Blow off

Last year we blew off close to 40 sprinkler head tops at operation pressures of 50-60 psi during blow out. This was obviously unexceptionable and unexplained. These part circle heads should easily handle that pressure for blow. So this year we added a pressure regulator for blow out. The regulator handles temperatures up to 175 degrees and rated for pressures in the 150 psi range down to 5 psi. We set up the regulator so the pressure in the field was 30 psi. Well we had some luck we only blew 10 tops. But still why are the tops blowing off our part circle heads? We never had a problem when the new system went in 5 years ago. Possibly the plastic is photo degrading and the pressed in fitting are compromised. We are currently looking at a solution so next year we don't blow off any tops.

Regulator at 30 PSI

Want to Skate

What Happens when you mix water, cold weather and a sprinkler, ICE.

During our last watering last night a station stuck on and ran most of the evening in 25 degree temps. Of course we haven't had a sticker since September.

Break out the hockey skates

Let it Fly!

This is our last week having the irrigation system up. Later this week we start blowing out. In the meantime we are loading up southern exposures and getting one last watering in before we drain the system on Wednesday. Looks like we will have good weather for blow out, 50's and sunny. Hopefully it will be a while before we have to fire up the system again. But if we have to our frost free system will come in handy again. We have frost free coupler's to all of our greens most tees and select fairways. The frost free system sure came in handy last year with our dry winter, we were only down for a few weeks before we fired back up.

Loading up Southern exposures on #3 mountain course

Break it up!!

Late this fall we started to spot deep tine some LDS (localized dry spot) in our fairways and approaches. We set the deep tine up with 1/2 inch solid tines at a depth of 9 inches. Most areas we had full penetration of the tine but in the some of the LDS areas we were only able to penetrated 7 inches. A Long term cultural program with this deep tine will help the over all soil health, playability and drainage of our fairways. We plan on doing some more in the spring when the soil is saturated from our winter and spring snows.

Deep tine in action

Path Work

In the last few weeks we have started our cart path demo. Close to 4,000 sq ft of bad cart path has been removed and back filled with a recycled asphalt sub grade. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can get the areas paved. We will look at more areas that need replaced in the spring and fall of next year.

#17 By green

The dip on #16

Subsurface Irrigation

This spring we started some subsurface irrigation on some select bunkers. The installation
was fairly quick and easy. Once this project is completed it should eliminate hand watering on these problem bunker noses and edges, saving us labor and water dollars. The entire project for 300 foot of subsurface drip irrigation only took 16 man hours and a low cost of $200. The drip pipe is installed anywhere from 8 to 12 inches from the edge depending on the slope of the bunker and the spacing on the ladder of the bunker nose is 12 inches. This spacing can change however it depends on the GPH and PSI of the drip pipe. The pipe also averages 2-3 inch depth just below the sod cutter at its deepest setting. The drip pipe can also be installed just below the sod line or up to 4 inches deep.

Prep Bunker nose

Ladder for Large Bunker nose

2-3 inch depth

Sod cut perimeter of bunker place pipe under sod

Set sod cutter at maximum depth

Valve bank with filter, pressure regulator and pellet canister for wetting agents

Better late than never

Over the past 36 hours we finally revived some spring precipitation. Since late Tuesday evening through Thursday afternoon we have received over 1.5 inches of rain and 8 inches of snow. What a great sight after being so dry over the last 9 months. This steady rain and snow will also help us flush our soils of sodium. Just last week we did some soil tests and noticed a increase in sodium in the soil from last year. I contribute this to the lack of natural moisture and only irrigating through our irrigation system. It would be interesting to do another soil test to see if the sodium has been flush through the soil profile.

Oh glorious SNOW!!

New Life

New life is appearing at the Pinery Country Club. Our Mountain Chickadee nest boxes that we built and installed about a month ago are starting to fill up with eggs. These new nest boxes are part of our Audubon Sanctuary for Golf Course program that we established 18 months ago. Even our old Mountain Bluebird boxes are filling up with life again. It is exciting to see all of our hard work paying off and helping the environment at the same time.

Mountain Chickadee making sure the eggs are OK

About 8 Mountain Chickadee eggs

They are very small only 2-3 cm wide

Some Mountain Bluebird chick's

DRY, DRY, DRY

We are still in our drought! The last bit of significantly moisture we had was a month ago and that was only .15 inch of rain. Hopefully we get some moisture from this next storm system coming in this evening. Here are some interesting weather stats for the last 3 months.

Actual precipitation totals For March, April, May 2011

Rain .6 inches

Snow 3.5 inches

Averages for March, April, May

Rain 4.53 inches

Snow 23.1 inches

As you can see we are well behind our totals for the last 3 months.

Lets hope the weather changes for the next 2 weeks in May.

Brewing

No we are not brewing Beer we are actually trying a natural approach to algae control that has been around since the 1990's in England. Barley straw bails have been known to reduce or eliminate certain types of algae in ponds and reservoirs. The trick is to get the bails in early enough and the correct rate to control the algae because the bails will not kill algae you already have. In our region of the country the bails are placed in the lake in mid April before the algae begins to grow. The rate depends on the size and depth of your lake. On average 225 pounds of barley straw per acre of lake is recommended. We will see if it works?

Stuffing the wire bags

Stuffed wire sack in lake

Finally

After 3 weeks of aerification we are finally finished! We started on April 4th with tees and rough then moved to fairways 11th-15th and greens 18th -20th. For the most part the entire process went smoothly with little equipment breakdowns and the weather cooperated on most days except for a few where we couldn't do any thing at all. The course is slowly healing, now we just need some natural moisture and some warmer weather to really get thing going.

Wildfire

What a close call! The so called burning tree fire between the Pinery and Franktown burned close to 1600 acres in as little as 8 hours. And got within a mile or so from the course. With winds in 20 mph range and gusts close to 40 mph the fire moved amazingly fast. Fortunately a cold front came through and the winds shifted out of the south to out of north and subsided a little, in-turn the fire burned back in its self. Over 8,500 people were evacuated from the Pinery and Timbers area. No one was hurt and no homes were lost. The fire crew did a amazing job with as much as 6 crews and two air water tankers fighting the fire.

Colorado Horse Park

Wind Speeds

From Crowfoot Valley Road

Calling All Kids

Pinery Country Club

Audubon Sanctuary Program

Mountain Chickadee

Last year the Pinery Country Club joined the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. In the past year we have gathered valuable information to become a certified Audubon Sanctuary. One of the requirements is an outreach and education program. With the success of our Mountain Blue Bird nest boxes over the last 10 years we would like to continue introducing new species of birds. The bird species that we would like to introduce to the area are as follows; the Mountain Chickadee and the American Kestrel.

We would like to involve the children of the Pinery to help in the building, installation and monitoring of these new nest boxes over the upcoming season. Your child will learn about nest box construction, various styles and mounting locations, plus following the life cycle from egg to adult. We will also educate your child on the importance of the Audubon International Society.

Step One
Early spring
- Construction of nest boxes and education of different styles.

Step Two
Mid spring
- Install nest boxes in correct location and education of proper placement.

Step Three
May - June
- Monitor the laying of the eggs and growth of the chick to fledgling.

A River Runs Through It

Over the last few days with highs in the mid to upper 60's we have had a lot of melting snow. We went from highs in the negative numbers earlier this month to highs that we normally experience in spring. This unseasonably warm windy weather has reduced over a foot of snow into raging rivers in a matter of 3 days. Since mother nature is giving us a hand in the melting we took the opportunity to remove snow from some of our shaded greens, fairways and approaches. We have had snow cover in these areas for just over six weeks, so it is about time to start removing the snow. In those six weeks we monitored the areas and we saw no sings on ice so that is why we left the snow on. That snow cover also helped protect the turf from the record cold we had in late January and early February. But with the extremely fast melting snow on these greens and cold freezing nights lately we starting to develop small ice layers in spots. Now with the snow gone the sun was able to work on the ice and in a matter of a day the greens we have cleared are free of snow and ice.

# 3 fairway Mountain course

Close up of a green that was covered with snow

Looking pretty good

Little or no ice on #3 green Mountain

Wind Chill

What is wind chill temperature? Its the temperature that it feel like outside based on the temperature of the air plus the wind speed and its effects on exposed skin. Wind chill can not effect inanimate objects such as water pipes. Below is a wind chill chart devolved by The National Weather service. It gives us information on how long you can be out in the cold and how long it takes to get frost bite given a certain temperature and wind speed. As you can see with the temperatures we had in the last week with lows near -20 below and wind chills in the -30 to -40 below it does not take long to develop frost bite. The best way to protect your self from frost bite is not to go outside for prolonged periods of time when the temperature is this cold. If you have to go out dress in layers, cover exposed skin and cover your mouth to protect your lungs from the extreme cold.

Just plain COLD.....

What a change in the weather just 3 days ago we were having a beautiful day with 65 degree temps and now today we wake up to 15 below and a high of 7 below what a extreme change. And it looks like this cold arctic air is here for the next few days. Tonight the National Weather Service is predicting 17 below or colder with wind chills near -30 to -35 below. Here are some winter weather records that I though you might be interested in.

- Coldest recorded temp -128.6 in the south poll, Antarctica in 1983

- Most snow in one season 102 feet on Mount Rainier, Washington in 1971

- Largest snow flake observed 15 inches in diameter in Fort Keogh, Montana in 1887

Now those are some records I would prefer not to break.

Club Car

Earlier this week we revived our 70 new Club Car Precedent cart fleet. The new carts have a 48 volt system making the carts able to handle up to 36 holes of golf a day. There are also some other great features such as a cooler, sand bottle holder, self draining top, greater handling and turning radius, one step battery filling system, 360 degree bumper and a open dash design. I am sure that the new carts will be well received from the members. They sure are sharp looking!

Looking sharp!

Just off the trailer

Audubon Certification

Last year about this time we revived our certificate in Environmental planning from Audubon International. Since then we have been gathering valuable data to become an official Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary for Golf courses. Over the last year we have compiled important data on wildlife and habitat management, water conservation and water quality & management. Over the next months we will attempt to complete outreach and education and chemical use reduction and safety. When all of the criteria has been met we will receive our final certification. The entire process has been a labor of love. It is interesting to see how many practices we had in place to protect the environment before we started this journey with Audubon International. We just had to put all of our standard record keeping and documentation into one binder.

Here are just some of the items we have gathered or started...

- Pictures (wildlife and natural areas)

- Continuing with organic fertilizers

- Water tests

- Maps of vegetation

- Maps of habitat

- Wildlife lists

- Water conservation methods

- Irrigation records

- Increasing wildlife habitat

- Natural areas around lake body's

- No mow areas

- Low impact native areas

- Planting native plant material

Finally a Good Snow

Finally we received a decent snow here at the Pinery. The last 5 months we have seen above average temps and below average precipitation because of La Nina. Just last night we received 8 inches of snow. A much welcome snow storm because with out it we would of been out winter watering off our frost free system this week. Here is a little re-cap of the last few snow storms at the Pinery.

- Our last snow from last winter was on May 12th 2010 we received 3 inches

- Our first snow was on November 10th we received 3 inches

- December 30th we received 4 inches

- And today January 10th we received 8 inches.

I am hoping that this snow will stick around a little and keep the course covered.

Here is a detailed year in review from NOAA

DENVER`S 2010 WAS NOT A VERY EXCITING WEATHER YEAR AS FAR AS STATISTICS GO. SEASONAL SNOWFALL FROM JULY THROUGH DECEMBER WAS VERY DISMAL WITH ONLY 4.8 INCHES OF SNOWFALL RECORDED AT THE DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (DIA). THIS WAS THE SECOND LEAST HALF A SNOW SEASON TOTAL BEHIND THE LEAST HALF SEASON SNOWIEST OF 3.8 INCHES RECORD IN 1888 (JULY-DECEMBER). THE MOST HALF SEASON SNOWFALL OCCURRED IN 1913 WITH A WHOPPING 72.8 INCHES OF SNOWFALL. THAT WAS NOT A TYPO. FOR ANNUAL SNOWFALL (JANUARY - DECEMBER)...2010 FINISHED WITH ONLY 27.8 INCHES. THIS YEAR SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER HAD NO SNOWFALL AND THE FIRST MEASURABLE SNOWFALL OCCURRED ON NOVEMBER 15TH WITH 1.5 INCHES. THEN THE YEAR FINISHED WITH THE NEXT AND FINAL SNOWFALL ON DECEMBER 29TH AND 30TH WITH A COMBINED TOTAL OF 3.3 INCHES WHICH CAME OUT TO THE TOTAL HALF SEASON TOTAL OF ONLY 4.8 INCHES. THE SNOWIEST FULL SEASON WAS 118.7 INCHES IN 1908-09 WHILE THE LEAST FULL SNOWIEST SEASON WAS 20.8 INCHES IN THE 1888-89 SEASON. IN THE PRECIPITATION CATEGORY...12.86 INCHES WAS TOTALED AT DIA WHICH IS 2.95 INCHES BELOW THE ANNUAL NORMAL OF 15.81 INCHES. THE 2010 PRECIPITATION TOTAL DID NOT GET INTO ANY OF THE TOP 10 CATEGORIES. THE 1OTH DRIEST DENVER WAS 9.10 INCHES SET IN 1901 WHILE THE WETTEST DENVER WAS 23.31 INCHES SET IN 1967. THE WETTEST MONTH THIS YEAR WAS JULY WITH 3.70 INCHES WHICH DID NOT GET INTO THE TOP 10 WETTEST JULYS BY ONLY 0.01 INCH. THE DRIEST MONTH WAS 0.06 INCH IN SEPTEMBER WHICH TIED AS 5TH DRIEST SEPTEMBER SINCE 1872. DURING JANUARY...ONLY .07 INCH OF LIQUID WAS TOTALED WHICH TIED AS 6TH DRIEST JANUARY. THERE WERE 71 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE MOISTURE WHICH IS 0.01 INCH OR GREATER. THIS IS 18 DAYS BELOW THE NORMAL OF 89 DAYS. THERE WERE 24 DAYS WITH 0.1 INCH OR MORE...9 DAYS WITH 0.5 INCH OR MORE AND 3 DAYS WITH 1.00 INCH OR MORE.

THE YEAR FINISHED WITH A NEAR NORMAL ANNUAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 51.2 DEGREES WHICH IS ONLY 1.1 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL 50.1 DEGREES. TEMPERATURES RANGED FROM A RECORD SETTING 102 DEGREES ON JULY 17TH DOWN TO A NON-RECORD -16 DEGREES ON JANUARY 7TH. THE ANNUAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DID NOT GET INTO EITHER TOP 10 CATEGORY. THE WARMEST YEAR WAS 54.8 AVERAGE DEGREES IN 1934 WHILE THE COLDEST YEAR WAS 47.6 DEGREES IN 1911. THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE THIS YEAR WAS 65.3 DEGREES WHICH WAS 1.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WHILE THE AVERAGE LOW MERCURY READING WAS 37.0 DEGREES...1.2 DEGREES ALSO ABOVE NORMAL. THERE WERE 49 NINETY DEGREE DAYS...16 ABOVE NORMAL AND 158 DAYS WITH THE LOW TEMPERATURE DROPPING TO FREEZING OR BELOW WHICH IS ONLY 2 ABOVE NORMAL.

48 THUNDERSTORMS WERE OBSERVED AT DIA WHICH WAS 7 ABOVE NORMAL. ONE THUNDERSTORM WAS ACCOMPANIED WITH HAIL AND ONE FUNNEL/TORNADO SIGHTED. 29 DAYS HAD DENSE FOG WHICH IS 19 ABOVE NORMAL. THE AVERAGE WIND SPEED AT THE AIRPORT WAS 9.6 MPH WHILE THE PEAK GUST FOR THE YEAR WAS 64 MPH...A NEW DENVER MAY RECORD...FROM A SOUTHWESTERLY DIRECTION. ANOTHER WIND GUST RECORD WAS SET IN NOVEMBER WITH A 55 MPH GUST FROM A NORTHWESTERLY DIRECTION.

THERE WERE ONLY 14 NEW RECORDS EITHER BROKEN OR TIED: 9 RECORD HIGHS WERE SET OR TIED, 3 HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WERE SET OR TIED, ONE 24 HOUR RECORD PRECIPITATION RECORD SET AND 2 MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS RECORDS ESTABLISHED.

Geese Deterrent

Last winter we had some areas on the course that were devastated by geese. Even though we patrolled the course where they frequently visited more has to be done. This year we are trying a new goose deterrent mylar flags. Throughout previous winters we usually shoot off noise makers and have our dogs scare the geese away but the problem is we are not always out when the geese are. So what to do ? After a little research we found that mylar flags in conjunction with our current practices could do the trick. Funny though mylar is difficult to find they do not stock it at your local hardware store or fabric shop. But with some luck we found that the emergency camping blankets are made of mylar. These blankets are also cheaper and tougher than the mylar you can buy in rolls . We basically made a flag with 4 to 5 2 inch wide strips 36 inches long and attached them to a old flag stick placing the mylar flag about 6 feet off the ground. It's to early to tell if these flags will work but the mylar sure is reflective and very noisy at the same time even with a mild breeze.