Rain, finally! The course received 2" of rain yesterday. Prior to that we had a whopping .65" for May. While I would rather have it spread out over a few days I don't complain about rain, I deal with it. We have had a busy month on the course. Along with the daily maintenance that we do we have done a few things that hopefully you have noticed. Several new signs have been put up, the Club Champion signs and a new Range yardage. We have also installed an Air compressor for blowing off cleats. By using this it will help keep the inside of the club a bit cleaner. Thank You to the MGA for the purchase of the compressor and Range sign! Two new weeping willow trees have been planted along #6 lake bank, purchased be members of the Sewer/Septic group. Three new maples have been planted along the right side of #8 where the big pine once stood. Lastly another willow has been planted on the lake at #2, in memory of Mr. Terry Lunsford.
The maintenance crew has also landscaped in front of the clubhouse. We have installed a dwarf Holly and Loripedilum. We will have Bermuda grass back in place and will be pine strawed. These shrubs will give us color and provide some feel of a foundation.
All fairways have been aerified. I plan to do this on all tees and in areas of the rough to relieve compaction. I think the fairways are in great shape, and we will fertilize them again within a few weeks.
Lastly, we will be repairing a few spots on greens. #'s 5, 12 and 13. #'s 12 front right and 13 back left are spots that stay wet and water has a hard time running off. The back 9 greens are native, push up greens so they don't drain like the front. Over time the collars build up due to the sand topdressing that we do and my plan is to cut back a few strips of the collar and lower the soil and replace the sod. While doing this we will also dig down and replace the soil and mix in greens mix. As for #5...I have sent off a sample to find out exactly what was applied. We will be repairing these spots within the next week or so.
Coming up in June NCC is hosting ....
Atlanta Junior Golf on the 6/4
GSGA Georgia Amateur Qualifier 6/22
Member/Guest 6/26,27
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Thursday, April 30, 2015
April Recap
Greens:
-Greens are
in great shape provided the weather we had in April. Very wet and somewhat cool. We ended the month with just over 9"
-Greens will
be verticut, aerified, topdressed, brushed and fertilized next Monday, May
4. The plan is to lightly verticut and
pull a ¼” core. With good weather I
expect a very quick recovery. We will also apply a lime product to adjust any soil pH deficiencies we might have. Golf course will be closed all day so we can complete this process.
Fairways/Tees/Roughs:
-Fairways and Tees
have really jumped and have grown in nicely.
For April our fairways are as green and full as I have seen in my time
here.
-Soil test
results on #13 fairway indicate a low pH, so the decision to blend Lime into
the fertilizer was a good one. I have
enough product left over to fertilize at a light rate later this season on
fairways.
-We have
applied another pre-emerge to the fairways and 3 passes around each fairway and
green.
Projects:
-Restrooms
on #5 are done. Our maintenance manager Kyle Mims has
done an outstanding job. We hope to have
the restroom on #13 completed before Member/Guest. Thank You LGA for assisting in this project!
-We hope to
build a new water station soon that will house the air compressor for blowing
off cleats. Thanks to the MGA for the
purchase of this.
-MGA also
assisted in the purchase of all new rakes for the course.
-Member/Member
was a challenge. My crew put in a lot of
work to have the course ready but Mother Nature won the battle! Overall I was very pleased and proud of the condition
of the course and what we could control.
We received 4.5” the week of the tournament and just over 9” for the
month.
See you on the course!
Andy
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Course Update
The golf course has begun to wake up from a long, cold and wet winter. My staff has been very busy with detail work. We have completed numerous beds that have been neglected. Those beds had shrubs removed or pruned, Miscanthus planted and new mulch or pinestraw. Many of our azaleas were so overgrown that we severely cut them back, more of a rejuvenation than a pruning. Overall I would estimate we transplanted over 300 Miscanthus throughout the course. While I don't expect these azaleas to produce this year they should be back to normal next year.
You may have noticed the course greening up. I notice each day, more and more and am hopeful by Member/Member(April 17-18) we will be close to 100% green. We drag the fairways weekly to break up the thatch to promote and allow the grass to get going. This does not harm the fairways.
Greens are in really good shape. While they may not be as quick as winter speed, I will take slow and healthy vs. fast and dead. We are in the transition time when greens put off a lot of new growth, meaning excess leaf tissue. I realize that many people want to speed them up, it is critical to watch the weather and not push them. For instance we are forecast low's to be in the upper 20's/low 30's this weekend. The more leaf blade on the plant the more protected they are. We will begin to be more aggressive when we get into a consistent weather pattern. They will much quicker by Member/Member, I promise.
Something new for this season, an Intern. Kevin Werner has joined our staff to complete an internship for his studies at ABAC. Kevin began work late February. He is involved in everything we do on a daily basis. He has been exposed to course setup, all mowing equipment, applying herbicides and also spent the day with Daniel our mechanic. Kevin is a go getter and wants to learn. Pictured is Kevin spot aerating thin/wet areas on greens
You may have noticed the course greening up. I notice each day, more and more and am hopeful by Member/Member(April 17-18) we will be close to 100% green. We drag the fairways weekly to break up the thatch to promote and allow the grass to get going. This does not harm the fairways.
Greens are in really good shape. While they may not be as quick as winter speed, I will take slow and healthy vs. fast and dead. We are in the transition time when greens put off a lot of new growth, meaning excess leaf tissue. I realize that many people want to speed them up, it is critical to watch the weather and not push them. For instance we are forecast low's to be in the upper 20's/low 30's this weekend. The more leaf blade on the plant the more protected they are. We will begin to be more aggressive when we get into a consistent weather pattern. They will much quicker by Member/Member, I promise.
Something new for this season, an Intern. Kevin Werner has joined our staff to complete an internship for his studies at ABAC. Kevin began work late February. He is involved in everything we do on a daily basis. He has been exposed to course setup, all mowing equipment, applying herbicides and also spent the day with Daniel our mechanic. Kevin is a go getter and wants to learn. Pictured is Kevin spot aerating thin/wet areas on greens
Friday, February 13, 2015
Course update and Weather...
Hopefully you have had a chance to get out and play in between the cold blasts this month. The course is in really nice shape. The crew is on top of blowing pinestraw, cones and any leaves that are out there. I am very proud of the golf course right now! If you have been out, hopefully you have noticed the detail work we have done in our landscape beds. We have done quite a few, but #1 Tee and #2 Tee beds really stand out. With the direction of golf course assistant Superintendent David the guys are catching on to how he wants them to look. On #2 several "leggy" azaleas were removed, while the others were pruned and we transplanted close to 60 Miscanthus. A nice edge was trenched, fresh mulch was added and a new gravel path was created for our walking crowd.
Also this week we finished spraying the course for weeds and weed control. Our Fall application was very effective and this will ensure a very clean course. Many people have commented about the course looking the best it has ever looked this winter. Thank you for the compliments, those never get old!
Also this week we have covered the greens. Here is the schedule:
Thursday--cover greens
Sat morning 9:30--uncover for play
Sat afternoon 1:30--cover greens
Mon morning--uncover greens
Tues afternoon--cover greens
Friday morning--uncover greens
***This is working off of right now's forecast. Things could change. As you can see the guys will be busy with this tough task. The reason we are taking off Monday and putting back on Tuesday is so that the greens are not under cover for a long period. Also we don't want to have to pull wet covers!
One last thing to mention, David Hartfree was named Employee of the Month. David puts his all into this job, we are fortunate to have him on staff. Great job David!
See ya on the course(when it warms up)
Also this week we finished spraying the course for weeds and weed control. Our Fall application was very effective and this will ensure a very clean course. Many people have commented about the course looking the best it has ever looked this winter. Thank you for the compliments, those never get old!
Also this week we have covered the greens. Here is the schedule:
Thursday--cover greens
Sat morning 9:30--uncover for play
Sat afternoon 1:30--cover greens
Mon morning--uncover greens
Tues afternoon--cover greens
Friday morning--uncover greens
***This is working off of right now's forecast. Things could change. As you can see the guys will be busy with this tough task. The reason we are taking off Monday and putting back on Tuesday is so that the greens are not under cover for a long period. Also we don't want to have to pull wet covers!
One last thing to mention, David Hartfree was named Employee of the Month. David puts his all into this job, we are fortunate to have him on staff. Great job David!
See ya on the course(when it warms up)
Thursday, January 22, 2015
2015 Pre-Emerge and other projects
2015 is in full swing! We have been really busy cleaning up the course, detailing beds, repainting yardage plates and hazard stakes, cutting back azaleas and spraying pre-emerge for weeds. Of all the things we do this is very important! So to take advantage of the approaching rain, David and I decided to begin yesterday. First thing we did was to have the guys focus on blowing all fairways and tees so that there were no leaves, pinecones or straw. Then we had them focus on the back 9 holes. By doing this it means it will be a cleaner, weed free golf course. So hopefully by days end All fairways, tees, approaches, Par 3 holes and most of the back 9 roughs will be complete. The products we are applying; Glyphosate, for emerged weeds and Simazine, for preventing weeds.
This should give us 4-5 months control of winter weeds. The plan is to apply Specticle as the course begins to green-up in Spring. 45-60 days later we will do a follow up application to hopefully provide 6-9 months of weed control. Always looking ahead!
Other projects include trimming and dividing our Miscanthus grass. We are trimming now and will begin dividing and transplanting to new locations throughout the course. Crepe myrtles will also be cut back soon. Once these plants have been cut back we will touch up mulch and pine straw to give the bed a finished look.
This should give us 4-5 months control of winter weeds. The plan is to apply Specticle as the course begins to green-up in Spring. 45-60 days later we will do a follow up application to hopefully provide 6-9 months of weed control. Always looking ahead!
Other projects include trimming and dividing our Miscanthus grass. We are trimming now and will begin dividing and transplanting to new locations throughout the course. Crepe myrtles will also be cut back soon. Once these plants have been cut back we will touch up mulch and pine straw to give the bed a finished look.
Monday, December 22, 2014
2014 Recap
As 2014 comes to an end I wanted to list some of the accomplishments for the year. Most importantly I want to say Thank You to my crew, because without them none of this happens!
- New equipment. NCC showed a commitment to me and the membership by leasing a new fleet of mowers. This allowed for a better quality of cut on all playing surfaces, most notably Fairways. Since I have been here we have not had a true fairway mower, we had to use a 7 gang which is efficient but does not give a quality cut at the desired height. By picking up new fairway units, I was able to put another machine in the Roughs, which meant we could keep up with the growth of Bermuda. We maintained it all season at 1.25"-1.5". That is the plan going forward.
- Coldest Winter in a long time. The winter of 2013/2014 was one of the coldest winters on record. Winter hit hard! We had significant snow, above average rain, high winds, and many single digit days. All of us with Ultradwarf Bermuda greens were very nervous in early Spring. We covered the greens a total of 29 nights, compared to 6 nights the year before. Needless to say my crew and I were glad when March came around!!
Tree Removal. Call2Cut tree service was contracted to remove close to 300 trees. This was step 1 for a major project involving trees and cart paths. Most of the trees which affected the paths were removed, while others were because of disease, shade or various reasons. For a job that is not clean, I was very impressed with the cleanliness of this crew. Very few damaged areas, ruts or tire tracks. We still have a few trees that need to come down for shade issues and a few have died, so expect them to be back out in 2015.
Cart Path repair. We contracted a milling machine to grind ~50% of the paths. After this was done the asphalt crew from McWaters Paving came in to grade out and pave. While it may look "patchy" they are smooth. I believe over time the fresh black will blend in with the old grey asphalt.
County road/Lake project #17. Coweta Co. took on a major project which affected NCC and Newnan Pines. It was determined that the overflow pipe was on the verge of failure, so the County saw the need to fix it. After several months of driving on a temporary road it was completed in October. While the lake was down, the club jumped on an opportunity to muck out the upper lake and build a dam to raise the water level. Jay Ayers was extremely helpful in this project, Thank You Jay! It was also decided to build a wall around the green. Blackhawk Foundation was contracted for this and I think it turned out great. It is a poured concrete wall now, but if we want we could drop the water and add some sort of rock for a really dramatic look, we can. Thank You to All who assisted on this project.
In addition to this list, everyday maintenance and small projects consume our time. We try our best to stay on top of things, but often times detail work is put off until winter. Trimming trees, cleaning out creeks/lake banks and detail work are projects we are currently working on.
2014 has quite possibly been the busiest, most challenging season for me as a manager. With the amount of projects going on and the club running without upper management for many months I am glad to see this season wrap up. I was also without an Assistant for 3 months, but have been blessed with a great individual who truly cares, David Hartfree. I am sure many of you have met him.
We already have a few projects planned for next season. I am looking forward to 2015!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!
Andy
- New equipment. NCC showed a commitment to me and the membership by leasing a new fleet of mowers. This allowed for a better quality of cut on all playing surfaces, most notably Fairways. Since I have been here we have not had a true fairway mower, we had to use a 7 gang which is efficient but does not give a quality cut at the desired height. By picking up new fairway units, I was able to put another machine in the Roughs, which meant we could keep up with the growth of Bermuda. We maintained it all season at 1.25"-1.5". That is the plan going forward.
- Coldest Winter in a long time. The winter of 2013/2014 was one of the coldest winters on record. Winter hit hard! We had significant snow, above average rain, high winds, and many single digit days. All of us with Ultradwarf Bermuda greens were very nervous in early Spring. We covered the greens a total of 29 nights, compared to 6 nights the year before. Needless to say my crew and I were glad when March came around!!
Tree Removal. Call2Cut tree service was contracted to remove close to 300 trees. This was step 1 for a major project involving trees and cart paths. Most of the trees which affected the paths were removed, while others were because of disease, shade or various reasons. For a job that is not clean, I was very impressed with the cleanliness of this crew. Very few damaged areas, ruts or tire tracks. We still have a few trees that need to come down for shade issues and a few have died, so expect them to be back out in 2015.
Cart Path repair. We contracted a milling machine to grind ~50% of the paths. After this was done the asphalt crew from McWaters Paving came in to grade out and pave. While it may look "patchy" they are smooth. I believe over time the fresh black will blend in with the old grey asphalt.
County road/Lake project #17. Coweta Co. took on a major project which affected NCC and Newnan Pines. It was determined that the overflow pipe was on the verge of failure, so the County saw the need to fix it. After several months of driving on a temporary road it was completed in October. While the lake was down, the club jumped on an opportunity to muck out the upper lake and build a dam to raise the water level. Jay Ayers was extremely helpful in this project, Thank You Jay! It was also decided to build a wall around the green. Blackhawk Foundation was contracted for this and I think it turned out great. It is a poured concrete wall now, but if we want we could drop the water and add some sort of rock for a really dramatic look, we can. Thank You to All who assisted on this project.
In addition to this list, everyday maintenance and small projects consume our time. We try our best to stay on top of things, but often times detail work is put off until winter. Trimming trees, cleaning out creeks/lake banks and detail work are projects we are currently working on.
2014 has quite possibly been the busiest, most challenging season for me as a manager. With the amount of projects going on and the club running without upper management for many months I am glad to see this season wrap up. I was also without an Assistant for 3 months, but have been blessed with a great individual who truly cares, David Hartfree. I am sure many of you have met him.
We already have a few projects planned for next season. I am looking forward to 2015!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!
Andy
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Wall #17
The wall project is now complete. This week the crew laid 5 pallets of sod around the new wall. I am glad this project is done, as this has been a work in progress for quite a while. Thanks to all the groups and individuals who have helped make this possible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)