Weekly Schedule for August 29-September 4, 2011

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

We are seeding half the driving range tee today (Tuesday). Bunker washouts will continue to be repaired. Greenside bunkers are done and we hope to have the fairway bunkers done by Thursday.

Hurricane Irene-The Day After

Besides bunker washouts and erosion behind the lake overflow structure on #6 pond we came out fairly well. The course received just over 6 inches of rain but is drying out nicely. I'd expect carts to be on fairways starting tomorrow (Tuesday).

Hurricane Irene-10 am Update

At least 6 inches of rain so far here at the course. Our gauge only goes up to 6 inches!

As of now no large trees are down. However, it is quite gusty outside and the potential for trees and limbs to fall is still very high.

We had one clogged drain on the course, this was behind #8 green.

It's been cleared and is now a non-issue. Here is the view from the drain gate towards #8 green while the water is going into the grate after being unclogged:

Here's the view after it's been unclogged from the drain grate up the walk path towards #9 tee:

Bunker washouts will take us the better part of the week to clean-up:

Will have a complete report once the wind subsides later today or tomorrow. For now there is still high potential for downed trees and limbs on the course.



Hurricane Irene Storm Prep

There are several things that we are doing to prepare for the upcoming storm.

All fuel tanks, equipment and portable storage containers are getting filled with fuel:

Anything on the course that may get blown or washed away from the rain is being taken and stored at our maintenance facility, such as the trash barrels:

Another thing being done is to ensure all drain grates are clear so water has free access to enter without getting clogged:

And anything else that might need some extra support is getting a helping hand:

We have a meteorological service that we work with as well to obtain site specific forecasts for Fieldstone.

Most people are asking about my dog Pinki. As you can see she is also hunkering down for this event:

Collar Seeding Pictures

A few pictures of the collar seeding process.

Here we are preparing the seedbed with a spiker to create holes for the seed to go into. This allows the seed to germinate and be protected until it can grow to the surface:

Here Assistant Superintendent Josh Jobson is putting down the Pennlinks II creeping bentgrass seed on hole #11:

Afterwards we roll to keep everything smooth and ensure good seed to soil contact. Longtime Fieldstone associate Juan Nunez on green #12:

Seeding

Today we began seeding collars. We are approximately half way through the course. Tomorrow morning we will finish this up. Also, tomorrow we will shut down half the driving range tee for aggressive aerification and seeding.

No pictures today but will post some tomorrow of these processes.

Weekly Schedule for August 22-28, 2011

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

This will be a very busy week for us so check in each day for lots of updates to the blog.

Today we are verticutting and topdressing greens. I've been putting on them afterwards and they are smooth and fast. There should be little to no remnants of any work done on the greens after mowing tomorrow (Tuesday).

We are also seeding collars and green surrounds this week. As we go through this process I'll be posting pictures and maybe a video or two!

Weekly Schedule for August 15-21, 2011

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

Hope to have any remaining tree work complete from last week's storm by Wednesday. There are several irrigation repairs that need to be done on #17 after lightening struck behind the green then into our irrigation piping.

Storm Clean Up-Aug. 11, 2011

Greens, tees and fairways are predominately clear of any debris. There are several trees, including the one on #7 that will need to be removed by a professional tree company. We are working on getting that done as soon as possible. Greenside bunkers have been repaired and we are working on getting all the bunkers repaired by the end of the day on Friday. Here are a few pictures from after the storm.



Hole #12

Hole #7

Hole #6



Hole #6



Green #5

                                             









Storm Clean-Up

Received 2.75 inches of rain yesterday from the mid-day storm plus another in the late afternoon.

Focusing on debris removal from greens and fairways along with pushing sand back into place in greenside bunkers.

Picture is from hole #7.

Weekly Schedule for August 8-14, 2011

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

Hope to have a portion of the 4 inch well transfer pipe that is on hole #2 trenched and buried by Tuesday. Continue with the weed spraying. Apply liquid fertilizer to fairways.

Driving Range Tee

In the front right corner of the upper driving range tee we are doing a small experiment to see if we can get bentgrass seed to not only germinate but grow during the heat of summer. When a course is first built and seeded there is a period between construction and opening that we call a "grow-in". Basically it's getting the turf to the point where it can be played upon. The initial part of a grow-in is keeping the seedbed moist. So we are watering every 2 hours for just about 5 minutes until the turf is mature enough that we can back off and start watering deep and infrequently to improve root growth. So far we are seeing some germination within 7 days of seeding. Usually bentgrass takes 10-14 to germinate under ideal conditions.

Recovery

We are having some good weather finally for the turf to recover. Only 0.4" of an inch of rain was received last night but it has helped. The cooler temperatures as well make a big difference. During this stretch of good weather we are working on fairways to help give them a boost. Aerification, topdressing and fertilization is being used for this. Our first spot was on fairway #12.

Weekly Schedule for August 1-7, 2011

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

Our big emphasis this week will be spraying weeds and handwatering fairways and tees. The forecast shows some cooling later in the week with a greater chance of rain starting next week. For now we will hope for any rain we can get!