First Day of Aerification

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

The first day did not start too well for aerification ... on the first hole (4's green) that we aerified the 20 year old JD triplex had a massive hydraulic blow out while doing the clean up lap around the green, fortunately it was on the back side of the green and not on the green itself.  Then the 17 year old Toro triplex used to replaced it broke down on its way to 5's tee.  This wasn't the end of the equipment issues ... one of the EZ-GO used to drag the greens caught on fire, and two other utility units could not even pull the drag mats.  As if this wasn't enough the belt on one of the aerfiers snapped and its replacement is not available until midday on Tuesday.

The good news that even with all these equipment issues due to our rapidly aging fleet we were still able to complete nine greens during the aerification.  We are hoping today with be much better than yesterday was on our equipment.

Aerification Upcoming

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

The roughs have been completed and remember that starting on Monday we will be aerifying everything else.  Since this is the last time for the year we encourage you to come out and witness the process so you can see what all we have to do to ensure a healthy golf course not only for today but also for the upcoming season.  While you are out watching us I will gladly answer any questions you may have about the process.

Please also try out some other golf course in the Valley during this time.  Like the members from Bermuda Dunes stated when they played here last week they loved Avondale, you might find that your love for Avondale during the summer months may return.

Rough Aerification

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Today, we should be finishing the aerification of the roughs, and starting Monday the 15th we will be starting the remainder of the aerifications including greens, tees, fairways and driving range.  The course will be closed the 15 - 17th of August mainly due to the greens aerification, with alternating nines opening on Thursday and Friday ... full course will open Saturday the 20th.

Aerification is quite a large process and during these times of reduced budgets and staffing levels the challenges become even greater.  Where the clean up process could be done quicker with more staff, we are going to actually have to reduce our staffing on that weekend following the aerification just to have enough staff to complete the tasks at hand.  The good news is that we will still get to where we need to be all be it a couple days later.  Remember, the Pro Shop has found other tees times for you and your guests during this time at free or greatly reduced rates ... enjoy those times.

Pro Shop Duties vs GCM

A diplomat is someone who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you look forward to the trip.

At the meeting with the summer members a question was brought up marking of GUR (grounds under repair).  When I was asked but why I never mark areas GUR I had to explain that marking of the golf course in conjunction with the rules of golf falls under the pro shop's duties.  On occasion I help them mark areas such as water and lateral hazards, and sometimes areas that we are actually working on from maintenance, but that is to help them ... not to take responsibility for their assignments.  I bring this up because this is not the first time that I have been asked about this matter.  Pro shop can, if they decide, mark any and all areas they consider GUR without even asking GCM.

Additionally, the pro shop also oversees the staking of the golf course and ensures that it is properly staked.  Once again we help them from time-to-time but the overall responsible falls directly with the pro shop who writes the local rules and are the golf course's rules officials. 

Lastly, the reflectors on the flag stick -- it was determined three years ago by the Green, Golf Committees and the Board that since the pro shop is the ones the sells the laser link and hears about one it is bad, that one every week or two they would send their outside service to clean the reflectors.  Once per year, the golf course maintenance replaces ALL the reflectors and upon request from the pro shop replaces and bad one, but the day-to-day maintenance is done by the pro shop.  I hope this answers why GCM doesn't do certain things around the golf course.

Rough Aerification

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Yesterday we started aerifying the rough but this time with a twist.  We put the rough units working along side of the aerifer instead in different areas around the golf course.  Using the rough units to "chop" up the aerification cores left a cleaner presentation for the members and guests in in many cases they did no even know which holes we had aerified.  We will continue that process today and until the completion of the roughs.

Sodding Shapes

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

It was brought up at the meeting with the summer members of why exactly we put the sod in irregular shapes.  This was a very good question:

There reason mainly for choosing these shapes was money.  There hasn't been funds for sod work or repair in the summer for the past three years; however, this year we were able to glean the funds thanks to an insurance settlement with Sysco since their truck damaged an area at the club house. Since we did some of the work in-house thus the savings from the settlement was used in sod repair.  The funds were very limited so we choose the worst of the worst areas to receive repair and allowed the other areas to fill in naturally.

In an ideal world and time we would have removed larger areas in more regular shapes but this summer was not one of those ideal times.

Aerification Starts Today

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

Starting this morning (August 8th) we began the outlining greens such as 4's and DR nurseries, the small putting green next to 3's tee and both the chipping greens.  These greens are done in advance for a couple of reasons: first, the greens will have time to heal before the course aerification in case minor repairs are needed; and second, so with a limited staff we can finish the remaining greens during the course closure.

Since the entire course has to be aerified, that is the remaining 113 acres, the rough aerification will begin tomorrow the 9th of August.  Special care is going to be taken not to hit the fairways, tees or surrounds to minimize the impact to our summer members and their guest.  As with all aerifications here at Avondale the pro shop has implemented a local rule allowing the lifting, cleaning and placing of your golf ball without penalty.

Next week, the golf course will be closed for three days due to the aerification of the greens.  On the 18th the front nine will be closed allowing us to finish the fairway and tee aerification while the back nine will be open; then on Friday the 19th the back nine will be closed while the front nine is open for the same reason.  Saturday the 20th the entire course will be open and the healing and final clean up will begin.  Due to shortages in labor a very limited staff will be working on the weekend to allow maximum labor during aerification.

Aerification Upcoming (Last Time This Year)

Evening news is where they begin with 'Good Evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

That dreaded word .... aerfication is coming once again, but the good news is for the last time this summer.

Starting next week we will be aerifying the the nurseries, small putting green and the chipping greens to allow time for recovery in case any damage is done and repairs are needed during the course closure aerification August 15 - 17th.  In addition, we will be starting the roughs with special care not to hit the tees or fairways ... see the pro shop about the lift, clean and place policy for aerification holes and plugs.

The pro shop this aerification cycle has arranged for alternative golf courses for our members to play while the course is closed as part of the improvements to the services offered to the summer members.  We want to disturb our members as little as possible but with our soil conditions here at Avondale these aerifications are a necessary evil ... but will heal quickly at this time of year.

Results of the Meeting with Summer Members

Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

As some of you know JC Resorts and local staff had a open forum with the summer members that may have had questions about transition ... several members attended.  The take home message was that during the 4 - 6 weeks that the course is transitioning some consideration needs to be given to the members to make them feel that they were getting value ... everyone agreed.  In addition, Shaun just recently got reciprocal golf courses for the members to play while we are aerifying.  We still have a way to go but progress was made in finding areas for perceived value as being a summer time member.

Primo Finished & Turf Growth

A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

There is nothing quite like rain from mother nature ... even though we had very little rainfall hit Avondale it was, along with the humidity enough to jump start the turf growth.  Over the weekend the growth was so much that we had to double cut almost every area to get a quality cut.

Today, we have finish spraying the Primo (growth regulator) on the tees and fairways.  At first this may slightly off-color the turf since there wasn't fertilizer funds to add some calcium nitrate to offset the color drop.  The slight discoloration will disappear quickly if it comes at all.

Primo Application Week

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

During this upcoming week we will be spraying the fairways and tees with a growth regulator called Primo Maxx.  The purpose of this growth regulator is reduce upright growth by inhibiting the auxin and promote lateral growth thus improving filling in of weaken areas.  This process requires foam marking (the golf ball shaped soap balls) to glean what areas have been sprayed.  This process will start Tuesday.

Thatch Master & Upcoming Meeting

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The last couple of days we have been able to get the thatch master out on the golf course and breakup the organic layer on the surface of the bare areas that has been causing us issues with having the runners "tack" down ... by tacking I mean where the stolons extend roots into the ground.

These organic areas are not like the organic matter that you place into your potted plants to aid in their growth; this organic matter has NOT decomposed yet and creates a layer the is hydrophobic (difficult to wet) and dries too quickly during the days we have in the desert.  Thus, as the stolons try to root into these areas those roots have difficultly finding available water.

As you can tell by the picture above this layer is on average about 1.5 - 2.0" thick in the areas where it found.  It is a combination of under-decomposed dead ryegrass and root mass mainly.  This is the main objective of the aerification around the course ... to remove cores of this material, providing a route for the roots to make "true" soil contact and become viable, and lastly to allow water & air movement.  In addition, the ryegrass has to be removed soon as possible to allow the bermudagrass to fill in these areas in the first place.

The picture above shows the area sprayed out compared to the area not sprayed.  The lighter green "corner" is the bermudagrass that without competition's is filling in the area while the darker non sprayed areas contains so much ryegrass that the "specks" of light green bermudagrass has not filled back in ... and yes that ryegrass will die on its own as shown in the pictures at the top of this article.

There is a meeting with the personnel of JC Resorts from San Diego, the JC Resorts personnel here such as Brandon, Shaun and myself, and the members on the upcoming Tuesday.  Please attend and ask questions.

The Well Shaft on 6 & Upcoming Timelines

We never did discover the cause of the sever damage to six sections of the well shaft due to the fact that the damage was so bad no cause could be gleaned.  The good news is that even though it was slightly over a year since its installation the company who installed the well and did the recent repair did so as a warranty job ... no cost to Avondale.

Starting next week we will be starting the Primo applications in the fairways to promote further side to side grow in.  See timeline below for the projected.

Timelines:

a.      Upcoming Week:

a)            Aug 1^st foliar fertilizing greens including Primo.

b)            Aug 2^nd Primo fairways & tees.

c)            Aug 2^nd verticutting greens

d)            Aug 3^rd topdressing greens.

e)            Aug 4^th finishing Primo of the fairways & tees.

f)             Aug 4^th verticutting greens.

g)            Aug 5^th aerifying small PG, nurseries and CGs in prep.

b.      In Next Week After:

a)            Aug 8^th maybe starting aerification of the roughs.

b)            Aug 8^th fertilizing the greens 21-0-0.

c)            Aug 9^th verticutting the greens.

d)            Aug 11^th verticutting the greens.

e)            Aug 12^th 21-0-0 greens.

c.       In Near Future:

a)            Aug 15 – 17^th golf course closed (aerification).

b)            Aug 17^th K-Mag, Gypsum & 21-0-0 greens.

c)            Aug 18^th front nine open, back nine closed.

d)            Aug 19^th back nine open, front nine closed.

e)            Aug 19^th spraying Cascade, X-Sodis & Merit on greens.

f)             Aug 20^th entire course open.

g)            Weekend of Aug 20^th limited crew due to aerification.

h)            Aug 22^nd 21-0-0 greens.

i)              Aug 23^rd Primo fairways & tees.

j)              Aug 25^th Primo fairways & tees.

k)            Aug 30^th verticutting greens.

Well, Transition, Sodding

I have just returned from a week's vacation and I am very much pleased with the results from the green surrounds sodding project.  Last week the team finished out the areas that I had marked for them the those areas look great.  We will be leveling these area during this week.

Before, During & After Front of 5's Green

With the hotter temperatures and the higher humidity the grass has been growing overtime and filling in any weak areas that are left.  I should note that the areas under the drip lines of the trees (the rootzone) will fill in very slowly if at all since the tree roots out compete the grass.

The well on 6 was replaced on Thursday of last week and has been performing perfectly since.  So far what we know is the six sections of the shaft were severely damaged -- cause unknown.  Luckily, last week was slightly cooler and the humidity was high so we did not experience as many hot spots as expected.

Well on 6

As those that are here saw today we are having the well on 6 being pulled to find out what has caused the its failure to pump water.  As of now, the answer is unsure but for the next few days we are having to greatly reduce the irrigation at night to conserve water and make sure that we can still irrigate until the issue has been resolved.  This may lead to some hot spots and slower transition for a bit but once repaired we will be back on course.

Sodding around the greens started today and will continue until complete.  In addition, we are still repairing a few bad spot on the greens and we will be filling the holes missed by sand by the drill & fill process.