There was a very rapid change in weather we went from a wet April & May to an average June and now a bone dry July. The squeggee's were packed away and the hoses were drug out.We have a very solid crew that has done large amounts of handwatering to make up for the defeciencies of our irrigation system.
Here are some additional jobs completed this past month.

We once again had problems with zebra muscles plugging up the siphon line, which fills our irrigation pipe. A high pressure flush is done, but now the elevation of the canal is dropping rapidly and we may need to make alternative arrangements to get our water.


Servicing of the golf carts is completed monthly during the offseason and every 3 weeks during the summer. We check the battery terminals, water level, tire pressure and neutralize acid on the battery tops.

This is a picture of some insect damage we had on the collars of some greens. The insect pest is called Annual Bluegrass Weevil and feeds on the weedy grass. If not controlled the insect will feed on the bentgrass. We had to make a treatment for this pest as well as Cutworm.

The tee signs were weeded and mulched. Between all the maintenance items on the golf course it's very difficult for us to maintain these areas as we should. Some areas still have very maintenance intensive plants and this adds to the labor issue.

Henry our equipment manager has had his hands full to say the least. Here he is tearing down 75% of the mower to repair internal components of a hydraulic pump. Jacobsen the manufacturer only had 2 options for us. option 1 was to replace the pump @ a cost of $2500. Option 2 was a small re-build kit of unnecessary parts for $900. Henry took it upon himself to cross a number with a direct ditributor at a cost of $90. Outsourcing this job would have cost $4000. Henry has been with us for 6 years and is a huge asset to the club.

Staffing

It took all available resources this spring to keep up with mowing and limit the amount of damage to wet saturated soils. As a result we are behind on many of the aesthetic touches that bring out the most LTCC has to offer. We apologize for the lack of definition in many areas of the golf course, but are getting caught up very quickly. The main focus has been greens, tees, fairways, rough and bunkers. Now the attention is being directed toward peripheral areas of the golf course eg. tree stumps, OB stakes, trimming and landscape beds. The landscape beds are the most tedious and time consuming especially without the assistance of a horticulturalist on staff. We will do our best and are now at full staff. The additional staffing will ease some of the burden as many helping hands make much lighter work.

#12 Construction

Due to the inclement weather this spring the bunker construction was put on hold until August. By no means is the hole completed, but rather was finished in a way to make it playable as soon as possible with costs taken into consideration. The fairway on the right hand playing side was not expanded or sodded, so we have temporarily overseeded the area with ryegrass. In August construction will once again begin where the fairway will be widened by as much as 10 yards in some locations. Accompanying the widening of the fairway 2 bunkers will be added on the left hand playing side of the hole. We are sorry for the inconvenience and any interuptions in play.

Aerification Scheduled for Monday June 6th

As you all know aerification was postponed due to the wet weather. Since we are so far into the golf season a less invasive process will begin to the greens on Monday. This process WILL NOT remove any thatch, but rather relieve surface compaction and increase air exchange through the soil. This season we will be topdressing the greens with sand to dilute the organic matter levels and firm the putting surfaces more frequently. Here's a video of the process we will be performing on Monday. The greens will be firmer, faster and roll truer after this process because of the rolling and the addition of the sand to the profile of the greens. Please don't be scared off by the word aerification next week. The weather looks great!!

Wet Weather

Looks like the wet weather is past us, for now. Saturated soils are prone to compaction, which is detrimental to soil structure. As soils become compacted there is a reduction in air space, which is essential for micro-organisms and the infiltration of water. Basically, the soils can dry out very easily and it's impossible to "re-wet" the soils without the addition of wetting agents (make water "wetter")or aerification. Due to these conditions we have begun lightly irrigating areas to ensure that the soils do not dry out too quickly and sealing off the surface.

Edging Bunkers

During this inclement weather we have begun the process of edging and moving sand.
The first step is to edge the encroaching grass back with a weedeater. Next the material is removed by hand and all weeds are pulled.

Lastly, sand depths are checked and sand is smoothed to ensure proper playability.

#12 Bunker Construction

We have begun to remove the bunkers, but were once again caught by the rain. 1/2 of the area was completed prior to the 3 inches of rain. The remaining area will be completed as soon as the weather co-operates. Bunker construction may not be completed until the fall due to the weather.

Wind storm photos

Storm Damage Update

The course "took it on the chin" today just like most of WNY. I hope everyone weathered the storm alright. In all my years living in WNY I've never seen the winds that severe and it uprooted many trees. For the most part the trees were on the exterior of the golf course. As you'd imagine storm debris is littered throughout the golf course. The most depressing part is we were barely able to keep up with mowing due to the excessively wet April.

Our first priority is eliminate any safety matters with hung up trees. Following this we need to get caught up with mowing and in order to do this we will have to clean-up the smaller debris. Please be patient as the bigger debris will need to be cleaned-up at a later time.

I'll post pictures tomorrow

Aerification Postponed!!

Due to the recent wet weather and forecasted weather for the upcoming week aerfication will be rescheduled. Typically, we would get as much done this week around the wet weather, but I'm afraid we will have very few completed and very inconsistent playing conditons. We will co-ordinate with the golf schedule in order to limit disruption of play, but there is a need to aerify the greens.

Course Conditions

In the last post I said I would update the course conditions yesterday and Thurs.. With the varying temperatures there was no reason to update yesterday because nothing changed and the long range looked good, but wet. Well, I'm glad I waited because it looks like most of the rain for the weekend will be very limited and things started to grow today even though it was cold. It's looking very good for Friday to open the course with carts. Check back here tomorrow afternoon or call the Pro Shop for an update. To give you more information the course is very wet and holes #8,9,13,16 & 17 are extremely wet. With a good drying day tomorrow we should be well on our way for some good golfing this weekend.

PINS ARE IN!!!

Pins went into the greens today, but we are not ready for golf carts. Although the course isn't officially open the pins are in for you to go out and knock it around. The course will officially open and carts will run, when we start regular mowing. Some greens have been mowed and others will get their first cut very soon. Fairways are starting to grow even though we have been very cold. Hoping next weekend will be the begininng of the golf season. I'll update this blog on Tues. and Thurs. night.

Electrical Upgrade

This past November NYSEG informed the club that the electrical service entering the clubhouse was suspended from a pole that was rotten and as risk of falling. Accompanying the faulty pole was an electrical configuration in the clubhouse, which was in need of an update.

In the frigid month of January the grounds crew installed elctrical conduit to move this service below ground. We'd like to thank Chis Hildreth and Hildreth Electric for re-routing and updating the electric service.

In March the grounds department finished off the job by removing the old pole and installing a new fence to increase storage. The old pole was extremely rotten and definitely was an accident waiting to happen. The pole was so rotten we were able to break it off and pull it down with a rope.

Much Closer

The past few days have been great drying and some greens have started to grow. As of right now we have mowed #1,2,3,5 & 18 for the first time. There are still some problem areas on the course. The largest problem area being #15 Green and #16 tee. There isn't enough sunlight and air movement to melt the snow and ice. There is still a deep frost in the ground in these areas. Another problem is the cart path on #14 by the wetland is flooded. This area is very difficult to get around.

If you do play some holes please stay off #15 green until the frost is out of the ground and to get by the flood on #14 you must cross on the bridge.

Course Conditions

The majority of the course is snow free and the ground firmed up on St. Patty's Day. Overall the course weathered the winter with minimal damage. As far as opening the course the "rule of thumb" is pins will be placed,when we mow greens. This means the grass is actively growing and able to take the wear of normal play.
Some greens may have temporaries because they haven't broken dormancy as quickly or are still covered with snow(#15 green pictured above). Greens have been cleaned of debris and we are waiting for them to show signs of growth. They usually start growing when soil temperatures reach 38-42 degrees.
Carts will not be permitted until the ground is firm and once again the grass has started actively growing. Once again the rule of thumb is when we mow fairways for the first time.

2011 Golf Industry Show & Educational Seminars

Earlier this month as part of continuing education I attended the Golf Industry Show. I attended 3 different 4 hour seminars and spent 10 hours over 2 days visiting and learning about the latest and greatest in turf maintenance.

The first seminar I attended was "Turfgrass by the Numbers". This seminar was a great review on the importance of scientific research and interpreting the numbers from these studies. Every purchase we make has had numerous studies to support the reasoning for our investment. An important piece of information I took away from this seminar was the importance of research performed in our are. Cornell University has done most of this work for us.

The second seminar was "Winter Injury in Northern Climates". After much discussion with Superintendents all over the world we came to the conclusion we can't control mother nature. This seminar was a great resource for how to recover the fastest and most economically from winter injury.

The third seminar was "How to maintain and improve your Blog". Many Superintendents are following suit and starting blogs to give you as much information as possible. Please be involved and let me know any topics you want me to discuss.

The Trade Show is half the size it has been in the past, but this made it much easier to get around and see everything. The best piece of equipment I saw is the Precise Path Robotic Mower. This is the next generation of labor saving equipment. They are hitting the marketplace now, but realistically are 5 years out from mass production.

ICE!!

Winter Injury to turf can happen many different ways. One form of winter injury we constanly monitor is ice accumulation. The ice on #17 green was over 6" thick and formed last Sunday (Feb. 13th). Ice can cause damage to greens in as few as 20 days this late in the winter months. We took advantage of these warmer days to create channels for the melting ice to flow freely and off the green. Additionally we use dark colored sand to melt the ice faster and more importantly make the ice porous and release any toxic gasses from under the ice. Here is a USGA article highlighting the monitoring techniques we use to limit and assess winter damage throughout the golf course.

Stump Grinding

We rent a grinder annually for the removal of tree stumps from the tree removal list. This machine is very loud,very heavy and very cheap to rent during off season rental. This makes the month of Feb. the best time to grind stumps.

Proposed changes to #12 landing zone

In my short time at LTCC we have seen a number of changes and improvements. One of these changes I felt necessary to revisit was the landing zone on #12. We have held off renovating these fairway bunkers to see how the playability of the hole has changed since the large poplar was removed from the front of the green.

Scott Witter our golf course architecht was hired to analyze the landing zone for this very difficult tee shot. He has identified areas of concern on this hole. The fairway bunkers on the right side of the hole are too low and aren't visible from the tee. In order to make them visible a large amount of earth would need to be moved and the bunkers would look out of place. He also identified the left side of the hole as extremely penal because a tee shot pulled or pushed left would go directly into the deep heather.

His recommendations are to remove all 3 bunkers on the right and place 2 in a more natural area on the elevated left hand side. The placement of these bunkers will help "catch" errant tee shots and allow for a golfer to use a "speed slot" on the right hand side of the fairway for added roll.

The reason for a 2nd bunker at approximately 300 yards is too challenge the longest hitters on the windiest of days. This bunker is also placed to challenge our golfers from the forward tees. All too often holes are re-designed from the back tees. The placement of the bunker offers a risk/reward for the longest of hitters from the forward tees.
This design has been approved by the Green Committee and is awaiting final approval from the board. I would like to thank our architecht Scott Witter for always looking at ways to further improve the "new" 9 holes.

Cart Path & Bunker Improvements

Unfortunately, due to numerous reasons the bunker and cart path projects were not completed in 2010. In 2011 the green side bunkers will be finished as well as improving the landing zone of the 12th fairway. These improvements will be paid for out of the capital grounds fund. The link below gives more information about the challenges we faced during the project.

Letter to membership

Tree Removal Program

Believe it or not, in 6 years we have removed 750 trees on the property. The main objectives of the tree removal program are turf health,tree health and playability. The process of tree selection for removal has been done gradually with foresight and scouting. The first trees selected were areas of declining turf. In order to keep this brief I will comment on tree health in this first post, then discuss turf health and playability in later posts.




Rotten tree ready to fall due to overplanting!

When trees are over planted they will compete with each other for available nutrients, water and most of all sunlight. The endless chase for sunlight leads to the abnormal growth habits of limbs and excessive growth at the tips. The excessive growth at the tips can lead to very dangerous situations due to weight and limbs will break off at any time.





Another factor in tree selection is the kind (Genus species) of tree. The majority of trees removed have been Silver Maples. Silver Maples were over planted in the 1950's due to their ability to grow quickly and in different soil types. Additionally, Silver Maples have brittle wood leading to the necessity of regular pruning and a shallow fibrous root system leading to turf decline, plugging of drain lines and disruption of irrigation electrical wires.





As the removal program is rapidly nearing an end the priority will be placed on pruning and planting. With the most undesirable trees removed a COST effective pruning program can begin. Any trees planted will be desirable species such as Pin Oak and Freeman Maple. Thank you for your continued support.