Put away for the winter

Today the final greens covers were installed on greens 1,2,13,15 and the putting green. Prior to covering these greens we applied over 50 ton of sand on all greens. We have been trying many new techniques on the greens to combat winter/ice damage  that we have been incurring for the past few years. I truly feel like it is all a crap shoot. Roll the dice and wait to see what you get. Honestly, alot of the techniques we are using are old ones that have just come back around. Stay tuned for updates and pictures of what the winter of 2011/2012 brings us. Lets all hope for consistently cold temperatures with lots of snow and no mid winter thaws.

                                                          Heavy sand top dressing on 10 green
                                                                             first pass
                                                                         

5 green cover

NOVEMBER COLOR

As we head into November, there is still some excellent fall foliage to be seen around the course. I took this photo on a frosty/foggy November 1'st morning. Yes the temperatures are dropping and the season is winding down rapidly. Our seasonal golf maintenance staff are finished for the year, however Shaun Maher(Asst. Supt.), Rich Johnson (Equip. Tech.) and I are still quite busy around the course. As you can see from this picture, many leaves are still on the trees. We have a significant amount of clean up still to be done.
We are identifying pipe sizes on 3 isolation valves to be replaced. One valve located  on #3 near the green, another valve on #14 between the forward and back tees and  another on #18 fairway.
Our plan is to apply our last plant protectent application on greens, tees and fairways next week. This application will protect us from a disease called snow mold. There are two types, pink snow mold (Microdochium Nivale), this type does not need snow to be present. It likes cool, moist conditions. The second type is grey snow mold, (Typhula incarnata, and 3 varieties of typhula ishikariensis). We see grey after deep and prolonged snow cover. These are both in the fungus family. You may recall seeing this on your home lawns in the spring time once snow has melted. Matted circles of grass/turf with  fluffy, cotton candy looking rings around the outside if the patches.
The week of November 14-18 we will be topdressing greens heavily. This aides in the reduction of winter damage to the turf. We will then cut drainage trenches in a handful of greens we see water accumulation during any mid-winter thaws. We will then cover the greens where we perennially see winter/ice damage.
We will also be winterizing our irrigation system and pump station. This process is done much like that of home irrigation systems however we utilize a very large compressor 8x that of what is used by your local landscape company at your homes. If water is kept in plastic pipes through the winter, the water will freeze and rupture the pipes leaving extensive damage to the system. This blow out process usually takes 2 full days to complete.
I would like to thank all that came out last Saturday morning for member help day. We had 15 members assist us with limbing up trees and hauling to the burn pit. It was quite a bon fire. We all enjoyed lunch  in the mixed grill accompanied by some college football. The course looks great. Come on out for some excellent fall golf.

Fall time at Lakelands

Believe it or not, October is one of the busiest months for our crew.  We have unpredictable weather to contend with, the falling leaves add so much more labor to every job we do out here, from cutting greens to raking bunkers, the leaves are always in our way from here on out.  The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. With the cooler night time temperatures comes frost. It will soon be part of our morning challenges. Please be aware, that any traffic on the turf that has frost may damage or even kill it. A typical the fall time question, "when will the frost be gone"?" and when can we get out there and play"?  As soon as frost melts is when play can begin.
The aerification of greens and tees are complete. We are verticutting the fairways and currently have 4 holes finished. The process is quite labor intensive, however, the results from this turf cultivation equal strong healthy plants that produce optimum playing conditions.

Greens aerification

As planned, we were able to aerify all the greens on Monday August 29.  We had a set back when our top dresser went down.  This proved to be a challenge since we do not currently have a mechanic.  After a few phone calls, Huron Meadows Metro Park Golf Course graciously allowed us to borrow their top dresser.
The greens have almost completely grow in in the nine days since aerified.  We are planning to lightly  top dress greens again Monday September 12'th.  We saw the true extremes of Michigan climate with temperatures in the mid 90's on September 1,2,3 only to plummet by 40 degrees two days later. 
We did suffer another pump station failure on Monday, Labor day.  However, if there is any luck involved it is on our side with the drastic temperature change.  We have new in line pipes on there way.  Although frustrating, this is only to be expected with an aging and outdated pump station! These pump house failures continue to adversely affect our turf conditions. The golf maintenance team continue to repair all irrigation issues as rapidly possible to lessen the negative impact of these very issues.

Finally some relief...

Despite some major irrigation and turf issues we made it through the Invitational and Club Championship!
All in all I think both were a big success!
This past week has offered us some much needed relief temperature wise as well as much need rainfall.
The course has really had a chance to breath.  The turf is loving this weather, as is the staff!

Our plan is to aerify all the greens on Monday (we aerified 2 green this past Monday due to the decline we saw from the pump station failure, the week of the Invitational).

Invitational Shoot Out

Life and Death

Tragedy has struck our maintenance team. Barney Blackshear's brother
> passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon. I believe the cause to be a
> brain aneurysm. Services are this week. He did not have insurance
> therefore, the family is trying to do some fund raising for funeral
> services.
> Our Equipment technician Ryan Lee is part of their family and is with 
> the family. It is hard to stay focused at the task at hand. However, I
> must keep pushing ahead.
>
> I came in this morning to a failure in the pump house. No water ran last
> night after very hot Sunday temperatures. I am working on the fix with a
> short staff. Many greens wilted pretty heavily over night and we are
> working quite hard to get some recovery. I have parts being fabricated as
> I type and delivery will be this afternoon. I have spoken with our pump
> maintenance people and they are checking their schedule to fit us in to
> ensure the station is back up and running as well as it can.
>
> The pythium in the fairways has come back and we sprayed for it yesterday.
> The anthracnose on the greens is back and active and as soon as we can
> cool the greens down this morning we will be spraying for it. We are also
> adding a wetting agent to the greens to help retain some moisture during
> this record setting weather.
>
> It was the hottest July on Record with an average high of 89.2. That is
> 6.2 degrees higher than average. According to NOAA data, our July weather
> was the same as St. Petersburg Florida.
> We are doing everything we can under these horrific circumstances.

Hot and Humid

The LA Belle is now behind us and The Bellringer is just a short couple of weeks away. My staff and I are focused on the first week of August.  The weather pattern we are in right now has warranted some changes to our maintenance programs. The stress on the turf is very high during these extended hot and humid spells. We will be mowing greens every other day but we will roll every day. You may see a drop in greens speeds, however this is the sort of protocol we need in place to get our turf through this very stressful period. The irrigation system is running as best as it can. Once again, we really see just how efficient or non efficient the system is here at Lakelands. When the weather breaks, we will plan to replace the 2
isolation valves that failed last week. One valve is in 18 fairway about 30 yards from the green, and the other is right beside the cart path on 3 close to the green.

The forecast for the remainder of the week calls for highs in the 90's and lows in the 70's with very humid air. This is a perfect storm for another disease called pythium. Pythium can grow and kill a green over night. Hot, humid, moist conditions like what we are experiencing is the recipe for pythium and many other turf diseases as well. Basically, we have a petre dish of turf diseases waiting to express themselves when the right
environmental conditions are there . We have many different chemistry's on the turf right now and  we are on full alert scouting all turf areas for outbreaks.

The following information was sent out yesterday from the turf team at MSU under the direction of  Dr. Joe Vargas.

The hot weather is here and more importantly so are the warm nights. When the nighttime temperatures stay above 68 F, diseases like anthracnose and crown rot anthracnose, brown patch and Pythium blight become a problem. If the warm nights are accompanied by heavy rain showers, then summer patch will also be a problem. If you have not made preventive fungicide applications for these diseases they should be made now. If any of these diseases are already present, curative fungicide applications should be made before the diseases become worse. Remember, if the disease is present, systemic fungicides need to be applied so they can enter the plant and stop the fungus from destroying more tissue. Also, these hot temperatures will stop root growth and cause any roots already present to suberize. This means the turfgrass root systems will not be functioning very well. This is the time to bypass the root system and foliar feed the turf. Needless to say, these hot temperatures will require a lot of hand watering to keep the turf alive. Good luck to everyone and try to stay cool. Dr. Joe Vargas MSU Turf Team

The Heat Is On!!

As we head into July, the heat is on and no rainfall in site. The irrigation system is being well tested right now. Today we will dust the greens with a very light top dressing. Topdressing with sand helps firm the greens for smooth,true, fast surfaces.
Enjoy and stay cool.

Season to date

Wow it has been a busy Spring, needless to say for the lack of new postings! We received 11 inches of rain in April. In May, another 9 inches fell. Since the end of May the faucet turned off and the turf had been growing vigorously. We successfully aerified all the greens. Eliminated the right fairway bunker on 1 and have sodded many areas around the course that needed repair.
Yardage markers have been installed thanks to the help of members Mr.Saunders,Mr. Kinstler,Mr.Palmer and and the dynamic duo of Mr. and Mrs. Sterzinger. Thank you to everyone for your hard work and dedication to your club.
We have seen of late, a migration of turtles onto the course. It appears that both snapping and painted have come out of the "lakelands" to the course to find spots for egg laying and burying. If you see these reptiles, don't fret, they are on a mission and know just what they are doing and where they are headed. We have begun adding sand to bunkers  on 7 and 8 as well as the chipping green bunker.

April showers brought May showers

After 11 inches of rainfall hit Lakelands in April, we have had 4 inches thus far in May. It rained 1.75 inches alone on Friday May 13. Amazingly, we allowed carts out on Saturday May 14. We drain very very well on most of the course with exception of holes 7,11 and 13. While most clubs closed for the day after such a huge amount of rain, we were open and carts were out. Most all the bunkers were washed out. The cart path at 7 washed out and required about 45 minutes repair alone.

Additionally, when heavy rainfall hits us, we have a flooded maintenance facility. We have challenges with every step. We try to overcome these challenges with a smile and sense of accomplishment. The team looks forward to some sunny and warm weather.

New member of the turf team

The 2011 maintenance team roster is finally set. We had many apply to be part of our winning team and fortunately we were able to negotiate a compensation package that worked for both parties. Please welcome Reece Philip Matthews to Lakelands. He comes to us with 4 1/2 years of experience and is able to operate most every piece of equipment we have. His is an avid golfer and admits his favorite club in his bag is his driver. When you see him out on the course, please welcome him with a thumbs up.
The weather has certainly changed for the better in the last week. The course is looking great heading into May. Come out to the club and enjoy all that Lakelands is.

Greens Aerification

Healing from aerification typically takes 10 - 14 days. With the cooler than normal temperatures we have had this spring, and the 4'th wettest April on record, recovery is slow. As we all wait for sunny and warmer days, so do the greens. We continue to feed the greens and monitor their progression.
Our summer annual preventative weed and crabgrass applications have been made and the fairways and tees have been fertilized.  You may be asking what are all the flags along the drive coming into the maintenance facility? We are having a new communication cable installed this week. The rainfall of April delayed the installation. The cable will be trenched in right along the gravel road. It will be back filled and flags will be pulled. Greens expansions are growing in nicely. As we continue to work the areas, we ask for your patience with this process.

April Showers

As we say good bye to April and all the rain, we look forward to some sunny skies. We have received over 11 inches of rain in April. This spring has been cold and rainy and not great for playing golf. It has been decent weather for winter damage recover. Different than last spring which was very warm and quite dry, this spring  has allowed us to grow in the majority if the damage we incurred over the winter.
We look forward to a great year on the course with several projects slated including a drainage installation on 11, removing the slag cart behind the range tee and finishing the installation of rocks around the pond at 8.
We are focused to produce great conditions on a daily basis all season long.
Enjoy your club.

Cold April

As we all await warmer temperatures, we have been very busy on the course. We have completed our early season greens aerification on April 14. We have received over 2 inches of rain since the 14'th, including a snowfall of almost 3 inches. Despite the cold and wet weather, we have applied our summer annual weed prevention application in the rough and fairways. We have also made our bluegrass seed head reduction application on greens. Stumps have been ground out and the cleanup of the entire course continues. We have had several days of sustained winds over 25 mph. The winds brought down many limbs, however we have not lost anything major to date. The tees have received a heavy divot/sand/seed application and the irrigation system is ready to go after a long winter rest. Planning for a drainage project on 11 is in progress and the flower plan is being put together for this seasons landscapes.
The long range forecast shows temperatures increasing in the next 10 days. Lets hope so.

Assistant Golf Course Superintendent

Lakelands has a new Assistant Golf Course Superintendent.  Shaun Maher has his turf degree from Penn State University. He grew up on golf courses with his father, a course Superintendent himself.  His previous work history includes the City of Livonia golf courses at Whispering Willows . He also has private club experience at Green Hills Country Club in Milbrae California. Shaun grew up in South Lyon. He played high school golf and has played many rounds here at Lakelands GCC. We look forward to have him on board. 

We have been busy getting the golf course in shape for the 2011 season.  If you have had the opportunity to play this spring, you have seen that Lakelands looks far better than it did last year at this time. There are a few greens which  have handled winter tougher than others. After close observations  and a visit from Dr. Kevin Frank from  Michigan State University, we are confident we will make a full recovery.  We have taken numerous turf samples this past week. The irrigation system is up and running. Our summer annual pre emergent weed application is being applied this week.  The golf maintenance staff will not be back to full strength until May 1. We are in the planning phase of a large drainage system for number 11 with installation to be complete by the end of April.

Member Help Day

"Help others and give something back...It's greatest reward is enrichment and the new meaning it will bring to your own life." Arnold Schwarzenegger

Tomorrow is member help day.  It is a great opportunity to come out and make a difference in one of your assets, Lakelands. We will begin at 10 am.  Even if you are only able to give an hour, we would greatly appreciate your help.
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Saturday April 9.

"Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something." Author Unknown

Course is Open

So the calender says it spring but we are still waiting to officially believe it!
On a positive note the golf course is OPEN for play. It's great to have some of our maintenance team back to work.  There are several new faces and some returning team members.  I will be posting with our staff bios shortly.
So far the weather has not been kind with temperatures averaging 10 degrees below normal.  Yet, we are looking forward to getting the course in top shape for a great golf season. We look forward to seeing you soon!
( Pressley sure is happy to be back out chasing down squirrels!)

Spring

I am sure I am not the only one who loves to see the sunshine and feel some warmer weather.  It is officially spring but will the weather hold?   

Due to the warming temperatures we pulled the covers on the greens Friday and Saturday.  As you can clearly  see in the pictures below, the greens that were covered look GREAT!  I am certain we are all happy to see this after the winter damage we suffered last year. In contrast to last year this time, we are certainly looking better  At this point we are cautiously optimistic.  As we know Spring weather can still be quite volatile. ( In fact the forecast calls for ice and snow over night) We will keep with the same practices we have been following all winter, not to allow snow or ice build up. 

So you may be asking why we don't cover entire greens or all of our greens?
I will begin with saying that we found these covers under the white pines behind the maintenance facility.  They are very old technology ( a felt type cover) .  An average green cover cost $1200.  Ideally we would like to cover as many of our greens as we could.  However, our budget simply does not allow for it.  Although a bit pessimistic about these old covers we found, we figured they would allow for decent protection.  Our only option was to cover our most winter sensitive areas on greens, specifically those hardest hit during past winters.
The immediate forecast for the next 36 hours calls for an accumulation of 1/4 inch of ice/sleet. I have made the decision to recover the lower half of the putting green, 1,2,the right half of 5 and all of 13. Stay tuned  as mother nature plays her game of "Spring in Michigan."

Snow and Ice removal

As the forcast calls for warming trends we clear snow to reduce the amount of standing water on the greens. The key here is to get all the water off the putting surface before the temperatures drop below freezing., therefore reducing the chance for ice damage. As you can see, there is standing water on the greens. We utilize squeegees to remove the water. It is important to remove snow from the surrounding banks. If not done, the snow will melt back down onto the greens.

Mid Winter Thaw

This is 18 green after clearing the snow . ( Also a thorough Pressley inspection!)

We saw our second thaw of the winter the week of February 13-19. We cleared all greens of ice and snow as well as surrounding banks that would melt down onto greens. Approximately 99% of the course was clear of snow and ice. We were able to inspect the turf and we were pleased as to what we saw. All turf preventively treated was free of winter disease(snow mold) and showed great color. The drainage furrows we cut into greens last fall to assist with water moving off the putting surfaces were working nicely.
Subsequently, 2 days later we received our biggest snow fall of the winter. Almost 11 inches came down on Sunday February 20. To date we are still covered course wide. All indications at this point show that so far mother nature and our work is keeping winter damage to a minimum. 

This is the putting green after snow removal.  We were able to successfully clear the three inches of ice seen in this photo.

Forecast shows further warming trends so we will have a constant eye on snow melt, possible ice build up, and turf conditions.

Snow storm hype & grinding equipment

The blizzard that covered the country and hit Michigan on February 1'st and 2'nd dropped a total of 11 inches at Lakelands. The course and entire region is truly a winter wonderland. We spent most of the day on Wednesday and the morning on Thursday plowing the club road and parking lots. Our plan is to remove all snow from the greens the week of February 7-11.

Ryan Lee our equipment technician and I spent the day on Friday travelling to Canton, Ohio to look at a set of used grinders we are looking to purchase. After spending about an hour inspecting the two units, we made the decision they would work very well for us. Part of our capital purchases in 2011 is the purchase of grinding machines.  These machines are used to sharpen reels, and bed knives. These are the parts of the mower actually doing the cutting. A reel is made up of helix shaped blades attached around a steel shaft. The reel and cutting unit are removed from the traction unit, mounted into the grinder and automatically sharpened by a pre-programmed, spinning stone.
Dull or poorly sharpened mowers tear and shred grass blades rather than cut them. This shredding causes the tips of injured leaves to turn straw-brown and die within a few days. Such injuries also assist infectious agents to penetrate plants and cause disease. Mowers should be sharpened and adjusted frequently to prevent excessive injury and to stimulate turfgrass health.
As expectations for smooth, consistent and faster greens increase, the surgical cut produced from reels sharpened with Express Dual and Anglemaster results in a consistency of cut that enables golf courses to provide everything golfers have come to expect.

Why Use Grinders?
It may sound simple but, using grinders keeps your mowing equipment sharp.
Dull mowers tear or shred grass blades rather than cut them. By using mowers that are surgically sharp you improve the quality of cut that is applied to your turf everyday.
A good quality of cut means healthier turfgrass, smoother surfaces and beautiful greens, tees and fairways.

EXPRESS DUAL 3000MC


With easy to use electrical and mechanical control systems, the new Express Dual 3000MC is competitively priced to meet any golf course budget. Express Dual 3000MC comes with an electrical clamping system making reel grinding super easy and super fast. The simple feed system with digital display ensures balanced cylinder blade grinding every time.

• Rigid, robust chassis
• Automatic traverse
• Flexible cylinder/reel drive
• Digital feed controls
• Electric clamping system
• Single switch control
• Lift and guard come standard

ANGLEMASTER 3000MC


The Anglemaster 3000MC offers speed and accuracy with simple mechanical control at a price and specification to suit your requirements. Applying Bernhard's approach of using a simple protractor with 'auto-cue' to find any desired angle, bottom blades can be sharpened to within one thousandth of an inch.
Independent in-feed and a single point advance make this the easiest bottom blade grinder on the market.

• Simple to set-up and use
• Accurate, grinds to within 0.001"
• Can grind bottom blades up to 40" long
• Automatic traverse
• Coolant dispersal and separation come standard

grinder pictures and info courtesy of Bernhard Grinding Company

Is this is the BIG ONE!?!

How much snow are we going to get?  The more the bettter.  Hope everyone stays safe.
We will keep you posted on the course once it is all on the ground.

Winter Weather

On January 16, we received mixed precipitation of freezing rain followed by three inches of snow. Subsequently, there is a thin layer of frozen granular/ice on the greens. Through many conversations with other private club Superintendents in south eastern Michigan, and the guidance of the faculty at MSU, ice should not be left on the greens longer than 30 days. The countdown began on 1-18-11.
Stay tuned for future developments.

1/1/2011

Happy New Year!
We have spent  a lot time checking and clearing greens this holiday season.  After being in touch with many other Superintendents in the area regarding ice we seem to be fairing well so far. Some Superintendents are seeing a honeycomb ice accumulation after clearing their greens.  So far Lakelands has had major snow melt however nothing as far as ice.  Obviously this can change on an hourly basis.  There are just two of us in right now so know we are managing to the best of our abilities in the sunlight hours. Our goal is to come out of this winter with much less damage as years past!

12/25/2010

As our focus turns to family and friends I am so grateful for Lakelands.  From our family to your, Merry Christmas