NEW EQUIPMENT

This week we received three new pieces of equipment at Deer Creek.  The most important piece is a new greens mower.  It is a reconditioned 3150 TORO that matches our other greens unit.  We will now be able to prepare all 18 greens in a consistent manner during our shotgun or double tee mornings.  This is an important step in achieving our goal of offering superb consistent putting greens for our Members and Guests at Deer Creek Golf Club. 

The other two pieces are two Club Car Carry All 2 utility carts to replace a few of our old carts that are worn out.  We will use the old carts for parts to recondition the best of the remaining utility carts this winter.  

We appreciate our management's commitment to the Maintenance Department and helping us achieve our goals and objectives that ultimately provide a better experience for our Members and Guests at Deer Creek Golf Club.

BUNKER DETAIL

This is hole 14.. We repaired the edges of the bunker that were caving in due to unstable banks. We used forms and we rebuilt the edges. Now we have a flat bunker that looks great and plays even better.

GREENS NURSERY

We built a greens nursery that will serve as a source for sod to repair vandalism or other unforeseen blemishes in our putting greens.

We dug out 6 inches of soil and added sand back. We used the cores from our fall greens aeration as the sand source. We sodded half of the nursery.  On the other half we finished the top surface with a smooth grade and spread the cores evenly. The cores contain healthy bent grass plants that we will fertilize and groom it into a healthy golf green that should provide years worth of reliable service.

The nursery is located on the pond dam against the North East end of the irrigation lake. 

FINAL GREENS AERATION 2012

We always work closely with ISTRC to scientifically plan and evaluate our aeration processes at Deer Creek Golf Club. This fall we have determined that a larger hollow tine is in order to remove some organic material in the upper 2.5" of the greens profile. We start on the 17th of October and it will take two days. We always keep 9 holes open for play to minimize the impact on our customers. We also chose the late date to save the best putting surface for the September and early October tournament season. The mid October date should have the least impact on our valued customers.

As always we appreciate your cooperation as we take the necessary steps to ensure our new greens are in terrific condition for our members and guests.

TIME TO START SEEDING

With the chance of Hurricane Isaac pushing some rain our way this weekend, I recommend seeding your lawns starting this week.  I always use the first of September as a guideline for optimal seeding conditions. 

I recommend verticutting your lawns and removing all of the old dead grass and plant material with a bagger or rakes and trash bags.  Then you will incorporate your seed into the top 1/4" of the soil.  You don't want to go too deep but you must get seed soil contact to germinate seed. 

Apply a starter fertilizer at the time of seeding and then begin to water the lawn.  It needs a good soaking daily and if you have an irrigation system I recommend running three cycles per day of approximately 10 minutes per cycle until all of the seed is uniformly germinated.  Then you can reduce your watering to once per day if there is no rain to supplement the soil moisture level. 

FALL GREENS AERATION

We are aerating greens today. We are using 1/4'' hollow tines. September is a huge golf month so we choose to aerate now so the greens will be table top smooth all September.

The 1/4" tines will have a minimal impact on the putting quality of our greens.  They will be putting well the day of aeration.  We incorporate the sand and roll the greens to provide a quality putting experience during this aeration process.

We are currently testing our greens with ISTRC http://www.istrc.com (International Sports Turf Research Center) to determine what our October aeration process will be.  We will adjust our tine sizing and spacing to reflect the soil physical properties and the maturation of our new greens profile.  

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS

The capital improvement schedule is progressing with the latest upgrades including a brand new cart fleet.  They are awesome and I am so excited to see this much needed improvement.  We also completed some back of the house items including an irrigation update consisting of new handheld radios, new transmitting antennas and FCC compliance with our FCC license.

The impact on the golf course will be more consistent irrigation control. 

Other scheduled capital projects this year will include two utility carts and a greens mower.  We are excited!!!!

HOT AND DRY

http://weatherblog.kshb.com/the-return-of-the-heat-wave-creator/

Please read this latest blog post from a local meteorologist in the kansas city region.

We are over 10 inches below normal rainfall since april 2012.

Golf course superintendent in this region usually use September first as the finish line for the extreme heat... After this date we can begin our fall seeding and recovery projects. Some might even use august 15th as the finish line but I am a little more conservative and shoot for September first.

VENTING GREENS

A little break from the extreme heat.. We are still dangerously dry but at least we are going to have some relief from the triple digit heat. We are taking advantage of the cooler temps as we are needle tining greens this morning. We will roll the greens after we needle tine them and they will roll nice... The venting is important to insure great air exchange for the roots and allow water to percolate through the root zone. This is another positive step in our quest to provide excellent putting conditions at Deer Creek Golf Club.

THIS PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP THE CHALLENGING WEATHER WE ARE DEALING WITH

http://weatherblog.kshb.com/heat-wave-day-10-cold-front-is-a-day-away/

MOISTURE MANAGEMENT

One of the most important components of maintaining quality putting greens is moisture management. Too little water and the plant wilts, too much moisture and the plants suffocate.. There is a delicate balance that we try to maintain. Recently I have been introduced to a tool that many Superintendents have found to be the answer to this challenge. It changes the art of moisture management to an exacting science by calculating the volumetric moisture content in the soil. We know the percentage when the plant wilts as well as the point where the soil is saturated with moisture and we target a moisture level in the middle where the plants thrive and the putting surface is firm and consistent... We have been using these tools at Deer Creek since May and I am completely sold on the concept.. I say it is where Cutting Edge technology and logic collide resulting in awesome tools that change how we manage turf...

AIR MOVEMENT

As we evaluated the 2011 season, many Superintendents in Kansas City determined that air movement was one of the most crippling environmental stress related problems of the season as it relates to consistent and healthy putting greens.. We were not immune to this problem at Deer Creek.. Our lower lying greens suffered from poor air movement symptoms... We are prepared to remedy this problem with new fans. We researched the topic and have determined the specific needs of our toughest micro climate. We recently purchased 5 50" precision fans and we are in the installation stage of the project now... The project is scheduled to be completed by the 15th of July. Just in time for the humid "dog days" of summer to settle in.

PREPARE FOR THE HEAT

June 27

We are using needle tines to vent the greens as the heat sets in for the 2012 season. We follow the aerators with a roller to smooth the surface. The end result is a small open hole in the he green that allows air exchange that helps the plant breathe and the root zone to percolate water and provide a firm dry putting surface.

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT

This is a video of #10 fairway.  It is covered in mud and sand from the flooding.  This is how we remove the mud from the fairways.  We wet the material and push it off with bunker rakes and hand push squeegees until the turf is exposed.  We then run irrigation water on top to wash the excess mud off the leaf blades and believe it or not the area should recover 100% as long as it doesn't get extremely hot or flood again in the near future. 

DOWN CAME THE RAINS

Please bear with us as we clear the debris and revive the course from the weekend flooding... We received 2.6" of rain this Sunday evening in less than one hour...

If you are ever curious about the rainfall totals or the creek level you can visit http://www.stormwatch.com/Sites/Daily_Site_Readings.aspx . Be sure to look at the sensor located at Metcalf and the Tomahawk river... That sensor is actually on hole #10... Flood stage for us is 8' so anything above that and we are under water at Deer Creek.  The water level reached 13.2 feet Sunday Night so we had approximately 5.2' of water over many of the back nine holes.

As many of you know, we are really good at cleaning up flood debris.  Unfortunately we have had a lot of practice.  We will have the golf course back in shape for the weekend so don't hesitate to make your tee times now.     

posted from Bloggeroid

WELCOME FORE GOLF MANAGEMENT

I am excited to embrace the new management at Deer Creek Golf Club.  FORE GOLF MANAGEMENT has acquired Deer Creek in their management portfolio.  They bring with them a legendary golf icon Mr. Charlie Staples.  Charlie has a reputation as one of the best operators in the business.  His partner Mr. Michael Miraglia has a tremendous resume as well and I look forward to working with FORE GOLF.  I am sure that their sound leadership will propel us into bigger and better things at Deer Creek.  

YARD WORK STARTS NOW

 As you all know, we have had an unseasonably warm start to the 2012 spring and with the "April" weather comes April yard work. 

The plants in our lawns don't follow the calendar.  They follow the weather patterns.  Soil temperatures are as high as 64 degrees in Kansas City and that is an indicator for rapid growth and unfortunately crabgrass germination.  We need to get our pre-emergent herbicides "Crabgrass Preventer" out now. 

Many people have been asking about spring seeding.  I am going to give you the condensed version of this topic.  Spring seeding is not recommended, but it unfortunately is inevitable if we had a hot summer and a dry fall many people are left seeding lawns in the spring. The main reason we don't want to seed in the spring is the likely-hood of germinating as many weeds as we do grass in the seeded area.  Also the spring seedlings don't have enough time to completely mature before the hot Kansas City summer hits them resulting in a high mortality rate.

If you do seed in the spring now is the time.  DO NOT APPLY CRABGRASS PREVENTER TO SEEDED AREAS!!!  Crabgrass preventers are pre-emergent herbicides that prevent any seed from germinating in that area including our grass seed.  Soil temperatures are on target and the rains are falling so seed now.  You must disturb the soil and incorporate the seed into the top 1" of the soil.  Then it is best to cover the seeded area with hydro mulch or straw to trap moisture and to incubate the seed.  Keep the seed wet with at a minimum of one watering per day.  You can't treat any weeds in the seeded areas until the seed has germinated and the grass has matured to the point that you have mowed the seedlings at least two times.  At this point we can apply crabgrass preventer and hopefully reduce the amount of weeds in the seeded areas this season.  There are many other specifics that go along with this process so feel free to ask questions via the blog or email me at bstephenson@eaglegolf.com

One more quick tip for this week.  Scalp your lawns down to the lowest setting possible on your mowers without scalping the lawn to dirt.  Typically this is approximately 1 3/4" on most push mowers.  Mow the lawn once at this height bagging the clippings if possible.  If you don't have a bagger, do your best to disperse clippings evenly across the lawn so as to not suffocate the underlying turf.  If you have the time and energy you can rake the clippings off the lawn for best results.  What we are doing here is removing the brown winter burned leaf tissue and allowing sun to penetrate the soil.  This will give your lawn a jump start this spring and get it moving in the right direction for 2012.  After this mowing you should raise your mower to 2" and remain at 2" until mid-May.  At this time raise the height to 3" to prepare the turf for the hot June, July, and August. 

 Please see the following blog that Dr. Rodney St.John posted this week.  He is a professor and extension services expert from K-State.  Rod has an awesome blog that you should follow for awesome turf information. 

Crabgrass Germination: Do I put down my preventer now?
http://www.ksuturf.org/blog/2012/03/crabgrass-germination-do-i-put-down-preventer-now/

Is that Crabgrass Germinating in my yard?
http://www.ksuturf.org/blog/2012/03/crabgrass-or-knotweed-germinating-dont-panic/

SPRING AERATION

It is that time of the season.  We completed our spring greens aeration the 15th of March this season.  With the warm spring weather we decided to aerate greens early this year.  This is the earliest we have ever aerated greens at Deer Creek.  The main reason we chose this time was to minimize the negative impact that aeration has on our customers.  No matter how you aerate greens, there is an immediate change in putting quality.  We determined that it is better to have this disruption in early March when the weather is unpredictable rather than the first part of April when the weather is typically ideal for golf.  Fortunately the choice was a resounding success.  The process went smooth, and following aeration we experienced a long rainy stretch where the greens healed perfectly while not offsetting any golfers due to the rain storm.  Come out and see how great they look and now we can enjoy smooth putting greens all spring. 

SNOW IN MARCH??????

After the record setting winter we have experienced it is no surprise that we will now have snow and 70 degree weather all within a 24 hour period.

Hang in there, the weather should average out and we can expect a great golf season.

We have treated the fairways with weed control and we are preparing for spring course cleanup.

Get your clubs out of the closet and come out to Deer Creek.

CABO SAN LUCAS

I was fortunate to be awarded a trip to CABO for achieving the EAGLE GOLF Superintendent of the year award for 2010. My wife Angela and I traveled to Mexico and experienced a wonderful vacation filled with awesome food, world class golf, and a great deal of relaxation.

EAGLE has a partnership with Questro Golf. Questro owns and operates many resorts and golf courses in Cabo. Please consider Questro and EAGLE for your next trip south of the border.

3 CREEK CROSSING

The bridge on three has been deteriorating for years.  The bridge was beyond repair.  The Deer Creek Maintenance Staff tackled the project.  It took three days and a little growing pains from our customers that were re-routed around the project.  We will wait until spring to finish landscaping and seeding the area. 

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