Last Week 6/30/14 through 7/4/14

• The Irwin front greens were mowed several times at a height lower than the previous week. We will continue to lower the mowers as we go forward.
• We experimented by aerifying one of the greens. Sometimes it is hard to predict how the new sprigs will react. Fortunately, the experiment went very well. We may aerify the rest of the greens on the front next week.
• After mowing, we topdressed all the greens with a light layer of sand and then fertilized them with 21-0-0 (Ammonium Sulfate)
• Edged cart paths on the Irwin front

Next Week

• Continue to lower the height on the new greens.
• Reposition and/or install several heads in select areas around the Irwin front greens for better irrigation coverage.
• Fertilize weak areas of turf on the Cate and Back.

Antonio mowing Irwin #6 Green
Day 28



Closeup of Sprigs
Day 28


Hurricane Authur gave us her best shot! We're still standing ... with the exception of a few trees!

Tree down from Hurricane Authur
7.3.14



Is there a cart path under there?
Aftermath from Hurricane Authur

Improving our irrigation system

     A couple months ago we discussed adding and raising our irrigation antennas. Here is the blog post detailing the work we put into improving our radio communication. However on number six at the Players Club the sixteen foot poles were not enough. We installed a more powerful antenna, but that didn't do the trick. We needed to go higher, and higher we went.
      Number six at the Players Club isn't the furthest away from the shop. The location of the satellite is what presents the most obstacles. The satellite is located next to the white tees on the edge of the woods line. This presents problems when receiving a signal from our central controller, located at the maintenance facility.
      Originally the antenna was mounted on a 22 foot galvanized steel pole. This provided okay signal strength until the FCC forced us to convert to narrow band radio. The reduced bandwidth coupled with the growth of the surrounding trees have created a extremely weakened signal. Fortunately, this season has been relatively wet and we haven't seen the symptoms from the inconsistent communication.
       Knowing the problem existed and knowing it wasn't going to rain every three days, we needed to correct the issue. We contacted Kanoy Communication in Ocean Isle Beach and they recommended a taller tower to mount our antenna. We decided that a 50 foot tower would suffice for our needs. This height would extend over 90% of the tree tops and eliminate the immediate obstacles surrounding the satellite box. Here are some pictures of us assembling the tower.

The first two pieces of the tower. The base was installed to a four foot depth.

Here you can see the old tower and the new tower. We have already surpassed the former height.

Adding the fourth section of the tower. We are currently at 26 feet. The fourth section will take us to 36 feet.

Heading up to install the fourth section. We are starting to creep above the treetops. One more to go.

The fifth and final section. We are now above the treetops at 46 feet.

The finished product. As stated, the new tower is 46 feet high as opposed to the former height of 22 foot.

PC - Raising the Bar

       A recent project at the Players Club has been to raise the bar, so to speak. Well, not exactly the bar, but we did raise our front nine irrigation controller antennas.
       The FCC mandated that all of our irrigation radio signals be narrowbanded on or before January 13, 2013. We made the conversion in 2012 to ensure that we met this deadline. Narrowbanding was implemented to improve efficient use of radio frequencies across the country. Here is a link to the FCC question and answer page on narrowbanding.
        What did narrowbanding mean for us? The narrowbanding reduces the bandwidth in which our communication signals travel. I have seen comparisons to a stream of water and the amount of boats you can fit side by side. The wide band can handle more signals over the same frequency. Where as the narrow band, or narrow stream, can not handle the multiple signals. The estimated loss from switching to narrow band radio is approximately 3 decibels.
       In an effort to offset the reduced communications, we implemented a project to raise and/or install antennas at all of our front nine controller boxes. Here are some pictures detailing the project.

Old antenna location and height, approximately 5 feet high.

The antenna attaches to a cable and we run it up through the controller box.

Raised antenna to new height of 12 feet.

Our toughest project. Replacing the antenna  on #6  with a more powerful one. This antenna was 30 feet high.

Old antenna from #6.

New antenna recently installed. You can clearly see the increased  size.

PC - Closed Day Irrigation Addition

      On Tuesday, the Players Club was closed to perform maintenance on the course. We target aerified a few greens and topdressed all the greens. We were also able to address an irrigation coverage issue on the thirteenth fairway.
       The picture below illustrates the area on the fairway that we are describing. This section of the fairway has been difficult to manage because of the poor irrigation coverage.

Blue dots are the existing sprinklers. Brown polygon is the trouble area. The yellow circle is the new sprinkler location.

       The picture shows the area that becomes increasingly dry throughout the summer. This section wilts rapidly in the summer and has developed unsightly fairy ring disease due to the poor irrigation coverage.
       Typically, double row irrigation lines run parallel to each other throughout the length of the hole. In this instance you can see that the bunker disrupts the symmetry between the irrigation rows. This slight change in routing reduces the amount of overlap between sprinklers in the center of the fairway. The reduction in overlapping results in less than desirable coverage in irrigation, which is displayed through poor turf quality inside the brown area shown above.
        On Tuesday, we added a sprinkler head to the fairway (yellow circle). This sprinkler will help ensure proper coverage where the original design failed. It took roughly three hours to install the sprinkler and back fill the trench. As of now the sprinkler is functioning and we should notice an improvement to the fairway  from this point forward.
       

Another day at the golf course

       Monday at lunchtime we received a phone call from the Pro Shop. Steve Elkins called to report a sprinkler head leaking near the 14th tee at the Players Club. We knew that a small leak above ground almost certainly never translates to an easy fix.
       We dug a trench surrounding the sprinkler only to find the pipe below engulfed in roots from the nearby pine tree. Our Irrigation Tech, Leo Dowling, spent the rest of the afternoon pruning roots and trenching in an effort to expose the damaged pipe. He eventually discovered the sight of the leak, but was still unable to determine the exact cause.

The sight of the leak. At the joint of the pipe and a coupling.

        Tuesday morning, with the help of our backhoe, we continued to dig in hopes of locating the problem. Within an hour we had pinpointed the root that was causing the leak.

The arrow shows the root that has been growing near our pipe. The root had grown so aggressively  that it shifted our pipe causing the coupling to leak.

Closer picture of the root.

        Our next step was to remove the root that caused our leak. After carefully cutting the root we proceeded to clean all obstructions from the area. We removed multiple roots that were woven in between the pipe and the irrigation wires. We then installed a cinder block into the trench. This will help to prevent the pipe from future shifting.

Repaired pipe with thrust block installed. The green arrow shows the location of the tree. 

Another angle with thrust block in place.

         Once we had the trust prevention in place, the roots clear and the leak fixed we back filled the trench. We removed all debris and roots from the soil and carefully refilled the trench. We leveled the sprinkler head and placed an eight inch PVC pipe around its working parts. This pipe will help prevent tree root encroachment into the electrical and hydraulic fittings on the sprinkler.

Near finished product with 8" PVC enclosure installed.

       The last step will be to level the soil and replace the mulch that we displaced. This type of leak is common with the aggressive growing nature of pine tree roots. But to us, this is just another day at the golf course. 

Founders Club Irrigation Renovation

       You may have seen, playing the Founders Club, associates digging holes around the irrigation control boxes. You may also know that they are converting their irrigation controls from hydraulic to electric. I am going to try, as best I can, to describe this process and show you some photos of the old style hydraulic system vs photos of the modern system.

Assistant Andy Sparks and associate George Grannis trenching around the old control boxes.

Close up of the hole. You can see the concrete pad that the boxes rest on.

       The above photos illustrate the what and where of this discussion. Each field controller is located centrally on each hole that it controls. In the new modern style system, these controllers house the antenna for the radios, the radio address card, and the relay cards to each individual station and the wiring necessary for power and signalling.

Old style field controller.

      Here you can see the older control system that the Founders Club is slowly phasing out. There were no electrical controls whatsoever. There was no way to control the irrigation by radio communication. This system was run solely by hydraulic water pressure.

City water valve controlling the main hydraulic feed.

Hydraulic lines exiting control box out to each sprinkler head.

     

Old style hydraulic field controller.

       The only way to run the irrigation system was to turn the individual timer dials as illustrated above. The dials above controlled the amount of time that each individual station would run. Operation of the system at night would be controlled in tandem by the timer dials and the central control system shown below.

Old style central control.

Close up of the old style central control.

      The overnight watering system at the Founders was less sophisticated than most homeowners irrigation controls. In the photo above, you can see the irrigation cycle being set to run on Wednesday at 12:00 AM. Two plastic pins are used to set the day and start time for the irrigation.

       The process of converting at the Founders Club is not to eliminate the hydraulic system completely, but to modernize it until a complete overhaul can be finished. Below is a picture of a completed conversion.

Solenoid housing. Contains solenoids, pilot valves, wiring to
central controller and hydraulic feed to sprinkler heads.

Renovated field controller.

        The idea is to take the existing hydraulic system and add electrical controls to it. We do this by installing an enclosure in the ground near the controller to house the solenoids and pilot valves. In a modern system, the pilot valves and solenoids are attached directly to each individual sprinkler head. The picture above right shows a sprinkler with the accessories in place. We call these valve-in-head sprinklers.

Valve-in-Head Sprinkler

     
       The modern sprinklers open and close hydraulically, however the entire system is controlled by electricity. The old system at the Founders used only hydraulic controls. You did not have the ability to spontaneously water dry spots throughout the day. Any water application was met with the challenge of going to each individual control box and manually turning on each station. The old style system would only allow one station per box to water at a time. This caused the irrigation process to take much longer than it does with the new electrical system, where multiple stations can be running at the same time.

      The renovation also included a new computer system to organize and control irrigation events. The computer allows us to control each individual head on the golf course from just the click of a mouse.  This allows us to minimize the watering of wet areas and increase watering of dryer areas. The setup of the old system required you to visit every field controller and set the run times for each location. The central control computer allows you to adjust run time with the simple click of a mouse.

        The irrigation renovation at the Founders Club is near completion. The installation of grounding plates and rods will be the last step. We will have a post detailing that job shortly after completion.

It just rained, why are you running water?

      I know it seems unnecessary to see sprinklers running after a rainstorm. Trust us, we don't want to do it more than anyone wants to see it. With that said, there are reasons that we must run the irrigation after a storm. Here are a few of the reasons that sprinklers may be running after a rain event.

• Checking the system for electrical failure

       Our irrigation systems have central controllers located throughout the golf course. These controllers contain wires that are ran to each individual sprinkler head. Lightning strikes associated with most summer rain storms can severely damage the central controllers.
       The irrigation zones are in groups of eight inside the controller. We must check each of these sets in order to determine the presence of damage. Generally there are four to six sets in each central controller. Running a sprinkler in each set is a quick way to rule out major damage to the controller. When we run each sprinkler, it is typically for one minute or less.

• Fungicide application

       A major rain event is beneficial in many ways. However, each rain event also brings increased moisture levels and subsequent increased humidity. The increase in moisture levels below and above the surface leads to soil borne diseases.
        Most times we are protected prior to the event. However, in cases of an unexpected or prolonged rainfall we must treat immediately following the storm. To treat these diseases the fungicide must penetrate the surface to be effective. Irrigation helps to move the fungicide through the soil to the target site.

• Soil chemical modification

       Significant rainfall can leach certain nutrients in the soil enough to cause drastic reductions in soil pH. In the summer months an extended period of time with limited nutrients can negatively affect turfgrass. It is important to correct these issues as soon as possible.
       Sometimes these corrections need to be made the day after a rain event. In these cases, lime (CaCO3) is applied to correct the pH level and enhance nutrient retention. The lime application needs to be watered beneath the surface in order to be effective. Typically, three minutes of irrigation is ran to move the lime through the soil.


      Running irrigation when golfers are cart path only is not something we enjoy doing. We understand the effects of over watering the turf. However, there are reasons that you may see an occasional sprinkler running on the course after rainfall. We attempt to be as prepared as possible when forecasting inclement weather, but there are times when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate. These are the instances where you may see sprinklers running on a wet day.

      

PC Conversion Update - 7/21/12

      Five closed weeks down and only three weeks remain. August 13th is fast approaching and our workload is slowly gearing towards opening day. We mowed the greens three times this week and verticut once. They are becoming smoother everyday. We are currently at 75% coverage throughout the course. Here is a picture of the surface on Friday.

      We are currently mowing the greens at (.150"). We mowed our former surfaces at (.125"). We are getting closer and closer everyday. Our expectations for opening on August 13th are still right on schedule. Here is a recap of week five and a look ahead to week six.    

Last Week 7/15-7/21

• Monday - We mowed the greens at a height of (.175). This height is equivalent to slightly less than 3/16". A standard height of cut is (.125") or 1/8". Today we also implemented hand watering into our irrigation schedule. Hand watering the weak areas of the green will help to supplement water where our irrigation deficiencies exist.

      Monday was also the beginning of our collar restoration. Here are some pictures of that process.

The first step is to cut a fine edge along the new putting surface. This will prevent the sod cutter from tearing the new surface.

Next, we cut the sod surrounding the green. We cut the sod at 24". This will match the width of the sod purchased from the sod farm. This matching will reduce waste and ultimately make our job move faster.

The following step was to clean up the cut turf from the collar area. We then used this "waste sod" in other areas around the course. Excessive traffic and low lying areas were the targets for our scraps from the collars.

These pictures above illustrate the collar waste I described. These traffic areas are normally sodded annually. By using these wasted sod chunks in these areas we are able to offset the cost of sodding the collars. In turn we re sod the collars and improve our traffic areas for relatively the same cost as sodding the traffic areas alone.

And last but certainly not least. A picture of the sod being laid and the finished product.

Here you see a finished collar on #18. This week we were able to finish the back nine and start on the front nine. We will complete this project in the middle of next week.

• Tuesday - Today we continued work on the collars. We also began work on more sight lines throughout the course. Number 10 and 11 were are target teeing areas.
• Wednesday - We mowed the greens today. The height of cut was lowered to (.165"). We also began the grooming process today. First we topdressed with a medium coat of sand/peat mix. Then we used a steel drag mat to move to mix into low areas on the green. The dragging helped to smooth the surface and "stand up" the turf. By standing the turf above the mix, we are encouraging new growth into the sand filled voids.
• Thursday - One task that became vital on Thursday was the scouting of the surfaces. We are scouting the surface for noxious weeds that appear. Our inability to spray herbicide on the immature turf has left us with no option but hand removal. Expect a blog post mid next week detailing this job in its entirety.
• Friday - Normally a slow day, Friday proved to be anything but that this week. We began the day by verticutting the greens. We verticut the greens at a zero setting. This setting does not cut into the surface. Our goal was to "tickle" the turf. This type of verticutting has many benefits. The two most beneficial are the smoothing of the surface and stimulation of new growth.
      Today we also made our first application of fungicide. This application will help to alleviate the symptoms of algae. See our post about algae here. The broad spectrum fungicide we used will also help to disrupt many other diseases that may be prevalent. 
      On Saturday we mowed the greens at (.150"). This our lowest height of cut to date. We plan to continue this decrease in height of cut through next week.

Next Week 7/22-7/28

• Mow greens three times. Decreasing height each time. goal is to be at or around (.125").
• Complete collar restoration.
• Fertilize the greens with potassium nitrate. 
• Continue scouting the surfaces for unwanted plants.
• Initiate our project of leveling sprinkler heads.
• Topdress and verticut the greens.
• Spray wetting agent around the greens. Our increased irrigation has resulted in wet areas around the putting surfaces. This wetting agent will increase the infiltration rate of our irrigation water. The increased infiltration will keep the surrounds dry until we can decrease out irrigation frequency.

      With three weeks remaining our efforts are continuing to increase in anticipation of opening day. The increased coverage of the greens and finished collars will have the putting greens looking like a golf course again. We continue to encourage people to come out and see our progress. Also, keep following the blog for updates on everything from the St. James agronomy department.

     

PC Conversion Update - 7/14/12

     We have now reached the halfway point of the conversion. Here is a video with Conrad Broussard and Grayson Grainger with a brief recap of our progress.
      The greens are covering as planned and we are getting excited to start grooming them for play. Here are some pics of the surfaces from Friday.

     We have come a long way from three weeks ago at planting. Here is a photo of a green after planting only three weeks ago.

      This past week we were able to shift our attention to a few projects away from the greens. Here is a recap of last week and a look ahead to next.

Last Week 7/8-7/14

• Monday - We mowed the greens for the second time on Monday. The height of cut remained at (.200"). We applied Calcium Nitrate (15-0-0) to the greens and we sprayed the greens with a different variety of plant stimulants.
• Tuesday - Sprayed greens with Potassium Nitrate. The potassium is a necessary supplement to avoid deficiencies. Our increased irrigation associated with grow-in can flush important nutrients like potassium from the soil. This will help correct those deficiencies for the short term until we can apply a granular product.

      On Tuesday we also started and a project associated with sight lines from the tee boxes. The surrounds of #2 and #8 tee complexes have become overgrown to the point of disrupting play. We cleared these areas back to increase the sight line from the tee. Here is an example of that job in progress.

Sight line from #2 tee

• Wednesday - We mowed the greens for the third time today. The height of cut remained at (.200"). We will remain at this height for at least one more week.

      Wednesday was also our wall to wall insecticide spray. We sprayed a combination product that targets mole crickets, grub worms and ants. This took approximately six hours to complete.
      We resumed work on the ladies tee on #6 today. Here is a series of pictures detailing the work.

      
      The final picture shows the contractor installing the turf. The new turf is designed to support a golf tee. The need for additional support is unnecessary with this type of artificial surface. Pictures of the completed project will be available early next week.

• Thursday - We topdressed the greens with a light to medium layer of sand/peat mix. This application will help to keep the surface smooth. Additionally, the peat will aid in water retention at the surface.
• Friday - The greens were fertilized with Ammonium Sulfate (21-0-0). This fertilizer will promote leaf growth, which in turn helps to produce carbohydrates. These carbs will be used to produce new plants and encourage the surfaces to fill in.

Next Week 7/15-7/21

• Mow the greens three times. An adjustment in height may occur. This will be dependant on the condition of the surface through the week.
• Lightly groom the greens. This will be done with a steel drag mat, brush, or coco mat. Again, this will be dependant on the green's condition.
• Fertilize the greens with nitrogen fertilizer.
• Topdress the greens one or two times.
• Begin work on collars. Here is a brief description of that job.

      With a busy week behind us and a busy week ahead we continue to keep focused on preparing the greens for August 13th. We encourage all of you to keep stopping by and checking our progress. The collars should be finished late next week. At this point, the definition of the surfaces will take shape.
      Remember to adhere to our irrigation schedule if you should stop by. At this time we are watering four times a day, 7am, 11am, 3pm, & 7pm. These cycles run approximately 45 minutes. Anytime outside of these windows would be ideal to visit. And of course continue to follow the blog for updates from the staff at St. James.