Excuse Our Mess

Over this week we are trying to soften the bunkers that have become compacted due to the recent rains and play over the past couple of months. In addition, we are weed eating the bunker faces, edging, removing runners and smoothing all of the bunkers. These processes require a lot of time and our goal is to finish this week before the season goes into full swing. With vacations and holidays the manpower is limited thus we ask that you please be patient until we finish.

The tree trimming was finished today and the final clean up of the pesky smaller branches that fall out days after will continue until this weekend. With the weather once again cooling down the remaining leaves of the deciduous trees are falling and we are cleaning them up as fast as we can. The good news is that all of these processes should be finished by this weekend.

Speaking of the upcoming weekend ... please be prepared for potential frost delays. It is projected that the temperature will drop to the mid to upper thirties.

Divot Boxes

We have been having issues with seed germinating in the divot bottles. This in part is due to the divot bottle containers on 5, 7 & 14 are not being closed completely by the members exchanging their divot bottles and thus during the nighttime irrigation the containers holding sand & seed are getting wet. Please close the lids tightly on the containers.

In addition, if you get a container from the cart staff that has germinated seed please notify Shaun or Brian immediately so we can bring good sand to the cart barn.

Fertilizer is Paying Off

We have been fertilizing the fairways heavy lately including one foliar and one granular application per week. These fertilization's have aided in the thickening of the ryegrass and has reduced the "yellowing" effect of the frosts that have happened in the last week.

We will continue to add seed in the wear areas and fertilizing heavy during the month of December to reduce the effects of the traffic wear and get us ready for January and the events upcoming.

Traffic Wear

Attached to the blog is a picture on 9's fairway which illustrates the problem of traffic wear and the carts driving the same path. This damage was caused within less than a week of traffic and will take two to three weeks to recover. Please scatter and do not drive where others have.

Thanksgiving 2010

First and foremost Happy Thanksgiving. We down in maintenance hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday.

With Thanksgiving here so is the cooler weather and the frost delays. It is critical that before you drive on the golf course that you check in with the pro shop to find out the current conditions for the day. Remember that it takes weeks to months to recover from frost related damage.

Always remember to SCATTER.

Tree trimming is starting on December 13th and only the worse of the trees will be trimmed to keep us within budget. We have a three to four year rotation and thus a tree you might want trimmed may not be slated this year ... but that being said if it is no harm to the tree you may pay for the desired trimming.

Speaking of trees, this year we planted 17 trees and only lost 5 to death or disease. Additional trees will be planted started in Jan thanks to the contributions from members for the five year tree replacement program. The Green Committee has made adjustments to the tree program and if you would like the details I believe it will be posted soon.

Scatter & Traffic Wear

The golf course is open and there is still seed germinating thus it critical that you scatter when traveling hole to hole; and leaving the tee complex or entering the green area. Lately, we have been seeing heavy wear from cart traffic in the areas listed above ... we are moving the ropes daily; however, this is just a temp solution of a deep rooted problem. One look at the par 3's that get very little traffic you will see a much healthier turf.

In courses such as Avondale which doesn't have wall-to-wall cart path survival of the newly germinated ryegrass depends solely on our members to ability to scatter. Thus we are asking for the health of the turf that if you see an area with traffic wear please choose another path to enter or exit.

December in November

The cooler weather has come upon us earlier this year than in past years, and even today we had a slight frost in the low lying areas. So what does this mean ... well currently the ryegrass is still germinating and what has germinated is only at the first and second tiller so far. Early cold weather along with the the flush of bermudagrass that we experienced in October after the rains will lead to off-coloring and thinning of the turf especially in the fairways and tees.

The good news is that we have so far put down 1,200 lbs per acre in the fairways and are fertilizing heavy to combat this thinning effect. In addition, we will be performing foliar fertilizer applications starting next week. The best news is that here in the Valley these effects historically go away during the first part of January as the ryegrass begins to tiller.

Course Opening

Finally the golf course is open and everyone seems to be enjoying being able to get out and play. Conditions overall are pretty good and the greens are rolling smoothly. Speaking of greens; over the next couple of weeks we will be lightly topdressing and rolling to increase the speed and the playability.

Overseeding this year was the toughest I have seen since arriving to the Valley over 10 years ago. Although the weather was cooler than most years and air movement was nonexistent while the humidity and dew point were quite high thus leading to numerous outbreaks of Pythium. Additionally, we had later increased temperatures and heavy rains which brought the bermudagrass back stronger than ever ... thus a great opening; however, if we have a cold November or December will lead to browning of the turf base.

We are fertilizing heavy (now that the temperatures have dropped) and adding addition seed to the fairways to lessen the potential of the "browning" effect. This will help but will not stop it entirely. The good news is that historically in the Valley this is short lived.

Overseeding 2010

This year we got the seed down and the irrigation started in record time -- 6 days & 1 hour, without any overtime. The weather was great and the winds were low thus we did not have anything to slow us down. This is good news since this year we have seven days less to get the golf course ready than we did last year due to the later start date and one day sooner opening.

The team is getting ready for the transfer of power to JC Resorts coming on Nov 1st and starting tomorrow they are doing their applications and interviews. In addition, the new uniform company is coming out and by opening day you should see our staff back in uniform.

Flowers are coming in next week and will be planted upon their arrival. There will a couple new additions of color bowls at the entrance and JC Resorts is looking into long-term additions to our color pallet. The oleanders along El Dorado are slated for trim Nov 2nd and should be finished within a day. Numerous applications are slated for the upcoming weeks thus please DO NOT drive on the golf course early.

We have block off every entrance into the golf course and ask that you please do not go on to it until we open. Every year we have one or two people who ignore this and cause damage to the golf course which takes us additional weeks to repair. In addition, the dog park will be closed for the next three weeks.

Dog Park Closure & Stuff

In the upcoming week we will be closing the dog park for scalping and seeding. The gate will be roped shut and will remain that way until the overseeding press is finished. In addition, if we get time we will be also scalping and overseeding the hills at the clubhouse. Since this area is a stand alone irrigation but still connected to main line we start its overseeding sooner to prevent pressure loss on the system.

Over the upcoming week we will continue the scalping process of the fairways, tees and roughs. We expect to be finished the rough scalping by Tuesday, and what we can scalp on the tees and fairways by Friday in time for the brownout tournament. The water is going to be cut back quite a bit on the greens this weekend so they will not be a pretty as they are now but will play just fine ... quick however.

The tree trimming is completely for overseed and the sump on 2 has finally been finished. There is some work occurring on # 8 but that to shall be finished this upcoming week. I heard a few people were saddened by the lost of a few trees ... as I was too. These trees were removed due to the fact that they died or posed safety concerns to our members. The good news is that we planted over twice as many as we lost.

Trimming, Tree Removal, Sumps & Drying

The tree trimming has started and should be completed in a couple of weeks. This trimming addresses only the shade issues and not the eucalyptus trees or pines. The trimming of pines and the eucalyptus trees will be done in December. In addition to the trimming we sadly had a couple of trees that required removal. These trees were located front and left of 1 & 3's tee; behind and right of 17's green; and left of 13's green near the wall. These trees all died or will be dead in couple of months. Speaking of trees, the ones we planted this summer (17 in all) are for the most part doing well; however, there are three of them not doing as well ... we suspect heat issues in the planting process.

The new wet well and drainage sumps along the fence of 2 will be finished by Friday. This will make that area more playable and drier this season. Until this area settles there will be 2 clean out ports above ground, and next summer we will fix this area correctly. The ruts caused by the equipment will be leveled before overseed and completely repaired next summer.

You may have noticed that we have started drying out the golf course -- but not completely. Most of the dry areas are in the roughs but over the upcoming week you will see more and more in the fairways & tees. Part of the reason we dry the golf course out slowly is to promote deeper roots on the bermudagrass so when it comes out of dormancy it is a stronger turf. Other reasons include better to scalp, easier to clean, etc. Overall, it will help us get ready for the upcoming overseed.

Greens, Ants & Summer Plan

The greens recovered beautifully. On Wednesday we cut the greens after a couple of days of dragging and got a smooth cut. All of the members I ran into were completely happy about the greens and were amazed on just how quickly they recovered. As I explained to them, turf is a biotic system just like humans that if it gets scalped it takes a couple of days to heal from its injury. We still will be working on the greens over the next couple of weeks to have them perfect for overseeding.

Ants around the golf course have been treated by CV Vector Control yesterday. Vector control sent out their team and treated the entire golf course and a select few homes that called in problems. They told me that they did not find very many active mounds but treated all of the ones they did find. The best part is that they provide this service completely free to Avondale GC.

Summer Plan: I have been hearing from the Pro Shop that their are members who believe that this plan really is Jeff (me) running the golf course. Nothing could be further from the truth. The summer plan was developed in response to the Board's request to provide our summer members excellent golf course with a limited budget. This idea was given to the Green Committee to develop along with the Golf Committee, the GM (at the time), the head pro and the superintendent. After six months a plan was produced and given to the Board (which was the newly elected Board) for approval which they did approve.

So what is the plan's basics and what does it provide to the members:

1) The pro shop will be present seven days per week thus providing excellent service to our summer member and their guest ... since they are salary and their work week is still less than 40 hours this was at no additional costs to the Club.

2) There was no change to the start time of 6:30 am, however, between 6:30 to 7:00 am all groups playing had to be threesomes or more. This allowed the pro shop to have better control of the start times and the playing times.

3) Any mini-shotguns and play itself started off of the first tee. Once again this allowed the pro shop to have better control of where the play was and ensured our summer members to have a prepared golf course to play.

The summer plan has been a great success and has done exactly what it was intended to do ... that is provide a prepared golf course for the ALL of the summer members to play while allowing the maintenance to finish their preparation in a timely manner thus getting more done with less and saving the Club money.

Saying the course is ran by me because of the summer plan would be like saying the Garden Dining room is being ran by Andrew deciding the hours of being open ... the decision for the summer plan was a well thought out plan in concert with the Green & Golf Committees and the Board.

What Happened to the Greens?

You may have noticed last week that we were experiencing scalping on our greens and may wonder why.

Last week we started to lower the HOC (height of cut) from 1/8 inch to 1/10 inch and started to experience some scalping. Part of this was due to thatch found in the green thus we started verticutting (a way to remove thatch) three times last week and even double verticut on last Friday prior to mowing. In addition, to allow the green to heal from the scalping while we were aggressively verticutting we raised the HOC back to 1/8 of an inch.

Over the weekend I myself mowed the greens and discovered that not only did we have a thatch problem but we also had slight imperfections in the greens from not getting the greens completely smooth after aerification. These areas were scalping into the sand and causing issues that we needed to address immediately so we could lower the HOC as well as getting ready for the upcoming overseed.

On Saturday I lowered the amount of irrigation so on Monday we could drag the greens in a effort to smooth them out. On Monday, first we drug the greens with the coca mat, then mowed them followed by dragging them once again with our green drag brushes. Since Monday was a short day due to the Holiday that was all we did that day. On Tuesday, we first aggressively verticut the greens followed by dragging them once again with the green brush -- this time, however, we did not mow the greens. Later in the day Ernie and I went out and irrigated the greens heavily, and last night I upped the irrigation.

This morning we mowed the greens and we are no longer scalping. But that being said we will be topdressing, dragging and verticutting them to completely smooth them before overseeding to give us the perfect surface that we have come to expect.

First, I want to say the greens perfectly healthy and are growing in fine. Second, lowering the HOC in the second week after aerification is normal and if it wasn't for the pockets of sand and thatch we would have no issues. The problem was we did not smooth them as well as we have in the past and rush ourselves to give our summer members a better product quicker. This is the first year we have used solely 30-grade kiln dried sand and shortened our window of aerification. This did not work so well and will be addressed in the next Green Committee meeting.

The greens are fine and will quickly heal from the scalping that occurred last week. If you have any questions please contact me directly.

Upcoming Events on the Course

Starting the 7th of Sept we will be creating grass piles for future removal on holes 5, 9 and 14. The reason we create these piles is due to the fact it is much cheaper to remove grass clippings alone that mixed debris. That being said, every year we have gardeners try to place their debris on our piles which not allowed.

In addition, starting the 7th the HOA's crew is going to be addressing the sump issue along the fence line of hole 2. For the saftey of their crew this hole will be closed during this process.

Sept 9th CV Vector Control will be coming out to treat the golf course for fire ants. If you are a homeowner in Avondale this is a great time to have them treat your yard as well for the most effective removal of these pests.

Starting Sept 13th we will be starting the annual tree trimming of certain trees to allow sunlight to reach the turf canopy. There will be a couple trees removed due to their failing health and most likely a couple more due to safety concerns.

Aerification & Tree Trimming

We have finished the aerification process for the year and the next week or two will be the sand removal process off the greens. This last aerification we used 75+ tons of 30-grade kiln dried sand to ensure all the holes are filled and to smooth the greens in prep for the upcoming overseed. Excess sand has to be removed by a combination of mowing and dragging which is the process that takes the longest to complete.

Tree trimming is coming up soon ... starting Sept 13th. This process allows the light to reach the turf thus allowing for a more successful overseeding. So when you see the the ribbons around the trees this only means that they are slated for trimming and not removal. Speaking of removal, over the aerification we had to remove the pepper tree near 11's green due to killer bees. We have tried several times to remove this hive without any long term success and since it posed a harm to our staff and members the tree had to be removed to keep the bees from returning. I should note that this time the hive weighed over 90 lbs and contained well over 50,000 bees.

It has also been brought to my attention that some homeowners believe we are not cleaning Country Club drive enough and more should be done. During the summer months we clean CC Drive twice per month and trim once. Due to our limited crew size and the amount of work needed on the golf course during the summer this is all we can do for now. The good news is that we are still cleaner than some in the Valley.

JC Resort's Sand Hauler

Greens aerification is complete and with using JC Resort's sand hauler we were able to get the sand to the outlying greens quicker than ever with less sand loss. In year's past we have only been able to do three passes on a green before having to return to the shop to reload the topdresser ... but with using this piece of equipment we were able to finish a green entirely before returning to the shop.

Aerification is almost complete and we will be done with the tees & fairways tomorrow. Sand clean up on the greens will start tomorrow as well.

August Aerification

Starting this Monday we will be preforming our last aerification of the season. During this time the golf course will be closed for three days and will not open until 9:00 am on Thursday, however, JC Resorts has offered their other properties for the members of Avondale to play at while we are closed. I hope that many of you take the opportunity to see how JC Resorts runs their facilities.

Lots of work has started around the course already getting ready for Sept which is when we start prepping the course for overseed. In addition, my team has been doing some landscape work around the clubhouse to clean up the presentation for our members upon their return (and for the ones still here).

August Aerification

It is hard to believe that we are looking at the next aerification (the last of the year) already. Yesterday, we aerified the nurseries, small putting green and both the chipping greens, and next Monday we will be starting the rough aerification. Starting on the 16th of Aug. we will be closing the golf course for three days to aerify the greens, tees and fairways. This is always a big process and we encourage the members that are still here during the summer to come out and watch.

After Board approval the "animals" topiaries were removed from the clubhouse area. After Chuck repairs and paints the wall we will be planting the new wall cover which should greatly improve the overall look as you enter the staging area. In addition, the Board outsourced the bed replacement as you enter the parking lot at the clubhouse recently to tie in with the improvements that the HOA has been doing along the Avondale Drive.

The fairways have recovered nicely from the transition and now we are starting efforts to get them ready for overseed ... yes, I said overseed. Believe it or not we start in August the preparations to get ready for overseed which is just around the corner. The seed has already been ordered and will arrive in Sept.

Hydraulic Leaks & Triplex Woes

Many of you may have noticed that last week we have a triplex leak on the clean up pass of 6's green surround. Well today another triplex sprung a leak this time on a green ... hole number 2. Fortunately, Ernie was the one mowing the green and he caught it quickly even though it was a small leak. We will be treating the leak today with charcoal and expect it to recover soon.

Speaking of triplexes we have been having several issues again this with our aging fleet. One triplex is down for repair for the hydraulic hose leak, another is down for the failure of the main hydraulic motor, one more is down now for leaking on the green and another is awaiting a hydraulic overhaul. If you are counting that is four triplexes with hydraulic problems.

Hopefully soon we will have these units back up and operational.

Drill & Fill and Aerification

We have finished the drill & fill process of the greens on Tuesday. This process is a very labor intensive process requiring most of the crew to haul sand buckets just to keep the drilling machines full. This means that most of the other duties around the golf course had to be put on the sideline due to our labor shortage, but we will have caught back up soon.

The purpose of drilling the greens is to allow the water in the soil profile to move downwards thus reducing algae and disease potential of the putting surface. In addition these 1" by 12" holes also promote deeper root growth which in turn improves the stress tolerance of the plant during the summer months.

Although we finished most of the aerification of the remainder of the golf course should be finished in the next couple of days. All we have left is several of the front nine's fairways. Both the greens and the fairways will recover quickly since the humidity and temperature is back to normal.

I have been told that my voice was not picked up in the you tube video during the last town hall meeting (that is unusual). Just to let you know that what I said is mainly that I support JC Resorts and I think that they will help us gain much needed membership to allow us to move from a great golf course to a fantastic one. Plus you just gotta love their initals "JC" which just so happen to be mine too.

Transition, Aerfication & Upcoming Drilling of the Greens

Transition around the golf course is progressing quite nicely. As of date we have over 90% recovery of the fairways and if you discount the tree root areas along with the heavily shaded areas the recover exceeds 95%. The areas where we did not chemically treat the ryegrass such as the approaches and roughs have just started transition and will take longer to recover since the bermudagrass has to compete with the ryegrass for growing real estate.

The second round of aerifications has started in the roughs this week and starting tomorrow we will be aerifying some select tees and the DR floor & tee. Since we do the second aerification while the golf course is open it will take us longer than normal but we should finish on time. These aerifications aid in the percolation of the water and relieves compaction while promoting deeper roots thus healthier turf.

Speaking of aerification, we will be deep drilling the greens next week on Monday & Tuesday (maybe Wednesday too). We are not going to be progressing in order and will be closing the holes that we will be working on or cleaning up. We ask that you please jump around us while the process is occurring and play those holes that you may have missed later. This will aid in the speeding up of the process and have us out of your way sooner.

You may see some pink dots on the edges of the greens. These are to mark the areas that we are plugging out and repairing. You will notice that these areas are all on the edges of the greens and may ask why ... the reason is because during the season we have collars that are maintained at a higher height of cut and once we recover them for the summer the ryegrass and Poa Triv have out competed the bermudagrass thus making them weaker during transition.

Wells, Transition & Recovery

Last week we finally got our well on 6 after almost a month of being under repair. What does this mean? This means that finally we can water the golf course back up to its full requirements of water needs. Over the past month we have been short on daily irrigation from 500,000 to 700,000 gallon per day on average thus now with the additional irrigation inputs the recovery process during transition will increase.

Transition is always a tough time for both the member and the staff. Many forget from year to year just how bad at first this process can be especially after experiencing such great conditions as we did during the overseeding season. The bad news is that the better the overseeding season the worse the transition is historically. The good news is that is our main focus to improve for a couple of reasons. First, of course for the members and their guest that remain during the summer months and second, the better recovery we get during the summer months the better overseeding season we will have coming up in October.

In the sunny areas around the golf course the turf is almost 100% recovered, however, in the shaded areas such as 16 & 17 (only getting less than 2 hours of direct sunlight per day) and the edges of the fairways where the tree roots complete with the turf recovery has a long way to go.

The good news is that we are recovering and believe it or not we are better recovered this year than we have been in past year's. I have been taking pictures of the course over the five years I have been here and the golf course has improved every year. From my first year where only 40% of the fairways where alive even in August to this year where most of the fairways have already recovered (exceptions to be noted) we are leaps and bounds above where we started together.

Trust me when I say the golf course will recover ... fully ... no. Areas affected by tree roots may not every recover in the summer months but the good news is that we are addressing them everyday. When I grew turf back east in Florida we use to address these areas under the trees with Round Up (for the weeds) and pine straw to make these areas look great ... sadly, that is not part of our design here at Avondale thus we continue every year to try our very best to establish turf in these areas.

First Day of Aerification

Today we started the aerification of the greens, fairways & tees. The greens are progressing quickly thanks to a trailer that we bought last year to haul the aerifiers from green to green. Thanks to this one piece of equipment we were able to complete three more greens than we have ever done in the years before ... and with less staff. One day we will purchase a sand hauler and we will shorten the time even further.

We started the aerification of the fairways and tees as well, however, we noticed too late the the range had over 200 balls on it (most were yellow) even though it was cleaned picked. Most likely this means that someone had golf balls stockpiled at home and used them after the range had closed. The sad part is that all those golf balls are destroyed now and the Club suffers a loss in money.

If everything goes right tomorrow we will be done with the greens and Wednesday will be used for clean up, finishing fairways & tees, and several applications including grub and fairy ring control as well as fertilization. Whatever, is left will be finished Thursday morning before the first tee time at 9:00 am.

We are still on hold for the use of the well on 6 and hopefully will have it back operational soon.

Lake Levels

You may have noticed the lake levels have been down for the past couple of days ... this is because we have one well out and the other is having electrical panel problems. By this weekend we should be back up to normal.

Oleander Trimming & Stuff

The oleander trimming started today and for the most will be completed today as well. This is a big process that requires most of my team to get completed in one day thus there will be very few crew members on the golf course.

On greens 1, 2, 12 & 15 you may notice a slight bit of scalping from the greens mower. The machine was having problems that included dropping the reels on its own after being lifted from the mowing of the green. Good news is that areas will heal quickly and the machine is in repair.

Spraying of the nutsedge starts today and it herbicide application will take out the ryegrass along with the sedge; however, this application will NOT harm the bermudagrass which will fill in the areas over time.

Fairy Ring, Sedge & Palms

As the summer comes in so does the fairy ring on the greens. This does not kill the bermudagrass but for sure wipes out the Poa Triv. Other than looking bad and producing mushrooms, fairy ring poses no long term harm to the green; however, with that being said we will be treating it during the aerification which allows the chemical to penetrate deeply into the profile.

The purple nutsedge is coming back especially around a few greens. As many of you know purple nutsedge is considered to be the world's worse weed and due to the high number of underground nutlets each plant produces quite difficult to control. Over the past 5 years we have gotten our nutsedge population down from in excess of 40 acres to less than 3 total acres. We have had a very aggressive program and starting next week we will be starting it up again. I should note that the same herbicide that kills the sedge also kills the ryegrass; however, the bermuda is not affected at all. This will lead to some weak areas at first but they should recovery nicely soon after.

The palms around the golf course are NOT going to be trimming again this year in a effort to save thousands of dollars. That being said we will trim the date palms and select few solely around the clubhouse. That trimming will be done during the aerification.

Warmer Weather & Transition

Finally, the weather has started to warm up and over the last two days we are seeing the fairways starting to grow back in with bermudagrass. Another couple weeks and we will be filled mostly back in on the fairways,; however, this same warmer weather is going to take out the ryegrass that we did not chemically treat. These areas to will be going through transition and will be uglier at first until the bermudagrass without competition fills those areas. These areas include the greens and approaches as well as areas under the trees.

This upcoming week we are limited of staff due to the holiday and we will also be trimming the oleanders along El Dorado which will take the staff off the course. The week after that we will be starting the aerification of the rough to relieve the compaction from all of the cart traffic. There will be plugs left behind but remember according to the rules of golf you get free relief.

Be patient through these times of aerifications and transition, and just enjoy your round of golf. These are necessary evils that we too do not enjoy but will make the golf course so much better in the long run. As you can tell by the seasons getting better and better these processes make the golf course more enjoyable especially during the season.

Three "W's" - Weather, Wind & Water

Transition -- this is the time of year that is hated by both members and superintendents equally. It is the time of year for the few in the nation that overseed that we on purpose kill one type of grass (our cool season) to give rise to another (our warm season) just so we can prepare the golf course to be ready for another season of cool season turf (ryegrass) and start the process all over again. In our world we joke that there is two times a year that if we could go on vacation for a month it would be in December when the bermudagrass that we have so hard during the summer months to bring back into healthy condition we have effectively knocked down and the ryegrass hasn't quite filled back in it place; and the other is during transition (May & June) where we go out of our way to kill the ryegrass that we have worked so hard to make perfect leaves the course weak until the bermudagrass can fill back in once again.

As superintendents we are depended not only on our skills alone but also Mother Nature's three "W's" for an easier transition -- you will have notice I did not say perfect transition ... that is not possible unless you are God. The three "W's" -- weather, wind and water control how the transition will occur. Many super high end golf courses just sod out the areas that were affected by transition which give immediate gratification for tens of thousands of dollars; however, leaves the areas sodded to have to be done from that year on. Just like every other course the three "W's" determine just how much they are going to spend.

This year we have had all three "W's" fighting against us ... the weather has been ten to twenty degrees cooler, the winds have been at a all time high for the month of May thus drying the turf, and both of wells went down during the time we needed them the most thus limiting our water to less than half of what we needed.

The good news is that everything will recover ... quickly -- no. With the cooler weather the ryegrass has become strong again in the areas we have not chemically treated such the greens and approaches, which means that when these areas finally do transition they will be rough at first. Turf is not like carpet where one day it is less than desirable and then the next it is perfect ... we are depended on time and the three "W's" to ease this time of year ... but we will get there soon.

Draining Pools & Wear Patterns

As summer is upon us many of the members and homeowners have left for the season leaving their pool people in charge of maintaining their swimming pools in their absence. Sadly, every year we receive damage to the golf course turf due to the laziness of the pool cleaners who instead of draining the pools they are in charge of correctly they take the quickest way of completed the tasks. I would asked that if you could, please speak to your pool people and let them know that you will not tolerate these kind of actions.

There is also a picture to the right of golf cart wear patterns and the damage it causes to the turf from not scattering. During the summer months we remove the ropes to make it easier for the maintenance staff to complete their tasks in a timely manner; however, I need help from you to even out the wear pattern by SCATTERING please. This will not only help now but in the future as well.

Bunker Rakes

Bunker rakes ... in the bunker ... out of the bunker ... sticking up out of the bunker ... the list goes on and on. It was decided the to expedite the maintenance staff during the summer months and lower damage to the rakes themselves that we would place them inside the bunkers until next season. This only a temporary change just for the summer thus the debate can rage on about their placement during the upcoming season.

Why Are the Fairways Browning?

I have been asked a few times lately "Why are the fairways not as green and lush as the approaches?" This is a good question and the reason is because we sprayed them on May 3rd with a chemical designed to remove the ryegrass without harming the bermudagrass.

You may ask did we do that? Well due to our large trees we have difficultly completely removing the ryegrass which competes with the bermuda for inputs such as sun, fertilizer and space itself. For bermudagrass to become healthy during the transition it requires at least 100 days of growth in the growing season. By removing the ryegrass (it completion) we allow the bermuda to fill in and completly recover thus providing a better base for the overseed.

To the right you will also see a overfilled divot ... which we see many of on the fairways everyday. Years ago someone told the members around here to overfill the divots for complete recovery and that the irrigation would level it over the evening ... well that is not true. The picture you see is in the morning after irrigation and level it is not! When we mow the fairways in the morning these divot piles act like sand paper to our reels and bedknives thus dulling them quickly and costing the Club monies in replacement and labor to sharpen. Please level with your foot these divot sand piles and save the Club thousands in the process.

Excuse Our Mess

We have started several smaller projects such as re-shaping of 2 and 6's greenside bunkers and adding much needed drains around the course. These projects are mostly finished and should be healed in a couple of weeks. In addition, all roped off areas are out of play due to potential damage to the turf. We have also opened up the area which is always wet along the right side of 2 from the drainage of the streets. This area will be repaired soon.

You may have noticed that there is a crane out on 18 next to the well. This crane has just removed our pump and shaft which required repair to the lowering of the water table in the Valley. Over the past 5 years the water table has dropped 30 ft and since 1995 almost 100 ft. The repairs on the shaft will be completed on Thursday, however, on Friday the crane will be removing the shaft and pump on 6's well since it too has been having issues and is currently blowing out water from the top of the shaft into the motor. This entire project will be completed in a couple of weeks.

Wells & Spraying the Ryegrass

Starting on Monday the 3rd of May you will be seeing a crane out working on the well on 18. We are having issues with that well along with the other well on 6 and have a company coming out to repair the problems we are having. Over the next couple of weeks the crane and their crews will be for time to time on the property until the problems are fixed.

Starting tomorrow we will be starting the process of chemically removing the ryegrass. At first this will lead to weak and bare areas, however, the bermudagrass will fill in over the upcoming weeks leaving us a wonderful base for the next overseeding season.

Flush of Turfgrass Growth

With the increasing of the temperatures and retention of the cooler night time temps we are experiencing a flush in the growth of the turf. The warmer temperatures are perfect for the warm-season turf (bermudagrass) while the cooler night time temperatures are perfect for the cool-season turf (Poa Triv) thus allowing both turfs to grow aggressively at the same time.

We first noticed this flush of growth on this last Friday when the clipping yields increased from half a basket to three baskets per green. So what does this mean? Well it means that for a period of time until we can control the growth that the greed speeds will greatly decrease, maintenance practices will slow down due to increased clipping removal and overall playability will slightly decrease.

On Saturday we smooth rolled the greens and lowered the height of cut of the turf to 0.090 of a inch. The next day on Sunday we applied Primo (a growth regulator) to our greens, however, this will take about a week to take effect. On Monday we brought out the heavy roller onto the greens along with replacing all the bedknives of our mowers to improve the quality of the cut.

All of the things will help but we will not be able to address the problem until after the Tapestry when we can finally verticut and thin the turf. This flush of growth normally occurs in March, however, this year with the temperatures remaining cool in March this flush did not occur until now. This is normal and will be back to normal soon.

End of Season

With the final major event coming up this week the 09 - 10 season will come to a close ... or at least for the ryegrass season part.

Starting on the 23rd of April we will be verticutting the greens to removed the Poa Triv and promote the bermudagrass growth. And with May just around the corner we will start the chemical removal of the ryegrass around the golf course which will lead to a uglier golf course for a couple of weeks until the bermudagrass can fill back in these transitional areas. The good news is that we had a great bermudagrass base prior to overseeding thus this will speed the process.

May in general is "the button up" month. We will finish any projects we have started (such as the expansion of the irrigation system behind 14's green) and do some final tweaks to the bunkers that we re-designed last year. Our goal is to have everything completed by the first week of June so we can focus our limited staff into just maintaining a high quality golf course for our summer members and their guest.

I will keep you up to date on upcoming projects.

Bad Nozzles

As our irrigation system ages we start seeing the effects of nozzle wear on several heads. Historically, these problems will start in the lower pressure areas such at the ends of the irrigation loops (i.e. 12, 13, 14) and as the temperature rises become more and more visible. As we find the problems we replace the nozzles and check pressure at the irrigation head, but that being said it usually takes a couple of weeks for the visual problem to go away.

On Apr 7th CV Vector control will be on the golf course treating fire ants. So far I haven't noticed any mounds, however, if you see any please notify me so I can get the area treated.

Temperature Is Rising

As the temperature starts to rise again the ryegrass is going to start transition back to the bermudagrass base. Areas such as under the trees will exhibit the ryegrass stress first followed soon in the rough areas. With two big events left in the season we will hold onto the overseed for a bit longer but after that we will be helping nature take its course.

Along with the ryegrass slowly fading away the bermudagrass will start growing quicker and quicker with each pasting day. This means that our smaller staff size due to budget cuts is going to be more visible than years past in a attempt to keep those excellent conditions that the members of Avondale expect. The crew will continue to work even though play is near by, however, they will be as courteous as possible without stopping work. Your enjoyment is still our highest priority.

The Country Road Effect

All the time you hear me saying the importance of carts scattering and evening out the wear from the tires. Look at the pictures on the right and you will see one of damaged turf due to carts being forced to drive the same area when the streets were being done. The picture was taken three weeks after the cart traffic and the damage was caused from just one day's worth of driving.

Thus, SCATTER, SCATTER, SCATTER when driving around the golf course.

Leveling Heads Around Greens

Ever since I started here I wanted to find time to improve the playability around the greens by leveling the irrigation head to the surrounding area. In the past couple weeks we finally started this project and we plan to be finished within a couple more weeks. This leveling not only improves the playability but it also improves the sprinker's performance.

Due to a couple of trips on the ropes around the greens we were requested by the Board to take down all greenside ropes -- which we have done. Please since to the ropes are down do not drive in these areas. The reason we have had the ropes there was because historically these areas became bare due to cart traffic and if driving occurs in those areas the grass will surely disappear.

Barricade & Primo Application

Starting on the 18th of February we will be contracting a outside service to apply Barricade (spring weed reducer) and Primo (growth regulator) to the tees and fairways. For the most part they will be finished before play reaches them; however, they may have a few holes remaining before that time. The "white balls" on the fairways are fact a foam marking system they allow them to know where they have spray and are completely harmless. These balls will disappear quickly throughout the day.

Once they have completed the tees and fairways they will be spraying the rough which take until the 19th to complete.

Maintenance of the Course

As the weather warms the turf starts growing faster than during the winter months. What does this mean to the Avondale members? Well this means the crew will be out working hard to keep the detail and the course conditions at the best that they can ... meaning that since we have reduced our staff by 25% the things they we could do before such as not mowing on tournament days, being less obtrusive during the working hours will have to be understood they if you want the job done we are going to have to work during play.

This by no means means that the staff will not be trying their very best to stay out of your way; however, it does mean that they are going to be more visible than before. Good news is that on Sat and Sun we only work four hours thus you rarely will see them then.

Thank you for your understanding during these economic times.

Greens Mowers & Fountains

We finally figured out exactly where the drops of oil on the greens was coming from ... it was our newer walking greens mowers. Toro took each of the units in a upgraded the shafts and replaced the seals and now the problem is fixed. Good news is that it cost us nothing.

You may have noticed that the fountains on 6 & 8's lakes have been off for a couple of days. The reason for this is that the 480V transformer in the pump station which also controls all of the front nine and practice irrigation clocks burnt out leaving us without irrigation or power on the front nine. We just got it repaired on Sat. thus by Sunday the fountains and irrigation will be back on. The really good news is that during this time Mother Nature blessed us with rain so all is well with the turf.

Rain Over the Past Few Days

We have gotten over 2 inches of rain over the past couple of days which has led to saturated conditions around the golf course. Due to these conditions we had to close the course on Thursday and Friday, and with the cooler conditions and more rain we are predicting a morning closure on Saturday morning. Please check with the pro shop for course updates.

Frost Damage & Oil Drops

As many of you are aware on 4, 5 & 3's tees and behind the greens of 3 & 4 there are cart tracks. There is even one that crosses 3's approach. These tracks are not from the maintenance crew tracking chemicals on their tires, moreover they are from people driving across frost. Frost damage requires the temperature to rise to heal and soon start to disappear in the next few weeks.

We also had one of our walking mowers drop oil on a few greens. Luckily, it is not too bad and will heal soon. The machine has been fixed.

Lake at Clubhouse

I have had several members ask why the lake on 18 & 1 has become cloudy or dirty. The good news is that it is not algae and it will settle over time, however, the lake has experienced a thermal inversion with the change in the weather. This thermal inversion is where the lower lake's temperature is different from the upper portion and as the weather outside changes the lower part rapidly rises to the surface bringing along the sediment from the bottom. These suspended solids will settle back to the bottom over time but until then leave the lake with a "dirty" appearance.

Driving Range Bench & Frost Damage

On Monday morning a large branch from the tree next to the small chipping green broke crushing the wooden bench surrounding the tree. The bench was so severely damaged that no repair was possible thus we removed the entire bench. The good news is that no one ever use the bench so I do not think it will be missed.

If you look at the pictures to the right of this article you will see one that shows two tire tracks going up the hill towards 4's green. These tracks were caused by a cart driving across frost and will take weeks to heal. The past five days with have had frost in the mornings and have had to delay the start times slightly. Today, I saw someone driving across the course on their way to the clubhouse ... when asked they said they were watching out for the frost. My point is we work hard to train our crew where and where not to drive and even though the roads of Avondale are being worked on please take them anytime before 9:00am.