Insurance measures prior to greens freezing

The recent cold spell we had left the golf course closed for 13 days. We knew that is was going to get really cold for an extended period, so we took some precautions with our greens. The first step was to make sure that all the greens had enough moisture going into the extended cold period. It had not rained in about a week so we watered all of the greens for about ten minutes each. We have four covers for #3, #5, #11, and #13 greens which we put out. The photo below is #5 green with the cover in place.

The covers help raise the temperature underneath and protect the turf from desiccation (freezer burn) if it gets very cold and windy. The remainder of the greens got a heavy application of sand to protect them from the cold. The layer of sand helps protect the crown of the plant from cold and wind. It doesn't work as well as a green cover, but gets the job done.

The photo above shows sand being applied to the putting green. We put it on about the same rate as we do after the greens are aerated. When the temperature started to warm up, the first greens to open were the four with the covers. The last green to open was #10 due to the lack of sunlight it gets all winter.

Liming fairways

"Lime" is used in turfgrass management to raise the PH of soil. Lime is mined from the earth as limestone which is primarily composed of calcium carbonate. It is chemically altered and the product we use is calcium hydroxide. Due to the type of soil we have and the amount of rainfall each year the soil gets acidic over time. 7.0 is neutral on the PH scale, and ideal soil PH for growing turf in our area is between 6.0 and 7.0. We take soil tests each year and base our fertilizer program on the test results. We had not limed the fairways in several years and the PH had fallen to between 5.5 and 5.7 which is too acidic. Some nutrients including phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium get partially tied up and are not as readily available to plants at lower PH levels. To get the most bang for our buck with the fertilizer we apply, the soil PH ideally needs to be closer to 6.5. Last week was time to spread lime on fairways. We applied the lime at a rate of 20lbs/1000ft2, for a total 24,000 pounds or 12 tons. The lime is spread in the same topdressors that we use to spread sand on fairways.

The lime comes in one ton super sacks and is lifted into the topdressors with a loader.

It's a dusty job spreading the lime.

 

This is what the product looks like on the turf. It will take rainfall to dissolve the particles so the lime can move down into the soil. The process of raising soil PH is very slow and will take several months at least for any change to occur. We'll take soil tests in March of 2014 and I'll report back with the results of the PH change.

Coho salmon spawning at Glendale CC

Kelsey Creek and the West Tributary are the two streams that run through Glendale CC. They are both Chinook Salmon (King) spawning streams but we have not seen many in the last five years. The Muckleshoot Tribe with cooperation from the City of Bellevue, released 1,000 Coho Salmon (Silver) into Kelsey Creek and 500 into the West Tributary. The Coho were obtained from the Issaquah Hatchery and were waiting to spawn there. They were released into both streams in Kelsey Creek Park and many have moved upstream onto our golf course to spawn.

This is a Male Coho that has spawned in Kelsey Creek along the 11th hole. It is 23 inches long and weighs about 5 pounds. The Coho will live in the stream for almost one year before heading out to sea and will return in four years to spawn.

A pair of Coho ready to spawn in the West Tributary along #12 fairway.

The Coho returning to spawn has brought more wildlife out to Glendale for an easy meal. I saw several Coyotes and a Bald Eagle today pulling dead fish out of the stream for breakfast. It's nice to see fish on the golf course no matter how they got here.   

Irrigation system upgrades underway

The irrigation system at Glendale CC was installed in 1993. The pump station was part of that package and has worked pretty well for the past 20 years. It's time to upgrade the system and we are doing so over this coming winter. We have two 60 horsepower turbine pumps and one 5 hp pressure maintenance pump that were removed from the pump house yesterday. The two large pumps will be rebuilt, and the pressure maintenance pump is going to be replaced with a new pump. A section of the roof was removed so a crane could lift the two large pumps out of the wet well in the pump house.

 

This shows the lower part of the pump being removed from the wet well.

The pump out of the well ready to send off for rebuilding. The end that the guy is holding is where the 60 hp electric motor mounts to run the pump. The long shaft extends down into a concrete box that forms a well from where the pond water is taken.

This is the bottom of the pressure maintenance pump showing 20 years of corrosion and crud build up. The cost to rebuild the pumps is less than half of what it costs for new ones. The process will take a couple months and they will be put back into service in late January.

Trees and turf are not best friends

Trees and turf are like oil and water, they don't mix together. Trees always win the battle for water over turf especially during times of heat stress.

The photo above is the left side of #13 fairway about 100 yards from the green. The turf in this area is full of roots from the adjacent Douglas Fir trees on the other side of the cart path. It looked good prior to fairway aeration. The temperature got up to 90 degrees the day we aerated and highs of 85 degrees the following two days. During normal weather the turf and tree roots get along just fine. But add the additional heat stress and the trees win the battle for available moisture in the soil. The result is burnt turf.

The two photos above are both of the right side of #14. The large Fir trees have roots that extend about twenty feet out into the fairway turf. The irrigation heads do a fairly good job of keeping the fairway turf healthy, but the turf in the rough does not get watered as well as the fairway so the trees win again.

Another example of tree roots extending out into the fairway and the turf getting cooked during heat stress. This shows the left side of #15 about 50 yards from the green. During most of the year the turf here is in good condition. When it gets hot usually during August, the turf can't keep up with the tree roots any longer and the turf  gets thin.

We do the best we can to keep these areas alive during the heat of August, but the trees usually cause some damage before the summer is over. The turf will re-establish itself once fall brings extended periods of rain and cooler temperatures.

Kelsey Creek restoration project nears completion

The creek restoration project that started the first week of June is nearly complete. The haul roads on the 7th, 8th, and 9th holes have been seeded and the new grass is coming up and looks good. The last stage of the project is to plant native shrubs in designated planting areas. The photo below was taken on the equipment bridge on #11 looking south down the stream.

The next photo was taken off the bridge just in front of the 16th tee looking north upstream.

All of the shrubs are varieties that are not supposed to get over three feet tall. In time we'll trim them as needed to keep them from interfering with tee shots from the 16th tee. The contractor will replace any plants that don't make it through the first year.The City of Bellevue is required to monitor the project for three years to make sure the in stream design is working as planned. Any areas that get washed out by big storm events will be changed and restored as needed next summer.

16 Fairway wet spots due to plugged drain lines

This is a continuation of the last blog discussing possible reasons for wet spots on fairways. We did some digging the past two days along the 16th fairway where I showed photos in the last post of the two wet areas. We found a drain line going through the middle of one wet spot, and followed it to the creek.  It stopped three feet short of the waters edge and was buried two feet deep in sand. The stream channel has moved three feet since that drain line was installed less than ten years ago.

You can see in this photo where Josh and Frank dug up the line and followed it to the stream. The line was plugged solid with mud and rocks.

 If you look close you can see the end of the line near the top of the photo, now three feet away from the stream.

The creek is there, it's covered with blackberry stickers and knotweed. There are several more drain lines to the left of #16 fairway that we will find in the upcoming week. We'll flush them out so they are clear of debris and can carry water again. We are also going to take a piece of painted angle iron and pound them into ground where the drain lines discharge into the stream. In the future we'll be able to easily locate the line. Why didn't we think of that 10 years ago?
Steve Kealy
Golf Course Sup't

Plugged drain lines = fairway wet spots

Every fall when it starts raining many wet spots around the course re-appear after not being seen during the dry summer months. All of the drain lines on the course either directly discharge into one of the two creeks at Glendale, or connect to another line that empties into a creek. Over time the creek beds change, gravel gets moved from one area to another during big storms and some of our drain lines get buried. Wet areas appear that were not wet before and we have to go digging to find them.

 This wet area is on the left side of #16 fairway about 150 yards from the green. You  can see that there is a low spot from the center of the mud hole extending all the way to the creek. I took a quick look in the stream and could not find the end of the drain line. It's obviously buried and will have to be dug up and cleaned out.

 

This is another wet spot twenty yards away from the other spot shown above. Another buried drain line that will need to be located. The photo below is on the right side of #17 fairway looking down to the area above. It looks like the same drain line continuing all the way to the stream.

  It looks like this area may be caused by tree roots that have gotten into the drain line and plugged it up. It will have to be dug up and repaired also. There are spots all over the course like these where we will be working in the next month. It's a never ending process.........................

Steve Kealy

Golf Course Superintendent

Bunkers are hazards

 Most of the comments I've heard the past month about our course concern bunkers and their condition. Many comments about balls plugging when the sand is dry, balls getting stuck on the faces of bunkers because there is too much sand on them, time to replace our white sand with the tan variety because it is much more "consistent," etc. I went to Bandon Dunes last week with a group of members from Glendale CC and got a 3 round reminder that bunkers are hazards. They are not fair, the ball plugs, the ball gets stuck wherever it lands, there are rocks everywhere, sometimes you can't hit the ball the direction you want because there are steep banks that get in the way, sometimes you have to take a penalty for an unplayable lie, and there is gorst waiting to poke you if you're not careful!

This bunker is just in front of the 1st green at Old Macdonald. If you hit it close to the face, you'll be taking a penalty and moving back to get a swing at it. And when you take your drop, yes, it will plug.

Clint hit a shot into this bunker at Pacific Dunes and it plugged deep in the sand. Most of them did. Notice the rake job by the last guy that was in there. He probably wasn't very happy with the shot he had to play- too much sand, plugged lie?

Here I am in a bunker on the 14th hole at Pacific Dunes. It's a short par 3 and I pulled my tee shot left into the sand. The ball ended up too close to the edge to take a swing and hit it toward the hole. I sat on the
bank and hit it at the back of the green. Not where I wanted to go, but I got it out on the first try. I hit a bad tee shot into a hazard, my fault.

Kevin Suther hit it into this fairway bunker at Pacific Dunes. Rocks, steep slopes, and no sand are all conditions present here.

Kevin plays his third shot from this bunker on the 18th fairway at Pacific.

He also hit his fourth shot from the same bunker!

My favorite bunker I saw on the trip at Pacific Dunes. Gorst, weeds, and rocks. Now this is a hazard. If you hit a shot into this bunker, good luck.

Sometimes we forget that bunkers are hazards and the conditions in them may not be what we want. Just remember, you hit a bad shot to get there and sometimes you have to pay your dues.

High water on Sept 6 shows possible design flaws

We had a .65 inch rain event on Thursday night 9/5 and the photos below were taken on Friday 9/6. The newly constructed areas of the stream had some damage, but it's hard to say if it was due to the design or not.

This view is from the bridge next to #16 tee looking north toward the 16th fairway. During a big rain event, the stream always goes over it's banks through this area. The water will flow down the cart path next to the 17th green and re-enter the stream on the down side of the bridge going to the 11th hole.

The high flow of water re-entering the stream cut this chunk of bank away adjacent to the bridge on #11. I'm not sure how this could be prevented since it happens every time we get high flows.

This photo shows the bank next to #8 tee. This is a design flaw that has to be corrected. The root wads and tree stumps in the stream directed the flow around them toward the bank and caused this erosion. Design engineers were on site later that day to access the situation and determined that one of the larger stumps had to be removed. The bottom photo shows the stump removal. The bank work will have to take place next year since the in-stream work window has closed for this year according to the project permit issued by the WA State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Last weir complete

The work in the stream on the last weir next to #6 green is complete. The contractor will start the planting and turf restoration process which will take about one month.
The photo below shows the stream bank on the green side of the stream on #6. The contractor cleared off all the stickers and knotweed for us so we could maintain it in the future. It sure looks a lot better with the tall junk removed!

Last week of in stream creek work

Work in the stream is in it's final week and the contractor (Jansen Inc.) is working on the last weir next to the 6th green. This is the most complicated part of the job so they left it for last. It has the worst access due to the slope of the area above the creek across the 6th hole. All of the material that is used in the stream has to be hauled in with a tracked vehicle. It's not safe for dump trucks to make the trip back and forth, they would slide down the slope into the stream.

This photo shows the area where they are working next to the 6th green. Take a look at the photo below. You can see the pipes in the stream right below the weir. Those are pipes that are connected to two pumps that draw water out of the stream and fill the pond for our irrigation system. Those two pipes will be installed into a large concrete box which the contractor will set below water level next to the weir.

 Work in the stream must be completed by the end of the day on August 31st to comply with WDFW permits for the project. The next phase of the project will be planting the work areas with native shrubs. Work will start at the south end of the course on #11 and continue north along #16 tee finishing up by the 8th green. The contractor will also clean up as they go and restore the work areas where the turf was removed. The work should be complete by the first week in October.

Creek project continues along 9th hole

Creek restoration work continues along the 9th hole. Two sets of weirs are completed and the contractor is working next to the bridge on #6. They should finish there today then move their operation back to the pair of weirs in front of Bing Tang's house on #8. They will be there through Friday, then clean up as much as possible before the Women's Member-Member event on Mon 8/19 and Tues 8/20. No work will take place during the women's event. On Wed 8/21 the contractor will move to the last pair of weirs to the left of #6 green. This will be the most difficult part of the job due to the steep slope next to the creek on the sixth hole. Dump trucks will not be able to haul material to the site due to the slope so a tracked dumper will be rented for the job. The in stream work must be completed before September 1st to comply with the WDFW (WA Department of Fish & Wildlife) permits for the project.

This is the first pair of weirs along the 9th hole. I'm standing on the upstream weir looking downstream.

I added this photo to show the location of the weirs in the photo below. The loader is parked adjacent to the second set of weirs about 100 yard out from the 9th green.

Looking downstream at the completed second pair of weirs on #9.

The crew is installing anchors to the root wads to prevent them from washing away in a big rain event. This is the third set of weirs on the 9th hole as seen from the bridge crossing the 6th hole.

Creek work complete at #8 tee

The 8th tee has been closed for the past four days due to work in the creek next to the tee. The construction crew cleaned up around the tee yesterday afternoon and is moving their operation to the 9th hole for the next two weeks. The tee will open for play today (Friday August 9th). The photos below show the new stream bed below the weirs with large woody debris added for improved fish habitat sites.

Photo taken from bridge to the 8th tee looking downstream.

This view is from the black tee area looking upstream.

The bank will be planted with native shrubs in September near the end of the project. The two photos below show the completed in stream work along the 8th fairway near the 150 yard marker.

Looking upstream along 8th fairway. The photo below shows the same area looking down stream. The rolls of burlap along the bottom of the slope are there for erosion control to prevent soil from entering the stream during a rain event. The stream bank will also be planted with native shrubs near the end of the project. Hopefully those plantings will be able to out compete the knotweed from taking over the area in coming years.