Ice Cold!

 

Well, Old Man Winter has taken up residence in the tri-state. After slightly above normal temperatures for December, January has roared in with below normal temperatures and some heavy snow events. Through all this the grounds crew has remained busy.

Plowing

On January 5th and 6th, the tri-state received its biggest snow storm since the blizzard of  March 7th and 8th in 2008 (a late winter storm that dumped 10.5" of snow in Cincinnati). This year, we recorded around 10" of snow on the property by the time the flakes stopped flying. Plowing this much snow takes patience and persistence. The snow plow has a hard time pushing more than 3 or 4 inches of snow at a time, so we had to plow the lot many times during the storm to keep the parking lot clear. 

Equipment that we have used in the past included an F-350 dump truck with an 8' plow. This worked well for many years until the dump truck finally bit the dust in 2020. Since then we had been using our Bobcat S590 with a 6' plow and salted the lot with walking spreaders. This held up well in small snow storms but a bigger unit was needed, particularly one that could plow and salt allowing one person to take care of the lot in emergency situations. Once our old 2005 F-150 work truck needed replacement, the green committee approved the purchase of a 2017 F-250 along with an 8' super duty Boss plow, and a Boss TGS 600 salt spreader that we attach to the back of the truck. This year the new equipment is getting a workout with the recent snowstorms. 

The 10" snow event, and the late week 4" snow storm, tested the plowing capacity of our equipment and ultimately we had to plow some snow into piles and remove the snow piles throughout the week. The main difference between this storm and many that occurred in the recent past has been the sustained cold temperatures. The snow that has accumulated is sticking around for, at this point, around two weeks. These snow piles had to be moved in order to keep the club functioning, especially since future snow events could increase the size of the snow piles.

The crew has done a tremendous job keeping the parking lot clear and ice free. The new equipment was a great purchase and is really helping to keep the club operational during these cold winter months.

An interesting picture of a two foot snow drift on my driveway. It took me 3 hours to shovel this out.

Raymond using the snow blower.

Chris Wheeler, aka Mr. Plow, plowing the lot for the 5th time. 

More plowing pictures

 

Snow Mold

Snow mold is a recurring challenge for the WHCC golf course during the winter months. We are a bit concerned with the current amount of snow, thinking that this year snow mold may be a bigger problem. It typically is more of an issue in northern locations where snow cover is prevalent for many months. However, this year the snow is staying around longer than usual. 

Snow molds are fungal diseases, caused by Typhula species (gray snow mold) and Microdochium nivale (pink snow mold). Gray snow mold thrives under prolonged snow cover, while pink snow mold will form under snow cover or in very wet cool conditions. On golf courses, snow molds primarily affect fine turf areas like greens, tees, and fairways, where grass is closely mown and highly maintained. These diseases create unsightly circular patches of matted or dead grass, which can interfere with playability and detract from the course’s aesthetic appeal. Severe infestations can also result in costly repairs and/or delays in spring course openings. 

Preventatively, we spray the greens to protect against snow mold. We use a product (Pentachloronitrobenzene or PCNB) that is widely recognized as the best product for the prevention of both gray and pink snow molds. The label recommends to water in by 1/4" after application. With the irrigation system shut down for the year we had to time the spray event before a rain storm. On December 16th they were calling for rain so we sprayed the greens an hour before the rain hit. The problem is we ended up getting close to an inch of heavy rain, more than was predicted. Normally this product will work for 2 to 3 months, but since we are unsure of how the heavy rain will impact the application, we made a subsequent application of a different product, chlorothalonil, right before the cold snap on December 30th. Hopefully, between these two applications the greens will be protected; however, we do not spray other areas of the course for these fungal diseases because of budget constraints and the unpredictability of snow cover in this area. The extent of the snow mold issue will be assessed once the snow melts. (click here for a previous post on snow mold)

Pink snow mold on the new chipping green a couple years ago.

Spraying the practice green for snow mold before the rain storm

Mechanical Work

Winter mechanical work is an important undertaking the crew tackles in the off-season months. It is an annual occurrence that takes place after the mowing has ceased for the year. All the mowers have to be torn down and rebuilt to achieve good mowing results for next season. There is a different degree of maintenance required for different units depending upon their usage. Some of this maintenance includes:

• The grinding/sharpening of all the walking and riding reel mowers
• Rebuilding the bearings and seals on reel mowers.
• Grinding of bednives to aid in the reel-to-bednife relationship to achieve optimal mowing results.
• Pressure washing of all the grounds equipment.
• Greasing the mowers.
• Oil and fuel changes on all the equipment.

All of this mechanical maintenance takes the majority of the winter months to accomplish and is a crucial part in maintaining a quality golf course. 

Assistant Superintendent, Michael Westendorf, removing the seals and bearings from a reel off the John Deere 7500 A E-hybrid cut unit.

Head Mechanic, Corey Cook, grinding a reel on the Bernhard Express Dual 4100 reel grinder.

Yours truly attempting to do something mechanical.

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Tree Work/Other Jobs

As always tree work takes center stage in the winter. We are currently working on in house removals that were approved by the green committee in late fall. Many ash trees are on the list to remove because of the emerald ash borer. Three pin oaks will be removed, one behind #1 green, the lightning struck tree by #16 green bunker, and a pin oak to the left of #18 fairway that has significant structural deficiencies. These trees will be removed by Gregory Forrest Lester once the snow melts enough to get equipment out. Some of these trees are on the USGA agronomist's list of trees recommended for removal. If you haven't already read the report here is a link to the document. 

In addition, we were able to install a new SPU board to the left of #1 fairway. After the two lightning strikes this past May, we realized that we needed a new location for this board to help protect the irrigation software from a direct lightning hit.

 Also, before the snow hit we had the #7 lake stocked with fat head minnows and gold shiner minnows to help increase the size of the bass for the fishing tournaments we have throughout the year. 

Cutting down an ash tree right of #6 fairway

Firewood starting to stack up by the grounds building

Jones Lake Management stocking #7 lake

Ricardo and Jason Machuca installing the lightning ground line that runs from the new SPU board by #1 fairway satellite box

WHCC History

As I prepared a presentation on the Western Hills Country Club grounds for the ladies of the Western Hills Garden Club, I came across some interesting information on the history of the property. I referenced three books- Golf Reaches The Seven Hills, by Gerry A. Lanham; Images of America, Delhi, Cincinnati's Westside, by Christine Mersch; and the 100 Years, Western Hills Country Club Centennial Celebration 1912-2012, written by the WHCC membership in 2012. The interesting information is as follows:

• A female tennis player by the name of Nona Closterman started a group of 25 men at her father's house in Price Hill in 1899. The Price Hill Golf Club was formed that year- a 6-hole course on 8 acres of land on Enright Ave.
• Shortly after they moved to a 9-hole course on Nebraska Ave. and switched the name to the Elberon Golf Club
• In 1901 they moved to the Overlook/Rapid Run location and in 1902 a tornado leveled the clubhouse.
• In 1903 they rebuilt the clubhouse and made the Elberon Club into an 18 hole golf course.
• In August of 1912 Thomas Bendelow, from Chicago, was summoned to construct a new course on 100 acres of land. He was the original designer for many other clubs around this area such as Hamilton County Golf Club (later Maketewah), Wyoming C.C., Hyde Park C.C., Highland C.C., Ft. Mitchell C.C. and Losantiville Country Club
• The land was the former summer residence of  US President Benjamin Harrison. 
• At the time of the purchase the property was know as the Short Farm with a blacksmith's shop at the corner of Neeb and Cleves-Warsaw roads.
• Barney Kroger lead the membership drive and with Will Howard as the first president Western Hills Country Club opened for play in 1914.

A couple of things were new information for me. Nona Closterman, the tornado leveling of Elberon's clubhouse, Barney Kroger leading the membership drive, and that the WHCC property was the former summer residence of Benjamin Harrison. The latter peaked my interest in WHCC's past. 

I have had a hard time finding any information on the previous owners of the property when it was called The Short Farm. I did come across a man that lived in this area named John Cleves Short who worked with William Henry Harrison during the war of 1812 and married Betsey Harrison, President William Henry Harrison's daughter. Could the Short Farm be named after his family? I know William Henry Harrison owned much property around this area but most of the research I have found centers around the Point Farm located in Cleves township. With this information, it is possible that Benjamin Harrison lived on this property but I just need help connecting the dots. I reached out to the Delhi Historical Society to see if they could find any information. If they find anything I will share it with anyone that is interested.  

The Fischesser blacksmith shop at the corner of Neeb and Cleves Warsaw. This picture does make a reference to the previous owner of the farmland being Henry Schwartz.

A picture of John Cleves Short

A picture of the cady shack at Elberon Golf Club

Famous designer Thomas Bendelow at work.

The grounds team will continue to stay busy during these cold winter months, but in the meantime, someone tell Canada that their winter weather is lost and needs to be returned!

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent

November Grounds Report

Wow, much has happened since the last post! Including a historic drought, a hurricane, another drought, and finally some monsoons. In between Mother Nature's inconsistency we managed to stay busy. Here is an update.

Hurricane Helene

In the previous post I mentioned that the only relief for the drought would have to come from a tropical disturbance. Hurricane Helene was that disturbance and it dropped over 4" of rainfall along with sustained 30 to 40 mph winds. When rating the destruction of storms, none can compare to the 2008 hurricane Ike that decimated the WHCC tree population and closed down the course for over a week so the crew could clean up the massive amount of debris. The 2018 ice storm was another catastrophic event that snapped many trees in half due to the early freezing rain that occurred while leaves were still on the oak branches. Hurricane Helene was definitely not as bad as these two storms, but it probably made the top 5 in my 23 year tenure.

The high hurricane winds snapped 3 trees in half and produced an enormous amount of cleanup work. The crew spent 4, 8-10 hour days, cutting wood, cleaning up branches, blowing off surfaces, and chopping leaves. Even after the cleanup the storm was still leaving its mark when it was discovered that the large pin oak tree by #8 red tee had an enormous crack down its entire side, and the pin oak next to #18 green was rotting out in the center. Both of these trees had to be removed because of their immediate safety concerns.  

After the storm, the drought conditions continued. Even though Helene left the course in a mess, without the much needed rainfall the already historic drought would have been epic. As for the grounds budget it seems we were either going to take a hit from the water bill or tree removal. 

Hurricane Helene Damage Pictures

Helene brush piled at #2 dump

Chipping up the debris

Large crack noticed by #8 red tee. This pin oak needed to be removed 

Another view of  the #8 pin oak crack.

Removing #18 pin oak

 .A picture of #18 pin oak after the branch fell out.

Aeration

Helene hit on a Friday night and when I talked to the aeration contractor that weekend I made the mistake of stating that the rainfall looks to be over by Sunday and the fairways should dry out nicely by the fairway aeration date the following Thursday, making for an almost perfect scenario-which almost never happens! Sensing my optimism, Mother Nature proceeded to park the remnants of Helene over the tri-state for the next 5 days creating some of the wettest conditions I have ever encountered. When I called later in the week about possibly postponing, it was brought to my attention that the next available date wouldn't be for at least a couple of months. Knowing that December tends to be a very wet month, and wanting to utilize the course closed day to get this accomplished, we decided to trudge forward. Luckily, that Wednesday was dry and sunny and it dried out just enough for us to get the deep-tine aeration completed. We did have to skip some wet areas, and some locations were torn up, but it was nice to check this important maintenance practice off the list for this year.

The aeration of the tees, south practice tee, and rough were completed in late September and October. Overseeding the Bermuda grass fairway patches also occurred during this period. It has germinated and is currently filling in. In addition, fall fertilization of the tees, greens, and rough is completed. On the horizon will be fertilization of the fairways and aeration of the north practice tees.

Aerating #1 rough

Deep tine aerating #1 fairway

overseeding Bermuda grass on #10. 

 Tee Leveling

The topography of some of the WHCC tee boxes has been a topic of discussion lately. Tees become unlevel because of over use in the center and the subsequent filling of divots with too much sand. Overtime the tees begin to crown and become bumpy. Typically this occurs more on par 3 tees because of the amount of divots caused by the use of iron shots (click here for more information on the reasons for tee leveling from the USGA).  Once the tee becomes unlevel the only way to fix the issue is by stripping the entire surface and leveling out the soil underneath. 

In conjunction with the green committee 4 tees were chosen for leveling this year based on golfer's input and budgetary constraints. For fairness, one of each tee color was chosen. The tees included, #12 green tee, #4 white/green tee, combining and leveling #14 blue/black tee, and #17 black tee. Golf Construction Associates was the contractor used for this project, and to keep the cost down, most of the labor was completed in house.

Tee leveling is a long and labor intensive process. It begins by stripping the sod and surrounding grass. Then mix is added and the tee reshaped. After the tee is level new sod is put back on. Finally, the process of topdressing, rolling, watering and mowing begins. If the tees are leveled in late summer/early fall the sod will root in much quicker; however, because of the golf schedule and the contractor's availability, we leveled in November and it will take the sod until the spring before the grass will be ready for iron shots. 

In addition, the combining of #14 blue/black tee provided us with some issues. First, the lower (blue) tee needed to be shaved down 7" to make it level with the black tee. After accomplishing this the base soil was exposed and it consisted of hard, blue clay that was probably plowed up from the construction of #13/#14 pond. The hard panned clay was full of moisture from recent rainfalls and was not conducive to shaping. So we had to remove another 10" of the clay and replace with new fill dirt and add another layer of mix to facilitate turf health. All this was accomplished in between a couple 1" rainstorms, but as of this writing we have the bentgrass top sodded and we are waiting for it to dry out so the sod producer can cut and deliver the remaining fescue sod this Monday. Fingers crossed!

Moving forward, understand that we move tee markers to spread out wear patterns. This will help to keep tees level by forcing shots to be hit from different locations on the tees- not just in the same areas in the tee's center. Also, we will begin to increase some cultural practices, such as more frequent topdressing, as time allows to try and keep the tees level for as long as possible. In addition, the agronomy team will continue to work with the green committee to level the most problematic tees annually.

Digging drainage for #14 tee expansion

Removing sod #4 white/green tee

removing sod #14 black tee

removing sod #17 black tee

Putting excess sod on the fairway nursery

Leveling #17 black tee

Leveling #4 white/green tee

Shaping #14 tee. Exposing the clay underneath,

Tarping #14 tee before a rainstorm

New soil #14 tee

Moving the new topsoil

Laying new sod on #12 tee

Washout on #14 tee

Half of the sod laid on #14 

Winter Tree Work

We are in the process of selecting trees to be removed this winter. A tree assessment is accomplished in October every year and diseased/dying trees are located and scheduled for removal. Earlier this year, the USGA agronomist conducted a tree evaluation and recommended trees for removal based on turf health and playability (click here for the report). On page 29 of the report, Zach highlighted, in red, trees recommended for immediate removal. We plan on beginning to remove some of these trees. (namely 1.8 and 16.5 labeled on page 28 and 29). Both of these trees are negatively impacting greens. The nightly irrigation cycle needs to be increased by 70% around these locations in addition to daily hand watering. This is just one of the many issues that trees close to greens create and I invite everyone to read the USGA report for a more in-depth look at how trees impact turf. This will be a slow process to implement. We will only remove trees that the green committee agrees upon and that our tree budget allows. This report will give us a roadmap to follow to help turf health, improve playability, and allow labor to become more focused on other aspects of the golf course.

Miscellaneous Fall Projects

Also included in the USGA tree report were areas where new trees could be planted. We planted three new trees in one of these areas between #8/#9. This location became very open after the removal of the pin oak tree next to #8 red tee. The three trees chosen were a Kentucky coffee 'espresso', a little leaf linden, and a redpointe maple.

Steps were constructed next to #13 green tee to help golfers navigate that area after rainstorms. The summer annuals are getting pulled out and the spring time tulip bulbs are being planted in their place. And leaf removal is in full swing with 8 to 9 crew members blowing and chopping on a daily basis.

The greens have rolled well all year. With the cooler temperatures we will begin to put the greens to bed for the winter by raising the mowing heights, fertilizing, and spraying fungicides for winter protection. Please understand that green speed will start to decrease due to these practices, but these are necessary procedures to keep the bentgrass healthy through the colder months.

Planting the trees between 8/9

Constructing the stepping stones #13 green tee.

Finally, I would like to thank Brad Chaffin for his six years of service as the green committee chairman. Mr. Chaffin's friendly demeanor, organizational skills, and leadership helped to improve the WHCC golf course and our maintenance practices. He oversaw many projects including implementing greens drainage on 4 greens, the rebuilding of the practice facilities, expansion of the putting green, leveling of #13 green, upgrading the grounds building, lighting up the champion overcup oak, and many more. Mr. Chaffin understood the importance of golf course maintenance for improving conditions and was instrumental in helping us implement procedures that have upgraded the course's playability and aesthetic value. In addition, his annual pizza party appreciation lunch for the grounds department has been much appreciated! The agronomy team is grateful for Mr. Chaffin's leadership and looks forward to working with the new administration; continuing to enhance the golf course grounds for environmental improvements and member enjoyment.

As we progress into early winter, the crew will be busy winterizing the irrigation system, rebuilding and grinding mowers, oil changes, tree work, staff recruitment for next season, and of course leaf cleanup. I will continue to update as the 2024 season comes to a close and hopefully the droughts and hurricanes are behind us!

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent