Happiness is a full parking lot...

There are always challenges in golf course maintenance, and often times, none is greater than finding reliable employees.  Let's face it, the hours aren't ideal, the work is physically demanding, and nobody chooses this business to get rich.  With the current job marketplace and low unemployment rate, it can be difficult to lure individuals to come join the team.

Given all of this, it is great to see the employee parking area overflowing this year.  We are fortunate to have an extremely solid group of year-round employees, including five licensed pesticide applicators.  In addition to this, eight perennial seasonal employees have returned once again, and the staff is capped off with some college students, including both a Rutgers and Penn State turf student.

If this trend continues, we may need to switch to a digital job board for additional space.  We would refer to that as a "good problem" to have!

We do that too...

If the maintenance staff is doing their job well, most of the work we do takes place out of sight of our members.  That  is, you certainly shouldn't be playing a round, and run into the guys mowing greens.

However, in addition to the daily tasks on the golf course, there are a number of other projects we tackle which are really way behind the scenes.  For example, did you ever think that we can handle storm sewer modification?

That's right, with the construction of the splash pad last year, a basin needed to be raised behind the pool, and a water diversion pipe from the splash pad connected to this.  The existing grate was removed, a hole was cut into the concrete basin for the drain pipe, an 1,100 pound riser was set on top, the grate was replaced, and the area was back-filled.

For us, it's all in a day's work.  So, yes, while you might not ever witness it, we do that too.

Trust the Process

We just completed greens aerification this past week, and contrary to what many may believe, we don't really enjoy this task.  The work is hard, the days are long, and it always feels like the weather throws us some kind of curve ball.  However, what we do ultimately appreciate are the results of aerification.  People often ask us, "The greens are great, why do you have to aerify?"

The answer is simple:  We aerify so they will remain great.

As in the past, we did a two part process this spring.  Day one consisted of a traditional core aerification, using a relatively small hollow tine on a tight hole spacing.  The plugs are removed and sand is incorporated into the holes.   

We followed up on day two with our Dryject contractor, Dennis Granahan, and his team.  The Dryject process allows us to get sand into the root zone at a depth which conventional aerifiers can not.

While the weather wasn't very conducive to drying, we were able to give the greens a final brooming Wednesday afternoon to smooth out the sand.

So, yes, aerification can be stressful to the turf, the Club's members, and the maintenance staff.  But when you think back to last year's 70+" of precipitation, and how well the greens performed, we should all take a step back and remember to trust the process.

Piling it on...

The ideal Fine Fescue area might be described as thin and wispy, yet penal.  However, achieving this balance has been an on-going challenge for us.  Despite our efforts to keep fertilizer and irrigation water from entering these areas, the Fescue becomes quite dense throughout the growing season, and lost balls are a common occurrence.

It's now become clear that the primary cause of this turf density is the soil in which the Fescue was planted.  As much of the property was apple and peach orchard prior to construction, there was a nice layer of rich topsoil available to spread throughout the course.  As a matter of fact, with the topsoil stockpiled on the perimeter of the property during the shaping process, there is often more topsoil in the Fescue than in the fairways.  While this heavier, nutrient rich soil may be beneficial for growing a dense stand of turf, a sandier, more droughty soil would have been better for the Fine Fescue areas.

The bunker area reduction of the Master Plan has become a great example of the impact which a growing medium can have.  The sandier soil from the old bunker locations makes a dramatic difference in the density of the Fescue when compared to surrounding areas.

The outline of the old bunker on the back left of #3 can be seen in the thinner stand of Fescue.

In order to replicate these growing conditions, in areas where we have recently sodded Fescue, we are heavily topdressing them.  In the short run, we're basically burying the turf in sand, and forcing the grass to grow through it.  In the long run, we hope to create a sandier growing medium.

So, yes, we are piling it on, and one thing is for certain:  Referring to these naturalized areas as "low maintenance" is just not right...