Whats New

Well we have just been doing some routine maintenance lately. Tomorrow we have some big prijects planned so I will try to take some pictures and post some good stuff tomorrow night. Thanks for looking

Completed Tee and Drainage Project

Today we installed a new drainage pipe. The tenth hole is sloped toward the center of the fairway on both the right and left side. So when the irrigation runs, both areas drain down the middle of the fairway and create a wet spot. Today with our installation, this wet spot should be eliminated.

This was quite a tough trench to dig. The trencher cut about a 2 inch path, we were using 4 inch pipe, so i tried to cut two trenches side by side, and it turned out to be a lot harder than I assumed it would be.

This is what the tee box looks like after we put te final touches on

Setting heads and Laying Sod

Yesterday (Wednesday) we set the sprinkler heads and backfilled. Today (Thursday) we used some surveyor tools to make sure the teebox was level and laid sod. I forgot to take a picture of the finished project, but I will do that tomorrow.

Teebox Irrigation Project

This is a very long golf course (8100 yards from the tips). So on one of the holes we are finishing up a teebox that will soon house the red tees. I think that later in the summer we will be constructing another teebox on a different hole. So here are some before pictures as well as pictures from our days work.

The workman all loaded up with pipe and plywood and ready to head out to #13

The teebox was covered all winter to prevent too many weeds from infesting the area.

Here is the teebox, hopefully in the next few days we will lay some sod and it will be ready for play.

We removed the sod from the valve box to the end of where the trench was supposed to be cut with the tractor.

Trenching with the tractor did not work too well, so we ended up digging most, almost all of the trench by hand.

We encountered some large rocks while digging.

The backside of the teebox all glued and ready to go.

The frontside of the teebox also glued and ready to go.

The irrigation project was complete and we were ready to go home!

Handwatering Greens

Sunday night we had a huge main line break. So today we did not have water on a few of the holes on the course. These holes were in need of some water so we used a 700 gallon tanker trailer and pump to get water to these areas that were in need. Luckily before lunch we were able to re-route the irrigation to get water to these areas so we could handwater without the trailer.

You can't really tell but a trick plane buzzed over the golf course today. I tried to take a picture, but it was too far away and I had the camera at a wide angle.

Annual Bluegrass Control

Friday afternoon I was part of an experiment to control the annual bluegrass in one of the fairways. I had to go around and locate the areas and cover them with sand and seed, then I sprayed the area with roundup to kill the annual bluegrass. Hopefully this will work and in a few weeks I will include pictures of the successful experiment.

Lots of Roundup

Wednesday and Thursday I had to mix up a few tanks of Roundup to kill weeds and grass that was growing through the cracks in the cart path. There are also different paths from tee boxes to fairways that are made out of bark that also had weeds growing through them. So all together I mixed about 25 gallons and walked about 2 miles.

Fertilizing Greens and Cutting Cups

Today we fertilized the greens. We used a 7-14-14 fertilizer at a rate of 3.5 lbs per 1000 sq. ft. This comes out to about .245 lbs Nitrogen per 1000 sq. ft. That is a very low rate, but with sand based greens, several small applications are made at short intervals. This is done to avoid leaching the nutrients out of the root zone.

When we finished fertilizing the greens, I was instructed on the art of cutting cups. I already knew how to do this, but every superintendent has "their way" of doing things, so the lesson was appreciated. I changed the cups on the practice putting and chipping green, as well as fixed a few plugs that were too low or too high on some of the greens. (Hole 11 to be exact, one was too low and one was too high)

Busy Day and Home Sweet Home!

Today was crazy. We started the day by raking all the bunkers on the course. I wished I would have counted how many we raked, but I did not. After we finished we did a little maintenance on one of the greens. The green had become damaged from winter desication. This is caused by the cold wind in the winter. The wind blows a lot on the course, so the green is not always protected by snow in the winter. We replaced areas that were covered in fungus and had turned black. There were several areas where the turf is starting to come back so hopefully it will grow in later.

This is our maintenace facility. It is pretty nice. The small building is the breakroom and offices. The big building in the middle is the mechanic shop and storage for mowers. The large building on the right is the cart barn. It is full of about 15 Mules and 15 CarryAll carts. The building on the far left is another work crew. (not on the golf course)

Here is my new place. It is a three bedroom two bath condo, located on Park Avenue. Right out our backdoor is Park City Mountain Resort.