Around the Grounds-A Busy June

The Heat is On

 Based on our own observations and talking with other Green Industry professionals, the tri-state area is around 2 to 3 weeks ahead of the seasonal schedule. After the cold snap in mid-January, the temperatures have been consistently above normal. The turf disease pressure is currently the same as we usually see in mid summer with  dollar spot, brown patch, and anthracnose all making early appearances. This has caused our preventative fungicide applications to start up much earlier than in previous seasons. The current forecast is calling for an extended dry period with above normal temperatures. This will put the cool season turf under a tremendous amount of stress. We will continue with preventative fungicide applications but the weather pattern will have the final say and dictate how the turf will respond. Mowing heights may have to increase, with mowing frequency possibly having to decrease to keep the stress on the turf to a minimum. Even with proper agronomy practices, with an extended heat wave, some cool season turf will be lost.

Spraying #10 fairway

Monday Maintenance

Last season the green committee approved extending Monday course closures to 2:00 pm instead of noon. This has been a big benefit to the golf course. With this extended time we have been able to topdress and spray greens weekly; aerate and topdress the new leveled tees; regularly flymow steep green banks with a hover mower; replace divots on the in-use driving range tees; mow the driving range, target greens, and practice tees; spray the practice tees and chipping green approaches; topdress approaches; trim bunker edges; catch up on mowing; and the list could go on and on. To keep up with the current expectations and standards this extra time is imperative. Hopefully everyone understands the importance of Monday maintenance and will continue to allot time in the busy golf calendar to accomplish these tasks, assuring the playability of your golf course continues to be in good condition.

Pictures of some of this year's Monday maintenance.

Flymowing, with a hover mower, #6 green bank.

Solid tine aerating the chipping green

Core aerating the target greens

Filling in the south tee divots

Verticutting the greens

Topdressing the greens

Up close of the vertcutting slits

Deep tine aeration of the greens

Mechanical Work

An often overlooked part of the grounds department is the mechanical work. This is essential to accomplishing the daily tasks that keep the golf course playable. With the WHCC aging equipment fleet, there is always something breaking down or preventative maintenance to preform. I thought it may be beneficial to document a random half-day of mechanical work.

The random weekday started out as most other days on the golf course, with a breakdown. The new articulator WZ800 articulator broke a belt and needed replacement. Just as soon as Corey Cook (head mechanic) got this mower operational, the pump on the 1250 toro sprayer unit decided to quit working in the middle of a spray application. After some diagnostic help from our former mechanic, Jim Hessel, the electric clutch was identified as needing to be replaced and the unit was out of commission until the part was delivered. While working on the spray rig, a call came in that the cushman hauler cart was not moving. A worn out hub was to blame and after pulling it back in with another cart we again were at the mercy of a part delivery. Right after the cushman incident, a 2653B John Deere mower appeared in the shop with a busted roller bracket and that breakdown got us to around lunchtime. These breakdowns were in addition to the regular mechanical work for the day which was as follows:

• filing bedknives and adjusting the height of cut on greens mowers
• greasing rough mowers
• adjusting fairway mower heights
• grinding reels
• keeping up to date records on all equipment maintenance done for the day.

This may have been a bit too much detail, but I think it is important to sometimes peal back the curtain to help people understand some of the behind the scenes work that goes into maintaining the WHCC grounds. This was just a "normal" random day, but is a good representation of what the mechanic and crew deal with on a regular basis to deliver good playing conditions for the WHCC golf course. Since they work very early morning hours, sometimes their work is unnoticed, but without their long hours the WHCC golf course and grounds would cease to exist.

Fixing a Lastec articulator mower belt

Transferring the broken down spray tank mixture to the functioning sprayer. The plant protectants that are sprayed are expensive and once the chemicals are mixed they must be utilized. 

Electric clutch replacement

 

Corey Cook replacing the worn out hub on the cushman cart

Tree Work/Horticulture

The crew has been busy cutting back the fence lines on #11, #12, and #16 and trimming some of the numerous low limbs located throughout the golf course. In addition, some of the spring time storms left a decent amount of debris that we cleaned up over the last couple weeks. All this tree debris has started to accumulate at the dump and the chipper was utilized for a couple of days to keep the debris pile down.

The summer annuals are planted and have been fertilized. Increased watering and fertilizing will occur until the annuals become rooted in. The weeds are never ending and we hired two new horticulture workers to try and decrease the amount of weeds around the grounds. The horticulture team will continue to maintain the annuals and they should increase in size throughout the summer.

Vermeer 1000XL chipping up debris at the dump

Planting the window boxes at the new cart barn.

Lydia and Guadalupe trimming bushes and pulling weeds around the pool

Lake Maintenance

The two lakes located on the course have been stocked this year for the first time in many years. Fathead minnows were added to increase the amount of feeder fish for the bass. Also, grass carp were added for a natural control of aquatic weeds. Moreover, in  #13 pond, bass were added to keep the frog, insect larvae, and bluegill populations in check.  The aquatic spray program has begun and just like the turf spray program we are seeing mid summer issues, like euglena, becoming noticeable earlier than normal.

Fathead minnows installed in #7 lake.

Stocking #7 lake with grass carp

euglena starting to form on #7 lake

#7 Lake after treatments

Lightning

Two lighting strikes that occurred in May fried-out the irrigation surge protection board along with many fuses located in satellite boxes around the course. Luckily, the board did its job and protected the FIU unit and computer from damage. However, the board is expensive to replace, and the frequency of issues is concerning. We contacted Century Equipment and they informed us that the grounding for the irrigation system was improperly installed. We were given a solution and we will try and implement the recommendation in the next couple months.

SPU board replacement after a storm on Kentucky Derby day.

We are transitioning from operating mowers to carrying hoses for the summer. This predicted heat wave is worrisome so we are asking for everyone's patience and understanding as we embark on another hot Cincinnati summer.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent