The Irrigation Computer

Irrigation Computer (Click on Picture for Large View)

I have been asked sometimes what irrigation heads come on and when.  The picture above is one page of many that we continually change the inputs to tune our system.  When a hot spot develops we input that data into the system to ensure that the maximum irrigation input is applied to that area.

Additionally, anytime we change internals, change nozzles, or divide stations those adjustments are also inputted into the system.  I have numerous training sessions, and attend numerous classes to learn the programming of this extreme system ... and I am still learning new things everyday.

The Heat is On

Newly Sodded Small CG

You will see us heavy watering all of the new sod and getting it ready for the first mowings coming next week.

Bermudagrass if Filling In the "Hot Spots"

At the temperature increases, the areas where the rye grass died during the transition process that is a normal process in the summer, the bermudagrass is filling in.

Thanks to Heat the Runners Have Started

We have been aiding the fill in of these areas by removing the ryegrass and heavy spot fertilization.  Our efforts along with the rising temps are producing the desired results.

Watering in the Approach 1

The Golf Course in the Morning Hours (5-29-14)

The View in the Morning Down 1  (5-29-14)

Projects for the Summer

Aerification of Large CG

Yesterday we finished the aerification of the prep greens such as the nurseries, chipping greens and the small putting green next to 3's tee.  We aerify these greens so in case during the course aerification we damage a given green we can repair it.

Sod Has Arrived at the Shop

The sod came in yesterday to sod the approaches of 1 and 5.  It is amazing how fast the team given their specialized equipment can lay the sod.  Other than transport time they did both approaches within a hour and a half.


West Coast's Team Lays Sod on 1's Approach

If you got to see them working you just had to be amazed on how quickly it when. 

West Coast's Team Lays Sod on 5's Approach

As with any big project such as this you always order more than you need to ensure that you have enough to complete the job.  We had enough extras to be able to ring the new 328 nursery and replace the green of the small chipping green which is damaged every year due to the tree that surround it.

Our Team Lays Sod on Small CG

The good news is that today we will be able to use both chipping greens and later this week the newly shaped bunker of 10

Memorial Day 2014

 

 

Memorial Day is a  federal holiday in the United States for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the  armed forces. The holiday, which is celebrated every year on the last Monday of May, was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the  Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the war. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service.

As having family currently serving our great country and I myself serving for eight years, I take the significance of this holiday to heart.  It is not about BBQ's, a day off relaxing, or even the golf game that you are going to play ... instead it is about our fallen men and women who paid the ultimate price so we can complain about two putting a given hole.



4's Green & Spot Raking

Damaged Area for Wind Storm Deposition

The recent winds reeked havoc on our 4th green which is the closest to the big empty lot neat UCR's campus and owned, maintained by the City of Palm Desert.  We address all of the issues and even have aerified this bad section but now we are waiting for the weather to warm back up to allow the bermudagrass to fill back in.

Most likely we will still end up having to spot repair parts of this green due to the two issues but only time will tell.

Today is the second time we have implemented the summer program approved by the Board for labor management with the four day per week raking of the bunkers along with cup cutting.  The team we spot rake any bad areas they find while mowing the greens.

10's Bunker is Done for Now

Looking Down 10's Fairway Towards the Tee

As you take that hard dogleg to the left coming down 10's fairway you are faced with a new challenge just after the lake ... a bunkers that is almost twice it's old size.

Michael Laying Sod on Newly Shaped Bunker

But the good news is now it is much more playable than it was before and even your average players such as myself will be able to get up and down without spending hours on the practice facility trying bunker shots.

The Bunker is Now Almost Twice the Size

It took three days to get to this point but it will be another week before you can even walk into this bunker .. but that isn't bad to renovate a bunker and have it playable (hopefully) in a week and half. 

Sodding Done

The best part is that this cost the Club nothing accept the reallocation of labor. 

Bunkers, Approaches & Greens

Team Working on Leveling the Front Bunker of 10

Yesterday we finished the shaping of 10's bunker or I really should say we finished the smoothing of it. 

Prelim Shape Design

Depending on if the bunker is ready or needs a touch more adjustments we can maybe start sodding this bunker today and that project will be done.

Areas on 13's Green I Want to Plug - Weaker then Desired

You may have noticed dots on several of the greens (1, 4, 5, 11 -13) in areas which appear to have plenty of grass.  Sadly, that grass is predominately Poa Triv and will start dying soon so to speed the recovery process we will be preforming spot plugging.

Speaking of greens, even with the cooler weather and even the much needed rain yesterday, we are continuing the three times per week verticutting, and select green needle tine to aid in transition.  Today we are starting the granular fertilization in full swing to promote the underlying bermudagrass.

Team Doing Edge and Head Work on 1's Approach

We finished the prep work on 1's approach and today we will be working on 5's approach prep.  The sod should be here on Tuesday and this project can be buttoned up for the summer.  Next will be starting the new 328 nursery project at the back of the range.

Side note: Next week we are planning to aerify both chipping green's and even repair the smaller CG which has major issues thanks to the three trees that surround it.  We also will aerify the smaller putting green next to 3's tee.  We aerify these greens early because if in the bigger aerification process we damage a green we can use sod from these greens to repair.  Lastly, we will be bringing out the Thatch Master to continue to address hot spot issues.

The Approaches and 10's Bunker

Sod Removed and Ready to Work

This week has been prepping the areas such as the approaches and the bunker on 10 to be ready for the sodding.  We have removed about a half acre of old sod just from the two approaches within two days ... that was the easy part now come the polishing.

Soil Removal

On 10's bunker we removed the excess soil yesterday to get it ready for shaping today and tomorrow.  We ended up removing several trailer loads of soil just to get it ready for the next step of shaping.  The funny thing is during the step we will be adding back some soil to get the shape suggested by the designer a couple a years ago. 

Still Prepping the Bunker

Since the heavy equipment is finished on both the approaches and 10's bunker, we will work out of the way of the play.  I am sorry for any trouble this has been but the good news is that we have done it as quickly as possible.

You will see some of the team doing the final prep on the approaches such as prepping the heads and drains for the sod laying next week.  Our goal is to finish as soon as possible.  The good news is that the approaches is for the enhanced experience of our summer members, so I hope they enjoy the team efforts.

Our original hope based on West Coast Turf's statements was to have the sod brought in and installed on this Friday (Monday at the latest), however, due to their inability to meet this demand (even though at first they said they could) the sod delivery will not happen until Wednesday.  I am working with them to expedite this sod delivery if possible.

Approach Work & 10's Bunker

1's Approach is Prepped

Yesterday was a busy day for the team as we finished removing all of the old turf and smoothing out the area in prep for the incoming hybrid 328 sod.

So is 5's Approach

If everything goes right with the upcoming holiday the sod will arrive next week on Wednesday.  This delay was thanks to a mix up from West Coast Turf due to them not being ready and the upcoming holiday.  I was hoping it would be sooner but since we could guarantee being ready by this Friday.


Started Work on 10's Bunker

Since we are working so many projects we decided with the support of the Committees to start 10's bunker project.  We have a couple other bunkers we would like to address but this was considered the worse of the worse.


All the Sod is Cut and Ready for Shaping

Today the rough shaping of this bunker will start and we should be done very soon.  The good news is the work is being done completely in=house thus saving the Club thousands of dollars.

5's Approach & More

Sod Cut 5's Approach

This morning we finished the removal of the remaining sod on 1's approach and have started the removal process of the sod on 5.  With any luck we should be finished by day's end.

The spot aerification on 4's green went well but this morning with the drop in temperature the recovery process will be slowed.  We hand brushed the sand into the open holes and rolled today.

Please remember that today is the start of the cycle of not cutting the cups everyday along with not raking the bunkers everyday either.  I will work on a established schedule to give to Nik who will release that schedule in a e-mail blast or word of mouth.

A last minute addition, we have decided to start work on the front bunker of 10.  This has been a problematic bunker that has required some attention for a while now.  All the approvals were given a while back by the Green Committee but we started earlier because there may be excess sod remaining from the approach project.

Approach Removal & Aerification

Felix Cutting Out the Sod

 We started today in full swing.

Ernie Leading the Team

Removing the sod on 1 and 5's approaches.  However, this is quite the process so we have cut out the approaches and have removed 3/4 of the approach of 1.  Sadly, our loader broke but we were able to borrow Desert Fall's loader for two days.

All Hands on Deck

The debris for now is being piled on the back of the range and we will handle that very soon.

Removing 1's Approach

Bad Spot Due to Fine Deposition

Additionally today we spot aerified parts of 4's green and the nursery on 4.  Thanks to the heavy winds of late we have had soil fines deposited on this green that if we did not address would be a major problem.

Aerification of $'s Green

The pin will remain in the good areas as this area heal, but since this isn't the ideal time to due this aerification it will take longer than normal.

Topdressing 4's Green

Topdress Area on 4's Green

As you can see by the picture above we did only select areas.  More to come.

Removing the Approaches & Aerifying 4's Green

18's Fairway on 5-16-14

Today is a big day and we have already started removing the approaches of holes 1 and 5.  The first step is to sod cut these areas until all the other tasks are completed then all hands on deck.  Our goal is to be 100% prepped by tomorrow.

Additionally, thanks to the deposition of the fines on the 4th green during the recent wind storms we will be spot aerifying 4's right side and along the edge of the left.  More to come later.

Our Plan for the Bermudagrass

Spot in 16's Approach

We are in the process of addressing the spots in the fairways cause by the death of the overseeded ryegrass planted for the cooler weather of winter.  Since this ryegrass is a winter species of turf is dying as we would expect as the temperatures increase.  You can delay this death by excessive watering but it will die no matter what and the longer you wait the weaker the underlying bermudagrass will be year after year ... thus slower and slower recoveries.


Healthy Bermudagrass

The good news is that our bermudagrass is very healthy in these spots and now has the room to fill in these areas without completion.  To aid in that process we are fertilizing the bermudagrass to promote growth.

Please do not forget that we are replacing the sod on 1 and 5's approaches starting Monday.  This new 328 Tifgreen Bermudagrass is thicker and recovers better from the overseeding process.

Audit on System

Audit of a Hot Spot

Looking at most of the hot spots on the golf course I notice a pattern that I wanted to confirm.  Most of the spot were SE of a head which is the opposite direction of the prevailing winds we had a couple of weeks that just finally stopped this past weekend.

Running Irrigation

The audit show many things but the one thing it showed is that in the cases on 18's fairway the nozzles and the heads themselves were not the issues ... this is good news. 

This week we are finished the Thatch Master of the hot spots and fertilizing them to push the bermudagrass growth in those areas.

Treating of Lake

The recent heat had also helped the growth of the lake's Naiad.  We spot treated several areas and will continue this over the next couple of weeks.

Here Poa. Poa, Poa

Adjusted Verticutter Depth

As the temperature increases it becomes time to remove the "winter grass" and allow the replacement of the summer turf or the bermudagrass.

Removing the Winter Grass

To facilitate this conversion we have to stress, and remove the Poa Triv and than the bermudagrass and compete and fill in the voids.  The idea is to due the process as seamless as possible and well before the first aerification which will kill any and all remaining Poa Triv instantly. That can be ugly when that happens.

Speaking of Poa, the Poa Annua around the golf course is dying like it does every year.  Hence the name "Annua" which means annual or living for one season.  The sad part is that this causes the turf to look yellow since the seedheads are higher than the green turf below.  Look at 7's tee is you what to see a bad example of that horrible look.

Riding the Shade

 Riding the shade.  That is a term that I have coined for people who park under the shade especially in areas near the green.

More of the Same

I understand the temptation and I am not picking on anyone since I would say 80% plus of the people due this for protection, but also understand that it the worse thing you can do is to park in these areas where the turf is already historically weak due to shade and roots.

Tilling Green Side Bunker Bottoms

On a positive, we are tilling the green side bunkers this week and should be finished today with the process..

4's Green

Bermudagrass Doing Great, But Potential Issues

We have handled all of the issues that the recent dust and sand storms have sent to us by removing the deposits on 4's green.  The Pov Triv died in those areas but the bermudagrass has been thriving, however, we have some new issues on the horizon to address.  This is going require some different approaches but we will figure out the solution.