Lansing CC Grounds Update

Please Stay Off

2012-02-28T16:09:00.000-08:00

Please stay off. This area needs to be seeded this spring. We have a very small crew, and this just added more work for the project. If it had been seeded, we would have had to redo the area.

Jose and I had a good day getting rid of some junk around the shop. We cut up this old Vac and got some cash. We have been using this money on drainage projects. If you have any old metal or aluminum, bring it to the grounds department.

What Time Is It?

2012-02-17T15:23:00.000-08:00

Tulips are getting an early start in the flower beds infront of the clubhouse.

Jose and I continued are pruning efforts near the 8th green last week. This is the most shaded greens on the golf course We are hoping that with increased light, turf conditions should improve

We had many golfers on Friday with warm temps to continue into next week. I normally bring in seasonal help around March 15th.

New Sign and Tree Pruning

2012-02-03T18:08:00.000-08:00

If you haven't noticed, we have a new sign on Wentworth behind green #3.

Before

After

Jose and I have been pruning trees this winter. This should make the approach shot on #13 a little easier.

Butch Liptak TETA Technician of the Month

2012-01-25T16:43:00.000-08:00

Lansing Country Club mechanic Butch Liptak was chosen the January 2012 Technician of the Month by TETA. Butch has been a member of TETA since the the late 80's. He is very proud of this honor. TETA holds monthly meetings that have speakers on subjects related to his field. This month the topic was reel grinding.

When Will It Freeze?

2012-01-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

It almost froze overnight. With continued warmth, I would expect to break up again. Check with Dave before venturing out on the ice to fish. Several inches are needed before we start ice fishing. The mild winter has meant that the geese are sticking around. Without snow cover and ice, they will continue to stay. If you have a dog that needs a run, bring him out and scare the geese away. Henry, my beagle, is no threat to them. The mild temperature have also saved some money on the budget. We've only salted twice and haven't had to plow. I'm sure that in a week or two, mother nature will try and catch up.

Winter Work

2011-12-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

Here Butch is checking a reel as it is ground. He is also grinding a bedknife in the next picture. Before grinding, he inspects the entire cutting unit and replaces bearings and seals as needed. With the help of Jose, all machines receive oil changes and new filters. Repairs are made to anything that is broken. This could include hoses, head gaskets etc..

Tee markers, ball washers, garbage cans etc. receive a fresh coat of paint. This process takes a couple of weeks because we are outside when weather permits.

Tree Removal

2011-12-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

3 trees were removed from the ditch on #14. They were all cottonwoods that had died. As you can see, it opens up the left side. We have a couple more to cut over between 11 and 12 in the ditch.

Fall work wrapping up

2011-11-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

We had a few late season irrigation leaks this year. These needed to be fixed before we could blow out the irrigation system. That was done on Tuesday and Wednesday. We rent a 375CFM air compressor and it takes about 9 hours to complete. Jose gets most of the water out through the quick couplers while I blow out the heads.

Most of the leaves have fallen. Willows and some of the Oaks usually are the last to fall. The windy weather has really sped up the process.

Course accessories are being brought to the shop. Tee markers, ball washers, garbage cans, etc.. are sanded and painted. In the next couple of weeks, I'll explain more on what we do in the winter.

Weekend

2011-11-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

We should have a good dry weekend. Friday, we mowed the greens and changed the cups. We also mulched leaves. We're still a bit wet, so be careful with the carts.

This is the wild area behind #14 tee. We mow this areas down each fall. It helps keep the weeds and trees from taking over. In the spring, I usually spray with a herbicide for weed control. This year I did find some oak trees. I will mark them so we don't mow them down next fall.

Port a John's and November Work

2011-11-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year tha we start getting ready for Winter. Jose and I will be doing most everything now until the end of March. Juan will work a couple of days per week until Thanksgiving. Butch will soon start going over every machine. Jose and I will bring in the course accessories including benches, tee markers etc.. They will be sanded an painted. I'll take many pictures over the off season to show what we do. Just a reminder, the 3 port a johns are going back Friday, November 4. I purchased our snow mold protection and in a couple of weeks, we'll blow out the irrigation.

Ron Kittle and Drainage

2011-10-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

Ron Kittle dropped by today to work on our baseball bat bench.

With another .55 inches of rain last night, we were unable to mow. This gave us an opportunity to continue drainage work on #14 fairway.

Here, Juan and Jesus wrap up their work. There are several more spots at the beginning of the fairway we need to address. Improved drainage will save turf in the future.

Rain Total 2.3 inches

2011-10-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Total rain for the past 2 days is 2.3 inches. We'll do our best on Friday to get the course ready. Please check in with Pro Shop about carts.

Rain then cold

2011-10-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

It looks like a couple days of rain. We were catching up with leaf mulch, but this rain will slow us down. The ashes are about done, oaks and cottonwood are starting, maples next and last the willows. Willow are the hardest to control because they don't blow or mulch nicely and keep coming until the snow flies.

Just a reminder, we are probably going to have frost by the weekend. Please check in with pro shop before going on the golf course. Walking on a green with frost can damage the turf. You will see foot prints for several weeks as it damages the crown of the plant. The next couple of days we will change fluid in the ball washers so they don't freeze. We will also bring in water coolers on cold nights. November 1, we'll start bringing in course benches and ball washers as we let staff go. Jose and I will keep Juan around until Thanksgiving. He is the most versitile staff member.

I would also like to introduce Butch Liptak. He will be our new mechanic. He has 26 years experience as a golf course mechanic at Beverly Country Club. He will work mostly mornings from 7 to lunch time.

Meet the Lansing Grounds Staff

2011-10-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

Tees aerification was completed today. The greens are healing up nicely. Fall is a great time to come out and play. You may want to bring some extra balls as the leaves fall.

Meet the 2011 Lansing grounds staff

Left to right

Dan Augdahl, Golf Course Superintendent, 4 years at Lansing, 25 plus on golf courses.

Dennis, Groundsman, 2 years at Lansing, main jobs include greens, rough and bunkers.

Salvador, Groundsman, 3 years at Lansing, main jobs include tee service bunkers, and flower bed maintenance.

Juan, Groundsman, 4 years at Lansing, main jobs include greens, tees, fairways, rough and handwatering.

Jesus, Groundsman, 2 years at Lansing, main jobs include, cup changing, greens, fairways, rough and landscaping.

Jose, Foreman, 5 years at Lansing plus 4 years at Woodmar, main jobs include everything.

Greens Aerification Complete

2011-10-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is #5green. It was the last green we aerified on Thursday. We applied about 35 tons of sand and dragged it into over 1 million holes for the 18 greens plus putting green.

This is the putting green. It was aerified on September 12.

This is green #18. It was aerified on September 23.

This is green #5. It was aerified on October 6.

This shows the importance of aerifing early. The later we aerify the longer it takes to heal up. As the days get shorter and cooler, recovery slows. The entire process took us 7 working days. On the best days we completed 4 greens so we didn't go into overtime. With the smaller staff, we had to put other jobs on hold as we needed the entire staff to help. Our aerifier only goes 4 inches deep. I hope we can get back on the deep tine (8-9 inches) next fall to improve the root zone on our greens.

Next week, we plan on finishing the tees and small fairways. We need to finish as I need to start cutting staff after next week.

Weekend Update

2011-09-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, the rain has stopped for awhile. 1.75 inches this week. We were able to mow fairways Thursday and again Friday. The back nine was mowed with a walker pm Friday. It's not filling in as fast as I would like because of the cooler cloudy days. Next week looks better for that and for finishing the front nine greens.

Carts should be good for the weekend. Just be carefull of the wet areas. As we finish up aerifing, the mulching season begins.

We had an early morning visitor this week

The seed on the new hill has germinated. In a couple of weeks, we will plant an area of wild flowers that you will be able to see from the pro shop.

Rain

2011-09-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

Another day of rain. 1.6 inches since Sunday night. With the wet conditions, we will finish aerifing the front next week. The plan is Monday 1,2,3,4, Tuesday 9, Wednesday, 5,6,7,8. We will then finish up the tees and small fairways.

Tuesday, September 27

2011-09-27T05:33:00.000-07:00

More rain. The back 9 is closed until further notice. We had another .3 inches of rain last night on top of 1 inch. No carts on the front. This really puts a hold on aerifing. We may have to wait until next week. to finish the front. The grounds staff will switch to a 6:30 start on Wednesday due to darkness. This means no shot gun starts until 9:00.

Monday September 26

2011-09-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

We had an inch of rain overnight. The front is open for walking. I don't see any aerification until Wednesday.

Aerification Update for Friday, September 23

2011-09-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

The putting green, which was aerified on the 12th, is healing up nicely.

Here, Jose is finishing up green #18. That completes the back nine as of Friday. If weather holds up, we plan on starting the front on Monday. We again will put a temporary pin in the fairway. Just be aware of the workers as much of the equipment makes noise and they can't hear you. If it's dry, we should finish the front on Wednesday.

Aerification Update

2011-09-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

We finished 10,12,14 and 15 today. Perfect weather with sun and wind. Thursday we will try for 11,13,16 and 17. It will be cooler, but no rain in forecast. We will again put a temporary pin in the fairway. When we finish the green, the flag will go back on the green and will be ready for play.

Wednesday Aerification Schedule

2011-09-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

We will go for 4 holes on Wednesday. Our goal is to aerify 10,12,14, and 15. The spoils will be used on the new chipping green and new #15 tee. We will then blow the greens, topdress with sand, drag, fertilize and water. It's a lot to do for myself, Jose, Juan, Jesus, Salvador and Dennis. Dave will help after he takes care of some of the equipment that needs attention. That's in addition to mowing greens, tees, and fairways in the morning. The crew has experience with the process, so that makes it go faster.

Aerifing Update

2011-09-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

With the overnight and morning rain, and cloudy conditions, we will postpone aerifing until Wednesday and Thursday. We hope to finish the back nine on Friday. This will leave the front nine for next week.

Ball Marks

2011-09-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

Please fix ball marks. This picture is from Saturday. A ball mark fix that days heals in a couple of days, but if done the next day or mowed, it may take a couple of weeks.

Just another reminder, aerification begins on Monday on the front. Play will be allowed on the back.

Seeding On New Hill

2011-09-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

We seeded the hill under the power lines today. We used a low maintenance mix that contained fescue and rye grass. It was picked because once established, minimal water is needed. I hope that it will germinate next week. After it was seeded, Jose followed with bunker rake to spread it around more evenly.

Aerification Has Begun

2011-09-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here, Jose is aerifing the putting green with a Toro walking aerifier. We only have this machine, so it's going to take a few weeks to get throught the greens, tees, and small fairways. In the future, we need to purchase a machine for the fairways.

Here, Salvador is shoveling the cores to the side. They will be picked up and used as the growing medium for the new chipping green and new tee on #15. When we do the rest of the course, we will use more workers. High end clubs have special equipment that picks up cores.

This is the green after Jose applied the topdressing sand.

After the sand has dried, we drag the green with a special coco mat. Our goal is to fill as many holes as possible.

This is the goal. At this point we use a blower to remove any extra sand. Holes that are filled heal quicker. Later, we will go out and fill any areas that need more sand.

This is the 1st tee. We do a similiar process except that we drag the cores instead of picking up. The soil falls into the holes and we blow away the thatch. After finish a tee or green, we apply some irrigation water.

Vietnam Vet Outing

2011-09-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

Thursday, we had a Vietnam Vet outing. Many fished, some golfed, some sat in the shade and told stories. All had a good time. There was also a Middle East Vet that attended. Chef Bob was in charge of the burgers and hotdogs.

Just another reminder, we start aerify greens on September 19. Please be patient as we do this necessary practice to keep the greens in top shape. We are doing this in house this year, so it will take a couple of weeks.

Mike Locke supplied us with some seed for the hill project. We plan on getting the seed out next week.

Why are the Lakes Green?

2011-08-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Every year at this time, many members ask why are the lakes green? Mike Ogorek wrote up a report for me for the blog.

This is a natural fall time happening on lakes with a good weed population. As temperatures drop at night, the top water of the lake cools. Since cold water is heavier than warm water, at some point the heavier cold water falls to the bottom. This is what happens when a "Lake Turns Over". The shock of the cold water kills a lot of the weeds which turns the water green. The water should clear up within the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Mike also gave me some information on the weeds in our pond. He spoke with PHD from Central Michigan University about our ponds several years ago. He reported that we have mostly Pond Weed. We have the type that has a short like cycle(3-6 weeks). He recommended that we leave it as is because the habitat is good for fishing. The cloudy green in the Spring is a type of algae and not dying weeds. It aids in controlling weed growth. The weed bed we have is great for fish spawning.

Work continues on the natural pipeline inspection. Monday, they drained the line of any gas. Wednesday, they plan on cutting into the pipe and use a scope to check the line all the way back to Torrence. If all is OK, they will back fill and dig up the other pipe that runs parallel.

The tee shot from #14 men's may change next year. This group of cotton woods died this summer. The crew will cut them down in early November on a frost morning. We've been loosing a couple of cotton woods in the ditch line each year.

2011-08-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

Work is being done to test the 2 natural gas pipelines that run parallel with the power lines that cut across the golf course. This is done every 6 or 7 years. The pipeline is about 70 years old. Hopefully, the pipe is in good shape so no repairs will be needed.

Except for a little rain on Sunday, the club championship was completed. Congratulations to Mike Kotich and Melissa Kerr. We got green speeds back to normal since the hot spell. Cool weather is in the forecast for the next 10 days. We held up much better than most courses in the area. We missed most of the rain the decimated much of Chicago. August is actually very dry. We have received only .85 inches of rain with the average being about 4 for the month. We could use some rain to keep the course looking nice.

Remember, September is aerification time. We plan on doing it the last 2 weeks of September. We will do the back first and then the front. We need to finish before October because I start losing workers. The sooner we finish, the sooner they heal up.

If you haven't noticed, the days are getting shorter. We are having a hard time getting the course ready for 8:00 shot guns. The sun rises at 6:00, and it takes a minimum of 2.5 hours to do the basics ahead of play. It would be a great help it you could have 8:30 shot guns in August and 9:00 in September.

Dollar Spot and Brown Patch

2011-07-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

Dollar Spot

Brown Patch

I was hoping to make it until Wednesday before spraying again. I made an application this morning to stop Brown Patch and Dollar Spot that appeared. The hot spots at Lansing CC are #9 and the putting green. I would say that they have micro climits the favor disease. Poor light and air circulation encourage disease. Links style courses with few trees tend to have less disease. This year, disease pressure has been greater than normal. Preventative sprays that last 14 days are only making it 10 days. For budget purposes, I leave room for a couple sprays like this. If we go back to normal temps the rest of the year, it would really help the situation. These spots should heal up in the next couple of weeks. If they don't, I'll add some seed at aerifing time.

Friday Rain and Weekend

2011-07-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

We got only .25 overnight. It was much heavier to the North and South. The course really greened up this last week. The forecast is dry and warm for the weekend and up until Tuesday. That should make for a great weekend. We kept only #14 to cart paths only, and hopefully will open it back up on Saturday. We will catch up on some mowing on Saturday and Sunday. I let the crew go home early on Thurday with the rain. They are tired from the heat and took advantage of the afternoon off.

We started work on a project behind the practice tee. Plans are for a putting green or chipping green. It should be seeding by the end of the month. I hope it would be ready for play next spring.

Plans for Greens aerifation are mid September followed by Tees and Small Fairways. We will be doing this in house to save money this year. I can't wait any longer because I need to cut staff October 1. Also, the earlier I start, the more time we have until the first frost. Frost really slows the process down. The average first frost is around October 10.

Rain Update for Thurday 7/28

2011-07-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

We only had .5 inches of rain last night. Our total for the month is 3.2 inches which is below average. Most of Chicago is at record levels.

We got the Tony Lema sign ready last week. I missed the dedication, but I heard it was a nice ceremony.

The hot humid weather is taking its toll on some of our turf. This picture shows poa under stress on #1 collar. We hand watered these areas and backed off on mowing the last couple of weeks to help our greens, tees and fairways.

Friday Rain

2011-07-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

We got .7 inches of rain on Friday. After taking a few days off of mowing we started up again. Greens speeds should be better. The rain was kind of unexpected. Scott and I had weather.com on at 7 am with all rain up on the border. At 10:45 it came. The front dropped about 50 miles and the cool air hit the warm humid air. We needed the rain and it should soak in nicely. Jose started raking the bunkers after lunch and we should finish on Saturday for the Copper Muggers.

100 degrees

2011-07-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

We hit 100 again today. That's 2 in a row. A couple of years ago we only had 5 days in the 90's all summer. 90 on Friday will seem cool. We skipped mowing greens, tees and fairways again today. We instead rolled the greens. I had Dave raise the height of cut on greens for Friday and the weekends. I'm affraid we'll damage turf if we stay at the lower cut. We'll go back to normal when it gets cooler. After being wet in April, May and June, we now have drought contions. The forecast is for rain on Friday and Saturday, but only 50%. We could really use .5 inches. The course is holding up, but another week of this could really hurt the rough. It might stay brown for the rest of the season.

Heat and Drought

2011-07-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Come out early and beat the heat the next couple of days. We are backing off on some of the mowing to help the turf get through the extreme heat. We are doing more hand watering to get through the day. Too much water in this heat can create a situation for disease. If you play, drink plenty of water or Gatorade.

Hot Weather

2011-07-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

Water management will be critical in the next 10 days. High temps are expected. The easy thing to do is irrigate at night. A better option is to irrigate and hand water. Some of our greens have isolated dry spots. Instead of watering the entire green, we try and hand water these small areas. This will help keep our greens health.

This is another image of the reason why we aerify. Notice the darker soil on the bottom. Roots can't penetrate this native soil. This comes from the putting green, our worst green to maintain in my opinion. On most of our greens, the deep tine aerifier can penetrate twice the depth.

This picture shows that our fungicide program is working on the greens. Notice the line in the approach where dollar spot begins. This line is where I turn off/on the sprayer as I make an application. I currently spray greens preventative, tees curative and fairways only preventative for grubs and crab grass.

This is garbage near the lake. Please pick up garbage when you fish. This could end up in the lake and clog the irrigation intake or get into one of the pumps.

Monday Morning Storm

2011-07-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

We got a quick .25 inches this morning with some strong winds. With it being so dry, it soaked in nicely. We are picking up branches and are open for play.

No Rain

2011-07-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

The heat is back. We also haven't got any rainfall since the July 1. We are finally using the irrigation system on a regular basis. We could use about a half inch this week. If you are a fisherman, we generally start the sprinklers running at about 9:30. The system starts #1 and #7 fairway first. As dusk gets earlier, I generally start the sprinklers earlier.

This is Juan and Jose D. Juan is a 4 year veteran. Juan is an all around worker as he can mow rough, fairways, tees and greens. He also does a lot of landscaping work including pruning and planting of flowers. He also does some handwatering. He is a father of 3. Jose D. is a first year worker. He comes to us with a landscaping background. He currently mows fairways and greens and rakes the bunkers. Jose is also a father of 3

More Rain, Now Warm and Humid

2011-07-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

The total rain for the last storm was 1.1 inches. We can handle about .75 inches before we have problems. There was also heavy winds the created a mess of branches. While I sprayed the tees, Jose Duran spent the morning picking up as many branches as possible.

I needed to spray the tees today for the most common disease in Chicago. Dollar Spot is liking the humid wet conditions. I usually wait to spray tees until it becomes noticeable. Greens are sprayed on a preventable schedule. I would spray fairways, but the cost would more than than triple our chemical budget.

I mowed an area on the project by the pump house. It is really starting to take shape. It been very hard to accomplish anything with the wet weather. Doug is making a holding pond and road currently. This pond will hold water as the ditch line goes down. This will aid in preventing flooding. The road will give us access to #12 making transport times shorter and less traffic along #10 and the driving range.

Rain Update July 1

2011-07-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

A 10% chance of rain became .65 inches of rain with strong winds and lightning. The course took it well, with some small puddles on fairways and in the bunkers. Carts are good to go.

2011-06-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

Burris Equipment let us demo a trap rake since last week. Our Toro machine is showing it's age. It's getting expensive to continue fixing problems that arise. We got to use a Smithco machine. The quality of the finished product is shown above. As we continue to upgrade our equipment, this is something we will look at. I will also try to demo machines from Toro and John Deere.

Clover has been the major weed problem this year. Growing condition have been good. My goal is to finish spraying the rough this week before it gets to hot.

2011-06-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

Putting Green Damaged by Bug Spray

Please be carefull when appling insect repellant. It can kill turf. I'm guessing this happend on Saturday night. Notice the outline of the shoe. Please apply on the cart path or deep in the rough. This will grow out, but it will take a couple of weeks.

2011-06-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

We had a great day for golf and fireworks on Saturday. The rain held off and we had a good turnout for the party. Chef Dan and his staff had the food ready while Scott and his staff kept everything going on time. Great job guys.

2011-06-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

#17 green after another .9 inches of rain. That makes it 5.15 inches for the month. The average is about 4 inches. This green is a push up style green. It has poor drainage and floods in the back right corner after heavy rains. I used a squeegee to push off the water. If we continue to deep tine aerify in the fall, drainage should improve.

#10 and #18 greens were constructed close to a USGA spec green. It drains properly and is playable shortly after heavy rains. The main disadvantage to this type of green is during drought periods. You will see use hand watering these greens durning dry conditions. I would prefer this type of green to manage.

This is how we remove water from a cup It had to do this to most of the greens today. #10 and #18 were dry.

2011-06-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

Plug from #13 green

This picture show the importance of deep aerification. Notice the roots that follow the deep holes that were filled with sand. Except for 10 and 18, we have push up greens. The greens was made with native soil. Through topdressing and our small aerifier, the top 4 inches have become sand based. When we deep tine, we created 8 to 10 inch columns which the roots take advantage of. We don't have a deep tine aerifier, so we hire a company to do this. It takes a good 8 to 10 times to change the profile to look more like a USGA green. When you play after a heavy rain, 10 and 18 are playable much faster because the sand based greens drain faster.

We have worked hard to make the course playable after last weeks rain. So far, 4.25 inches were recorded this month. That's the average for June. We were able to get the water off #16 fairway, and now are concentrating on #12. This pond is feed by the pond on #17. As # 12 goes down, so will #17. Since #16 is down, we will start on the bunkers. We have to concentrate on the ponds first, because all drainage goes there. If the water stays on the fairway surface, we start to loose turf. Thank you for your patience this year.

This week, I plan on spraying for grubs and weeds. The clover is making a comeback at LCC. I have enough herbicide to make it big difference. It's been hard to spray this year with the combination of heat and wet weather.

2011-06-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday overnight, we received another .5 inches of rain. That's 4.25 for the month of June. If we are lucky enough to avoid any rain Friday night, we should be able to mow greens and tees, and change cups. Bunkers will have to wait until Monday, because we have to pump them out. We are currently using all pumps to drain the course. Hole #16 is draining fine, so me mowed the big pump to #12.

The front sidewalk is starting to bloom nicely.

Rain Update

2011-06-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

Standing in the middle of #16 fairway looking at the green from about 200 yards.

Looking at ditch near the 4th tee. It has overflowed and is surrounding the irrigation box. Jose and I got out and removed all electric panels that could be damaged before it got any higher. This area takes awhile to go down because valves are shut in Lansing to prevent basements from being flooded. This will back up all the way to the driving range. Once opened, we should be fine.

The updated rain total is 3.0 inches. As you can see, we are going to need several days to dry up. I'm hoping that with the cooler temperatures, we wont loose any turf. We could say we got lucky, my house in Orland Park got 4.5 and Joliet got about 5 inches/

Rain

2011-06-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

As of 8:20 am we have had 1.6 inches of rain with more coming. Course is closed as of now. We made it through the hot spell without needing to spray for Pythium which saved several hundreds of dollars. We will work extra to catch up after the rain stops.

2011-06-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

#16

Before and after work. Every Wednesday the crew cleans up the Bocce courts.

We use a hand blower, rakes and shovels.

This time of year, extra time is needed to clean reels. Cotton falls for several weeks. The cotton sticks to reels, which raise the height of cut. Hopefully, it will be done by next week.

Cotton also collects on the air intake. If not cleaned, the engine will over heat.

2011-06-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

You need to ask Scott about this ruling.

#16 Drain

2011-06-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

With all the rain last week, I found the end of a drain line for #16. We trenched the area and will put in drain tile and catch basins. This area should be much dryer in the future. Next week, I will trench across the the path to infront of the ladies tee.

2011-06-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

#3 Before we mowed

Jose mowing rough. After the heavy rains, it takes a few days to dry up enough to mow. It then takes us an extra day to finish the entire course. Jose thinks he can have the back 9 finished by Thursday. We cut all the fairways again on Wednesday, making them much more playable.

#3 Fairway after mowing.

2011-05-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

With another .5 inches on Saturday, the May total is 5.25. We will continue to pump to help dry out. It looks like Monday and Tuesday will be very warm. This will help in drying, but disease pressure will increase. I plan on spraying preventative application on greens Monday and tees soon. In the next week or so, we plan on putting out grub control.

More Rain

2011-05-26T05:34:00.000-07:00

We got another 1.5 inches or rain Wednesday night. That's close to 3 inches in the last 2 days. The crew will do it's best to prepare the course for the weekend. The weather forecast is looking better for the weekend.

#2 Lake by Grounds Department, notice the red hazzard stake

When we get too much rain, the ditch backs up onto the golf course. Valves are closed in Lansing that help protect the homes from getting flooded. It usually goes down within a day. In 2008 the ditch backed up so that the irrigation boxes was damaged. When I know that we are getting a lot of rain, I remove all electrical components from box.

#5, Snowy Egret

2011-05-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

After 10 dry days and a couple close calls, the weather gods said that it is LCC time. We had 1.3 inches of rain this morning. We took it well, but more rain is coming. We used the down time to plant geraniums in the pots up front. We should finish the other beds by Friday. Thursday and Friday will be catch up because we couldn't mow anything after 8:00.

Guy Liptack preparing a flower bed.

Steve Mayerak selected many of the flowers and helped plant.

Juan Hernandez planting in front of the clubhouse.

We have selected plants that require minimal water and care and still look nice. Give them a couple of weeks to mature. Also, look at the bed by the range tee as we add more perennials.

2011-05-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Great Blue Heron

Purple Martins in Bird House

If you come early or stay late, there is much wildlife on the property. Some not so welcome like skunks and raccoons. There are many birds including Purple Martins, Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, and Red Tail Hawks. Add a comment below if you see anything. We need a inventory of all wildlife as we try to become certified with Audubon. The native areas we are creating encourage wildlife. Don't worry about skunks living there, they would much prefer a hollow log or underneath a structure like a deck. They like going through garbage, so keep your cans covered.

2011-05-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

We had a surprise guest this morning. The doe eventually found its way off the course.

2011-05-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

#17 Fairway

Our efforts with drainage are shown here. The work on the left side of the fairway as you look toward the tee is nearly dry while the right side is saturated after 1.5 inches of rain since Thursday. Jesus and I prepared the area for another drain line that we'll install on Monday.

2011-05-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

#17

In an effort to save manpower, time and fuel, we are continuing to take out of play areas and naturalizing them. I estimate that we are saving 10 to 15% on fuel in the effort. With fuel already over $4.00 a gallon, this is one way to help me stay within our budget goals. I will continue to spray the weeds. It's a look that most golf courses are going with. I think they look beautiful later in the year when they change color. This also will help in our efforts to become certified with Audubon.

2011-05-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hole #6

Only .15 inches of rain through May 11 has realy dried up the course. This has made for some great conditions to play. Don't forget the sunscreen, I got burned today. We've been able to catch up on some mowing and have started the detail work. This includes bunker edges, trimming around lakes and trees, and flower beds. I actually watered the tees on Tuesday and will water greens on Thursday if we don't catch some rain. I've been spraying weeds the last couple of weeks. With warmer temps, we are getting a quicker kill.

2011-05-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Tulips should be in full bloom for Mothers Day

New plant material near front door

With the help of Guy Liptack and Steve Mayerak, we are giving Lansing CC an updated look. We also added a couple of trees near #9 green and the parking lot.

#11 Green

Course conditions have really improved this week. With it drying out, Jose should have all of the rough cut by Friday. I've been spraying weeds this week. It takes extra time for weeds to die with the cooler temps. The greens are in great shape. With the new walking greens mower, we can get all the greens cut in about 3 hours. Next week, we add another worker. We should be able to catch up on detail jobs like weed whipping and bunker maintenance.

2011-04-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the steps in fixing drainage problems. We identify the wet area and try and find a working drain line. We then trench to the pipe, add pea gravel and pipe and put the sod back. We also add catch basins in the low areas. A big problem we face is when new irrigation was added in 2003, many working drain lines were cut and never repaired. This really became evident last summer with the heavy rains. The last couple of weeks, we concentrated on fairway #17. I would like to add about 4 more lines there before we move on to #14 fairway. With improved drainage, we should see healthier turf and the ability to get carts out a couple of days sooner.

With the heavy rains this week, we have been unable to do much mowing. Friday we were able to cut greens and tees. This weekend we will try and mow fairways and rake the bunkers and mow greens again on Sunday. I'm hoping we can let carts out on the front Saturday and cart paths only on the back.

I plan on adding a 4th seasonal worker on the 12th. The 3 seasonal workers on staff now all have experience. That helps me and Jose work on other projects instead of training.

Welcome to Lansing Blog

2011-04-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Lansing Country Club Grounds Blog. First I would like to introduce myself. My name is Dan Augdahl. I've been the golf course superintendent at LCC since July of 2008. Previously, I was a superintendent at Joe Louis Golf Course, assistant superintendent at George Dunne, Cress Creek CC, Bryn Mawr CC, Minnesota Valley CC and Turf Technician at Interlachen CC. That's a total of 22 years before I started here. My education includes a BS degree in Turfgrass Management from the University of Minnesota. I've been married to Becca for 11 years and we have a daughter Kayla who is 9 and in the 4th grade.

This blog will update you with information about the golf course. I hope you like it. As I learn more about blogging, this blog will improve. I will include as many pictures as possible.

This year has started with rain and cold. Be patient, as we prepare the course for the upcoming golf season. With a more limited staff, you will see me and Jose help more with daily task. With wet conditions, drainage have been top priority.

#12 Pond