Ball Washers before Christmas

We have been rehabbing tee markers, trash cans, club washers, ball washers and anything else we can look brand new for the start of the season. We will be repainting the trash cans and ball washers next week.  Today, we got all the ball washers power washed and broken apart so they are ready for paint. Those things get pretty gross inside.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. 

Main bodies of ball washers taken apart

Ray power washing the inside brushes 

Tops and guts of ball washers along with club washer bodies

Tee Markers

Today, we are rehabbing the tee markers so they will look like new. We will repair, paint and put a sealer coat on all 360 markers. 

So far this winter we have removed 49 trees that were dead or hazardous. Doing the tee markers gives the crew a small break from the tree work. 

Audubon Update

In 2014 we have to get re certified as a Audubon Certified Program Sanctuary golf course. One project we have going on this winter is the addition of more bird houses throughout the property. Last week we made 10 more for the course. Below is a picture of the finished product. 

Clubhouse Christmas lights

Monday and Tuesday this week the maintenance crew decorated the outside of the clubhouse. It turned out really cool. On Tuesday next week the inside of the clubhouse will be decorated with help from the social committee.

Pro Shop Entrance

Main Entrance

Greens snow mold application

On Friday, we shoveled snow off of 7 greens on Weiskopf and 4 greens on Devlin. By Friday afternoon, we were able to put our plant protectant for snow mold down on the Weiskopf greens. Saturday morning we were able to blow off Devlin greens and spray them with the same spray. We will be doing tees and fairways over the next few weeks on both courses.

This morning the Weiskopf course was open for play with cart path only being the rule as it is very wet from all the rain and 4+" of snow melting. We changed cups and blew greens off on the Weiskopf for play and then blew and sprayed Devlin. Devlin will remain closed until we close Weiskopf for the season. Devlin back nine will be available for walkers only once Weiskopf is closed for the season. 

Toro 5800 Multi Pro Sprayer

Great day of work

Even with the snow on the ground the golf course maintenance had a very productive day. 9 big trees were taken down on the Devlin. The 2 fairway bunkers on #1 Weiskopf and the 3 fairway bunkers on #4 Weiskopf had drains put in them so they won't hold water after a rain event.

Cutting down 3 trees on #10 Devlin

Reason why the trees were cut down

Golf Course Update

In case anyone missed it in the email blast last week here is the golf course update for November that was sent out to all the members.

November 1, 2013

Golf Course Update

                  The golf season has all but come to an abrupt end here at Quail Hollow.  I hope we will have some nice, dry days in the month of November to get in a few final rounds for 2013.  One course will be open daily as the weather permits until it is unplayable due to weather conditions. 

            The golf course maintenance staff has accomplished many goals set forth August 1^st when I arrived here at Quail.  As I look back at my initial notes and goals from that time, there were 10 things that I wanted to get done in a short amount of time. They are listed below.

1.     Irrigation leaks – We have fixed over 25 leaks since August, and the system is pretty well buttoned up.  We will have some issues arise when we prime the system back up in March/April, but we are in much better shape than we were.  ClubCorp also fixed one of the broken pumps that was the cause of some of the leaks and are now in place.

2.     Drainage finish work – Areas have been fixed, sodded, and drain how they are supposed to in most areas.  #16Devlin and #3Devlin Tee area will be projects this winter.

3.     ForeFront Construction has fixed all areas that they damaged and resodded #3 Tee Box which will be in perfect shape when we open back up in the spring.

4.     New TeeBoxes – With some extra fertilizer, topdressing, aerating, tee placement, and seeding, the new tee boxes are in good shape heading into winter.

5.     Fairways – The fairways have all healed in from the heat stress this summer and were in very good condition this fall.  We sodded many areas, so there are no major bare dirt areas in any of the fairways.

6.     Greens – Greens rolled true and were quicker for much of the fall.  The past few weeks before the weather hit, the Devlin greens were as good as any around.

7.     Wet area caused by RedHawk – No longer affects the golf course; it just needs finish work for aesthetics.

8.     Details – The staff has done much better with details – e.g. Cup cutting, bunker edging, traffic control, divots on tees, driving range setup. 

9.     Holes and bare spots – over 100 yards of topsoil were spread and seeded in the last 12 weeks.  Many areas were sodded as well.  We will do much more of this in the spring.

10.  Wetland trimming – was taken care of immediately.

We are now down to our winter staff and we will be continuing to clean up leaves, getting final mowing done, and applying our winter plant protectants to the greens, tees, and fairways.  Other than some of the projects mentioned above, if the weather allows, we will be continuing with the reinvention project at #1 Tee.  That area will look much better for the 2014 golfing season.  The small chipping area by the driving range needs a facelift as well as creating a bentgrass fairway nursery behind #3 Devlin green.  That is an area we need to utilize the best we can as irrigation and good soil is present there.  We will be servicing and repairing all equipment, grinding reels, adding drainage to fairways, rough and bunkers, dead tree removal as well as any other things that arise in addition to our duties in snow plow removal. 

This has been an exciting last few months, and I am very happy to be here at Quail to see these goals met.  We still have much work to be done, but we are headed in a positive direction.  If you see any of the maintenance staff, please thank them for their efforts as they have adapted to the changes that have been implemented with positive results.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions and visit the GCM blog all winter long for updates at http://qhccgrounds.blogspot.com.

Sam Leatherberry

Director of Golf Course Maintenance

Sam.leatherberry@ourclub.com

Devlin Deep Tine

The Devlin greens were deep tine aerated on Monday. A company called Perk Air comes in with two machines and does all the greens in 1 day. We were able to go down 6-7 inches. The Devlin greens are push-up greens(made from native soil) and need deeper channels for air, water and sand. On Tuesday we topdressed the greens, drug sand into the holes, and then they were rolled. Today, a product called K-Mag(0-0-22)was added to the greens based on soil tests. The rain the next few days should wash it nicely into the soil.

Perk Air deep timing #13 Green

Adding K-Mag to the greens today

#8 Weiskopf back left bunker

The back bunker on #8 Weiskopf has been an eyesore. The outfall drain was clogged, the bunker sand was no good and it had no edge and weeds all over it. We opened the drain, removed all the sand and edged it up. In the spring, we will add a liner and new sand, along with sod for the lower edge.  We will wait for the spring, so the sand will be fresh and ready to go out of the gate.

All the sand removed.  Drain lines clean.  Ready for liner and sand in the spring

Aerification season over

After aerating the Weiskopf greens, tees, and fairways, aeration for the 2013 season has come to a close. Everything is healing up nicely, and the greens look great 8-9 days after aerating. The back nine greens are a day plus behind the front nine as they were done last. See the pictures below on how they have healed in.

#7 Green topdressed last Tuesday after aerating

#7 Green Saturday morning after 1/2" tines (4 days)

#1 Green 7 days after aerating

View from #1 collar

First cut Devlin

We added the first cut of rough back in on the Devlin today. It was taken out this spring when the irrigation/drainage project was taking place. Now that most of the lines have grown in, we brought it back. It will take a few mowings to get it slicked back down, but it's a huge improvement from going straight to the fairway to 2.5" mowed rough. 

ClubCorp Charity Classic

ClubCorp Charity Classic at Quail a Hollow was a huge success. The Weiskopf course continues to improve and the greens were fast. Ray Hartman, Weiskopf superintendent, helped me paint a 60' by 60' grid in #18 fairway. There were 100 squares (6'x6') that were sold for Pete's pin shot. He took 3 shots and money was paid out for those squares.

Ray Hartman next to field striper

Lake Health Grid

The first winning shot

Driving range rotation

The cart barn driving range tee is set up on the grass Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday through Thursday the hotel end of the driving range is setup on the grass. This gives members the option to always hit off of grass instead of mats when the weather permits. This also allows us to rotate the range to get the divots to grow in quicker and provide a perfect surface to hit off of. 

#3 Devlin Tees and touch ups

The crew from ForeFront came back to reshape the tees on #3 and resodded them. We had them take the old sod and fix all the trench lines and valve areas that were left bare this spring. Sprinkler heads were leveled and drain lines were tied back together. All the areas that were affected this spring have now been fixed.

#3 Blue tee pointed towards middle of fairway and new bentgrass sod laid with bluegrass surrounds

Old tee sod used to fill any old drain lines and bare spots in the fairways.  We will remove the stakes and ropes once it is tacked down.

Devlin tee size

Over the years some of the Devlin tees have been greatly reduced in size. In the picture below on #14 you can see how narrow it has become. It is level on each side and is bentgrass so we have begun to lower the height on the edges to make the tee bigger. We are able to get 3-5 feet bigger on each side. There are many other tees like this that we will start to enlarge. By next spring the tees on Devlin will have more teeing space which in turn gives everyone better grass to hit off of. 

Moisture Meters

A lot of people have asked me what the device is that I have been using to check the greens. The Spectrum Technologies TDR 300 measures the volumetric water content(VWC) in the soil. It is the exact meter used by the USGA at their championships and also on the PGA Tour. This allows us to dry out the greens as much as possible without stressing out the turf. We check each green between 20 and 30 spots to see where water needs to be applied.  We only apply water where it needs it with a hose. Overhead sprinklers are only used on greens when the whole surface needs water which this time of year is very infrequent. If you see me or the guys  using them feel free to stop and we will show you how it works.

Moisture Meter

14.4% Moisture Content at this spot.  Average on the green after 33 readings is 14.5%

Pictures from Aerification of Devlin

The approach on #6 aerated

Lance sweeping cores off of #13 green

Process continues with blowing and fully cleaning plugs

After the greens were top dressed, but not yet dragged and rolled

Fairway aerator in action

Prepping for Aerification

Friday we aerated the hotel putting green. This allowed us to do a practice run on all our settings for the greens aerification on Tuesday. This includes aerator spacing, speed, sand volume, which topdressor will be best and most efficient at filling the holes and many other factors. We also could see how   aggressive we could be on the dragging of sand to fill the holes as well without damaging the turf. I feel good going into my first aeration at Quail that we have prepared to provide the shortest amount of recovery time possible on the Devlin course.

Lance aerating the Hotel Practice Green

Devlin collars

You will see white dot/lines on the Devlin collars over the next few weeks. They are wildly inconsistent in their size. Some are too wide and some are too narrow. We have dotted where the right size should be. We will slowly lower the height to get the extra areas back down to green height with a different mower. Where they are too narrow we will no longer cut that at greens height. Over time they will be as consistent as the collars on Weiskopf.

You can see the different size of the collar around the Devlin greens

#16 Devlin Gold Tee

We sprayed the abandoned gold tee on #16 Devlin with roundup two weeks ago with anticipation of tilling it up and reseeding with bentgrass. We ended up having some sod left from the driving range project so we stripped and leveled the tee and now it is sodded. This is a great hole from this tee box. 

#16 Gold Tee on Devlin

Old Driving Range Tee

The old driving range tee was leveled and raked smooth yesterday where the turf was missing. We then laid 5500 square feet of bentgrass sod to make that tee fully covered. It turned out great.

Prepped and leveled DR tee

Laying the sod

All finished.  Turned out great.

New practice green flags and sticks

Professional touch

9 flags and sticks at the original PG, 5 at the clubhouse green and 3 at the driving range

Aerification dates

We will be aerating the Devlin course on September 3rd, 4th and 5th. The greens, tees and fairways will all be aerated at this time. The course will be closed all three days. We will then do the Weiskopf course on October 1st, 2nd and 3rd. That course will be closed all three days as well. Both practice greens at both ends of the driving range will be aerated in September. The practice green at the clubhouse will remain open and will be aerated in October. 

Bunker details

The new Better Billy Bunkers have been an awesome addition to the few holes on both courses that were done. Now that the Devlin course has been completely edged, we are continuously working on sand depths in both the old and new bunkers. We are also taking inventory of rakes and adding some to the holes that don't have enough. We are placing the entire rake in the bunker with the head facing towards the green. The crew is not supposed to place the rake horizontal to the hole so the ball will not get held up on the faces. Below is an example of the new bunkers on #12 Devlin and how we are raking them in addition to the placement of the rakes.

Better Billy Bunker raked with rake placement not to interfere with shots

Looking across the hole

#5 Devlin

The front of #5 Devlin fairway has been such an eyesore with dead sod, bare areas and just soaking wet. When I first got here, I thought it was multiple irrigation breaks. We dug up 6 wet areas today and all were drainage lines that were severed during the irrigation install. The guys fixed all of them and added some more drainage and its amazing how the area dried up. With some topsoil to level the area and then seed, #5 fairway will be back to good shape very soon. 

Digging up and repairing each drainage break

Lance did a great job finding each break and leading a crew to make the area better

Lance, Tommy and Charles adding more drainage to even better dry out the area

Cart Path Only

We received 1.1" of rain early Tuesday morning. The ground already had a high moisture content and this rain made it even wetter. We were Cart Path Only on Tuesday and again today. Tomorrow on both courses we will be back to 90 degrees.  Thank you for your patience. This will also allow the rough to grow in and not cause additional ruts for the maintenance crew to fill. 

Crisp bunker edges

We have started getting a crisp 2-3" lip/edge on the bunkers. On most holes there was no defined edge on the bunkers and sand had migrated its way out into the grass. There was too much sand in places on the faces which can cause the ball to plug in the face rather than roll back to the center. We have about half the Devlin course finished and will move over to the Weiskopf early in the week.

#8 Devlin before we started.  Notice all the sand mix into the grass

Crew moving sand around to right depths and pulling sand off the edges

Crisp finished product after weedeating the edges and raking

Much better defined visual from far away