Getting the Course Ready for 2013

As another season approaches here at Glenwild, new and returning workers get the golf course ready for the 2013 season.



Getting Sprinklers Up and Running



Re-Seeding vole damage

Covering North Range Tees to speed up growth and recovery

 

Ben training on mowing the greens



Spring Is Here!

There may be snow in some places of the course still, as well as very cool temperatures, but signs of spring have arose. Glenwild's signature spring flower, the Grape Hyacinth, is starting to pop up around the clubhouse. Standing at about 4"-6" tall, it shows off its bright blue/purple cluster of flowers. In all actuality this flower is not a Hyacinth at all.  It's just called that because of it's formation of flowers, which look similar to a Hyacinth.  Instead it is part of the Muscari species and can be found in colors ranging from white, yellow, pink, blue and purple.

Another one of our Spring bloomers to watch for, a new addition this year, is Crocus.  These petite flowers are  most commonly planted in meadows and add dashes of color throughout the early spring. Look for the 5" tall flowers in the flower beds surrounding the clubhouse and driving range. Welcome Spring!!



Grape Hyacinths (Muscari sp.)



Yellow and White Crocus





Beware of the Red Foxes

If you can't find your golf ball and you see some foxes around.  Don't be surprised if you see one of them with your golf ball in their mouth.  I have seen this occur twice this season and have had a couple of members tell me that they have had this happen to them as well.

Roller Base Sprinkler Watering

We are placing these around the course this year in an effort to water some of our dry spots.  We are only using 4 of these at a time.  When playing if one of these is in your way.  Simple grab a hold of the hose and pull it out of your way.

This is hole number 5 with 3 roller bases and a section assistant doing some hand watering.

Details, Details

Attention to details is what keeps us looking SHARP

Here we have Ben supervising/training Raghu repainting the the numbers on all the yardage markers on the tee boxes

 Nic staining benches on the tee boxes.

 Jose our bunker crew leader edging bunkers.

Here we are removing thistle that is growing in our fine fescue next to 12 green.

Edging sprinkler heads

South Range Tee newly sodded/Poa annua removal

Since we expanded, leveled and layed new sodd we added steps because of the grades becoming steeper

Majority of upper level was finished last fall.  All that was left were the tie-ins

The Arrival of Spring

Once the snow melted there was little to no vole damage. The least amount of damage since 2004.

Plenty of dead Poa annua because of the fall Tenacity applications. Once things green up and begin growing we will know what Kentucky bluegrasss will recover and begin sodding out the dead Poa.

Range Tee Expansion

As the season came to a close our focus turned to completing projects for the upcoming season. One of the major projects we undertook was the expansion of the North Driving Range Tee. The existing tee of 11,943 square feet did not provide enough teeing space to allow for the recovery of used hitting areas before the same hitting area was needed again. The newly leveled and expanded tees are 21,170 square feet and will allow for the recovery of hitting areas before the same area is needed again, therefore providing a better practicing surface throughout the playing season.
We began the project by removing the sod from the existing tee boxes.

We removed and saved as much sod as possible in an effort to keep costs at a minimum. We saved turf from the slopes surrounding the tees and were able to put it back on the slopes after enlarging the tee boxes.

The turf from the tee top was thrown away due to the amount of Poa annua that was on the driving range tees. We replaced it with sod that was free from Poa annua.

We then began the excavation process. We removed approximately 12 inches of soil from the tee box closest to the chipping green and used that soil to expand the entire teeing area. We lowered that tee so that we would need to bring in less fill material to create a larger teeing area.

We used our dump truck and carts to transport the soil to the various parts of the tee that needed additional fill material.

We then brought in screened topsoil to level the teeing surface and to make the slopes in front of the tee boxes tie in with the driving range floor.

To ensure proper drainage on the tee box we made sure to maintain a 1% slope from back to front. To measure the slope as we were putting the finishing touches on the tee, we divided the tee box into ten foot sections and leveled and measured the slope one section at a time. The sections were divided using grading stakes and string. Top soil was spread out and compacted in layers to ensure proper compaction and to maintain a level surface.

We then laid sod on the surface of the tee.

Tenacity

Tenacity is the product we are using to control the Poa annua we have throughout the course, this product works by removing the chlorophyll within the plant essentially starving the plant and causing it to turn whitish in color and die.

We began a heavy fertilization program simultaneous to the spraying of Tenacity. The purpose of this was to encourage the Kentucky Bluegrass to fill in the voids where the Poa annua will die. We will sod areas where the Kentucky Bluegrass does not effectively fill in. Our fairways with the most Poa annua are holes 13, 14 and 15.

Having looked at these areas again recently, I have found some Kentucky bluegrass that will hopefully fill in with additional fertilization. I am anticipating that the need to sod will be limited to a very few areas on the course. If sodding is needed, it will be on the above-mentioned holes as well as on some of our green approaches where we have some bentgrass that is dying.

With the death of the Poa annua, there will be voids in the turf until it fills in. Until this occurs, golfers will play lift, clean, and place.

In the upcoming weeks, we will begin making Tenacity applications to the tee boxes and to a 36” swath around all the greens. The last application will take place sometime in September to these areas. Just like the fairways and green approaches, you will again see a yellow discoloration to the grass.

If there are any further questions that I have not covered concerning our Poa annua removal process please do not hesitate to contact me.

The Dynamic of the Crew

Now that the season is in full swing many of you may have noticed the diversity in ethnicity of our maintenance staff. This year we have a predominately new crew, with only 4 crew members returning from our previous season. The crew this year is mostly made up of refugees.

A refugee is a person who has been forced to flee his or her country due to past persecution, or a well-founded fear of future persecution, because of political opinion, race, religion, nationality, or particular social group.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) determines refugee status. According to UNHCR, there are currently about 15,000,000 refugees in the world. There are also an additional 29,000,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). IDPs are people in refugee-like situations who have not managed to cross the border to another country.

There are 3 durable solutions for refugees.

• The first choice is that the refugee can return to his or her home country because of changed country conditions.

• The second choice is that the person can be permanently resettled within the region of his or her own country. Permanent resettlement means that the person would have a pathway to citizenship within the host country.

• The last choice is third-country resettlement. This option is only considered when the first two options are not viable.
Less than one-half of one percent of the world’s refugees receive third-country resettlement.
The U.S. resettles approximately 80,000 refugees per year, more than 3 times as many refugees through third-country resettlement as the rest of the world combined. Currently there are approximately 25,000 refugees living in Utah, 99% live in the Salt Lake Valley. Between 1000 and 1100 new refugees arrive to Utah each year.

The above information is found at http://refugee.utah.gov/home/index.html

The refugees who work for us are from Burma, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Bagdad, and Nepal. A few of our refugees are from Burma but moved to Malaysia prior to relocating to the US. Others have parents from Burma but were born in refugee camps in Nepal.

We are optimistic for a hard working crew as many of them have shown ambition for learning new skills and a desire to be teachable. However, there have been some challenges training a crew who for the most part didn’t even know what golf was, let alone how to operate machinery. Communication with the refugees has been difficult. Most of the refugees speak little English, a good number are learning English. During the hiring process we had to make sure that we had one person who spoke each language and English proficiently enough to translate when necessary. It has also been interesting to discover what cultural difference we share. Expectations in the U.S. and at Glenwild require additional training. We are hopeful that this group can adopt our practices. We have been encouraged the last week or so and feel hopeful they might be figuring this all out.

Nestboxes

We have installed 17 large Nestboxes around the course. They are roughly 18” tall by 9” wide.

Theses nestboxes were constructed in our shop over the winter. We also constructed a smaller nestbox which is roughly 13” tall and 10” wide.
There are 2 sizes of nestboxes in order to attract a variety of different birds.
The larger nestboxes will attract the American Kestrel, Screech Owls and the Red-Shafted or Northern Flicker.

American Kestrel

Screech Owl

Northern Flicker

The Americal Kestrel and the Screech Owl prey on smaller mammals such as the voles we have here at Glenwild. Most vole damage occurs during the winter months when voles move through their grass runways under the protection of the snow.


Vole Damage in the Spring



Vole

The nestboxes were attached to Aspens and Spruces at a minimum of 10 feet or higher.

We have not installed any of the smaller nestboxes but will be doing so soon. They will attract song birds such as Mountain Bluebirds, Western Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Black-capped Chickadees, Mountain Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, and White-breasted Nuthatches. These song birds like open areas our course provides and can be seen swooping around the ponds for insects.

Mountian Bluebird

Western Bluebird

Tree Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

For more information you can visit the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Kestrel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebird
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screech-owl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Flicker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_Swallow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-capped_Chickadee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Chickadee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downy_Woodpecker
http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/adams/ag/vole.htm