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.