We are once again up and running with two pumps on the Greywalls irrigation system and the Heritage pumps are working well now after re-packing the end shafts.
So you know what was going to happen at that point......rain of course. We received .35" of rain yesterday evening and it was the best rain in 3 month (not mist but actual rain!)
Your Crew is happy now :)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday we got .2" of rain that was much needed and we will take it. We were really praying for more but once again the bulk of the rain went to our south. We are building up our water supply in the Heritage pond now, so we can start to irrigate again this week.
The Greywalls irrigation pump drive should be installed this week and we will be back to full pump ability, this after going all summer with only one pump (it has not been an easy year).
We lost some turf on our Greywalls approaches, in the areas that have bentgrass encroachment from seed spill/contamination during the construction process. This turf loss was due to drought and excessive thatch; which does not allow water movement down to the roots. We already solid tine aerified the approaches and we will be doing some over seeding in those areas in the coming weeks. The long term solution to this propblem is more vertical mowing of the approaches; which is very difficult to do with our equipment limitations, amount of heavy play and staff level.
We will be doing some solid tine aerification to the Heritage Fairways this week.
The Greywalls irrigation pump drive should be installed this week and we will be back to full pump ability, this after going all summer with only one pump (it has not been an easy year).
We lost some turf on our Greywalls approaches, in the areas that have bentgrass encroachment from seed spill/contamination during the construction process. This turf loss was due to drought and excessive thatch; which does not allow water movement down to the roots. We already solid tine aerified the approaches and we will be doing some over seeding in those areas in the coming weeks. The long term solution to this propblem is more vertical mowing of the approaches; which is very difficult to do with our equipment limitations, amount of heavy play and staff level.
We will be doing some solid tine aerification to the Heritage Fairways this week.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Heritage water crisis
We officially reached our 'no more pumping level' while trying to irrigate the Heritage course Sunday night. The Heritage irrigation pond level was around 110" this spring and is now below 60".
The pond level is now so low the pumps will not come on until it rises, which means we need rain BAD and lots of it to fill up our pond. It has been 2.5 months since we have recieved a rainfall that creates enough runoff to fill the retention area. Isolated showers this time of year always seem to miss us.
The Orianna retention area (our lower pond) is only providing us with about 60,000 gallon a day, not even enough to run a full green and tee program.
The pond level is now so low the pumps will not come on until it rises, which means we need rain BAD and lots of it to fill up our pond. It has been 2.5 months since we have recieved a rainfall that creates enough runoff to fill the retention area. Isolated showers this time of year always seem to miss us.
The Orianna retention area (our lower pond) is only providing us with about 60,000 gallon a day, not even enough to run a full green and tee program.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Rain?
Well another night of '80% chance of rain' has come and gone with no rain at MGC. The micro-climate over this place is brutal.
The UPGA Championship went very well and I would like to thank my staff for doing a great job.
I solid tine aerified #8 green on Greywalls this morning and overseeded the thinner areas on that green, which have once again fallen victim to traffic wear and compaction.
We will be verti-cutting and Topdressing the Greywalls course on Monday.
The UPGA Championship went very well and I would like to thank my staff for doing a great job.
I solid tine aerified #8 green on Greywalls this morning and overseeded the thinner areas on that green, which have once again fallen victim to traffic wear and compaction.
We will be verti-cutting and Topdressing the Greywalls course on Monday.
Friday, August 12, 2011
PGA Championship
Reading about the 'Mower mishap' at the PGA Championship I came across a few comments that Phil Mickelson had to say about the resent overhaul of AAC by the "Open Doctor" Rees Jones............
Phil Mickelson, no fan of course designer Rees Jones, took a roundabout way of criticizing the Highlands layout that Jones rejiggered for the tournament.
Mickelson gave it a thumbs-up for the pros but said its difficulty deters Atlanta Athletic Club members from taking it on.
“When you put water in front and bunkers in the back, you give the players no vehicle for running a shot up,” Mickelson said. “That’s why participation on this golf course is down 25 percent. The guy who did this one, you know, it’s great for the championship but it’s not great for the membership.”
Phil Mickelson left the Atlanta Athletic Club Course with few good things to say about it after his first-round 71. “It was a fun course,” Mickelson said, referring to it before major renovations. “Now it’s just a long, hard course. It’s not fun, it’s not great, it’s just long and hard.”
Great points made by one of our countries great Golfers. These monster courses the Pros play are no good for regular golfers, yet for some reason what people see on TV is what they desire at their own home course. The length is to much for 99% of us who play the game and the strategy of golf is taken away during most of these renovation. The green speeds are so fast it makes any green with contours and interest become unplayable.
What golf needs in a course is variety and variety comes in the form of options on a golf course. No one plays the same game or hits shots with the same trajectory thus different ways of attacking a pin should always be present on the majority of your golf holes. If this is done golf will be more interesting and playable to the masses and many more will enjoy the game.
Phil Mickelson, no fan of course designer Rees Jones, took a roundabout way of criticizing the Highlands layout that Jones rejiggered for the tournament.
Mickelson gave it a thumbs-up for the pros but said its difficulty deters Atlanta Athletic Club members from taking it on.
“When you put water in front and bunkers in the back, you give the players no vehicle for running a shot up,” Mickelson said. “That’s why participation on this golf course is down 25 percent. The guy who did this one, you know, it’s great for the championship but it’s not great for the membership.”
Phil Mickelson left the Atlanta Athletic Club Course with few good things to say about it after his first-round 71. “It was a fun course,” Mickelson said, referring to it before major renovations. “Now it’s just a long, hard course. It’s not fun, it’s not great, it’s just long and hard.”
Great points made by one of our countries great Golfers. These monster courses the Pros play are no good for regular golfers, yet for some reason what people see on TV is what they desire at their own home course. The length is to much for 99% of us who play the game and the strategy of golf is taken away during most of these renovation. The green speeds are so fast it makes any green with contours and interest become unplayable.
What golf needs in a course is variety and variety comes in the form of options on a golf course. No one plays the same game or hits shots with the same trajectory thus different ways of attacking a pin should always be present on the majority of your golf holes. If this is done golf will be more interesting and playable to the masses and many more will enjoy the game.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Why
Another attack from an angry golfer. In fact we had two yesterday, one on the Heritage and one on Greywalls. We are up to 21 divots taken out of our putting surfaces this year.
I will never understand.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
UP's
Good luck to all of our members playing in the UP's this week. I hope one of you can defend your home course and capture the crown.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Divots on Greens
We are really having an issue with Divots taken out of our putting surfaces this year.
I wish people would take more pride in this place.
We have more work than our small crew can handle with just the basic maintenance, we don't need more.
Topdressing on Heritage
We verticut and topdressed the Heritage Greens yesterday. The process went very well as we were able to finish ahead of schedule and open up for play an hour early.
A much needed moisture front is working its way over us right now, we need it in the worst of ways because it has been very hot and dry. An all day soaker would be wonderful for both golf courses.
We had to repair the intake pipe for the Heritage pond fill pump yesterday because a coupling came loose. Today we will be taking one of the Heritage main pump intakes out because something is restricting the flow, which causes the pump to over heat and shut down.
We still only have one main pump on Greywalls as the VFD is still getting repaired. Our distance from the repair shops really makes this a long process, plus our service company has a lot of territory to cover making scheduling a trip up North difficult at times.
A much needed moisture front is working its way over us right now, we need it in the worst of ways because it has been very hot and dry. An all day soaker would be wonderful for both golf courses.
We had to repair the intake pipe for the Heritage pond fill pump yesterday because a coupling came loose. Today we will be taking one of the Heritage main pump intakes out because something is restricting the flow, which causes the pump to over heat and shut down.
We still only have one main pump on Greywalls as the VFD is still getting repaired. Our distance from the repair shops really makes this a long process, plus our service company has a lot of territory to cover making scheduling a trip up North difficult at times.
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