Pinery Country Club Golf Course Maintenance

Time Lapse

2012-02-09T09:20:00.010-07:00

A short test video on time lapse snow removal off of #8 green mountain. This was filmed back in January and filmed with a GoPro Hero. A picture was taken every 5 seconds. It took us over an hour to remove most of the snow and ice off the green. But now we can watch it in just over 2 minutes.

Record Snow

2012-02-06T14:47:00.006-07:00

The last week we saw record snow fall in Colorado. This major winter storm started on Groundhog Day February 2nd late in the afternoon and kept snowing through Saturday the 4th. There were snow totals in Pinecliffe Colorado located in the foothills around 51 inches and totals here at the Pinery of 24 inches. What a storm, some areas had snow rates over 2 inches per hour. As of now most of Colorado is covered in a white blanket of fresh snow.

No Golf Today

Audubon Certification

2012-01-27T07:14:00.003-07:00

This Morning when I was checking my e-mail I noticed one from Audubon International. We received our Audubon Certification on January 27th 2012 after joining the organization in March of 2010. The last few years were filled with new challenges accompanied with educational opportunities and fun times. We all learned how to protect the environment just a little better and education others of the importance of environmental stewardship. It is a proud day at the Pinery since we are the 38th golf course in Colorado and the 957th in the world to be recognized as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. We are all deeply honored for this distinction.

Below is a press release

Pinery Country Club Recognized for Environmental Excellence

PARKER, CO – Pinery Country Club has achieved designation as a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary" through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, an Audubon International program. Steve Whiting, Course Superintendent, has led the effort to obtain sanctuary status on this course and is being recognized for Environmental Stewardship by Audubon International. Pinery Country Club is the 38^thcourse in Colorado and the 957^th in the world to receive the honor.

"Pinery Country Club has shown a strong commitment to its environmental program. They are to be commended for their efforts to provide a sanctuary for wildlife on the golf course property," said Jim Sluiter, Staff Ecologist for the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Programs.

"To reach certification, a course must demonstrate that they are maintaining a high degree of environmental quality in a number of areas," explained Sluiter. These categories include: Environmental Planning, Wildlife & Habitat Management, Outreach and Education, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation, and Water Quality Management.

The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, endorsed by the United States Golf Association, provides information and guidance to help golf courses preserve and enhance wildlife habitat, and protect natural resources. Golf courses from the Africa, Australia, Canada, Central America, Europe, and Southeast Asia have also achieved certification in the program.

Snow Removal

2012-01-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video on snow removal from 18 green

Greens Snow Removal

2012-01-23T09:41:00.005-07:00

Well we have had snow cover on the course since the first week of December. Northern exposures had up to 18 inches of snow and the southern exposures have had snow cover off and on over the last month. With six weeks of snow cover on the greens it was time to start to pull the snow and ice off. Typicality Poa can go 45 days with continuous ice cover and bent 90 days plus. Most of our greens are bent with 5 to 10 percent Poa so we decided to stick with the 45 days. We have monitored the greens all winter and we did not see ice until a warm up after Christmas. We went from a foot of snow on the ground one day and temps in the upper 60's the next. So far the removal went great and the greens have melted off with some help from black sand and Humates. We used what ever we could to remove the snow by hand, snow blowers, tractor, modified sand pro with plow and even our truck and plow.

Below are some pictures of our snow removal.

15 green after snow removal and application of black sand and humates. On the afternoon of the17th Jan. One to two inches of ice present. Removed 8-10 inches of snow.

15 green the next day Jan 18th late afternoon

Black sand is working great. Had some good sunshine and temps in the 50's

15 green on the 19th of Jan, around noon little or no ice left

Fresh

2012-01-16T13:35:00.001-07:00

The First few weeks of January brought some more cold and snow. So we took advantage and put a fresh coat of epoxy paint on the shop floor. The paint is a 2 part epoxy one part color and one part activator. We simply mix the two parts together and wait 1/2 hour for the paint to activate. Then start painting, you must have respirator on because of the fumes from the epoxy!! The paint holds up very well on our well traveled shop floor. This is about the 8th time the floor has received a coat of paint in the last 10 years. It really brightens up the shop.

Looking Sharp

Ready to get dirty

Blow off

2011-12-02T09:02:00.004-07:00

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

2011-11-15T10:39:00.004-07:00

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!

2011-11-14T12:36:00.002-07:00

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!!

2011-11-07T10:08:00.003-07:00

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

2011-11-07T10:00:00.004-07:00

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

2011-05-18T13:26:00.005-07:00

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

2011-05-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-11T14:40:00.002-07:00

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

2011-05-10T13:09:00.005-07:00

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

2011-04-22T10:31:00.007-07:00

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

2011-04-22T10:18:00.003-07:00

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

2011-03-25T07:07:00.003-07:00

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

2011-03-18T09:50:00.005-07:00

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

2011-02-18T08:46:00.002-07:00

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

2011-02-07T09:41:00.002-07:00

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.....

2011-02-01T09:14:00.005-07:00

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

2011-01-28T10:33:00.003-07:00

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

2011-01-19T14:53:00.003-07:00

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

2011-01-10T10:41:00.004-07:00

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

2011-01-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

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.

What a Summer !

2010-12-02T14:35:00.006-07:00

Its good to be back in the blogging world again. I apologize for the lack of posts over the months. Here is a recap of what went on over the last 5 months . What a dry hot summer, we went 67 consecutive days without a drop of rain in the months of August, September and into the first week in October, coupled with above averages temperatures. The positive side is that golf rounds were up and the club was full of members. And we still stayed in our water budget for the year.

For most of the summer it was business as usual with lots of hand watering, running roller basins and misters and some small projects. We were also a little short handed in the months of August-October. Just like many golf courses we had to lay off some crew a little early so that limited our crew to just maintaining the course for the summer. We got buy but many projects had to be put on hold until this fall and next year. Some of the larger projects that we were able to complete this fall were much needed. We added some supplemental irrigation in rough areas on holes #15 valley, #7 mountain and #5 mountain with plans to do some more on #13, #12 in the spring. The reason for the supplemental irrigation is to limit roller basins & misters in the rough at the same time keeping the fairways firmer.

Blow out went well in Mid November we finished in just over 2 days with a 750 CFM compressor. Moving blow up a few weeks was great, no frozen heads this year. Over the past week we have been spraying for snow mold on our approaches, tees, and select fairways. Its was tough finding a fungicide that replaces PCNB thats as cheap and works as well, but I feel confident about our choice. Our greens will not get sprayed until the last minute we'll watch the weather and spray accordingly. Now we are just hand watering some southern exposures and working outside when the weather permits and when the weather is not cooperating we are working on our inside projects.

Sasha Girl

2010-07-01T11:45:00.001-07:00

Sasha Whiting

10/6/04 – 6/24/10

Sasha died suddenly on Thursday June 24^th 2010 from a devastating fast acting disease called IMHA or Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. The disease was diagnosed on the 22^nd of June and she died at 8:30 pm on the 24^th. Sasha put up a good fight and she was not in pain, but the disease finally overcame her. Sasha was loved by many and will be sadly missed. Sasha’s life was cut short but in that brief time she touched so many hearts with her sweet demeanor and her loving way.

We will miss you Sasha and you will always be in our Hearts.

Early Morning

2010-06-30T09:05:00.001-07:00

There is nothing better that a early morning on the course.

#4 Mountain course

Visitor

2010-06-30T08:55:00.002-07:00

Last week we had a little visitor to our bunker on #9 mountain. This was no little turtle it was a huge snapping turtle. He dug holes all over the green side bunker. After a little nudge he went back in to the lake. You really cant tell how big he was because there is nothing to compare him to but he was over 1 foot wide and at least 18 inches long. Believe it or not snapping turtles can live up to 100 years and over. Based on this guys size he could of been over 80 or so.

New Bathroom

2010-06-30T08:41:00.003-07:00

We recently added a new bathroom to #7 of the mountain course. This bathroom is a composting toilet from Clivus Multrum. www.clivusmultrum.com The new toilet will replace the porta pot on the same hole. The model of toilet is the hiker and is used all over the country on golf courses, parks, beaches and trail heads where there are limited utilities like water, power and sewer. How the unit works is it actually composts the solid waste in a bed of pine shavings and the liquid is pumped out every six months depending on use by a septic pump truck. The unit is self contained and environmentally friendly because of its low water use only 3oz per flush. The unit uses water and a foam to flush the waste. I am sure the members will be happy with the new unit and it is quite a upgrade from the old porta pot

Building path to bathroom

Bunker Drainage

2010-05-04T12:43:00.004-07:00

Now with a full crew and aerification in our rear view mirror we have started on our bunker drainage project. The bunker drainage project will be a ongoing project for the next few years. Most of the work will be in our shoulder seasons like spring and fall. We have identified many bunkers that have inadequate drainage. We will work on them in order of priority. This is a long tedious process because all the work has to be done by hand. First we find the main drain line then remove the sand from those areas. When we find the drain we now can start to add herringbone drains to the main. For example the right hand bunker on #18 only had one main drain down the center. Now the bunker has nine herringbone drains attached to the main drain.

The addition of the drains will help drain the water from irrigation events and any rain fall.

Bunker #18

Only one drainage trench down the middle of the bunker

Adding herringbone drains off of main

Finished herringbone drain on chipping green bunker

Sod is Down

2010-05-04T12:29:00.004-07:00

Our sod for #9 and our tees was laid this Monday. So far every thing looks great we just need some warmer weather for the sod to take root. As soon at the new sod is established we will be open for play. I hope to have the tees and #9 open by Memorial Day weekend. It is all up to mother nature now, lets hope she will be on our side. In addition to the sod on #9 we added over 400 foot of drainage to the end of the fairway. The addition of this drainage will let the fairway drain properly. All the old drainage from many years ago was no longer working, so with the construction of the gully it was a perfect time to add the new drainage.

Final grade on #9

After sod was laid

Drainage end of #9 Fairway

Time to Nest

2010-04-22T07:58:00.004-07:00

The last few weeks we have seed some old friends. The Mountain Bluebirds and the Western Bluebirds are back from there migration. Over the next few weeks these beautiful birds will be making there nests for the summer in the bird houses that we have scattered over the golf course. In the past we've had great success with our bird houses with numerous eggs and eventually baby birds. Last year every one of our houses had new born chicks. The Blue birds usually lay there eggs in May and June and some times I have seen eggs even later. We typically monitor the nests in the early summer to check on the health of the birds and the nests. Once the nesting season is over we remove the used nests and get ready for next years birds.

Female Western Bluebird

Building her nest. Only the females build the nests.

Go Deep

2010-04-22T07:30:00.002-07:00

The deep tine aerator we used on the greens this year is a very welcome addition to our equipment inventory. With this piece of equipment we can pull a hollow core up to 10 inches deep or penetrate the soil with a solid tine up to 12 inches deep. This aerator differs from our normal aerators in two ways. One is the depth and the other is the fracturing of the soil. The main reason for a deep tine is obviously compaction relief but one other reason is to break through the compacted layer of soil left from years of conventional aerators that only go 4 to 6 inches deep. This depth is all dependent on the size of the tine and the quality of your soil. The deep tine will actual lift the soil up to a 1/2 inch breaking up the soil structure and promoting air and water infiltration.

Environmental Planning

2010-03-26T09:12:00.004-07:00

Recently we received our Certificate in environmental planning from the Audubon International.

This certificate means that the information and plans that we submitted to Audubon were approved and we can now start implementing these plans over the next few years. The Pinery Country Club is now one step closer to becoming a Certified Audubon Sanctuary. If you want to know more about Audubon International for golf courses go to this link http://acspgolf.auduboninternational.org/

Back to Back

2010-03-24T08:23:00.002-07:00

Over the last week we have received two back to back spring snow storms. The first was on the 20th of March where we totaled 6 inches and the last spring storm on March 24th dumped over 12 inches in less than 12 hours. That's our wild Colorado spring weather. We don't expect this snow to last long since it is going to be in the upper 50's on Thursday. I just hope we catch a break in the weather in April when we start aerification.

Wildflower Plantings

2010-03-19T06:18:00.002-07:00

With the upcoming snow storm we took advantage of the planed moisture and planted all of our wildflower seed this week. We planted close to 75 pounds of seed and covered more than 80,000 sq feet at various rates from 1lb/m to 1.5lb/m depending on the area. To apply the seed we mix it in with a ground brand product from a local farm & feed store. The brand is a great carrier for the seed since we apply it at such low rates over a large area. When we pick a area to seed we measure out the total square foot we want wildflowers and weigh out the appropriate amount of seed to apply. Then we thoroughly mix the seed with the brand and use a broadcast spreader to apply the seed. Once the seed is down we rake or till in the seed making sure to get good seed soil contact. Now we just wait for the moisture and some warmer weather to promote germination. As of now it looks like our timing was spot on we are expecting 7-12 inches of snow and warmer weather after the snow passes. Lets just cross our fingers for the perfect conditions for some more wildflowers.

The seed mixed with brand

Applying the seed

Raking in the seed

Some good seed soil contact

Vole Damage

2010-03-10T13:57:00.003-07:00

The Dreaded Vole or so called Meadow mouse or Field mouse can cause extensive turf damage under extended snow cover . As we all know each spring every home owner with a lawn has Vole damage. But just imagine if you had a front lawn that covered over 115 acres! Well that is what we have to deal with every spring on the golf course. Most of the damage that the Vole creates is in our rough where deep snow lingers in pockets most of the winter. The Vole eats a variety of plant life but mostly grass, and they do not hibernate they stay active all year. We typical see the most Vole damage in the spring when the snow melts. This damages resembles a surface runway or burrow system with many burrow openings into the ground. Once the snow is gone it is time to get out and repair the turf that is damaged . One of the things we do is to rake up the entire area that has damage and fill the runways with a soil seed mixture. Be sure to do this in late March or early April when we have some good moisture in the ground. This will give the seed time to germinate. One of the only ways to prevent Vole damage is to map out the areas every year to see if there is a pattern. If a pattern starts to develop a simple application of a organic rodent repellent, Capsaicin ( the hot in chili) or Zinc phosphide in late fall before snow cover will help that area. The problem is that patterns year to year change because our snow cover can be different every winter. If you have the time and energy traps work as well ( good luck). In the end this small rodent is one of those creatures we just have to deal with and hope for the best when spring arrives.

Damage in the rough from the Vole

The Big Melt

2010-03-05T07:43:00.003-07:00

This last week we have had a ton of melting going on. With temp's in the mid to upper 50's there isn't much snow left on the course. We do however still have some areas with significant snow cover, mostly our northern exposures. Some of these areas have over 15 inches of snow that has build up over the winter. With the warm weather this week we had the opportunity to remove the snow since it had softened. Over the winter we have been monitoring these areas for ice cover and any turf damage due to the extended snow cover. Fortunately we never saw any ice or turf damage, but it is now time to start pulling off the snow. With the turf peeking through the melting has rapidly increased, some areas have little or no cover now. And so far the turf underneath looks very healthy.

Sand Pro with modified ATV plow

#5 Mountain course

Most of the areas in this picture had 8 to 15 inches

of snow cover over the winter.

Close up of the fairway

This was after 15 inches of snow was removed.

Once we removed most of the snow the melting increased.

Cabin Fever

2010-02-26T11:10:00.005-07:00

Well it has been a long cold winter and I am sure all of are members are itching to get out on the golf course. Well it will be a while here in Colorado and also in Georgia. Take a look at these pictures from Augusta earlier this month. The weather pattern this winter has been one for the record books all over the country. From record snow fall back east and in the south and a lack of snow in Vancouver B.C. I am sure the Olympic committee would like some of this snow from Augusta for the Olympic ski runs.

The Hogan Bridge

Amen Corner

Heat It Up

2010-02-23T13:01:00.004-07:00

Over the last few weeks we have had some timely snows and some much needed moisture so we took advantage of the poor weather by working on the inside of our pump house. The pump house was never insulated or drywalled during original construction so the new insulation and drywall will be a warm welcome addition. The reason we have to insulate the pump house is because of the cold weather that we receive in late fall and early spring. Inside the pump station there are many sensitive valves and tubes that freeze easily. When these mechanicals freeze it can send the pump station into a tailspin. The most important item is our pressure sensor. In the past this always froze during our very cold nights. The frozen sensor would fool the station, making it think we had a break because the pressure it was reading was false since it was frozen. These false reading would create a premature shut down of the pump station. This shutdown is hard on our pipes, wastes water and is just a pain in the you no what. Now with the addition of insulation and drywall all of those shutdowns will be a distant memory.

We used moisture resistant drywall on the lower four feet

Near our fertigation tank we use moisture resistant drywall

to the height of eight feet

Local Wildlife

2010-02-16T12:38:00.003-07:00

The wildlife at the Pinery is very extensive and beautiful, we have seen the American Bald Eagle to Prairie Antelope and many more. It goes to show you that golf courses are a haven for wildlife not a deterrent. The hard part is getting pictures and being at the right place and the right time. The snap shots below are just a small inventory of the wildlife we were able to freeze in time.

American Bald Eagle

Mostly seen in late winter, a rare sight but we see them every winter

A young Red Fox

We see these little guys all summer

They even steal our members golf balls off the greens

Large Whitetail Buck

This trophy buck was on the Mountain course one late evening

Whitetail Deer

These Whitetail's were out after a rain storm

We see these all year

Red Tail Hawk

This guy was huge at least 3 feet tall

Just scoping out the native for some lunch

Hanging On

2010-02-11T14:05:00.004-07:00

The light snow we received Super Bowl Sunday still seems to be hanging on. The three inches of the white stuff gave us some much needed moisture for the course and our southern exposures. Even though the moisture was only slight it will delay us from having to hand water this week. As you can see in the pictures below the greens are still holding snow since they are frozen solid and the snow is slowly melting off the southern exposures. We will see what the weather brings next week but I am sure we will be back out winter watering.

#6 Fairway Lake

Notice the lack of snow on the southern exposures to the left

of the fairway

#5 Green Lake

The green is still covered but the rest of the snow is gone

This entire hole faces south

Ice Patrol

2010-02-05T08:16:00.004-07:00

Well we have had snow and ice cover on select areas of the course since the middle of December. So it is time to start taking of the snow and ice. Most of these areas are northern exposures or areas shaded from trees. The reason we have to take off the snow and ice is because over time the turf builds up gases under the ice layer, particularly carbon dioxide. If the ice is not removed we will have turf loss. Every grass has different tolerances for ice but a good rule of thumb is after 60-75 days of cover you can see damage. We first work on the greens and then move to fairways. Over the last few years we have had success with a black sand product that we use on the greens. All the other areas or in native soils we use Metro Grow a compost product. Now that the days are getting longer and the sun is shifting in the sky these areas are now receiving more sun light. With the black sand and the Metro Grow being darker the heat from the sun is absorbed in the areas where the product was applied. Much like wearing a dark shirt in the middle of winter you feel the heat from the sun being absorbed by the darker color. Over time the heat from the sun is slowly melting the snow and ice. Leaving you with clear turf.

#3 green Mountain course Tuesday February 2nd after black sand was applied

1-2 inches of ice cover.

#3 green Mountain course Friday 9am February 5th

Average day time temp's in the 40's and partly cloudy to sunny sky's

No ice cover. It only took 3 full days to melt the ice.

#12 fairway Tuesday February 2nd after Metro grow was applied

3-4 inches of ice cover

#12 fairway Valley course Friday 9am February 5th

Average day time temp's in the 40's and partly cloudy to sunny sky's

1/2 to 1 inch ice cover and still melting

Preventative Maintenance

2010-01-28T14:09:00.005-07:00

I always get asked what do you do over the winter? Well here is the answer. During the winter months we perform many maintenance practices on and off the course. The single largest practice is our PM (preventive maintenance) program. We perform PM on all of our large equipment, small tools, amenities and small equipment. The reason we do PM in the winter is simply preparing everything for summer. With our large and small equipment our mechanic looks over the machine like it's getting a physical. He takes a good look inside and out and references notes taken earlier in the summer for items that need to be addressed for that particular piece of equipment. Once the machine has had a extensive look through it's time to get to work. Below is a small list of a typical PM program on a fairway mower.

- Steam clean dirt, oil and grease off

- Wax body

- Grease all fittings

- Oil change if needed

- Sharpen cutting reels

- Replace bed knives

- Check cutting heights

- Inspect electrical components and wiring

- Inspect hydraulic cylinders

- Inspect hydraulic hoses and fittings

- Inspect or change air filters

- Inspect or change hydraulic hoses

- Inspect tires and tread

- Inspect any external damage

- Inspect or change seals or bearings

- Repair or replace items as needed

Working on a fairway reel

prepping for grinding

Working on small equipment

The other PM we perform is on all of our small tools, club and course amenities. We basically clean, repair, paint, varnish and stain all of the amenities and small tools, so come summer they all look like and feel brand new. These preventive maintenance practices not only protect our investment but it keeps us very busy all winter.

Wet sanding ball washers

prepping for paint

Working on small tools

Fly South Geese

2010-01-18T07:32:00.001-07:00

This year we seem to have more migratory Canadian Geese that ever before. We do understand why we have so many more geese than in previous years maybe it was related to the very cold December north of Colorado? The damage we have received is extensive in small areas, and the goose poo is everywhere. We are more concerned about desiccation in the areas the geese have eaten. The geese eat the top layer of turf exposing the crown. This top layer of turf helps hold in much needed moisture to keep the crown hydrated. Now with the lack of snow cover in these areas and minimal turf we have to water the areas and try to cover them back up with snow. Our preventative measures are still working by using bird bangers basically fire works. This is at least keeping the geese somewhat under control. These loud noise makers keep the geese moving on. But with such large numbers it is difficult to keep all of them off the course.

Here are some interesting facts about the Canadian Goose

- They can fly 16 hours at a time

- Typically cover thousands of miles every migration

- Can fly as high as 8,000 feet

- Have flown the same migratory path for millions of years

- Can fly as fast as 60 mph

- Can live up to 30 years

- Mate for life

- Migrate south for more food and less predators

Probably the most interesting fact of the Canadian Goose is the flying V formation. The V formation does not necessarily point the way the geese are going but it has to do with air resistance. The first bird in formation breaks up the wind creating less drag. During their flight the birds change positions until all of them have taken the front position. This keeps the birds form getting over tired.

Some Good Weather

2010-01-14T08:10:00.001-07:00

The last few days we have caught some warmer weather so it outside we go. This last December 2009 went down as the 7th coldest December in Denver history. The average temperature was 24.1 degrees, it hasn't been that cold in December since 1914. So we spent most days inside working on indoor projects. Now with temperatures in the 40's and 50's this week we are anxious to get outside. Some of the items we will be working on in the fair weather are as follows.

- Winter watering southern exposed bunker noses

- Moving snow from fairway areas to exposed areas under trees

- Seam cleaning equipment

- Cleaning club and driving range amenities & prepping for stain

- Trimming trees and perennials

As of now we are right on pace to have all of our winter projects completed by April 1st. Then we start aerification of the course.

Steam cleaning equipment

Moving snow on to southern exposures

Adding snow under trees

(Beneficial moisture for the turf and the tree)

Preventive Pump Maintenance

2010-01-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

With the irrigation system shut down for the season and the course covered in snow it time to start our preventive maintenance on the pump station and injection equipment. We have two types of injectors. One type is a simple diaphragm pump that allows us to pump liquid fertilizer or any other type of liquid chemicals. The other pump is a hydro cell diaphragm pump that allows us to inject various types of material from very viscous liquids, material in suspension or material in solution. This includes such amendments as potassium sulfate, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, Iron sulfate, manganese sulfate and many different soluble fertilizers. The single diaphragm pump can pump 2 to 50 gal per irrigation cycle while the hydro cell pump can inject 10 to 1000 gal in one irrigation cycle. The nice thing about the hydro cell pump is that we can apply a large amount of material on the course in a small amount of time. So we can custom mix the 1000 gal tank for each irrigation cycle, different weather patterns , amount of play and turf stress. With this tool we can monitor the turf and make changes to our amendments on a daily basis.

Audubon International

2010-01-06T08:44:00.006-07:00

Recently the Pinery Country Club joined the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. This program is part of the Audubon International Sanctuary that is respected world wide. The program focuses a emphasis on Environmental leader ship, commitment, and setting the highest standards of environmental stewardship. Some of the programs we must develop and implement are as follows.

- Environmental planning

- Wildlife and Habitat Management

- Wildlife and plant inventory

- Chemical use, Reduction and safety

- Native plant conservation

- Water Conservation

- Water quality

- Outreach and education

Once all the standards are meet we will achieve certification and receive the title of, Certified Audubon Sanctuary. The certification of the golf course is a long detailed process usually taking 1-3 years depending on the time put into the program. Since only 2 % of golf courses are certified by Audubon world wide, 37 certified courses in Colorado and 728 world wide. It will be a great honor to be associated with a environmental hero such as Audubon International.

Blow Out

2009-12-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

Well it's the time of year we've been waiting for all summer BLOW OUT. Typically we blow out our irrigation system the first week of December. Most years we have fairly good weather but some years we have had temperature in the negative numbers, and a foot of snow on the ground. This year we caught some good weather for the first day and the next few were a little colder with temperatures in the teens, but we made it through. Over the last seven or so years we have used a 900 CFM air compressor hooked up to the pump station to blow out all 27 holes, driving range, practice areas and club irrigation. At least a day before blow out the pump station is turned off and we open all our drains in the lowest parts of the system and drain most of the water out of the main lines. The next day we run a small irrigation program to push out the rest of the water and the 2nd day we finish up head by head to make sure nothing was missed. This program for blow out has never failed and seems to be the quickest most economical way to blow out our irrigation system. Most years it only takes two days to blow out the entire system, weather dependent obviously. Now with the irrigation system off we are all wishing for timely snows and cool weather in 2010 so we do not have to charge up our frost free system.

Fine mist at a head

Last bit of water at a quick coupler

900 CFM air compressor @ 30 psi

Lateral Break

2009-11-20T08:02:00.003-07:00

We woke up this morning to a lateral break on hole #17 of all others. If you remember we had a 6 inch main line break a few weeks ago on #17. The break happened early this morning 3:38 am to be exact and we lost approximately 48,000 gallons of water, which is now a glacier. We will fix the break today and charge the lateral back up on Monday. Better now than in July I always say. We all cant wait until blow out in one week. Lets hope we have a favorable winter and we do not have to charge up our frost free system.

Winter Preparation

2009-11-19T13:38:00.004-07:00

It is that time of the year again, winter time. So we need to prepare for the onset of cold and snow. Besides our snow mold applications, blow out of the irrigation system and bringing in amenities. We also put out the winter cups and snow fence. The winter cups are in place so we can rotating the pin location on the greens throughout the winter. We have to cut the cups now before the ground freezes or we will be stuck with only one pin over the winter. With these three pin positions we can distribute the play on the greens evenly. The snow fence will help us keep snow and moisture on select southern exposed areas as well as turf that is susceptible to winter kill from dry freezing winds. These winter preparations will help us get through a long cold Colorado winter.

Snow fence

Winter cups

New Valve

2009-11-12T14:54:00.005-07:00

While we have #18 and #17 isolated we are adding a new 6 inch gate valve. With this valve we will be able to isolate the irrigation pipe that runs under Lake View Dr. and Fairway Lane. The new valve will prepare us if the old 6 inch line breaks under the roads. If this pipe fails under the roads we will not have to isolate any areas on the golf course, giving us much more control of our water. Then we can fix the break in a timely fashion, with out having to worry about getting water out to the course.

Old Main Line

2009-11-09T14:53:00.005-07:00

Recently we discovered a main line leak east of #17 green. This leak was part of the old system and the only part of the old system left. This six inch main line is part of a 100 yard road crossing from #17 green to #18 tees. While the area is isolated we will also add a gate valve near #18 tees so if the pipe breaks again we can isolate the road crossing only and still have water to #18 and the chipping cove. One of the problems with this break is that it is surrounded by utilities like cable, power, water, phone and fiber optics. With all the utilities in the area the entire break has to be dug by hand and very carefully. We hope to have the new gate valve in first so we can work on the road crossing at our leisure. Lets hope the pipe does not break under the road in the future.

Bailing Hay

2009-11-09T14:39:00.004-07:00

It is that time of the year again to mow down our native. This fall the native is especially thick due to all the moisture we received in the spring. One of the reasons we mow the native is to keep the weed population under control and to help spread the grass seed in the seed heads This helps the native out compete current weeds and weed seed from germinating. This mowing will also spread precious wildflower seed as those flowers seeded with the grasses. This is a long and dusty mowing process with over 200 acres to mow. We hope to have all the native mowed by Thanksgiving if the winter weather holds off.

Old Man Winter

2009-10-30T07:37:00.004-07:00

Well it looks like winter is here but the calender says otherwise. This storm might go down as the Halloween Blizzard of 2009, and maybe even the 4th snowiest October in Denver History. The old record was 17.8 inches way back in 1923. Here at the Pinery we received roughly 22 inches and drifts over four feet! Believe it or not some areas in the foot hills received over 40 inches, WOW! The tennis bubble did fantastic throughout the storm, so I think we can breath a little easier when the next snow storm hits. We are also glad we put down our first application of snow mold fungicide on the greens earlier this week, as well as buttoning up the fairway drainage on holes #7 and #11. Now we will wait for the big melt off over the next week or so. In the meantime we will start on our indoor projects.

Keeping it Green

2009-10-29T10:15:00.001-07:00

The Pinery Golf Maintenance department prides it's self on being GREEN. And I don't mean the color of the grass. Over the past few years we have taken our green/organic turf program and brought that philosophy into the shop. Some of the green thinking ideas that we have implemented are as follows.

A paper, cardboard, plastic, old magazine's, aluminium and tin can recycling center. We have recycle trash cans located all over the shop. We also recycle all those empty beer cans and water bottles off the course. Believe it or not we actually generate more recycled product than normal trash now.

A efficient hot water on demand water heater that saves on propane and water. And the hot water is limitless. We have seen a reduction of our propane over the last year.

A metal recycle program that contains all of the metal collected over the year. Such as old bed knives, reels, rollers and miscellaneous scrap metal. We bring all the scrap metal to a recycle center once a year where it is melted down to make new steel products. Maybe even your new car, or your steel shaft clubs.

Recycling of old tires to a local tire plant. These tires can be shredded and colored for mulch or used for topdressing on artificial turf fields.

Recycling used oil and hydraulic filters the paper liner is burned and the metal in the filter is recycled. These old filters would usually end up in the trash, contaminating our land fills and water sources.

Most recently we have added a organic parts washer that is environmental friendly, non flammable, Bio-Degradable, non toxic, safer for human contact and cheaper to operate per year.

Beautiful

2009-10-28T12:55:00.005-07:00

Beautiful sunrise a day before the incoming snow storm. The old sailors tale holds true. Red sky night sailors delight, Red sky morning sailor take warning. It was a busy day and we accomplished everything we had planned.

Snow Mold

2009-10-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is our first snow mold application. This early application of fungicide is the first of two treatments one in Late October and our large application in December. The two types of snow mold we treat are pink snow mold and gray snow mold. Both types of snow mold can devastate golf course turf and well as your home lawn. Pink snow mold actually doesn't need snow cover to be active just wet cool conditions can create a environment suitable for this type of snow mold. However gray snow mold needs snow cover to be active. We typically see both types on the golf course on all turf areas.

Large Pink Snow mold area

Pink Snow Mold patch

Gray Snow Mold patch

Ready for Snow

2009-10-27T12:13:00.005-07:00

Our first large snow storm of the season is on the way to Colorado. The National Weather Service is expecting 8-14 inches for the south of town so we will see what happens. Currently we are spraying our first application of snow mold on the greens and some select approaches before the incoming snow. We are also dusting off our plows, snow throwers and shovels for a busy few days removing snow from the club and tennis bubble.

Some interesting history for October snow storms in Colorado. On October 26th 2006 we received over 14 inches of the white stuff. And most folks recall digging out from the October 25th- 26th Blizzard of 1997 where we received over 42 inched in two days. Now that was a snow storm!

Neither rain, nor snow

2009-10-23T07:24:00.007-07:00

Even though we received snow on Tuesday the work must go on. The smile drains on greens #3 & #10 and fairway drains on and #3 & #5 must be finished by Friday afternoon for possible play on Saturday and Sunday. Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat, nor gloom of night shall keep the golf course maintenance crew from accomplishing their appointed tasks.

#10 smile Drain

#3 finished smile drain

Moisture !

2009-10-22T11:36:00.004-07:00

Our first large snow fall came this Wednesday dumping 5 inches if the white stuff. This moisture was much welcome since it has been a fairly dry October. So far this month we have only received two tenth of a inch if rain. With the recent snow we can add another half a inch for the month. With temperatures reaching into the 50's this Friday and weekend the snow will not last long.

More Greens Drainage

2009-10-20T10:27:00.003-07:00

We have identified two more greens that need additional drainage #10 valley and #3 mountain.
These greens will be closed until the project is completed. Both greens needed smile drains to pull the water away from the front of the green. This is a very labor intensive project because all the work has to be done by hand. For more information on this type of drainage see the post on smile drains earlier in this blog.

#3 Mountain

#10 Valley

#9 Construction

2009-10-20T10:19:00.005-07:00

Over the past few weeks we started construction on the gully cutting through #9 lake course. Part of the reason for this reconstruction is to fix the old grade making it possible for carts to drive through the gully safely. The other is to add much needed drainage through the entire area. The old path is also being removed that was in a landing area, this area will now be rough and fairway. We will also extend the fairway and rough to the left at the end of the first fairway. We will continue adding and moving drainage as well as irrigation over the next few months. Once sodded and native is seeded in the spring the area will be more appealing to the eye, safer for cart traffic and more playable. I will continue to post pictures and updates through out the construction.

10 inch drain pipe installation

Looking from fairway 150 yards out

Tee leveling

2009-10-13T07:01:00.004-07:00

Over the next few months we will start leveling and enlarging some select tees. Over the years the tees have developed a crown or hump in the center of the tee. This happens after decades of divot mix being applied to the tees to fill divots. The new tees are first being striped of sod then leveled. Some of the tees are also being enlarged to accommodate our large triplex tee mowers. These new tee boxes will give the golfer a better stance and more teeing area. Some of the tees that are being leveled or enlarged are as follows. #7 mountain men's and pro, #13 men's and pro, #6 mountain ladies, #5 mountain pro. This tee leveling project is a long term project that we will be tackling over the next few years. We are putting a priority on the worst tees and then addressing the rest of the tees that need work.

First Snow

2009-10-09T07:02:00.002-07:00

Today was our first snow at the Pinery. We received about one inch of the white stuff, there isn't much moisture in this snow but it is a taste of what is on the way. On average we receive about 4.1 inches of snow in October. And the average first snow fall is on the 15th of the month. Historically there has been many years that October brings unexpected blizzards dumping numerous feet of snow over the Colorado front range. One of Denver's most famous October snow storms was the "Bronco Blizzard" which occurred on October 15th 1984 during a Monday Night Football game. Once the storm passed it dumped over 22 inches of snow over Denver and the suburbs.

Frosty Mornings

2009-10-02T07:22:00.007-07:00

Today was our first hard frost on the golf course. The definition of frost is "The solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air." We typically see frost in the Colorado front range from September to May and some times even in June. When we have a frost delay on the course the time delay can be from one to two hours depending on the sun and cloud cover. The reason we have to keep golfers and equipment off the grass is because the grass blade actually freezes. Since grass is mostly water the cells inside the plant freeze and if steeped on or driven on the cells actually break causing footprint or tire tracks that you some times see in the fall. So for all you golfers out their stay off frosty grass. One way to tell if it is ok to walk on the grass is if you drag you hand over the grass and you hand comes up dry the frost is still present, stay off. If you hand comes up wet the frost is melting.

Wildlife Damage

2009-10-01T09:53:00.004-07:00

We just recently finished our greens drainage project to find the last two nights we had a visitor. Our local Red Foxes have been digging up our new drainage, causing extensive damage to the area. We just recently put down some natural animal repellents and tonight we are going to try some chain link fence over the area to keep the foxes from digging. The Red Fox is just one many native animals to the area. Every year we have some type of damage to the course from the local wildlife. We have to remember they were here long before the golf course and us.

Smile

2009-10-01T07:47:00.001-07:00

Just recently we added a smile drain to the front of #4 lake green. The reason for the drain is to remove the excessive water build up from the lowest part of the green basically the bottom of the bathtub. This type of drain was not part of the old Purr-Wick greens system when they were constructed back in the 70's so it is sometimes difficult to find the original edge of the green. We basically probe the green first to find the sand/soil edge, remove the sod and start digging. Once we find the plastic liner we dig down to the bottom of the liner some times close to two feet. Hopefully along the way we find a old two inch Purr-Wick drain and we can connect those old lines to the new smile drain. The new smile drain will not only help the front of our greens but also the rest since the old two inch drains may be clogged or crushed. With out the a smile drain the green starts to fill up with water raising the water table and creating a wet surface, poor turf and soil conditions, excessive ball marks and even algae. With the new drain in these conditions will gradually begin to disappear creating a even firm putting surface.

The reason it is called a smile drain is because of the way it looks. From above the drain actually resembles a smile. These drains usually follow the lowest elevation contour on the green. With the smile drain in it pulls the water that sits on the lower edge of the green. Typically all new USGA greens are constructed with smile drains. But for many years USGA greens didn't have smile drains so the fronts or lower elevations of USGA greens had similar problems.

Digging out the smile drain

Old Purr-Wick drains

the one to the left is not even connected?

Completed smile drain trench

See how wet the sand and soil are

Smile drain and outlet drain

New Mow Outs

2009-10-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

Just recently we started some new mow outs and changed some others. This gives a little different look to the golf course surrounds, and different shot selections for our members. Some of the areas that were rough height at 2 inches were brought down to IR (intermediate rough) at a height 7/16 if a inch. Other areas that were IR height we brought down to tee and approach height .300 of a inch. These areas will be seeded and top dressed to their corresponding grass either bent grass or blue grass. The approach areas will be seeded to bent and the IR areas to Blue grass.

Below is a list of holes where we have added or changed mow outs. These new mow out should add to the golfers experience giving different playability for each area. Now you have a choice to putt, chip, or bump and run. Have fun!

- #1, #4, #6, #9 Lake Course
- #13, #18 Valley course
- #1, #3 Mountain course

Back of #1 lake course

Left of # 4 lake course

Then and Now

2009-09-22T14:21:00.016-07:00

A few years ago I came across some old construction pictures of the Pinery that I received from the grow in superintendent Jack Maurer. I thought I would do a then and now comparison of the old photographs taken back in 1971 when the golf course and club house were under construction. Most of the photos are not recognizable because of the lack of land markers but there are a few that I was able to recognize. I will post more Then and Now photos throughout the year.

#1, #9 mountain course

#8 green lake note the Purr-wick liner

#5 green lake

Snow in Summer ?

2009-09-21T08:52:00.012-07:00

The first day of fall isn't until tomorrow but this morning we were all surprised with the rapid change in the weather over night and even some snow flurries this afternoon. This morning the temperature was only 36 degrees and falling. The National Weather Service www.crh.noaa.gov/bou/ predicted the high to be 49 degrees today. I don't think we are going to reach that today, not with snow falling at 11 am. The good news about the cooler temperature's and rain is our last fertilizer application went out last week. This natural irrigation it the best to water in all the fertilizer we just applied. On days like today we try to let the crew go home early and make up the hours later this week. But the forecast for the rest of the week doesn't look to promising until Friday. Lets hope for a little better weather over the weekend.

Fall Bulk Fertilizer

2009-09-11T07:16:00.005-07:00

This September is the time for our third and last bulk fertilizer application to our fairways, rough, greens and tees. This fall application is probably the most important application of fertilizer of the entire year. Fall fertilizer is so important because it allows the turf plant to recover from all the stresses of the summer, developing more root structure and storing carbohydrates for the long winter. We should only see a little growth from this fertilizer application because in mid to late fall the plant is starting to harden off and storing energy for winter and spring green up. The definition of harden off is "The process of conditioning plants to more stressful environmental conditions". We harden off the plant by reducing the water, reducing top growth, and several applications of potassium sulfate which helps with plant stress.

We typically use a 70% organic fertilizer comprising of feather meal, fish meal, meat & bone meal, blood meal. The fertilizer also has elemental minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, ammonium sulfate, urea and potassium sulfate. These applications of organic fertilizers are not only beneficial for the golf course but the environment as well. With organic products we are building beneficial soil microbes that reduce thatch and diseases, and with little chance for runoff it also protects our water sources. At the end of the day if we could all use organic or recycled products our world would be a better cleaner place for generations to come.

Anatomy of Aerification

2009-09-09T09:45:00.010-07:00

The definition aeration is, “The practice of improving the movement of air, water and nutrients into the soil by making holes or slits into the ground". Specialized machines are commonly used in these practice to remove the plugs or soil. The main reasons for aeration are the reduction of compaction from golfers, carts and maintenance equipment. By reducing compaction you increase the air, water and nutrient movement through the soil creating a healthier environment for root growth. With heather roots you have a healthier turf grass plant. In turn this creates healthy roots, making the plant more drought and heat tolerant, requiring less irrigation and hand watering. All of the cultural practice mentioned above hold true for all turf grass stands, whether on the golf course, fairways, rough our your own home lawn.

This fall we will be aerifing the tees and small rough areas only. Some of the fairways will be spiked with a bayonet tine. This tine does not remove any soil but has similar benefits to aerification.

Punching the tees

Putting down fertilizer and calcium

Applying blue grass seed

Chopping up plugs

Clean up crew

Watering in tee

In conclusion the cultural practice of aerification is an annual event that will benefit the turf grass plant, the golf course, and create overall better playing conditions.

PGR's

2009-08-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

PGR's or Plant Growth Regulators are used on many turf areas of the golf course. The primary reason for using PGR's is the obvious, to regulate the vertical growth of the turf. Besides the benefits of having the turf grow slower the PGR's allow the turf grow more horizontally with increased rhizome's and stolons creating a more dense playing surface on greens and fairways. Some of the other benefits of applying PGR's are as follows.

- A more vigorous turf plant

- Suppresses undesirable grasses so a more desirable grass has a

competitive edge

- Turf recovers from stress more quickly

- Reduced seed head production of Poa annua

- Reduced labor costs because of less mowing

- Faster and smother greens

- Reduced usage of water and fertilizer

- Tighter and denser fairways

- Increased root depth (this can be debated)

The overall decision on applying PGR's is a difficult decision weighing the cost of the product verses the amount of labor saved from mowing less frequently.

July?

2009-07-30T07:32:00.005-07:00

Is it really July? Over the last few days you would think it was May with temperatures only reaching into upper 60's and rainy. This July is definitely one for the books. We have had high temperatures in the 90's and so called high temperatures in the upper 60's with some lows dipping in to the high 40's. We have also had some extreme thunder storms, hail, wind and tornado sightings. July is typically our hottest month of the entire year. I guess our current weather pattern is holding, cool and rainy for now but we will see what August brings. If this weather pattern continues this July could go down a one of the coolest July's in Denver History. How about that July 2008 was the 3rd hottest and 3rd driest July in Denver History.

Here are some averages and records for Denver for July.

- Average High 88

- Average Low 59

- Average rain fall 2.2 inches

- Record rain fall 6.4 inches

- Rain fall July 2009 3.52 inches

- Driest July .01 inches

- Record High 104 in 1931

- Record Low 36 in 1939

Localized Dry Spot

2009-07-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Localized dry spot or (LDS) are found on all types of turf grasses and soil conditions all over the world. These LDS areas are characterized by non-wettable or hydrophobic soil conditions. These areas usually have excessive organic mater and a waxy fungus in the soil medium called mycelium. Controlling localized dry spots is an ongoing and some times difficult battle, especially if you let the areas severely dry out. If localized dry spot is present it is best to spike or Hydro Jet the areas, apply a wetting agent and immediately water in . The wetting agent helps breaks up the waxy build up and allows the soil to take the water. Other practices to minimize the severity of localized dry spots include thatch removal, application of a fungicide or core aerification.

Localized dry spot on a green

Hand watering with wetting agents

The Hydro Jet injects water and wetting agent at

high pressure into the soil up to 10 inches deep.

Picture of hydrophobic soil

(you can see the waxy buildup)

Picture of non-hydrophobic soil

Drainage, Drainage, Drainage

2009-07-15T08:44:00.002-07:00

What are the three most important things for a golf course turf and soil? Drainage, Drainage, Drainage. Recently we discovered a greens drainage problem on the front left of #17 green. The old Purr-Wick drain was crushed during installation of the new irrigation system. This damage of the pipe backed up water in to the green causing it not to drain properly. This type of drainage problem creates anaerobic conditions in the soil making it very difficult to grow grass. The definition of anaerobic soil is, soil that is devoid of interstitial oxygen. This condition mostly occurs because of the sustained presence of water, which limits contact with the atmosphere. Once the drainage is fixed, the drainage of water through the green will pull in much needed oxygen making the area firm again and returning the area to an aerobic soil.

Front left of #17 green

Old Purr-Wick drain

Entire drain project

Tournament Preparation

2009-07-02T14:08:00.006-07:00

The Pinery Preferential is just around the corner and I bet a lot of members are wondering what we do to prepare. The main thing we do different is we starting rolling greens. We usually start rolling greens the Monday before the first round and roll greens through that Saturday. When rolling greens I found it best to roll at least three days prior to a tournament to see the best results. Usually the first day or so you only see a slight increase in greens speeds, it is after the third and fourth days you see a significant difference in the green speeds. Typically we can see the greens increase up to one to two feet on the stimp meter this is all dependent on the weather and any irrigation events. Secondly we increase our mowing frequency on certain areas of the course which include fairways, approaches, tees and intermediate rough. Normally these areas only see a mower three to four times a week. When you increase the mowing frequency we get a much better cut and it keeps the course tight. The down side is the labor hours we spend mowing, but it is only for a short time and the results are worth it.

Greens Roller

Greens roller heads up close

Prism to check quality of cut

Fairway mower in action

Rainy Day's

2009-06-26T09:51:00.008-07:00

What a wet June. So far this month we have received 3.9 inches of rain on the course. This is after the storms on the 23rd and 26th. Weather records for Denver go back to 1872 and so far this has been the wettest June since 1970. The normal averages for precipitation in the month of June are 1.3 inches. To bad we can't save some of this rain for July or August.

# 8 Mountain course after a downpour

We use five rain gauges placed in different areas of the course to judge the amount of rain we receive. Some times there is no rain on the mountain course but over a inch on the valley course. These rain gauges helps us with watering later in the week, some of the course will be watered and other areas will not.

The Heat is on !

2009-06-23T13:42:00.017-07:00

With below average temperatures and above average rain fall in June the first day of summer brought us the first heat of the year, 90 degrees plus. What a change is just a few short days. So far in June the course has received roughly 2.4 inches of rain with a average temperature of 58 degrees, and even a frost in early June? With the oncoming heat you will see many hand waters on the course as well as some roller basins and misters. We Use these localised watering practice's to stretch out our normal water cycles to 4 to 5 days. Conserving our most precious resource water!

Hand watering a collar

Misters on rough perimeter

A worms life

2009-06-16T10:09:00.006-07:00

Earthworm castings on golf course fairways and tees is a challenging issue for many golf course superintendents. Casting occur when worms ingest soil and leaf tissue to extract the nutrients. Then in the evening the worms emerge from their holes to deposit the fecal matter or castings as small mounds of soil. There currently are no chemical controls for worms and we wouldn't want to kill them any way because they are beneficial to the soil (natural aerification). The problem is the castings disrupt the turf surface and aesthetic value. There are some cultural practices that help limit the worm castings. One is sand topdressing, the worms do not like the sharp angular edges of the sand on their skin. The worms simply move to a different area. The worms also do not like acidic soil a simple application of a acidifying fertilizer has been known to help.

Worm castings

Topdressing a tee

Wild Flowers

2009-06-11T15:09:00.002-07:00

This season we have numerous wildflowers, many of the species are native but some have been seeded by us over the last few years. The mild wet weather in May and June has made germination possible. Enjoy the beauty now because next year there might not be as many.

Some of the species that you see on the course are as follows.

Indian Paint brush
Blue Flax
Rocky mountain Penstemon
Perennial Lupine
Asters

Greens Speeds

2009-06-11T10:12:00.001-07:00

The Stimpmeter is a device used to measure the speed of a golf course putting greenby applying a known force to a golf ball and measuring the distance traveled in feet.
The device is an extruded aluminum bar, 36 in long and 1.75 in wide, with a V-shaped groove extending along its entire length, supporting the ball at two points, half an inch apart. It is tapered at one end by removing metal from its underside to reduce the bounce of the ball as it rolls onto the green. It has a notch at a right angle to the length of the bar 30 in from the lower tapered end where the ball is placed. The notch may be a hole completely through the bar or just a depression in it. The ball is pulled out of the notch by gravity when the device is slowly raised to an angle of about 20°, rolling onto the green at a repeatable velocity of 6.00 ft/s. The distance traveled by the ball in feet is the 'speed' of the putting green. Six distances, three in each of two opposite directions, should be averaged on a flat section of the putting green.
One problem with most modern greens is finding a near level surface as required in the USGA handbook. Many greens cannot be correctly measured as you cannot find an area where the measured distance or green speed in opposing directions is less than a foot, particularly when they are very fast requiring a very long level surface.
The USGA stimpmetered putting greens across the country to produce the following recommendations:
Slow greens: 4.5 feet
Medium greens: 6.5 feet
Fast greens: 8.5 feet
For the U.S. Open, they recommend:
Slow greens: 6.5 feet
Medium greens: 8.5 feet
Fast greens: 10.5 feet

Some of the fastest greens in the world are at Oakmont where greens speeds can reach 13-15 feet