Winter Refurbishing

I always get asked what Superintendents do in the winter months... well in that light of that we spend our time doing tree work, equipment breakdown and repair along with reconditioning all of our course amenities.

Well even with these extremely cool temperatures we stay incredibly busy.  The past 4 days we have spent reconditioning our tee signs, ball washers and tee markers.  In this process all the old paint must be stripped off, power washed, and then hand ground back to the original stone or metal surface.  Then after much cleaning new primer and paint can be applied.  This is a very tedious process but I think we can all agree they will look fabulous for the 2014 golf season!

Ball Washers

Tee Signs

Finished Tee Markers

New Pump Station

Good Morning!

Well we finally finished up one of our large fall projects yesterday, the removal and then installation of a new Pump Station.  During this project we had a great deal of challenges and whoops to jump through but in the end we are very happy with the results.

This project started a few weeks ago with the delivery of a large extending forklift, both for the removal, the installation and the lifting of our intake pipe.  Our first whoop to jump through was with the intake screen, or more accurately the absence of our intake screen.  This is what it looked like:

Then we started the removal of the old station, did this using torches, and good old American muscle.  Once broken free we brought the forklift into place to lift out the canisters.  Luckily we rented a large enough forklift as these had to lifted straight up out of the roof.  This was a very stressful period as that was a lot of weight on the end of the machine but we got them out.  Last was hooking up and getting the old station completely out, here are a few photos showing the process, including one of the old valves next to the pumps with debris jammed in! (Notice the golf ball)

The next morning with a hard frost we loaded up the new Toro Flowtronics 1200 gpm pump station and started the slow and steady trip down through the golf course.  Once placed somewhat on the concrete pad we slowly maneuvered it into place. 

Additionally to the pump station we installed an entire new leg of our mainline coming out of the station, this included close to 100 feet of HDPE pipe installed by T&A Turf and Irrigation LLC.  T&A were a huge help throughout the whole process and aided me in the removal and installation.  A big thank you goes out to you all as we couldn’t have done it without your help!

And finally back to the intake screen… unfortunately we would have been 2 weeks out on one built from Flowtronics that still may not have fit on our retro intake flange.  So I went to the drawing board and designed one that matched what we needed and would fit on our intake pipe.  After taking the plans to a local metal shop the fabrication began.  Once complete myself, my assistant and crew got in a boat and headed out onto the lake in below freezing temps for the final install.  With unbelievable luck, all bolts lined up and after 9 hours over 2 days we had it installed and hooked up.

Here are a few final photos of the stainless steel intake screen designed by yours truly. 

We are very excited for 2014 and beyond with this new station as it will help considerably on keeping adequate pressure and flow throughout our great golf course!

Good morning!

I would like to introduce myself as the new Golf Course Superintendent here at Deer Creek Golf Club.  I am extremely excited to be back in the Kansas City golf market and even more so at such a known and respected facility as Deer Creek.

A little background on myself so you can get to know me better, I am a graduate of Iowa State Universities Horticulture department with an emphasis in Turf Management.  Since graduation I have been a Golf Course Superintendent / General Manager at Royal Meadows in Kansas City, MO and the Superintendent at Ames Golf and Country Club in Ames, Iowa prior to my move down here.  Additionally during my time at AGCC I achieved my Certification through GCSAA, the highest honor a Superintendent can acquire.

I am proud to now call Overland Park and Deer Creek my new home.

Short update on the course, we have several projects that we are working on this fall, the two main ones will be starting this next month.  They include the overhaul of our Irrigation Pump-House starting November 11th and our bridge work throughout the golf course.  I will have updates as we get these projects underway.

GET THE SEEDERS OUT

It is time to start seeding those thin and bare spots in your lawns.  The rains we received this week were perfect for softening your lawns making it easier to incorporate the seed into the soil.  

I recommend most people aerate your lawn every fall at this time.  Don't waste your money if you haven't softened your lawn with irrigation or rainfall.  To test the soil to make sure it is loose enough to aerate, I recommend taking a screw driver in your hand and pressing it into the lawn.  You should be able to press it into the ground at least four inches with minimal effort.  If you can't press it into the ground then you need to irrigate more.  Once the lawn is prepared for aeration you should rent a core aerator from the local Home Depot or rental store.  Aerate the lawn thoroughly,  some thin areas you will be seeding should be aerated twice or three times.  

Now that you have aerated, you should rent a verti-cutter.  This can come with or without a seed box on it.  Verti-cut the entire lawn one direction.  You should then rake or bag all of the thick grass that the verti-cutter pulled up and remove it from the lawn.  Now you should spread the seed over the entire lawn, especially paying attention to the thin areas.  You should use approximately 2-3lb. per thousand square feet if you are seeding Tall Fescue or Blue Grass.  Once you have spread the seed over the entire lawn you should now verti-cut it a second direction.  This will incorporate the seed into the soil.  

Now you should apply a starter fertilizer.  This will have a higher middle number in the analysis on the bag.  This is considered a starter fertilizer due to the higher percentage of phosphorus it contains.  This will assist in germination and establishment of the new seedlings.  Apply this product at the labeled recommended rate.  

Now water the lawn.  This should be done at least once per day when it is not raining.  I recommend twice per day for ideal germination.  Once in the morning and once in the late afternoon/early evening time frame.  

After germination, you should wait a few weeks to mow.  Once you have started to mow, you should mow weekly at a 3" setting.  

Additional fertilizer should be applied two weeks after germination.  This time you should use a balanced fertilizer that has a similar first number and last number, the middle number should be zero now.  For instance a 20-0-20 could be used at this time.  Apply this product at the labeled rate on the bag.  This same fertilizer should be used monthly until snow fall.

Following these instructions will give you a nice lawn that you and your neighbors will all appreciate.

Brent           

TOPDRESSING

Topdressing is a term we use for the product that we apply to our putting greens to firm up the surface and smooth out ball marks.  We started a new program at Deer Creek this season where we apply the sand topdressing once per week.  It has resulted in a very firm  and smooth surface.  We use USGA sand as our topdressing medium and done correctly you do not notice that we applied the topdressing minutes after it was applied.  It is a great example of the things we do behind the scenes that help make our greens awesome.    

FLOOD UPDATE

It has been a crazy three weeks since we flooded.  We have spent countless hours cleaning up the debris and preparing the course for play.  It is in good condition now and we are anticipating weekly improvement as we work on the finishing touches of the clean up process.  I want to thank our staff for the tireless commitment they have given the club.  Without them, we would not be able to provide the good conditions we all have came to expect at Deer Creek Golf Club.  

Let's hope for decent weather this summer so we can enjoy the game of golf at Deer Creek.  

Local news crew stops by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm4aEeHJ_4E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

MAJOR FLOODING

We just received 3" of rain in one and a half hour. That isn't good for us. We are going to start the evaluation now to see how much damage there is. We will prevail. Check in with us this weekend as we will be open for play as soon as we clean up the mess. We are very good at the cleanup process.

FIRST CLASS MAINTENANCE FACILITY

We are always looking for ways to improve at Deer Creek Golf Club. Recently we have placed our focus on the maintenance facility. It is our employees first impression of our department and it sets the tone for the job that they do when we maintain our golf course. We have improved organization of tools and completed a complete floor reconditioning project in the primary technician bay. We are proud of the facility we have and we are excited about the recent improvements.

GANSO THE GOOSE DOG

MEET GANSO

I am sure all of you that have played Deer Creek this winter have noticed the geese that have been vandalizing the golf course.  The geese are particularly bad this time of year due to the fact that they are migrating.  Deer Creek is a temporary home for these birds as they travel.  We do have a small number of geese that make Deer Creek their permanent home.  The geese leave droppings on the ground everywhere they go and they do damage to the greens as they are pecking for food.  

We have explored many means of gees control and we have determined the most cost effective way to control this problem is to have a resident dog that scares the geese away.  Border Collies are the proven breed that has the best track record with geese control.  They are herders by nature and are fast enough to keep the geese on the run. 

We found Ganso at a local rescue league.  Him and his brothers and sisters were very happy to see me.  Ganso was the one that looked like the best fit for us.  Ganso has already been to basic obedience school and is quickly learning to heel, sit, stay, come, and lye down.  We are kennel training him and have currently made him an awesome home in the shop where he will have an indoor kennel with a doggie door access to a kennel run outside.  He will spend most of his time riding with us on carts and policing the golf course for those pesky birds.

We are excited to welcome Ganso to the Deer Creek Maintenance Staff.  Say hi to him when you play your next round as he is always excited to meet new friends.

FYI:  The name Ganso means goose in Spanish   We decided that was a perfect name for the the little goose chaser.    

IRRIGATION AUDIT

Water is a precious resource and we do many things behind the scenes to ensure we apply water to the Golf course in an efficient manner. Primarily making sure we apply just enough water to provide our turf plants is the objective while not over watering maintaining firm playing conditions.

Recently we started a project where we are collecting data that we will process and ultimately determine the efficiency of our turf sprinklers and we will use this data to decide if updating our sprinklers is a cost effective way to decrease ou overall water use while offering an even more consistent playing surface that looks terrific.

The technical description of this process is an Irritation Audit. We will be testing strategic areas and will hopefully come up with some valuable data once the project is completed.