Bunker Maintenance Cost...

Gary Myers, CGCS, The Sagamore Club, Noblesville, IN:

"After looking over the course surveys this year, it seems that bunkers and native areas received the most negative responses. We continue to find ways to improve in these areas, but we also have to keep in mind that both of these items are considered hazards. I know they play a very important role in Sagamore's golf course design and we do have to find ways to keep them in the best possible conditions.

Today I want to concentrate on just the bunkers. I will write another blog post which will focus on the native areas.

Last year I set out to document all maintenance that went into our bunkers. This consisted of daily maintenance, renovations, along with time to place bunkers back after a heavy rainfall. Each day I wrote down the man hours spent in bunkers and then multiplied that by the average wage of our employees. This would at least give me a rough estimate of how much was spent each month on bunker maintenance.

I also tracked daily rainfall to see how weather effects the overall cost of maintenance.

As you can see the total yearly cost was $42,025 to maintain our bunkers at Sagamore. August and September were our wettest months and these were the months with the highest totals of bunkers maintenance cost. Again we will be looking at more efficient ways to maintain our bunkers but as you can see bunkers are expensive and it is very difficult to have all of them consistent on a daily basis. I will be tracking labor cost again this year to see how it compares."

Visit Gary's blog at sagamoreturfgrass.blogspot.com.

60 Degrees and Rain In Late January...

Garrett Luck, North Shore Country Club, Mequon, WI:

"The best possible scenario for healthy turfgrass in spring is a 'normal' winter that includes ample snow cover to insulate the underlying turf. In recent years it seems as though our 'normal' winter no longer includes extended periods of snow cover and cold temperatures. In its place we have experienced a wide range of temperature fluctuations and a variety of precipiation, both in terms of type and quantity. What does this new "normal" winter mean for turfgrass at North Shore Country Club.

Any turfgrass manager's greatest fear during the winter months is prolonged ice coverage. While some ice formation is normal, even during our old 'normal' winters, heavy rain events followed by extremely cold temperatures provide the greatest opportunity for winter damage. Gas exchange is severely limited underneath thick ice coverage that persists for months on end. Even during the winter months, gas exchange is critical for turfgrass survival. Without proper gas exchange, the turfgrass may suffocate and die.

In 2010 this type of ice formation led to severe damage across many fairways at NSCC. Much debate exists within the industry as to whether physically removing ice is beneficial to the turf or if it actually promotes more damage. Since annual bluegrass is more susceptible to damaged from prolonged ice cover, NSCC's golf course maintenance staff takes a very proactive approach to removing ice from the putting surface during the winter.

Since annual bluegrass is more susceptible to damaged from prolonged ice cover, NSCC's golf course maintenance staff takes a very proactive approach to removing ice from the putting surface...

Fortunately we have endured our current winter without any periods of prolonged ice coverage. Instead we have had extended periods of little or no snow coverage and varying temperatures. Recently we received nearly once inch of rain followed by a rapid decline in temperature. This scenario can often be problematic. When temperatures reach unseasonable highs, the grass plants, annual bluegrass in particular, begin to break their dormancy. Upon breaking dormancy, the turf takes in the available water around it. As temperatures plummet to the single digits, the water may freeze causing damage or death to the turfgrass plants.

In order to prevent such damage from occurring, the golf course maintenance staff made every effort to remove as much water as possible from the putting surface and low-lying fairway areas. This practice became more difficult as the rain eventually turned to snow. Five dedicated maintenance staff employees spent the day in the rain, sleet, and snow removing as much water as possible from NSCC's playing surfaces."

Visit Garrett's blog at nsccgcm.blogspot.com

Shop renovations...

Patrick O'Brien, Hyde Park Golf & Country Club, Cincinnati, OH:

"Over the past few weeks the Grounds staff have teamed up with Rick Spivey's staff to make several updates to the Grounds building to improve efficiency and safety. Some of the improvements have included:

• Organization of parts storage
• Freshly painted walls and added lighting in the reel sharpening area
• Office updates -including floors, new paint and reorganization
• Bathroom updates
• Cold storage updates
• New roof (outside contractor)

Remaining updates will be scheduled for next season during the same time period. The Grounds Building houses over a million dollars in specialized equipment and is the heart of the Grounds Department. Overall, the building is in good condition but lacks the appropriate space due to changes in technology and increase conditioning levels since its construction in the late '60s.

The following photos outline some of the renovations.

Parts Storage - Before	Parts Storage - After
Reel Sharpening	Cold Storage
Getting it done.	Reel and Roller Storage

In the next couple months the Grounds Committee will meet at the Grounds Building for one of the monthly meetings. We extend this invitation to the entire membership to stop by during the season to say hello and take a tour of the facility."

Visit Pat's blog at hydeparkgolfandcountryclub.blogspot.com.

A Brand New Look on the Tees...

Steven Harris, CGCS, Brier Creek Country Club, Raleigh, NC:

"This winter, one of our big projects was to design and make new tee marker for the golf course. The aluminum ones that have been around for years were becoming pretty beat up, and quite frankly didn't look very good even after re-painting them. The aluminum tee markers are also very difficult to replace. They are a custom made product that takes weeks to have replacements made in the event that one or more get damaged or go missing.

The tee markers that we decided on bring a more natural feel and look to the tees. Brier Creek has so many trees and wooded areas that we felt these markers would look perfect set against that background. We decided on small sections of tree limbs with an angle cut at the top. After doing some research, we chose to use Sweet Gum wood because it tends not to crack as severely as other wood as it dries out. Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is one of the more durable hardwoods that we have on property. It was important to us to use a wood that is native to the area and is fairly common on site.

The branches were cut to length. We then cut the angle at the top. This area will then be painted the color of the tee (red, white, blue, etc.). Several coats of varnish were then applied and the tee markers were ready for the course.

5" Long lag screws were drilled into the bottoms of the markers and then the hex heads were cut off. These serve as the spike that will hold the marker in the ground.

We drilled holes in old pallets to use as holders while we painted the tops and applied the varnish. The varnish is important to help protect the tee markers from weathering and rotting.

These new tee markers were put into service on the golf course this past Monday."

Visit Steven's blog at briercreekgcmaintenance.blogspot.com.

Update on the good ice...

Chris Tritabaugh, Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN:

"This is the only context in which you will hear a golf course superintendent speak favorably about ice. As many of you already know, the staff here at Hazeltine has been working to bring a greater winter sports presence to the club. A sledding hill has been established in the prairie area between the first and ninth hole, cross-country ski trails will be groomed when snow conditions make it possible and soon we will have skating on the pond on eight.

Keith, Rollie and Red cleared off a large area of the pond in prep for the eventual skating rink. The warm weather last week did not lend itself to good flooding, but we wanted the snow off the rink to keep the melt from ruining the ice.

This morning and afternoon the skating rink is getting its first and second flooding. Thankfully we removed the snow last week before the big melt. Had we not, the ice surface would have been a mess. As it is, the surface is pretty good. A few more floods this week and the surface should be great!"

Keith and Rollie had a to try a couple different hose configurations before they got it down. They drilled two holes in the ice and are using bunkers pumps to flood the surface.

Visit Chris's blog at http://hngcturfgrass.com.

It's Two Cups in One...

John Slade, Laurel Creek Country Club, Mt. Laurel, NJ:

"As far as the temperature goes, January's weather was up and down, with many days above average and others well below. If you were able to sneak in a round during one of the relatively warm days later in the month, you would have noticed that we have placed two cups in each green.

The reason we added the second cup is to spread out the wear during a period when we may not be able to move the hole location. With sand based greens, the surface can quickly freeze, preventing us from "cutting a cup."

So how does this two hole system work? The idea of rotating the flagstick from one cup to the other is simple. Before leaving each green, move the pin to the opposite hole location from the one you just played. Thus the next group will be playing 18 different pin placements than you did. (Of course, if you're playing a match with more than one group, only the last group should move the pin.)

As conditions allow, we'll change the two hole locations for the remainder of the winter, and go back to just one hole in another month or so when some consistently warmer weather returns.

Please remember that this isn't intended for you to claim a round with double digit one-putts! Once your ball is on the short grass, you're supposed to putt towards the cup with the flagstick, and not just aim for the closer cup."

Visit John's blog at laurelcreeksuper.blogspot.com.