RMRTA

This week, the golf course maintenance staff and I will be attending the Rocky Mountain Turfgrass Association's annual conference and trade show. Beyond getting the chance to catch up with other Superintendents and check out all the new equipment for the upcoming season, this week we will be attending the education seminars and gaining valuable credits from the Colorado Department of Agriculture towards our Qualified Supervisor Licenses. The trade show was busy as normal with all of the major vendors again in attendance. Some of the topics being discussed in this weeks seminars included managing organic matter in greens, bentgrass and fine fescue research updates, turfgrass fungicides, water management techniques, aquatic toxicology, and the USGA year in review. I was also lucky enough to get a seat to the Irrigation Design, Irrigation Auditing and Efficient Power Usage in Pump Stations workshop put on by Brian Keighin of Irrigation Technologies. Brian is a truly a master of his domain when it comes to irrigation system design and has been a pleasure to work with here at Kissing Camels Club. I would strongly encourage anyone interested in a new irrigation system design, irrigation audit, or GPS services to give him a call. He has been a vital part of the irrigation renovations on the golf course and we look foreword to his continued services and support.

Building Alterations

Despite our efforts to keep our pipes from freezing here at the shop, Mother Nature got one over on us today. Pictured above is a photograph taken of the men's bathroom at the Golf Maintenance building. Because of the recent cold weather, we have been maintaining a constant drip in our bathrooms to keep the water in the pipes moving. We had also installed electrical coils that wrap over the pipes to keep them warm and free from ice. After hearing the crash, we soon realized that these methods shouldn't be expected to work 100percent of the time with temperatures being this low. Seeing this destruction makes me glad we blew the irrigation system out two weeks ago. While some irrigation failures are inevitable in the spring, I would hate to have miles of irrigation pipe to go through and repair when the ground thaws out.

High of 13

With the weather out outside being so frightful, I thought is was about time to warm up in the shop and check in with our equipment managers. I'm having a hard time remembering the last time it was this cold for such an extended amount of time and with the windchill being 15degrees below 0, it's just not safe for the guys to be outdoors. The latest project in the equipment shop is modifying the rear rollers on the Toro 5410 to accommodate a 'roller scraper' or 'roller blade'. With the addition of this piece we are looking to reduce the amount of clippings the rollers collect while mowing the dew covered fairways. By having these scrapers in place, we are expecting a smoother cut, improved clipping dispersion, and better looking/playing fairways. We're also looking to save time mowing fairways by not having to manually clean the rollers during these important early morning hours. The more time these reels stay on the ground, the quicker we get out of play and move on to the next task. For 20 dollars in material, and few hours of labor, I feel the exercise will be well worth the expense. Now, on to the process........

As you can see, a hole in the frame will need to be drilled out to accommodate the bolt that will be holding the scraper in place. This is where a few measurements will be needed to make sure everything lines up correctly, you'll only get one shot at this one!!

This next picture shows the pre-made scraper in place just off the roller itself. This is just simply a strip of pre-cut steel that has been cut and welded to shape. Again, get those rulers out, men. Bada Bing.....

Bada Bang!!

Coat the scraper with a few applications of Toro red paint, give it a power-washing, and its done.

In the world of Golf Course Maintenance, like anything else, Superintendents tend to lean towards certain manufactures to provide them with the tools they need to do their jobs. For some, it might be the the equipment they were trained on as young golf course employees. For others, it's the confidence they have in the manufacturers rep that provides them with the most technical support. For me, it's knowing that Toro has some of the best golf course equipment on the planet and the fact that that the guys at LL Johnson do a phenomenal job standing behind their products. I'd like to give a big thanks to Equipment Manager, Ron O'Neil and Golf Course Mechanic, Brian Hoffman for all the quality work they do keeping the equipment fleet running at its highest levels.

Instrata

With a break in the weather, this gives us a perfect opportunity to get out and spray greens with their final application for the year. Pictured above is our Assistant Golf Course Superintendent, Steven Blais on his trusty Toro spray rig. As I said before, this final application will need to get us through the remainder of winter and all she brings with her. The fungicide choice of many, Instrata, combines the three active ingredients (ai) found in Banner MAXX, Medalion, and Daconil,(Chlorothalonil, Propiconazole, and Fludioxonil). Put down at a rate of 9.6 oz/m, this fungide will keep our greens disease free until spring. Comparing this picture from previous posts, you can really see how November's weather has affected the turfs color. Having been one of the coldest since I can remember, the turfgrass has entered into a deep state of dormancy and is shutting the door on 2009. While it is our hope to be open for play this weekend, the last snow storm has provided the golf course with some much needed reprieve from this year's traffic. To all our members and guests, Happy Thanksgiving and here's to a blessed holiday season!

Irrigation Blow Out

As we enter into the winter months, our attention must focus on shutting the golf course down for the blistery months ahead. Although most of our irrigation pipes are buried deep enough into the ground to escape the frost layer, Colorado weather has proven that this process should not be omitted. Unfortunately, water readily freezes in the pipes and heads and are susceptible to cracking and breaking, thus creating time-consuming and expensive repairs in the spring. Because we want to limit the amount of winter desiccation, this practice will continue to be aggresively pushed to the limits of our local weather patterns. By doing this, we are able to irrigate the turf longer into the year and keep the crown hydrated longer into the season.

Pink Snow mold

You wouldn't normally think of winter months being a high-stress time period for the turfgrass by way of diseases, and for the most part, you'd be right. While most pathogens use heat and humidity to infect the turf, snow molds play by a different set of rules. Pink snow mold or (Fusarium patch) pictured, favors cold and wet conditions to wreak its havoc and does not require snow cover to be active. On the other hand, Gray Snow Mold, or (Typhula Blight), does require snow cover to cause symptoms and is most severe when snow cover lasts 90 days or more. Because of the weather fluctuations we have here in Colorado during winter months, the golf course is rarely closed due to snow cover for more than a month. Due to these temperate inconsistencies, it's not cost effective to treat the entire golf course with a fungicide application to ward off these pests. To get us through our 'Pink Snow Mold season', an application of Banner MAXX was made to all 30 greens at a rate of 2 ounces per thousand square feet, or 2oz/m, the second week of October. This application will protect the plant from Pink Snow Mold until a second application can be made around Thanksgiving. This second fungicide application will be a more compound chemistry to protect the plant from both molds for a much longer time period in case the winter weather continues to throw us curve balls.

A change in scenery

This last weekends snow storm brought us more accumulation than I can remember in the last few years, and has stuck around all week. Although we only received 4-5 inches of snow on the golf course, we had over an inch in total precipitation after checking the gauges throughout the course. With daytime highs in the 50 degree range and lows in the 20's, needless to say, the golf course is still closed to golfers. Once the golf course is clear, we will be spraying a preventative snow mold application to all 30 greens. An anti-desiccant will also be applied to tees and fairways to prevent turf loss over the winter months. Once this is done, our topdressing regiment will begin. Stay tuned for live updates and commentary on the process and be sure to left-click on the pictures to get a better detailed look.

If you don't like the weather in Colorado.....

.......just wait five minutes, or a month. November, for the most part, has been quite different than usual by way of local weather. Last week we enjoyed temperatures 10-20 degrees higher than average for this time of year with highs in the upper 70's and lows hovering in the mid-40's. This has been quite a change from the snow and ice storms we received in October. With these warmer-than-average temperatures, the turf hasn't quite hardened off into dormancy and will require that we continue to water the golf course as needed. As we move into our winter season, our tee times have been pushed back to 9:00am. Please be sure to check in with the pro-shop staff on course availability and frost delays.