How hot is it?

Its so hot our greens mowers are overheating at  8 am in the morning!  We actually had to pour cold water over the fuel pumps numerous times because the engine was not getting fuel because of vapor lock.  With this type of heat we try to do all our mowing and hard labor before 10am, after ten it is just to hot to operate equipment. This benefit is not only for the turf but the equipment and the operator.  When the weather gets this hot for consecutive days cool season turf types just shut down and go in to a dormant state, conserving water to the crown of the plant (survival mode). We are basically in the same survival mode just keep the turf alive until it cools down and we receive some rain.

This marks the 5th day in a row over 100 degrees in Denver and the 5th record breaking day of heat. Below are some stats on the recent weather. Thankfully we have not seen 105 degrees here at the Pinery but we have been pushing 100 + low humidity and windy since  Friday the 22nd and no rain since the 6th of June.

Denver's record breaking weather
June 22nd    102
June 23rd    104
June 24th     102
June 25th     105
June 26th     105

The 105 degrees is the all time high for Denver and it has only been reached four times since records were kept back in 1873.

The Golden Egg?

Every year new  technology is developed for golf course turf but is there a Golden Egg?  Lots of folks thought that Xeonerate could  be that type of product, could it be that easy.  I don't think so.  Xonerate is one of  the newest chemicals on the market it is primarily used for Poa Annua control or elimination on Golf turf.  This chemical has had  success in turf trials in most of the country.  But of lately story's have arisen of  stress or death to the desired species of turf?  I am still very excited about this new product  for Poa control and I am still going to do my own test trials but I will  tread lightly.  If  there is ever a so called "Golden Egg" product developed for Golf Course Superintendents  what courses are going to be able to afford it?   And what then will set us apart making us individuals?

50 Year Storm?

Well it has almost been two weeks since our historic storm here at the Pinery on June 6th 2012.

We received large amounts of rain and hail in the amounts of 3.25 inches up to 3.9 inches of rain in two hours,  and hail covering the entire course in some places up to four feet deep. The size of the hail ranged from pea size to quarter size. Luckily most of the damage was to bunkers and plant life. The greens and most turf made it out OK. The course is now back to normal thanks to our hard working crew. Thanks Guys!!

# 14 fairway bunker yes that is all hail no sand left at all.

Whats left of our annual flowers.

# 5 Green side Mountain course.

One of the large Hail stones.

Removing the hail off of #10 green 

So we can get to work mowing and rolling them

 

The new lake in front of the Driving range tee up to 5 feet deep 

We had three of these on the range landing area

                                         

Trying to find the clogged drain in front of the driving range tee

New life

It's a little early for our Mountain bluebird chicks but life has no calendar. Almost all of our nest boxes have baby chicks in them this year. This is about 3 to 4 weeks earlier than normal.

Wildflowers

For the first time in years the native wildflower species are blooming. Some of the blooms are from our Pinery blend and others are native. I contribute this to some timely rains and snow this spring which we did not have last year. Lets hope the trend continues!

Punch Away

Today we started fairway aerification on the mountain course. The weather is fantastic and we are pulling a great plug. Five holes down and Just twenty more fairways to go.

Tag Team

What a team effort! With six inches of snow piled on top of our plugs on tees and rough during the day Tuesday. We only had one day to finish cleaning up from aerification before a busy Easter weekend. Get er done! Job well done guys!!

April Showers Bring...

April Showers bring... wet heavy snow! Welcome to a Colorado spring. Sunday the golf course was busy, folks were out in short and T-Shirts, washing cars, working in the yard, barbecuing just enjoying the warm 80 degree temps on Sunday. This fabulous weather was closely followed the next day by highs in the upper 30's windy, damp and snow on the way. Well what a difference a day can make now we have 3 inches of snow on the ground and more expected throughout today. This moisture was much welcome since March went down in the record books as the driest in Denver history and the 2nd warmest. This was the first moisture we had on the course since February 23rd. Lets hope April continues to brings more beneficial moisture.

Check out our real time camera link on the right side of this blog and watch the snow blow.

New Species?

Just recently we discovered of all things small snails growing in our irrigation main line pipes? We contacted the Colorado Department of Wildlife to see if they could ID the snail. On Wednesday afternoon they stopped by, both rangers said they have never seen this type of snail and will have some experts look at the small snail to see if it is a new species or is it an evasive species. Fortunately this creature was not the Zebra Mussel or Quagga Mussel both are very evasive an would devastate our irrigation system.

New Species of Snail?

Fairway Expansion

This spring we started our fairway/IR expansion on select holes and landing areas. As of now we have selected around 12 fairways. This expansion should help speed of play and make the landing areas just a little bit more forgiving. You should be able to see the new mow outs when you are playing golf, they are marked with red turf paint. The pictures below are just a taste of what some of the new mow outs will look like.

#2 Mountain Before

#2 Mountain after

The Fairway moves to the right a little and the IR goes around the tree

Irrigation or Irritation

Irrigation or Irritation that is the question. Over the last ten days we have begun the long process of charging the irrigation system. The frost free main line went great but the 2nd week of charging up summer laterals has been much different. So far we have had three lateral breaks. A two inch T, two inch slip fix and a two inch 90. Thankfully two of these breaks were in the native and one in a fairway. All of these breaks should be fixed by the weekend so we can get back to business as usual.

#11 Native right of green

A two inch 90 right off the mainline

Hanging On

With temps in the upper 60's all week we still have some snow hanging on. Number five fairway has had snow cover since December 4th. With a little help from us it should all be gone by next week.

Lighting Protection

Just recently we added more lighting/surge protection to our irrigation pump station.

Last year we had over five thousand dollars in damage from four separate lighting strikes.

These lighting strikes occurred from May-July. As far as we can tell they were not direct hits but close enough to cause damage to the sensitive electronic equipment in the pump stations electrical panel. We were not alone in the summer of 2011 countless other golf courses were damaged from severe lighting strikes. We did have surge protection and proper grounding of the pump station but took extra precaution by adding a larger surge protector. Thanks to High Plains electric we got a great deal on this unit.

Lighting Facts:

- A typical lightning bolt contains 1 billion volts

- 10,000 to 200,000 amperes of current. One Amperes can kill a man.

- The average flash would light a 100 watt lightbulb for 3 months

- A leader of a bolt of lighting can travel at speeds of 60,000 m/s

- The US averages 20 million lighting strikes per year

- The Rocky Mountain Foothills are the Lighting capital of the US

Picture of the LEA International SP200

that was installed on the pump station

Hello Spring

The last few days have brought some incredible melting. On the 27th of February we had 10 inches of snow on most areas of the course. Over the last two days the sun and wind arrived with temperatures in the upper 60's and we had some significant melting. Yet we still have 12-15 inches of snow on our northern faced slopes. We have a plan in place to increase the melting of the snow in those areas.

These two pictures were taken eight days apart. Get ready for some golf once we dry out a bit.

Before and After

February 27th

March 7th

Winter Micro Climates

Winter micro climates are very common in Colorado. A Typical winter micro climate on golf courses are Northern exposures these areas hold the snow most of the winter. And the complete opposite happens on the southern exposures which are dry and greening up. So we have some areas of the course that are greening up while others are still frozen and under snow.

These two micro climates usually are not to far apart most times on the same hole or just yards from each other.

#5 Mountain Fairway Northern Exposure

20 inches of snow

# 17 rough Southern Exposure

greening up and no snow cover