Father's Day weekend activities 2016

Saturday of Father's Day weekend is the day that we play the Glendale version of the US Open. It's the one day per year where we set up the course as long as it can play with very difficult (but fair) hole locations. Green speed depends a lot on the previous week's weather and we've had rain two days this week so we'll do everything we can to make them speedy fast. We don't let the rough grow tall because we always have other events in the days following and it would take us until the middle of next week to get it knocked down again. I'll go out with Kenney our head pro and decide on the hole placements. We usually come up with some locations that would "test" even the best golfers so make sure you're here to have the most "enjoyable" round of the year.

 It's time to load up the kids and grand kids and come out to Glendale for our annual Father's Day brunch and fishing derby this Sunday, June 19th. Bring your pole and favorite lure or use one of the 14 poles we have ready for action. There will also be bait provided that will almost guarantee a catch. We stocked the pond two weeks ago with 400 rainbow Trout; 200 9-10", and 200 12". There are also some "lunkers" that are holdovers from last year which are in the 17-18" range. The fish shown below looks to me like it's over 12" so the anglers should have a great time fishing.  

I've seen fish fly at the Pike Place Fish Market, but never like the flying fish in the photo above. Just make sure that you tell your kids to hold on tight to their pole because if they hook one of the big ones, their pole could go for a swim!

Steve Kealy

Golf Course Superintendent

New Bridge at #11

The bridge over Kelsey Creek on the 11th hole at Glendale was recently rebuilt and opened for use. It had several pieces of decking that were rotted and needed replacing. We wanted to build it in the style of those on #6 and #8 but the cost was too high for us to do at this time. We spoke to Kenney Alhadeff (who had donated the funds to build the bridge at #8) and he was interested in making a large donation to rebuild the bridge and name it after his father.

The work began in mid November with our crew tearing off the old bridge decking.

Once the decking was off we made sure the supports were in good shape. 

New decking was lifted into place with our mini excavator.

The new  4"X 12" X 24' beams were set in place and bolted to the supports. 

The stone masons went to work to construct the four pillars located on each corner of the bridge. It's the same stone used at #1 tee and the bridges on #6 and #8. 

Next came the railing. It was designed by Tom Jergens and installed by one of his skilled craftsmen who did the work on the other two bridges. Next time you're on the bridge check out the fit and finish of the timbers used for the railing. The installation work is as good as it gets. 

The last step was to install the mat. We laid down two 6 foot wide strips to give a 12 foot wide total area across the bridge. This will make it easy for golfers to safely walk several abreast without fear of falling on the slippery surface. It will also protect the decking from cart traffic wear.

Special thanks to Kenny Alhadeff for the generous donation to make project possible and to Tom Jergens for design and overseeing the stone and railing installations. 

Steve Kealy

Golf Course Superintendent

#10 Fairway Drainage Project

Over the past two years the left side of #10 fairway has become unplayable during all but the summer months. Early last month we had several days of dry weather so we put together a plan and went to work.

The area needing drainage work is on the left side of #10 fairway from the 100 yard marker down to within 20 yards of the green. This photo shows sod removed where the drain lines will be installed. 

Here is a good shot of the trencher at work. 

Along the way we found several old drain lines that were cut during the 1993 irrigation system installation. It took 20 years for those cut lines to stop flowing and cause wet spots.

The cut lines were located, flushed out, and tied into the new drain lines. 

Once the trenching was complete we installed several inches of pea gravel in the bottom of the trench and laid the new drain line. Three inches of gravel went over the drain line then sand was filled to the top of the trench. Sod was put back in place and today it looks like nothing was ever done. 

Later this coming spring when the area is dried out we can move the fairway about 10 yards out further to the left. 

Ball marks need to be repaired correctly!

Take a look at the photo below showing all the ball marks on #15 green that have not been repaired correctly. I placed an irrigation flag on every ball mark on the green using a total of 304 flags. That's a lot of ball marks that should not be there.

Lets review the proper method of repairing a ball mark.

Most of the ball marks on #15 green have been repaired using the wrong technique of placing the tool in the center of the mark and lifting. The photo below shows the result of this incorrect method.

  This will takes several weeks to fill back in during the growing season. Over the winter months it could be there for months. Our crew fixes fresh ball marks every morning that were made the previous day. The old marks like the one shown take more time than we have available to repair each day so we need your help. If you are not sure how to repair your ball marks correctly, ask one of the pros in the golf shop for assistance. I am also around the club everyday during lunch and am available to show you the proper repair method.

It's hard enough to make a putt on a perfectly smooth green. When you have to putt through a maze of ball marks it's really difficult to get the ball in the hole.

Steve Kealy
Golf Course Superintendent

The battle of trees vs turf continues

This past summer was the driest we've seen in many years and it was a challenge to keep the turf green and healthy. In areas of the course where trees are close to play, tree roots extend out into the turf and steal the irrigation water. The quality of the turf goes down the drain and golfers are left with difficult conditions to play from. The photos below are of the area just off the back of #16 green. Two large Douglas Fir trees are way too close to the green and are the cause of the poor conditions.

You hit a pretty good shot into #16 green and and are only one foot off the edge of the collar. It's the #4 stroke hole so you're thinking net birdie. As you get to your ball you see that it's sitting in a hole on baked ground with a clump of turf right behind it. Your easy par just turned into a bogey or more.

There are so many shots played from just off the green that the turf needs to be in good condition. Chipping is hard enough off of a perfect lie. What are the odds of hitting a good shot from the burned out area in the photo to that hole location?

We spent a lot of time hand watering the back of the green, and also between the trees and the green every summer. By the time we get to August it looks like the conditions above. The trees win the battle over turf  (and the greens crew) every year. I don't see any reason to keep these trees and suffer with the awful turf  during the peak of our summer play. 

Steve Kealy

Golf Course Superintendent

Bunker maintenance

The turf team at Glendale CC spends a lot of time each day preparing the bunkers for daily play. You might think they should all play the same since they have the same sand, but each one is slightly different from the rest. Some face south and are always dry like the left bunker at #1 green while north facing bunkers like those at #10 green are wet most of the time. We have bunkers that are deep, shallow, small, large, high slopes, flat bottoms, wet, dry, good and bad drainage, new sand, old sand, some full of tree roots, and the list continues. Despite these differences we do our best to make them playable. There are times when a high use area in a bunker becomes thin and needs more sand. Last year at this time the sand was too "fluffy" and we were getting a lot of complaints about balls plugging and fried egg lies. We changed our raking technique and the rakes used by our crew and over the next several months the sand firmed up. No more fried egg lies. Since that time we continued to change the rakes each week from short to long teeth to try and keep the sand "just right." Lately we have received complaints that the sand is too hard. Over the past week we have been working on adding sand as needed moving sand around from deep to thin areas. Most of the time we know what bunkers need work but when the course is packed all the time our opportunities to get out and work on them is very limited. I appreciate the membership feedback and we will continue to work on making the bunkers "just right."

The photo above shows our raking method. We "smear" the edges with the back side of the rake to not disturb the sand and keep it firm. This is so incoming shots will hit the sides and roll to the bottom of the bunker. When you enter and exit a bunker please use the low side and stay off any steep slopes. If we can keep those slopes firm you'll never have to hit a shot from those difficult areas.

Steve Kealy
Golf Course Superintendent

More hot weather coming

I checked out the weather forecast for the next week and and it's back to the mid 80's and low 90's. This has to be the driest May, June, and July in all the years I've superintendent at Glendale CC. The rainfall totals from our on course weather station for May through July are listed below.
May 2015 .43 inches                     Average May rainfall  1.60 inches
June 2015 .16 inches                      Average June rainfall  1.39 inches
July 2015  .19 inches                      Average July rainfall  .61 inches

Total          .78 inches                      Average May-July      3.6 inches

We have received 22% of the normal rainfall the past three months. Our irrigation system is handling the the job but can only do so much. As long as the temperatures stay below 85 degrees the course stays in pretty good shape. Once we go above 85 degrees the turf goes into panic mode and we start losing areas where the soil is bad and the irrigation coverage is not up to par. South facing bunker slopes are the hardest areas to keep alive during hot dry weather.
The turf team will have to be out in play watering as needed during the late afternoons this next week. They will do their best to not get in your way but there may be a green in which you have to wait several minutes for the water to turn off. Thanks for your understanding during these times.

Steve Kealy
Golf Course Superintendent