Rain Days

What can we do when its too wet to mow?.  Last week Lansing CC received over 3 inches of rain.  We went to the "to do" list. 

 

High roots were removed from 1, 13,14, and 18 fairways.  It was easy to do because of the wet conditions.  Seed and soil was added.

 

 

We were able to put a new drain line in 14 fairway.  It's easy to do but takes time.

 

 

 Drain works after another .5 inches of rain.

 

 

A new cart path was added to 15 tee box.

 

Prairie Fire Crabapple in bloom.

 

Roller Coaster Spring

The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster.  Snow early last week and 75 this Sunday.  I will be turning on the irrigation system on Monday.  This takes several hours. We need to fill up the pipes and then we check each head to make sure they are working properly.   I'm a little concerned because of the cold winter created a deeper frost level.  Hopefully, we don't have any leaks.  Jose is very good at fixing most of these problems.

 

Last Thursday, I made my first chemical application to the greens.  I apply a product that helps prevent Poa annua seed heads from developing.  I use a system that tracks growing degree days.  I get emails and watch their maps.  It makes timing of this application much more accurate.

 

This is a spot on fairway #17.  We had winter kill on several fairways mostly on the back nine.  I purchased seed and will get a seeder for this week.  We will mark these areas as I seed them with white paint.  Play as ground under repair.  It should germinate and fill in quickly.  The reason for the damage was a combination of a cold and a snowy winter.  The areas that were hit the worst have poor drainage.  Our greens and tees had minimal damage.  Many courses in Chicago had damage to their greens and are playing on temporary greens.

 

 

Saturday, the Easter Bunny made its annual visit to the club.

Bird's Eye View

 

A worker for NIPSCO that was changing a light bulb on the electric tower that crosses the golf course was nice enough to take a view pictures of the golf course for me.

More Snow

 

On Monday and Tuesday, Jose and I spent the day pumping lakes that were full.  Most of the greens were snow/ice free.  Lets hope we get a nice warm up so we can bring in staff to start the spring clean up and start mowing some grass.

 

Wednesday was spent plowing and shoveling again. We had about 7 more inches of heavy wet snow.  Several limbs also broke.  Maybe 50 on Friday.  This winter is really putting our turf to a test. 

When Will We Open?

When will spring start?  Over the last 5 years, we've averaged March 21 for the first mowing of greens.  I don't see that happening this year.  We are still snow covered and frost is deeper than in the past.  Reports from the lake are 13 inches.

 

 

#16 fairway still has some ice cover.  We pumped for several days to remove much of the water.  This is the area we may lose some turf.  This has happened many times since I've been at Lansing and it survived.  The longer the warm up, the more I will be concerned.

 

A couple of weeks ago we had a warm day that melted off much of the snow cover.  Jose and I shoveled a path to the lake on #18 to help move the run off.

Ready For Spring?

I'm not expecting as early of a start this spring like the last couple of years.  A slow warm up is coming over the next week, so Jose and I will have pumps going to lower lake levels.  There is still well over a foot of snow covering most of the course.  Butch has most of the equipment ready.  It takes him several months to go through it all.  Jose and I have about 5 ash trees left to cut down along with 5 cotton woods in the ditch.

 

 

I hit this man hole cover a little hard a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

Butch was able to repair it.

 

 

Jose and I have had only 1 weekend off this year from snow plow duty.

 

Bruce Bergren reports that there are 16 inches of ice on the lake.  He didn't get his fishing house out the last couple of years due to thin ice.

Snow, Cold, Rain, Repeat

 

This is why we always back in the plow truck in the winter.  We had 11 inches of snow a couple of weeks ago.  The snow really wasn't the problem but the wind that followed.  The wind created some huge drifts.  Jose and I gave the truck a workout and broke a bolt.  Butch was able to weld a new bracket and replace the bolt.  The snow cover was nice because it was followed by some extremely cold temps.  In the winter, superintendent are concerned about several things.  Bare turf and cold wind.  Rain or melt down of snow followed by a quick drop in temps.  Ice cover on turf.  All 3 can lead to dead turf.  And then later in the early spring, snow mold.

 

 

After the cold, we had a warm up and over an inch of rain.

 

Jose and I set up pumps on #12 and #16 for a couple of days.  This is our new 4 inch trash pump.

 

Freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw.  We got the 3 worst pot holes on Friday.  Expect more.