Time to de-thatch

Recently, many locations on the fairways have turned a little brown for a unique reason that has little to do with water.  As the bermuda in the fairways becomes thick and dense, it also becomes spongy and thatch ridden.  When our fairway mowers pass over these thatchy locations, the blades dip down and scalp the turf, leaving some brown turf.  These areas can take a few days or even a week to green up before they are mowed again with the same result.

The way we combat this scalping is by removing thatch and tightening the surface.  We do the same thing on greens when we verticut to smooth the surface and promote upright growth.  A fairway verticut is much more aggressive and messy.  Heal time is about 10 to 14 days, but it varies by location.  Normally, the turf will get a little brown and just a bit thin, but playability is not greatly affected in the short term.  Once the turf heals, playability can be greatly improved with firmer surfaces, young healthy shoots on the bermuda, and more upright than lateral growth.  Bermuda really loves this process.  

In addition to the improvement in fairways, verticutting creates many bermuda stolons that can be planted in thin areas.  We are experimenting with this process to the right of 18 fairway with more locations in the coming days.

Your patience is appreciated as we work to transition to bermuda as quickly and painlessly as possible. The trouble we are going through is already starting to pay off with improved conditions.

New look for #7

As reported in the Scorecard, a few months ago, the rough left of the cart path on the 7th hole is being converted to decomposed granite.  We'll also mix in some pine straw, some rocks, and some drought tolerant plants to dress things up.  Decomposed granite offers a lot of good benefits.  It is permeable, so rain passes through to tree roots and standing water is uncommon.  It compacts nicely and stays put without much maintenance.  Weeds can be controlled easily by hand removal, pre-emergent, and the occasional backpack of glyphosate.  You can drive on it, walk on it, and play on it.  It also is an attractive color that makes the grass on the other side (of the cart path) look greener.

Here are some photos of the project from the last few days:

The previous week, we sod cut and reused any turf that was worth saving.  The rest, mostly kikuyugrass and weeds was sprayed with herbicide.  The crew sod cut the dead turf and removed the spoils with a box blade and a front-end loader.  The area was graded by hand and was ready for the first load of DG.

This part went quick and we soon ran out of our stock of DG, just short of completing the prepped area.  More DG is on order and we will continue with the rest of the left rough.  Because we have many projects going on at the same time, it is much easier to work in stages than to knock out the whole assignment at once.  After all, we also have grass to grow.

The DG will be watered and rolled to produce a firm, smooth surface.  Most of this area slopes back to the turf, so shots from here will not be too common.  However, you do not get relief, so take your medicine and get the ball back to the fairway.  Happy golfing!!

Project Updates

I'm starting to look forward to the time when I can write a post for this blog and it has nothing to do with the new reservoir, or the pump house, or electrical hook ups.  That time is not today because we are still very busy with finishing up this 6 month adventure.

On Monday, we started working on the electrical line that will run between a couple neighboring apartment buildings down to the new pump house.  There was a lot of hand digging near the connection point where we had to navigate around (luckily above) a gas, electric, and cable line.  The trench is finished, the conduit is in, and inspections by SDGE and the county will happen today.  I will have more info on when we can actually start irrigating with our new water source in the near future.  

Unfortunately, we had to trench through our new sod.  This was expected as one contractor had to finish up their portion and we were waiting on some red tape issues to design the electrical connection.  Not to worry, because the sod is in great shape and we know how to put it back together as you can see in the photos below.

Finally, another update on the well and the filling of the reservoir.  At 9:30, Tuesday morning, we hit the mark of 1 million gallons pumped from the well.  281,000 went to fill up #9 and the rest went to the reservoir on #11.  As of today, we are 40% full and should hit 50% by the end of the day.  It looks like we've filled more than that, but realize that the major quantity of water is near the top where each foot is close to an acre foot or 326,000 gallons of water.  We have about 4 vertical feet to go until the lake is full.

Landscaping around the lake and the new pumphouse will start as early as next week.  I have a few plant samples coming in today and a cost breakdown for the project.  The end is in sight.

If you have any questions about the project or any course conditions, don't hesitate to contact me at jalwine@bhcc.net.

It's finally a Lake Update

This was a very long time coming, but water is finally being drawn from the well and pouring into the new reservoir.  Before I left work, the well had pumped 380,000 gallons of water.  310,000 has gone to the reservoir and 70,000 was sent to the lake on #9.  OK, so more numbers.  The reservoir is at 14% of the projected volume of 2.2 million gallons.  The full amount pumped would have cost the club $2052.

We are currently running a generator to power the well pump and expect the power source to be energized on July 31st.  The well is pumping at 90%, getting 255 gallons per minute.  At 100%, we can draw 300 gallons per minute.  Filling the reservoir would take about 6 days if we pumped 24 hours per day.  With the generator, we are only pumping 12 hours today for the sake of our neighbors.  The generator is very quiet, but there is really no rush.




Monday, trenching will begin on #11 for the power connection to the pump house.  We will bang through this process as quickly as possible so the club can start to realize the savings we've all been waiting for.

A few other notes on the project:

• Landscaping on #11 has been planned and will commence after the trenching for power.
• The water coming from the well is 74 degrees, perfect for an afternoon swim.  (please refrain from swimming in the pond)
• We cleaned the waterfall on #9 today, scrubbing down the rocks, it will be back on tomorrow.
• The quality of the well water is very good and we will not be blending with potable water.
• The new sod around the lake is rooted down past 3 inches so feel free to play/walk on it.

Lake Update

Last week, contractors wrapped up the scope of their work at the site of the new reservoir.  Monday thru Thursday saw the installation of the new main line, attaching the pump house to the current irrigation system.  Installed along with this pipe, was our potable water fill line.  This source could be used in the future if the well is unavailable or if we need to blend the two sources for quality issues.  We hope to use this source on a rare occasion, but the fill line is certainly necessary.

The sod, hybrid bermuda, came in on Friday and installation was finished by 11:00 am.  The sod company wasted very little which resulted in some extra sod which we'll be installing in some thin spots.

All of the 11th hole will be fertilized and aerified to promote recovery from the sporadic watering and heavy traffic from the last few months.  Most of the bermuda that is now brown and dormant along the right rough will bounce back with some extra water and some fertilizer.

This week, the BHCC crew will install the filter flush line and the lake aeration system.  We also will prepare for landscaping around the lake and pump house and get the sod rooted into its new home.  The temporary tee on 11 and the temporary green on 17 are no longer needed, so go out and enjoy a full golf course.  We do ask that you take a drop from any new sod and limit any traffic across roped-off locations.

Lake updates and DG Walkways

Last week was very busy for the maintenance department even though the schedule was bit scattered with 4th of July celebrations.  The pump house was delivered, the rest of the liner was installed and the concrete rim was finished.  That means no more giant equipment coming up #11 and we can begin to renovate the maintenance road along the right rough.  The demolished cartpath will also be repaired, but not until we are certain that no more traffic will be passing through.

2000 feet away, at the location of our new well, the staff and the Staley Brothers worked on electrical connections for the pump.  We took this opportunity to install a fill line to the lake on #9, since there was a need for a test port.  Both the lakes on #9 and #2 are low on water, but we'd prefer to use the well water to save about $3000.

Work on this project continues today in between frequent inspections by the city and SDG&E.  Once we get final approval, hopefully by this Friday, a 15 day period needed to inform homeowners of a temporary power outage is the only thing we'll be waiting on.

Finally, in other news, we installed the first of many decomposed granite landscapes near the walk-on area of #3 gold and white tees.  This area was very difficult to keep green with sandy subsoil left over from tee construction and daily traffic.  This new look will be a little out of place until it spreads to other locations on the course.

Decomposed granite is one of my favorite building materials for it's longevity, ease of maintenance, and attractive color.  This area used a little over $100 of DG, our only real cost besides labor.  The plants we used, sego palms, fountain grasses, and fire stick were all grown at the shop from seeds and cuttings.  The cobblestone was harvested from our slopes between the rough and our neighboring houses.  We will finish off this area this week when we find a little extra time.  Some more plants and cobblestone will be added to the landscape and then we're off to the next location

Lake Update

On Monday, the wet well was installed at the site of our new pump house.  The wet well is a water-filled vault (will be water-filled soon) that is positioned under the pump house.  The motors that were delivered Tuesday will draw up water straight from the wet well underneath.  The pad for the pump house will be poured on Thursday and pump house delivery is  next Monday.

The well pump was lowered into position on Tuesday and we'll be working on the power source over the next few days. Here are some more pics from our recent events: