Friday and Carne Day

The team has been working extremely hard to get all of the tasks done while keeping the daily conditions for the members ... and have been doing a very good job of it.  Therefore, today we are throwing them a carne or what you may call a BBQ so they can have a moment of fun and of course food.

Barraza and Victor Laying Sod on 11's Green

We have another half a pallet coming in first thing this morning to hopefully finish out 11's green, and then on Monday we have a pallet and a half to address 13's green.  12's green is slated for last but some of the prep work will start on Monday if we have time to address it on Tuesday.  If not, the goal will to be finish 13 and start work again on Thursday and finish everything by week's end.  I first thought this was going to go quicker but the extent of Poa Triv transition damage was slightly greater than I thought.

Getting Everything Level and Tight

11's greenside bunkers are almost complete with the exception of the back left bunker removal.  This bunker has proven to require much more fill soil than first thought, but we should have the remainder of the fill in today and be able to button this project up as well by next week.

Sodding of Greens Continues

With the Desert Foxes coming to Avondale to play, and with us being in the middle of greens repair decisions had to be made on how to get things done while increasing the enjoyment of our guests.  We came up with the solution that that ladies would play the front nine twice and we would continue to repair the greens on the back nine ... a win-win solution.

Working on Edges of 11's Green

Repair to the Center of 11's Green

 This morning we will be finish the last little bit on 15 and attacking 11 full force.  If all goes well which I think it will we will start on 13 today with plans to button the entire project up by Tuesday.  You, those that are still here in town, may have noticed that we were working on the greenside bunkers of 11 instead of the greens ... this was because we ran out of sod for day and we were unable to get more until today.  This is okay since both projects need to be finished soon so we can start the DR Tee project.

A later note:  11's green required more sod than expected so we will have more harvested and finish working on it tomorrow.  The good news is 15 is done, and 11's front left greenside bunker has been completed.

11's Front Left Bunker

Start Work Begins

Yesterday afternoon we pulled out sections of 10, 11 and 15's greens for sodding this morning.  After just picking up today's shipment of sod we realized that we had enough to only finish 10 and 15 (almost).  I tried to go get more but they have not harvested the sod as of yet so the finishing of 15 and starting of 11 will have to wait until first thing tomorrow morning.  We will have enough to finish 11 and maybe start work on 13, which then will leave us 12 and 13's green to work on Monday and Tuesday.  The good news is that will finish the major repairs leaving only the minor tweaks to complete.

Sod Repair Work on 15's Green

One of our well pumps in the pump station went out on this past weekend and requires major repair.  I have had the pump disconnected, and have rewritten the irrigation program to take into account its loss.  However, this means that the irrigation will run later in the morning and be reduced from its normal run times.  This will lead at first to loss of ryegrass but will not affect the bermudagrass as much or long-term.  Bids are being taken and the repair is around the corner.

Areas Prepped on 11's Green for Sod Tomorrow

12's greenside bunker program has been finished leaving only 11 to complete.  With the general maintenance keeping up to the expectations of our members, along with the greens repair it may be a couple of weeks until we finish 11's greenside bunkers.  We will finish it as soon as we can and also start and finish the DR tee expansion program.

Sod Work on Greens

Well it has been five days since we have aerified the greens and all of the Poa Triv has completely died.  The death of the Poa Triv leaves the greens "patchy" until the bermudagrass fills back in which from what I saw yesterday it is doing great.  Today, we are going to be fertilizing the greens (granularly) and yesterday we foliar fertilized them.  This will promote the growth of the bermudagrass and hasten to fill in.

11's Green Before Sod Work -- Tomorrow

Sadly, last November we got hit hard by Pythium on several of the back nine greens ... did this affect the bermudagrass ... not directly.  Instead thanks to reseeding, spiking in seed and all of the other things we did to recover the Poa Triv for the season is coming back to haunt us now.  The same areas that we did the vast majority of the reseeding are the same areas we are fixing now.

Bermudagrass is Putting Out Runners

Today, the sod repair will begin.  we will be removing at least part of 10, 11, 13 & 15 in order to prep them for Wednesday when the first sod pick will occur.  This will lessen the impact to our membership and our hope is to be almost if not completed by Friday ...  Monday at the very least.  In addition, we are sharpening the cutting units daily and as the excess sand lessens our quality of cut will increase.

Bac of 15's Green -- Sodding Tomorrow

June's green aerification is always the worse just due to the fact it is the time we transition the greens as well.  The only way to lessen this impact would be to not overseed which is not going to happen.  Should we go to temp greens?  Well that is up to you as the membership but temp greens are normally put in to reduce the damage to an already damaged green ... the bermudagrass is doing great and the Poa Triv is already dead ... thus there is no other further impact.

Another Look at 11's Green

Green's Repair All Week

Always after the green's aerifcation in June the greens transition thanks to the sand and the heat.  This leaves areas on the greens less desirable than normal conditions that my team must address ... and they are.  We have already repair almost every damaged area on the greens caused by the process of aerification and starting today they will addressing the weaken areas caused by transition.  Some hole such as 12 and the back of 15 are going to require sod, which is slated to start on Wednesday.  I will be marking these areas today along with placing "dots" where I want plugs to go.

The back nine has been marked and work has already started.  Tomorrow afternoon we will be prepping the back of 10 & 15, then on Wednesday starting to prep 11.  These prep areas will be of course GUR.

The Golf Course Opens Today

Aerification for June is officially over and the excess sand removal will continue for a week or so.  The main reason for the excess sand is to ensure that the aerification holes are completely filled and level any imperfections in the greens to improve their playability. 

June's aerification is always the worst (in mainly appearance) since it is the one transitions the two types of turf.  This year we waited an extra week which was a good thing because the bermudagrass was much stronger but still the transition occurs leaving areas which much be repaired or fill back in.  This is the price we pay for having such excellent conditions during the main season.

Over the next week or so you will see lots of repair work occurring.  This has nothing to do with giving our summer members less than excellent conditions and more to do with working with a living system that takes time to heal.  We work with two vastly different turf species that require time to re-establish ... the main difference between the season and the summer is that in the season I am given 5 weeks to make this happen without anyone watching the ugliness and in the summer I am given three to four days.

The good news is that we will be healed soon and all of the other maintenance will be done.  The mowers are sharpened daily but with the sand on the greens they dull quickly thus it will be a bit before the health and speed return.

Changing Up the Deal

After looking at the greens of 11 & 13 I decided that since the Poa Triv had all checked out anyway due to the extreme heat we have been experiencing lately to aerify them both.

Aerifying 11's Green -- Hand Pushing Plugs Into Rows

So very first thing this morning we aerified both 11 and 13 and instead of using the the Toro plug pusher we hand pushed them to minimize any further potential damage.  This is time consuming but with putting all hands on deck we were able to knock out both of these greens before 8:00 am.

Topdressing 11's Green This Morning

After topdressing these greens we dragged them lightly than normal (also put a touch less sand) to further prevent any additional damage.  These greens will be slightly sandier than the others when we open Friday.


A Chunk Taken Out of 12's Green

Damage repair is occurring right now as I am typing this report.  During the plug pushing process on heavily overseeded transitioning greens sometimes "chunks" are taken out of the green.  We are repairing those areas today and will repair other transitional issues areas over the next couple of weeks.  The biggest problem green is 12 ... see picture in posting from yesterday.  This one is going to require sodding to fully repair.  I should note that this green historically always transitions poorly, and with the additional seed inputs we did this past season it was hit the hardest.  We are putting together a plan.

12's Green After 2006 June Aerification

15's Green After 2006 June Aerification

As you can see by the above pictures the same problem areas pop up year after year ... and we fix them.

Aerification Is Done, Now The Work Begins

Yesterday the aerification along with the drill and fill was completed ... now the real work begins.  Today, we will be excess sand removal, green fertilization and start damage repair from the aerification process.  Believe it or not it takes longer to remove excess sand from the greens than it done to aerify the green.

6's Green This Morning

Most of the greens fared quite well for the transition aerification and will recover nicely.  The excess sand removal is going well and recovering is around the corner.

9's Green This Morning

We have started minor repairs on the damaged areas and this will continue until completed.  But the weaker greens 11 - 13 which had overseeding issues that were overcome in November face a longer recovery road.  We will start sod repairs on 12 tomorrow.


12's Green -- Repair is Much Needed

The good news is that all of the bermudagrass is doing just fine.  The Poa Triv on the other hand is gone.

Day Two of Aerification

Yesterday started off badly but finally started to get in a groove ... although equipment issues still seem to be a every growing issue at Avondale.  Our loader will not be repaired until the aerification has been completed but the good news is by a stroke of luck All Pro Turf (our drilling team) brought their small loader which we have been able to use in the mean time.

Drill Holes

Today, I will inspect greens 11 - 13 to determine the damage to the turf from the minor aerification but let it be known that these greens were shutting down and algae development was beginning thus something had to be done.  The good new is that the bermudagrass on the greens ... be it weak ... is doing just fine.  Trust me, this is not the first time we have had challenges in the transition of the greens and as long as we continue to produce spectacular greens in the season ... challenges will continue, but as always we will fix and go on.

Drilling 10's Green After Aerifying

I took a look at the problematic greens and without a doubt we took a hit on 12's green.  The good news is the bermudagrass on the green is just fine so starting tomorrow we will go into repair mode.

Aerifers Aerifying 1's Green Ahead of the Drill and Fill

Aerification Begins

These are words loathed and hated by golfers and members alike.  This means for the next couple of weeks the greens will look and play like ... well lets just say like "pooh."

Due to a couple of greens that are not as strong as they should be thanks to very aggressive overseeding they will only be drill and filled.  These greens are 11, 12 and 13.  They are much weaker than I like but require some kind of aerification so the algae formation will be more dangerous than the loss of the Poa Triv.  At a later date in July we will have to aerify them to allow for full recovery.

Drill & Fill Machines on 11's Green

I will post more later as the day progresses.  Well the day progressed.  We only drill & filled 11 - 13, but 12 got shocked anyway ... we will have to deal with that problem after the process is complete.

12's Green After Just Drilling

Other than that and the fact our loader stopped dumping after the first filling of the trailer all went reasonably well for the first day.  We are going to have some repairs due to the plug pusher digging in on a few greens but that is nothing unusual.

Drilling 12's Green in the Cool on the Morning

Let's Wrap the Bunkers Up

Shaping of 12's Back Right Bunker

With the temperature in the 110's looming and aerifcation just around the corner we are trying our best to wrap up the bunker removal process.  This project originally started with the removal of five low to no use bunkers and progressed into so much more.  In the quest to find "free" soil to address the removal of these select bunkers, we ended up addressing other bunkers on the same hole that had problems.  This wasn't a bad thing just added to the project.

12's Back Right Bunker Sodded & Ready for Clean Up

Yesterday, we finished the removal process of 12's back right greenside bunker and with the remaining extra soil finished shaping the back right greenside bunker on 6.  The bunker on 6 required numerous loads of soil just to get it to a point where we could shape the bunker correctly to design, and this morning we are finishing the sodding of this bunker.

Adrian Velez Rough Shaping 12's Front Right Bunker

Yesterday we also almost finished the shaping of the rest of 12's greenside bunkers and if the plan we have set forth works we will be done with these bunkers as well.

12's Front Right Bunker Being Sodded

This will leave us with only 11's bunkers that require removal (which we have already started) to complete this project.  As the summer progresses we may address other bunkers depending on the time we have available.

Lots Today

Today is what you might call a full pin sheet.  We are verticutting the greens this morning followed directly by foliar fertilizer application on the greens to boost the bermudagrass.  Additionally, we are addressing the defoliation of the trees due to stress for the ever increasing heat.  By the way, next week is supposed to be over 110 degrees all week ... yeah.

Weak Bermudagrass on 12 -- Very Concerned with the Upcoming Heat

 Bunkers are progressing slowly but we are getting there.  Holes 2 & 4 are complete, hole 6 is 80% complete and 12 is in work.  If all goes well we should be done with 6 today and 12 by Friday.  This will leave only 11 to address on the list that we were given by the Green Committee, and if time permits we will address more.

6's Front Right Bunker in Work

These changes you are seeing around the golf course are by design including the addition of trees on 6 left of the fairway.  The long-term goal is to allow the tree to grow and eventually removing the bunker that they are near.  I have heard that now there is "double jeopardy" with the left fairway bunker on 6, but if you look at it you will notice that no trees were planted in front of the bunker blocking a shot to the green ... thus no "double jeopardy" exists.

6's Front Right Bunker Complete

Troublesome Greens

Weak Bermudagrass on 12's Green

While getting ready for next week's combined drill & fill, and the aerification I am going out and evaluating the greens to determine the potential recovery time required.  Most of the greens are ready with their normal weak spots thanks to heavy seeding rates that we use in the Valley, but a couple greens I am very concerned about.  The greens of 11, 12 and 13 are weaker than they should be and most likely it is due to the issues we had back in October.  These greens required heavier rates of seed thanks to the pythium and thus they are going to transition worse than other greens.  I am going to look into skipping the aerification of these greens until a later date, and only drill & fill.  This is still up in the air.

14's Green Has Benn Attacked

Darn crows ... in their search for grubs that do not exist any new changes to the greens such as shifting the plugs lead to them tearing apart the plug.  And yes, it is illegal to shoot them.

Some Days Don't Work As Planned

This morning we had a major plan in place to get several things scheduled done ... well the plan was good, the reality is another thing.  First, the mechanic is out for two more weeks due to a medical issue; second a team member went home sick; third a new hire was late.  Sound like three simple issues; however, with three other team members having their normal day off to be able to work this weekend; having another two team members on vacation just to meet payroll ... you can now see where a well laid plan turns south.

The good news is with some major shifting and changing of the game plan we will get everything still done ... maybe later than normal, but done.  These are some of the challenges that occur behind the scenes that most never seen or even care about but are what make things not done as expected.  A well made plan is just that ... just a plan.

Francisco Munoz Starts Aerifying the Rough of 1

The aerification today will continue, verticutting of the greens is being done, aerification fertilization of the greens is being preformed, and later the bunker work will be done.  All and all it is another extremely busy day for golf course maintenance.

2's Right Back Bunker Removed

2's Left Greenside Bunker After Hump Removal

Yesterday we finished up 2's greenside bunkers and got a good jump on 6's greenside bunkers.  Due to the amount of soil needed to remove the back green bunker we ended up having to work on all of the bunkers greenside of 6, and maybe even 9's ... we will see.

Filling in the Back Bunker on 6

Front Left Bunker on 6 with Sand Pro Hump Removed

Aerification of the roughs started on 14 working backwards today.  This is quite a large process and will require most if not all week to complete.  A little later as the first assignments of the day are completed we will have the rough units out chopping up the plugs making the conditions more favorable to our members.  Additionally, today we have started the triplexing of the greens which will free up staff to address other summer issues.

2's Front Right Bunker is Almost Complete

The humps have been removed from 2's greenside bunkers ... or at least the ones that we needed removed to produce enough sand to remove the back right bunker.  Sodding will be finished today.

Adrian Velez Leveling the Bunker That is Being Removed

After we finish 2's bunkers we will be going to hole 6 and start working on them.  The removal of the back bunker of 6 is going to required quite a bit of soil so we may be also addressing 9's greenside, and maybe even 7's greenside bunkers to produce the soil required.   Our goal this week is to finish 6 and which ever holes to obtain the soil from.

Victor Torres Leveling the Front of the Bunker After Hump Removal

After this week the project will be put on hold until aerification and fertilization's are completed.

Aerification Starts On Monday

It is hard to believe but we are already at the start of the aerification.  Tomorrow we will start the aerficiation of the roughs on the front nine holes and then move to the back nine alter in the week. Aerification of the entire golf course is such a big process that overall it takes up to two weeks to complete normally but this year we said we were going to try something different ... we are going to try to "chop" up the plugs as we a going along. 

We did this last year in August with great success, but this year we have lost one of our rough units and I will note it will be much harder to keep up.  Do not worry, JC Resorts is and has been (over five weeks now) in the process to get our machine back, so hopefully we will have it very soon to give our summer members the conditions they desire.  My team will do its very best given what we have to work with to make the conditions the best we can as we always do.

Bunker Work & Aerification

This morning we will be continuing with the removal of one of the bunkers on 2 and the reshaping of another.  Depending if more soil is needed we may start work on the other bunker - left greenside bunker.  The back bunker on 4's greenside will be finished today with the sod and then both of the bunkers on 4 will be in recovery through next week.

I was asked yesterday if we were going to address all of the "humps" around these bunkers and how many bunkers are we going to repair?  To the first part of the question the answer is no ... to completely reshape the bunkers requires equipment we do not have, shutting down of the hole to be reshaped and sod to repair the damage caused during the process.  Our goal is to make some of the bunkers more visible and playable only -- more than that would be a capital project and discussion for a later date.  The part of "how many" well as many as we can without taking away from the general maintenance of the golf course.  Exact number I do not know.

Removing the "Hump" Caused By Years of Sand Pro Use on Left Side of 2's Green

Starting this upcoming Monday we will start the aerification of the roughs.  After testing last August we will be "chopping the plugs" using our rough units.  This is not an exact process but we will try our best to keep up given that we lost one of our rough units.  We are in the process of getting this rough unit back but it hasn't happened so far and aerification is here now.

Jesus Ortiz Testing New Rake

Testing out a new rake that was recommended by the USGA ... it seems to work quite nicely in the bunkers with our sand.  We will purchase more.

Removing Pines on 5

View From 5's Right Fairway Bunker

Today, as per request of the Green Committee and the Board under recommendation of the USGA and the designer we removed two trees that were blocking the shot out of the right fairway bunker on 5.  As you can see by the picture there is now a clear view of the green.  These trees have been for years causing issues with the fairway due to their roots.

Couple of the Newly Planted Pines

The good news is that we planted 8 new pine trees along the left side of the fairway on 6.  These too are part of the design changes to improve Avondale.

Bunker Work Continues This Morning

First thing this morning we will be continuing the bunker removal project as approved by the Board and Green Committee.  We will be working on the greenside bunkers on 4, then moving to the right greenside bunkers on 2.  The goal on the hole (# 2) is to remove the back right bunker and lower the "hump" blocking the front right bunker.  We may just go ahead and fix the left side bunker depending on how well we are moving.

95% Completed on 4's Front Left Bunker

2's Front Right Bunker Before Reshaping

Also this morning we are verticutting the greens.  This process has been yielding better bermudagrass recovery; however, we may have to increase the frequency to have them ready for the upcoming aerification ... more to be posted later.

Speaking of greens, we have started the heavy granular fertilization of them to also push the bermudagrass.  Sadly, this also will affect the green speed that we have been enjoying by dropping it by a foot to a foot and half.  The verticutting will aid in keeping the speed higher ... but not by enough.

Trimming of the Palms Around the Clubhouse

El Dorado oleander trimming has been completed and the tree trimming company is working on the club house palms, then will be solely trimming date palms on the golf course.  You may see them trimming other palms trees but those are being paid for by the homeowners ... not the Club.

New Trees Being Planted on 6

On the 6th hole we have been planting Mondale Pine trees per the request of the Board in staying with the design suggested by the recent visits and evaluation of the golf course.  These trees (8 in total) were paid for by donations by the members.