Lakes

Last Summer the stream by #5 tee was connected to the lake by #5 green. This was done to replenish the quickly evaporating water in the summer months. 

The stream enters the lake at the rate of 27,000 gallons of water every 24 hours during the Summer months and twice that during a rain. During a rain the extra water brings with it a great deal of debris. 

When the big lake is full, the water makes it's way down into the small lake through four over-flow pipes. Then the small lake over-flows back into the stream by #18 green. 

Before the water in the lakes could be treated or cleaned a plug had to be made to stop the run-off from entering the lake. Without the plug, all of the products we use to treat the lake would make there way right back into the stream. The plug will be removed in the summer when extra water is needed to maintain water levels.

A form was made and reinforced with re-rod, a mesh screen and a hook for easy installation and removal.

 Lowering the plug into place

We are continuously improving the lakes quality and appearance.

Cattail Removal

The soil is firm enough to get our heavy machinery back out to continue removing cattails.

 Roberto from our staff removing cattails.

 #14 before 1/24/2011

Gary Buzza from Buzza Backhoe Service was contracted for a couple days to help us out. There is a lot of clean up on hole #14 but the majority of the cattails have been removed.

Weekly Update

With the unexpected warm weather this week, the maintenance staff has had to switch gears; we’ve started mowing more frequently than normal for this time of year and we've also started to water by hand.

Some other tasks that will be worked on this week are:

• Cattail removal

• Top-dressing the greens

• Growth regulator and fungicide application on the greens

• Fairway coloring

• Spiking roughs

• Bunker edging

• Cart path and leaf clean-up

• Cart path edging

• Finish painting 16 bridge, and 17 tee rails

The steps on 3 and 13 have been painted as well as 18 bridge.

If you haven't noticed, the sand bottles on the tees are gone as it has been decided that the maintenance staff will fill divots on the tees daily with sand, seed, and compost.

Regards,

Eric Wenzinger

Golf Course Superintendent

Sand Bin Construction

When the frost and rains keep us off the course, we have a lot of projects to complete in our maintenance yard to help make us more efficient and effective on the course.

Last week we completed the construction of our second sand bin, the first being completed the Winter of 2009. The sand bins are a very important tool in keeping our soil amenities clear from contamination from dirt, leaves and water. If the amenities are contaminated they will not work properly through our equipment, which wastes time and money.

Marking off the area for the sand bin.

 Cutting the asphalt.

 Removing the asphalt and soil for footer.

 Anchoring in the footer to the existing wall.

 Creating a form for the footer.

 Pouring the concrete for the footer.

 Footer is finished.

 Laying the cinder blocks.

 Cleaning and smoothing out rough edges as we lay the blocks.

 Filling the hollow wall with concrete.

Sand bin completed 1/12/2011

Power Surge

If you haven't noticed the fountains and aerators for the lakes have not been working. This is the result of a power surge or voltage spike that we received a few weeks ago. Edison has since fixed there faulty line and all will be restored to normal when replacement parts are received. #18 fountain and #5 Fountain have already been replaced and are working today.

 There were three electric motors and three electric starters damaged beyond repair from the voltage spike.

This is the third starter that was damaged.

Rough Aerifcation

The crew have been working on rough aerification this is a long process that will take the next couple months to complete the 60 Acres of rough.

 Aerification is a crucial element in turf health.

 

Pesticide Training

Pesticide training is required by law ever year if you handle any chemicals on the property.

 The crew receiving some review on chemical safety.

This winter we have updated all MSDS and HazMat data sheets also started a new Respiratory Protection and Pesticide Handler Training Program.

The storms dumped a lot of debris in the lakes adding to the hundreds of dead aquatic plants that have been floating around for the last several months.

 Clearing debris in the lake by 17 tee.

 We received a big break last night, the wind pushed the majority of waste to one side.

 We used a rope to slowly bring the algae and plants close enough to remove them.

This was a good start but we are not through, the cleaning will take some time.

Patches of purple-colored bentgrass frequently appear during cool weather.

Picture taken of #18 green showing purple colored bentgrass.

I've received a few inquiries as to why the greens are so many different colors of grass, and below is a quick read from an article I found at www.paceturf.org/ which is a trusted authority on turfgrass management:


As temperatures cool, some bentgrass plants produce the red pigment anthocyanin, a stress-response chemical. This behavior is restricted to only small patches of bentgrass, which are most likely clones that have segregated into small clumps of progeny that are not exactly the same as the parent variety that was originally planted.

 Even the latest and best bentgrass varieties will segregate over time to yield patches of turf of diffferent texture, color or growth habit. Since the appearance of these patches is driven by the genetics of the plant, there is unfortunately little that can be done to manage it, other than to wait until environmental conditions favor more acceptable appearance of these clones. 

The good news is that while these segregating clones do create a cosmetic disturbance, they rarely have any impact on playability.

Driving Range Tee

 The driving range tee being aerified.

 This will be done several times this year to help the tee drain and the grass to fill in.

We also applied sand, seed, fertilizer, and compost.

December Recap

Calabasas Country Club                                                        

Monthly Update                                                                            December 2010

With the holidays and vacation requests December is always an interesting month; this one being particularly interesting with the rain slowing us down as well.

December has been a cool wet month with an average temperature of 56 degrees, the high reached 82 degrees and low got down to 26 degrees;  Their was also 14 days of rain leaving us with 7.05” of rainfall for December.

Here is a recap of projects and goals accomplished in December 2010:

• Finished fence on hole #15
• Trimmed parking lot trees
• Edged bunkers
• Removed rocks from bunkers
• Edged cart paths
• Completed employee break room
• Leaf removal
• Repaired gate on #11 tee
• Seven dead or fallen trees where cut, chipped and split
• Completion of fence on #18 around electric panels
• Removed cattails from stream to allow water to flow freely
• Widened #10 stream to aid water flow
• Aerified, fertilized, top dressed and seeded all 49 tees
• Needle tine aerified all greens twice and #’s 1 and 14 six times
• The putting green roots grew from ½” to 3” since October
• Lowered the pH from 8. to 6.2
• Leached out a substantial amount of sodium from a EC reading of 3 to 1.2

As a bench mark the greens would be the healthiest at a pH from 5.0 to 6.5 and an EC reading of 0.75 to 1.50.

In conclusion December turned out to be a productive month with some much needed rain. There are a lot of projects and improvements planned for 2011. Here are a few planned activities and when to expect to see them:

• Fix broken cart paths “throughout the season”
• Finishing the sand replacement in the bunkers “planed for early Spring”
• Deep tine aerification “planed in March”
• Tree pruning and dead tree removal “Throughout the season”
• Stump removal “planed in February”
• Drainage repair “throughout the season”
• Raising and properly adjusting sprinklers “now and throughout the season”

More aggressive maintenance overall, employing cultural practices and attention to detail.

Regards,

Eric Wenzinger

Golf Course Superintendent

18 Fence

We have completed construction of the fence on #18.