'Tis the Season for Frost Delays

Is there any part of the winter season that is less likable than frost delays?  From my viewpoint, there's nothing worse.  Frost delays reduce our number of rounds, drastically reduce the productivity of the maintenance crew, and there's the potential for turf damage.  So, I'm sure you understand that frost delays are a necessary evil that nobody cares for.


The good news, in San Diego, is the greens very rarely get frost.  The temperatures need to drop below 32 degrees for frost to occur on the greens.  The greens are always the last part to get frost and the last part to thaw out when temperatures climb.


Our frost is limited to the rough, fairways, tees and approaches.  The rough is the first section to turn white on a cold morning as cool air surrounds the leaf blades and freeze the morning dew.  The cells inside the turf are also frozen, so foot and cart traffic will break the leaf blades and cause weeks worth of damage.  If the plant cracks down at the growing point, it will not recover.



I'm a big fan of the email system to alert the membership of a frost delay.  I will include an estimated start time that is my best guess.  If conditions change and the frost delay is lengthened or shortened, than the update will be relayed to the Golf Shop and on to you.


Our range is in a great position to get early morning sunlight and hasn't been frosted yet.  The putting greens have also been frost free so you can practice while you wait for your delayed tee time.


In no time at all, the frost will be yesterday's news, the bermuda will be greening up, and warm spring temperatures will greet you each morning.  Ahhhhh, sounds good.

Well Update

I think we can start calling it a well now that we've confirmed the hole as a source of water.  All future updates are now "well updates" whether they involve a drill rig or not.  If you haven't heard the good news upon good news, here is a portion of the update that went out to the membership today:

We are thrilled to report that the well has successfully completed the pumping test.

The fracture that was reached at 975 feet on Monday was tested on Wednesday, the 19^th, for approximately 3 hours with no break in the flow or volume of water. The Stehly's are very confident with the production potential as the drill head was set at 712 feet to deliver the air to the fracture at 975 feet. Under these conditions, the volume of water tells them that there is a great amount of pressure and water in the well. We expect to receive a water quality assessment shortly regarding the salinity of this major strike. 

Stay tuned for more news and progress reports.  

BIG WATER!!!!!

That's right, you heard it here first.  Today, we hit a massive amount of water.  When I got the call that the well just hit 300 gallons of water per minute at 975 feet, I thought it was a joke or a mistake.  That is an incredible amount of water.  They decided to blow out the water for 30 minutes to confirm the fracture as a stable source of water.  For 30 minutes the flow did not slow down.

The debris pits filled up quickly and our swan took advantage of the new water feature. 

Of course there are a few more steps to this process before the water goes into use, but finding water was the first goal and we found a lot.  Initial quality reports will not allow us to sell the water in the grocery store, but we can grow turf with it.  More to come on that note in the future along with other frequent updates on these exciting possibilities.

I leave you with a video.........

Rain Total

This was the first significant rain event in the five months that I've been here.  Before yesterday, the rain total was near a 1/4 inch since the 1st of July.  Yesterday's storm brought in 1.43 inches according to our fancy weather station and just over 1.5 inches according to the simple rain catchers we have around the shop and the course.

As a precaution, we made the call of "cart path only" before golfers arrived.  After thoroughly checking the course from every tee to every green, we were able to pull the cart restrictions and let people drive where they please.  The course soaked up the rain with very little problems.  A wet spot here or there required a sign and a little rope, but that's it.  The greens received an always appreciated flush of salts and were left very firm and green.  Green-side bunkers drained very well with no puddles this morning.  The fairway bunkers did have some drainage issues which we recorded and will address in the future.

According to my favorite weather site, intellicast.com, we will be getting some more rain tonight.  Conditions will be assessed in the morning to determine if cart restrictions will be necessary.  We will do our best to have the carts out and about to encourage play and make it a bit more enjoyable.

The radar image to the left was taken at 1:50 pm on Friday and as I look out the window, drops are coming down.  We'll take it.

Drilling Update--Water in the Well

Today, the drill rig encountered some water at 575 feet. The flow from this fracture was approximately 35 gallons per minute. The final depth for the day was 710 feet. Drilling may resume tomorrow unless it rains all day, so I hope there is no drilling.

Stay tuned for more updates....

Drilling Update--Casing Installation and Air Hammer

On Monday, 320 feet of steel casing went straight down to the granite below the course.  I've been waiting to see how this was accomplished.  Each stick of steel is hoisted in place by the drill rig's winch system.  A tow strap is hooked to the pipe just below two metal ears that are welded in place.

One length of casing is set upon the previous one and they are welded together.  The pegs used to aid the winching are knocked off the pipe with a small sledge hammer and the casing is lowered into the well to await the next length of pipe.

It was obvious that the Stehly brothers have done this a time or two before.  Everyone helping was in sync and the pipe flew down the hole as fast as the welder could go.  The casing was pounded into place, into the granite rock below.  It will keep the clay from caving in and prevent contamination of the water that we hope to be pulling from over 1000 feet below the surface.  

Last I checked, about 11:30 am on Wednesday, the drill rig was at 510 feet and quickly making progress. We should reach our target depth within 3 days and watch water flow up from the ground.

Tomorrow, we will get to watch a rare occurrence; water falling down from the sky.  Forecasters are calling for up to one inch of rain over the next 48 hours.  

Let's hope we get both the water from above and the water from below as each one will be useful.

News and Notes

I have too many items to discuss to make each one it's own post, plus there is more drilling updates to be had.  So, here is set of pics and updates for a variety of course work.

First off, we have new divot sand.  You may have seen some darker sand on the range and perhaps in your divot bottles.  The new sand is an 80% sand 20% organic material mix.  The organics will help with seed germination and provide a bit of fertility for divots to heal.  I also believe that this sand will compact better than the previously used sands to improve footing and stability on the range tee.  Let me know what you think about the new sand.  So far, the crew and I are enjoying what we've seen.

Next topic.  We had to rent a backhoe as part of the drilling operation.  We decided to make the most of the "big" machinery while it's on site.  We've ripped a couple of dead trees out of the ground, leveled our debris pile behind #12, removed an old stump next to the lake on #9, and today we removed all dead oleanders from the parking lot.  Like the stump on #9, the oleanders were driving me crazy.  They are fine plants when healthy, but ours are diseased with Pierce's Disease, as are many in San Diego County.  We will be updating the irrigation and replacing these plants with something more attractive in the near future.  Like many of our projects, parking lot work is generally limited to Mondays.

Lastly, the new pine straw bed on #2 is open to play.  Hopefully, there will be very little play coming out of this area, but it is playable if your ball comes to lie there.  This project removed a seldom used bunker from the course which reduces labor and input costs.  It also took two sprinkler heads out of service and changed two others to half circle heads.  I've tossed many golf balls at every angle and speed into the pine straw and all of them were very easy to find, usually right on top.  In the future we may add some other plants or grasses to this new water free landscape to further improve aesthetics.

Drilling Update--Down to Rock

Here is a short update on the drilling progress from General Manager, Mike Spayd.

With the aid of a different shaped drill bit, the drilling crew has finally reached the bottom of the blue clay layer at 318 feet.  They reached granite and proceeded to drill to a depth of 330 feet where they have temporarily stopped to prepare for the next phase of the project.  They will now go back into the hole and ream it out from its current 8 inch width to 10 inches at first and then to 12 inches. After this is completed in the next few days, they will then inset the temporary casing into the hole and then begin to air drill from that point on.  They expect to be able to begin the drilling into the rock next Monday and should average between 300 to 500 feet a day in depth.

Keep you posted on more good news as we get it,

Mike

I am very interested to see how the casing is installed.  That should happen Monday, so check back for some photos and another Drilling Update.

Snow mold in San Diego

Snow mold is a turf disease that loves cool wet weather.  I'm very familiar with this pathogen from my time in Stockton when the fog would hang around for months at at time.  The recent light rains and morning fog is the perfect storm for snow mold to infect the cool season grass on the golf course.

Ryegrass collar on #11 green in the early morning hours.

We closely monitor conditions for disease pressure and scout the course for signs of problems.  We've had some dollar spot, another fungal disease, hanging around the greens for most the year and we've kept a close eye on its activity.  We noticed the collars just beginning to show a problem on Monday and readied the sprayer and the crew for a treatment on Tuesday morning.  The photo above was taken Tuesday morning, so it was a good time to put down some medicine.  Most of these spots should heal up quickly.

We will have the threat of this disease for the remainder of our "rainy" season.  The entire crew is trained to recognize disease, hydraulic leaks, frost, and weeds.  It really helps to have 15 sets of eyes on the turf instead of trying to see it all myself.  As you can tell, it doesn't take long for diseases to spread when conditions are favorable.

Drilling Update--Slow and Steady

Most of you know that our native soil is thick and gray, perhaps better for statues and pottery than for growing grass.  It also makes well drilling a slow and cumbersome task.  The text below is an update shared by General Manager, Mike Spayd who has kept a close eye on rig's progress.

Dear Board and Water Committee Members:

Progress has been very slow the last two days as the drill bit continues to get bound up in the sticky blue clay that it has been moving through for the last three days.  We are currently at 285 feet; a gain of only 35 feet from yesterday, after only 50 feet for the day before.  The clay has forced the drilling crew to pull out of the hole repeatedly to clean off the clay and free up the mechanism to begin drilling again.  Each extraction takes about an hour and a half, then the cleaning and then another hour and a half to get back down to where the drill bit was before.    

Drilling will resume on Monday with a different shaped bit which will hopefully allow them to speed up the process.

Hoping to pass on better news next time,

Mike

A clean bit.

Jim Stehly cleaning the bit for over twenty minutes.

If drilling through clay is this difficult than it should be even slower when we hit rock, right?  Actually, I'm told that 300-500 feet per day is the norm during air hammer drilling through granite.  We are not quite sure when we'll find rock, but everyone, especially the men operating the drill rig, will be very happy about the change of pace.  Keep watching the blog for updates and you will be one of the first people to know.

Drilling Update -- The Mud Puppy

You may have seen this device stationed near the ninth tee and just below the drill rig.  The Mud Puppy is a component of mud rotary drilling which "recycles the mud and dumps the crud."  The mud is pumped into the hole along with some water and coats the walls to provide stability and prevent contamination.

At 165 feet we found some rock in the clay.

Here is the "crud" that comes out of the mud puppy.

There were a couple of problems with the operation of the recycling system that limited progress the last two days.  A pump wasn't keeping up with the flow of debris and the mud was a bit too thick.  Today was spent working to remedy those problems and hopefully, the hole will get deeper tomorrow. Once the drill rig reaches solid rock, a metal sleeve or casing, will be installed to keep the hole from caving in.  Drilling through the rock will be accomplished with a different technique using air instead of water.  The air forces debris to the top of the bore hole.

I'll continue to update the process frequently with plenty of photos and even a video or two.  Here is the first video, a shot of the mud rotary drilling.  The crew working on the well are all wearing ear plugs for good reason.

Drilling Begins

Last Wednesday, Stehly Brothers Drilling Inc. started drilling for water between the driving range and the 2nd hole.  This is the start of an important process to find productive wells to supplement our water usage.  I will update the program frequently on the blog starting with the initial exploration and ending when the water meets the turf.  Between those two periods we will also look at the drilling itself, soil conditions, water quality, reservoir storage, pumping from the well, and integrating into the irrigation system.  It's a long road, but well worth the journey.

 Moving these massive trucks across a fairway doesn't take long, but damage is possible if we're not careful.  All heads and valves are carefully marked and thick mats are placed along the path.  The turf is protected from the weight of the tires as we shuffle the mats from back to front.  The crew, along with the Stehly Brothers, made this trip very fast and the one or two groups of golfers didn't seem to mind the short wait as they watched this unusual parade.

The rig set up over an old well which was never put into service.  We knew it was a possibility that this well would be unstable from years of sitting dormant.  Within an hour, this was the case and the rigs were moved to the secondary location.  Today, drilling begins between the 9th tee box and the driving range.  Check back often to get updates on our search for water.

Of course, we have other work going on while the
Stehly Brothers do their thing.  Today we are giving the new, lower pad of the driving range tee it's first cut after a long and slow grow in.  The greens will be vented with needle tines to open up the surface and we'll follow those tiny holes with a light dusting of sand.  The fairways, tees, and rough are all getting a haircut after the long holiday weekend and the tees on #12 will be seeded another dose of ryegrass to green up the surface.

Another beautiful Monday with the sun shining down on the course and through the arms of drill rig with bright possibilities.

Monday Work--Spotification

I was planning on posting this last week, as the final installment of our November 5th work schedule, but better late than never.  I was just asked yesterday if Mondays were our off day or relaxed day when we get a break from course preparation.  The opposite is true with Mondays being the most productive day of the week.

To summarize the efforts of that day, we accomplished the following:

• Re-shaped two troublesome bunkers
• Installed a drain in a cartpath and over 100 feet of drain pipe connecting to a lake
• Verticut all the greens and the chipping green twice
• Applied 6-8 inches of mulch to over 10,000 of non-irrgated space
• Mowed all the fairways
• Mowed all tees and approaches
• Mowed the range tee and filled all divots
• Sprayed tree maintenance rings with roundup and a pre-emergent on 4 holes

And, as the last entry, we continued to spot aerify thin locations in the rough and green surrounds.  This is the third week of this practice.  The main areas we are working on are near the fairway bunkers and landing areas.  

The above photo is next to the 15th green.  This particular location is thick with thatch that keeps water from getting into the soil and therefore, the root zone.  Nightly irrigation does little to keep the turf going and hand watering runs off the intended target. This aerfication will pull some plugs out of the thatch mat and allow access to the soil below.  

The photo to the left is the rough right of the 11th fairway, adjacent to the approach.  This area was destroyed by grubs and the crows, raccoons, possums, and whatever else was trying to eat them.  Rafael spent all day aerifying, seeding, and dragging in the plugs to improve these locations, and many more.  Since then, we've been spot watering daily to keep the seed moist and encourage germination.  

This is just one step in the road to recover and we will keep repeating the process to improve the soil structure and turf density.  

Only a few more days till our next Monday!!!

Monday Work--Greens Verticut

 As I continue to describe our activities last Monday, this post is a look at verticutting the greens.

Thatch control is extremely important to the health and playability of the greens.  A little bit of thatch is desirable for traffic tolerance, but too much can be a nightmare.  Puffy greens, soft surfaces, disease pressure, and hydrophobic spots are all related to thatch.

Recently, we completed the main component of thatch management with an aerfication of the greens.  Just one month later, we are back at it with a shallow verticut to smooth the surface and promote upright growth or reduce the grain.

It’s pretty amazing how much material comes out of green during a veritcut.  The vertical  blades which resemble blades on a table saw, cut a slit in the green and toss the organic material into the buckets on our mower.  A few months ago we had to dump the buckets every other pass on the greens.  This time we only had to empty twice per green.  

The depth for this time was set at 1/8 inch below the surface of the green.  This just barely meets the soil surface and does most of the the work in the thatch layer.  Deeper verticuts could be used on the chipping green and small putting green which are very spongy.  

The result of this practice is an improvement in surface smoothness and an increase in green speed.  We often follow a verticut with a light topdressing, but skipped that process this time since we just aerified and can wait a bit before adding some sand.  

I still have one more post to share that will cover the final portion of our work this past Monday; one day of work and a week's worth of information for the blog.

Monday work--Lots o Mulch

To continue the rundown of Monday's busy schedule, this installment is all about turf reduction.  There are many out-of-play locations at Bernardo Heights CC that have always been turf.  Since turf is expensive to maintain and irrigate, we are trying to reduce some turf that is not necessary.

Mulch is extremely easy to come by as tree companies want to avoid costly disposal expenses.  We have a deal with a local outfit and receive frequent deliveries of chipping debris.  The material is a mix of leaves, pine needles, and wood chips and is naturally dark brown.  We broadcast the mulch at a depth of 6 inches which performs excellent to keep out weeds and grasses.

Our recent efforts include a wooded area between the first tee and the driving range and two large perimeter areas next to the 6th and 7th tees (pictured left and below).  So far, we've only chosen areas that are well off the beaten path.  If your ball happens to enter the mulch, take your medicine and play it as it lies.  That is your penalty for a very poor shot.

We will continue to identify other areas that do not require turf and may look better with some mulch, pine straw, ground cover, decomposed granite, or native grasses.  There are many more choices than 2 inch grass and multiple textures and colors will add to the beauty of the golf course.

Monday Work--Drain for Safety

A few weeks ago, we were notified of a potential safety hazard next to a forward tee on the 13th hole.  The cart path has a low spot and water collects against the curb.  Algae is quick to grow on the concrete and the surface becomes extremely slick with or without golf shoes.  Our first response was to broom and clean the area, but the algae grew back within a few days.  As a temporary solution we placed a rubber mat on the low spot to offer a bit more traction until we could schedule drain installation.

We are blessed with a few tools that other courses do not have, like a concrete saw.  I've only been on staff for a little over four months and we've used this saw a half dozen times.  Santiago, our Equipment Technician and jack of all trades, handles most of the concrete work and then turns the rest over to Camacho, our Irrigation Tech.  

All together, seven people worked on this project, but only Camacho was there from start to finish.  Satiago was in the shop most the day repairing a mower, sharpening another, and setting up the triplex to verticut greens (Thursday's post).  Oso, the guy running the trencher, and Fidel were both on bunker duty which was highlighted in yesterday's post.  Rosendo and Ricardo were assigned to help Camacho back-fill the trench and then returned to some mulch work (tomorrow's post) and also were sent to pick up some downed branches.

The crew is getting used to being pushed and pulled in different directions throughout the day and do so with little down time.  I hope it keeps the day interesting, instead of confusing, but either way the productivity has been excellent.

More to come tomorrow.  Thanks for reading.

Monday Work--Bunker Duty

Each Monday, Bernardo Heights CC is closed to play and the maintenance staff is freed up to concentrate on projects and disruptive cultural practices.  Put another way, we can tear things up and not worry about play.  I enjoy the membership and want to see the course packed on every other day, but there's nothing like a closed Monday.  We accomplish a week's worth of work in one day and supply this blog with a week's worth of posts.  The next five days I will highlight the efforts of the crew on Monday, November 5th.

One of our many tasks at hand on this Monday was the re-shaping of a couple of bunkers that had become rather unplayable.  The first and worst was a bunker on #8 that sits on the right side of the fairway about 50 yards from the green.  A ball could land near the center, high on the lip, and roll back to the front edge of the bunker.  The only choice a player has is to punch out to the fairway.

The center lobe, part of a design that must have been a staple in Ted Robinson courses, has encroached over ten feet into the bunker.  When you have this much bunker to reclaim, digging with a shovel is going to take awhile.  We do not have a back hoe, so we tried the front end loader and saved a bunch of time.

(I have a video of the work with the tractor, but after three attempts, it's not working out.)

Under the grass we removed was ample sand to be returned to play.  We used a rototiller to fluff it up and raked it thoroughly to remove any grass parts that were left over.  We also attended to a fairway bunker on #5 and will look at a fairway bunker on #13 in the near future.  

The Nozzle Dance

Nozzles being setup in the shop

I've seen this at most the courses I've worked at.  The staff does its best to improve the uniformity of the irrigation system by switching out nozzles in the sprinkler heads.  The original combination is not as effective as desired, so another set of nozzles is used, and another, and another.  Pretty soon, nozzles that don't match up or from different manufacturers are paired together.  It becomes a free for all because no set of nozzles really works all that well.

An irrigation system should put out water as efficiently as rain, right?  Each sprinkler head costs around $150 and a modern irrigation system could push towards $2 million.  So that kind of investment must translate to perfect applications of water, so you'd think.  The reality is, even the best irrigation system is only batting 85% efficiency and that is very rare.

There are many ways we can improve the distribution efficiency of our irrigation system and we'll start with the most simple and rapid improvement.  We've already determined the most effective nozzles for our sprinkler heads, our pressure, and our spacing.  We've also determined the second most effective nozzles so we can use what we have on hand.

Here is a good before/after example of a nozzle change.  This is taken about 50 yards into the fairway on #15.  The photo on the right is not perfect, but a huge improvement and perhaps the variation in color and density will disappear over time.  This was taken only 2 weeks apart in late September.

So this is the start, but there is much more to do.  This winter we will begin the task of raising many, many sprinkler heads which have sunk below the surface of the fairway.  We need all the heads to have the proper nozzles, the proper angel (flat), and the correct height.  We are also trimming, not removing, trees that block irrigation and aerifying many locations to improve water infiltration.  Plenty to do, and hopefully, plenty of success to show from our efforts.

Plowing fairways

Aerification is often explained in terms of agricultural crops which are plowed between seasons. This brings essential nutrients up to the surface, tills in organic material, and loosens the soil to improve seeding, rooting, and drainage.  Obviously, greens cannot be plowed at any time, so aerification is the substitute.

Last week, we used our rototiller in some bare spots in the fairways, essentially plowing the surface.  This looks like an aggressive approach, but it is the fastest way to improve a perennial bare spot to good, playable turf.  The rototiller breaks up the dead thatch mat thats covers the surface and mixes the organic matter throughout a six inch deep seeding bed.  We mix in some ryegrass seed and six days later we have some seedlings popping up.

The locations we targeted for this work are mainly at the edge of fairways below the canopy of adjacent trees.  The bermuda population is low and always will be, so ryegrass is a decent substitute.  To give the new turf the best chance to survive, we rototill the soil, trim tree branches that block irrigation, and amend the soil with proper fertility.

You may notice some white flags lining these areas to encourage cart traffic to avoid the new seeds.  The flags are highly visible and save us time and money compared to using rope and stakes.  All the rototilled areas are marked ground under repair, so please take a free drop while the new surface matures.

Office Hours

As part of our continued effort to improve communication with members, we are setting aside a couple time blocks called "Office Hours."  The first segment occurs tomorrow, Thursday starting at 4:00 pm.  General Manger, Mike Spayd, and I will be stationed in the Annex and available to answer your questions or address concerns about the golf course.  The second day of Office Hours is this Saturday starting at 2:00 pm.  Please be advised that I am an avid Notre Dame fan and Office Hours on Saturday will not extend beyond 4:00 pm so I can prepare for the game against Oklahoma.  After all, I need to stick to my priorities.

If you have some questions, comments, or concerns and are not able to visit during the Office Hours time periods, I can be reached any time at your convenience.  I am quick to reply to phone calls and emails and can also make time for a face-to-face visit or even a course tour.

Thank you for your interest and Go Irish!!!

Brown spots on the tees

Have you wondered what these spots are all about?  Many of the tees had dense stands of green kyllinga, a weedy sedge, that grows to form a dense mat.  Our control methods worked well and were timed just before overseeding so the brown spots are green as soon as possible.

Another recent rash of discolored turf can be found along the border of the driving range tee and near some greens.  In these locations we've sprayed a herbicide on some kikuyugrass.  We are not trying to rid the course of this turf type, but we are limiting the spread into the fairways, tees, and green surrounds.  Kikuyugrass can be an excellent playing surface, but it is very maintenance intensive.  The photo below has some of the treated kikuyu in the foreground with the final grading of the lower driving range tee in the background.  More on that later.

Collars get their first cut

Two weeks ago, we began renovating our paspalum collars.  Yesterday, the new stand of rye grass was cut for the first time.  We used a walking mower set at a half inch to do the job and the results were decent.  As expected, some of the grass was missed as the front roller pressed it down, but for the most part, the cut was good for the first time.

A little thin on closer inspection

Looks good from a distance

Jose Luis mowing #3 

Immediately after we mowed the collars, we sprayed the surface with a growth regulator.  This product will stop the seedlings from reaching for the sky and redirect that energy to the roots and tillers to thicken and strengthen the stand of grass.  The same product was sprayed on the greens this morning to improve density and reduce growth, which both will help to improve speed.

The greens have been mowed multiple times in the last two weeks, with the first cut coming just four days after aerification.  The mowers were sharpened after this morning's tour, the second sharpening since we aerified.  The next step is dropping the height for the last time and drying out the greens now that they have healed and all bentgrass seed has germinated.