Spring is getting close.......

          Sorry everyone I don't have any fun exciting pictures for this round of talk.  The positive is that Feburary is coming to an end, but the negative is that cold weather has come back into the region.  The last week of Feburary, this always happens.  We get a good warm stretch and I feel like the season is about to begin, then BOOM! Cold again....
          In the past few weeks we have accomplished quite a bit here at the OCGC.  I finally have my second hand man back, Abel.  We have been cutting down ornamental grasses, picking up limbs, and redistributing sand in bunkers.  The big thing was getting the greens rolled and mowed for the first time this year.  The greens have had a freeze layer for the majority of the winter and I have not been able to do anything with them.  Every 2 days I go out with a probe and check to see if this layer has thawed or is still in place.  Every chance we get we at least roll the greens, but if I get a good warm stretch I will choose to mow.  Just helps makes the golfers happy. 
          Finally, the fairways have all been sprayed with Glystar Pro and Prodiamine.  The Glystar is a non selective herbicide that will kill anything green.  It is safe to use on bermuda fairways when dormant and even in your home lawns(if it is bermuda grass).  What this does is clean up any weeds that may be present, in our case it is mainy Poa, volunteer ryegrass, and clover.  The Prodiamine is applied as a preemergent for crabgrass.  This past year we had a drought in our area, as did much of the state.  The effect this had on our fairways was very noticable this past winter.  We have quite a few weak areas where Poa annua is present, which leads me to believe I need to improve irrigation and nutrition in these areas to help the bermuda out in the summer months.  Poa annua will thrive where the dominate species of turf is weak, this is why it is important for me to have a good water and nutrition program in place on fairways and greens.
          Some important dates I have upcoming for the course are as follows:
--March 11, target date for irrigation start up
--March 18, aerification of greens

          Also on a quick note, we have new membership options avaliable here at the OCGC.  Call the Pro Shop to inquire 812-738-2277


Have a good day! 

Cold weather arrives at the OCGC

 

Cold temperatures have arrived here this week at the Old Cap.  The temperatures in the next few days look to bottom out around 10F with a chance of snow flurries coming on Wednesday.  The course is now getting over the last precipation scenario we had.  In the last 2 weeks we have went from a warm rain to freezing rain, which left alot of the playing surfaces covered in ice. The total we recieved was a little over 3.5 inches.  Spring cannot get here soon enough, I am ready to be out in the field more working with my crew.  With my crew gone for the winter, it has been quite the boring place to be in my shop.  Luckily I have my sidekick Eli with me to pass the time.   


Last week round up/ pre emergent  applications were started to the fairways.  This is done to clean up the dormant bermuda from various species of weeds and unwelcome grass species.  Mainly here its poa annua, clover, some dandelion, and rye grasses.  Indiana Creek, when it floods, will help out the seed bank in the soil for new weeds to germinate.


Finally, I have started doing one of the more relaxing jobs of the winter, grinding.  It has been about 2 years since I have truly done the grinding, but I was able to catch on quick after I was started.  When we grind there are plenty of things we look for, real durability, bedknife assessment, bearing wear, grease need, and relief grind.  The first set has gone pretty smooth, finger was caught only 2 times, but no damage.

 

 

Real quick I want to touch on a few other things.  Before I started this blog venture we had a crazy summer last year.  One of the things that was very interesting was the lighting strike that #17 green took.  This has never happened while I have been on a golf course.  So after some research it was decided that we would simply topdress the affected area lightly.  Well to my suprise there was no damage visible after 4 days.  But the true damage hit me on my irrigation box and the 4-pack decoder we had on the green.  Costly fix there.

 

 

 

One last thing we did in the fall before everyone left was convert some zoysia areas to tall fescue in order to help turf and playing conditions.  Our process was simple, we cut out the zoysia sod very deep, if I felt any area needed some glyphosate I applied by spot spraying, laid tall fescue sod, and applied some Nature Safe fertilizer, which amounted to 1/2lbs N.  Attached below are the photos from that project.  We did this because we would get alot of overspray from our greens onto the surrounds which would stunt the zoysia alot more to the point to where it was unplayable in my eyes.  I also feel that this gives the whole green complex better character.  More and more of our golfers are liking the idea of our green slopes being like this, so it might be a year to year project.  None of these slopes are south facing so I feel like we will be able to susatin them as tall fescue.   

 

 

 

 

As always have a good day and stay warm.  

Also check out the updated photos section!

  

                                                                                         

  

The long winter.......

The question I always get is, "What do I do to stay busy all winter?"  My answer is "stay busy."  With only myself on staff for my department it is hard to get alot accomplished.  Usually I try to knock my budget out right off the bat.  This by far has become one of the more easier things for me to do.  I will get out and do tree work, such as trimming canopys, dead trees, and any that need to be removed.  This helps the turf around these areas thrive during the growing season.  If able, we chip the limbs up and reuse for mulch areas, which helps me save money.  I also knock down the ornamental grasses.   

My big project during the winter is equipment maintenance.  Anything from spin griding reels, sharpening rotary blades, changing fluids, greasing bearings, and rebulding reels if needed.  I do what I can up until March, which is when I get my mechanic back. 

This season I have started to do some bunker work.  What I would like to accomplish is getting sand back in the middle of the bunkers.  We use a sand pro to rake bunkers in season, so alot of the time the operator will drag the sand to the edges.  We need to break this habit.  Also with that, the edge will get depressed, we need to re edge that and build it back up. 

Also this winter, while I had staff, we took out some of our zoysia sod banks around 2 greens and installed tall fescue.  The reason I wanted to do this was because the zoysia around the greens catches my over spray from greens and really stunts the zoysia.  Also compaction in those areas from traffic really effects the growth.  My goal is to provide good playing turf in those areas. 

Finally, I work the pro shop 2 days out of the week.  It is just myself and the golf pro for 2 months so I am trying to share the load and help him.  Part of the game I guess. 


Have a good day!

Welcome to the OCGC

Welcome to the Old Capital Golf Club blog.  In this blog you will not only read about what is going on on the maintenance end, but also other happenings at the OCGC.  I, Chase Best, have been wanting to do this for a while so that I can give fellow superintendents, turf students, and anyone else interested in turf, the opportunity to know what goes on at a golf course other than mowing grass.  I hope that you find this interesting! Thanks