dusty process.

So what is verticutting?  Verticutting is defined as vertical mowing, which uses blades orientated straight up and down to cut slits into the turf profile and remove thatch which builds up over time.  The thatch can lead to a "puffy" or "spongy" turf surface which does not create a very consistent fairway lie.  Bermuda grass grows very aggressively and naturally creates a lot of thatch.  By removing accumulating thatch each year, we can help to keep our fairways growing tight and consistent like carpet.  This is the goal anyway!

We choose to do this process in the middle of the summer time when the weather is hot, and the bermuda grass is most actively growing.  Some of the the first fairways we verticut on Monday, July 15th, have already shown very rapid recovery.  Within a few weeks the grass grow back it will hardly be noticeable anything was done.  Below the turf surface we have created many new growing points  during the process, growing new leaf blades to fill in the voids.  The result with be a much firmer, tighter grass canopy that should improve the play of the golf course.  

Buddy looks about as excited as I am about tearing up good looking fairways!  Here is a look at the verticutter in action working on #8 fairway.

     

Here is a look at the fairways immediately after the machine goes over the turf.  The lines are cut in the turf canopy to help remove the thatch.  You can see all the excess thatch laying all over the turf surface.  I cleaned a little bit away to show the lines that are left, compared to the fairway surface before we started the process.

Big handful of the thatch and sprigs that were removed from the fairways!  A lot of material we can do without!

So how do we pick all the unwanted thatch up and remove it completely?  Well a vacuum of course!  This year we were fortunate for the Club to purchase a Multi-Vac 772, which has already proved to be very handy!  The vacuum runs behind the verticutter and sucks up almost all the debris left over.  You can see in the pictures the before and after of where the tractor drives, almost all the debris is removed and stored in the hopper to be dumped off site.  

View from the tractor pulling the vacuum.  Green grass showing is the first pass made with the vacuum!  Works Great!

After the vacuum does its job, it is time to mow the grass to start to even it back up.  It takes a few cuttings to get everything smoothed out.  After we mow, the blowers will come behind and clean up all the loose material remaining.

This is a photo of #8 fairway, the day after we finished the entire verticutting process.  While the fairway is brown and not nearly as green and pretty as when we started, it is still an acceptable surface to play golf on.  Within 2-3 weeks it will be hard to tell we did anything at all, and everything should look much better!

New Walk Path on #14

Monday we took advantage of a hot, dry day to install a new walk path on hole #14, leading to the white and green tee box.  The idea for a walk path in this location has been discussed by the Grounds Committee for quite some time, but because of our busy schedule it has been hard to find time to complete the project.  I would like to show you in pictures how we built this new path.

This is the area we we chose to install the walk path.  It has been the chosen trail for some time now, and along with some rocks and tree roots it made for a rather rugged walk.  In the foreground of the picture you can see a small portion of the pathway material we used to make a ramp down from the cart path about a year ago with some excess we had left from a previous project.  In the grass you can slightly see the walk path we mow into what is currently mulch and fescue grass walk path.

  

The first step is to grade out the area for the path.  The thickness of the entire path is about 5 inches in depth, so we went down 4-5 inches from the original grade to prepare the base for the path.  We use boards to form up the sides to help us keep a consistent line and helps the material where we want it and allow it to set-up properly.

The base material we use for the walk path is crush-r-run, or a DOT approved material that packs well and is a mixture of standard gravel and fine stones.  We install this material at a depth of 2 inches throughout the bottom of the path.

So what exactly are we using to build this path?  The product is called Kafka Granite, and it is a combination of a polymer and a lot of very tiny granite rocks.  The polymer acts as a glue that hardens and sticks everything together to make a firm surface.  The polymer actually continues to get harder and more consistent over time, allowing the walk path to become durable and withstand years of use.  The Kafka Granite is made in Wisconsin, and shipped in large sacks containing 3,000 lbs each.  This surface is similar to concrete when it is completed, but much more cost effective.

The Kafka Granite is spread evenly throughout the path area, on top of the crush-r-run sub-base we had previously installed.  We try to put 3-4 inches of the material at first, and then run a vibratory tamp across the top to compact the material.  This picture above shows the material being spread evenly.

This is another picture showing the crew installing the Kafka Granite.  Look at the boards to see exactly how much material we are installing on the path.  The grey colored material is the base layer, and the light brown material is what will ultimately be the path surface.  The white bag is the 3000 pound sack the product was delivered in.

A vibratory tamp is used to compact the new material and firm it into a usable walk path.  Adding a light mist of water during this process helps to allow the polymer to start solidifying everything together.

The vibratory tamp works very well to firm up the surface.

Notice where the smooth area is that has been tamped is about 2 inches lower than the loose material used to fill the forms.  This is why we install so much of the Kafka material at the beginning, because it really packs well.  Ideally we would like to see a finished surface of 3 inches thick of Kafka granite, after the tamping process.

All that is left will be to finish the surrounding landscape to make the walk path look like it has been there forever.  This path material blends very well and looks very natural.  Hopefully once completed it will improve this stretch for the golfers walking to #14 tee box!