Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes

Transcription

1 Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes Meeting Date 05/20/2014 7pm Attendance Chris Ward Joan Lovelace Kyle Barton Donald Fitzgerald Nick Mooneyhan Mo Dutterer Don Van Deusen Buck Hartley Daniel Wildeman Ben Clements Michelle Miller Beth Leaman Wade Shaw Topic Review and Approval of Agenda Review & Approval of 02/18/14 Minutes Agenda Approved Minutes Approved Superintendents Report: Hobbit s Glen Fairway Hills Hobbit s Glen (report attached): Greens: - Recovered from aeration - Greens are 11 years old now - Will speak with Darren Bevard regarding Poa - Poa grows under the snow - Trying to catch up with the mowing and blowing due to rain delays - Meyers zoysia is better tha Patriot Bermuda - 14 is the weakest fairway, determining best treatment - Tees are 30 year old zoysia - Brown does not mean dead/winter kill Turnhouse Update: - Sewer line is near completion - Straw backfil area is done - This week rock hound to grade soil and harvest rock, sod areas and reface Other: - Had 7.5 of rain in April - Water collects/gathers at #15, eroded around pipes and lifted them. Pedestrian bridge also damaged. - McDonald will be out Tuesday to begin repair - Claim submitted to insurance - Will be some time before pedestrian bridge repaired - $8,500 Fairway Hills (report attached): Course Conditions: - Have had increased labor/resources due to floods Don asked about erosion: - Bridges have been inspected by Nick and Craig Garrison - On radar for watershed manager

2 Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes Topic Columbia Association: Hobbit s Glen Clubhouse Update General Manager/Club Professional Reports: Hobbit s Glen Fairway Hills - Threat at both courses - Chris suggests getting it on the engineering list for the future make people aware aquatics getting funding - Get Marc and Michelle to recognize the problem Clubhouse update: There has been some weather delay Still a December target date Foundation has been poured and elevator shaft Behind in removing soil Parking is not yet an issue Working on parking lot safety one way Chris suggested bag drop location Possibly have power and a TV in the tent Hobbit s Glen (Joan): Operating as good as possibly can 103 for MISGA went well Maintenance guys are helping to get carts up Staff maintaining good attitudes Calloway demo day was rained out next date is May 30, 4-7 Medal Play 5/31-6/1, Club Champion New clubhouse will have parking spot for club champions Grass range opens this weekend Member/Guest Days added one more to end Reservation system for members only - 8 days advance sign up - Box/lottery for weekends - Three of four playing must be members for weekend play App for phone coming HG Golf boards coming Ladies won MD State Rounds report attached Have a Membership Services person at clubhouse going well Getting some Cattail members Elections this week Charter is being edited Fairway Hills (Don): New carpet in the foyer and snackbar areas Leagues are going well new ladies league Lessons going well Nike demo day is June 14 Course packed Groupons, Living Social, etc. 270 kids in spring 1 st Tee Taste event at Turf Valley

3 Columbia Association Green Committee APPROVED Minutes Topic Other Business Chris - report 1 st Tee good news to the CA Board (President s written report) Suggest mirror instruction people don t know what they re looking for Bunkers continue to be penalizing - Sand has been added to several - Will look at #10 again - Green side bunkers in shape after weekend Lights on #6 - Aging - Now #7 is a problem - Need to replace fixtures #2 at FH first landing area can t be seen from tee suggest possible clearing tree on right. Adjournment Next meeting June 17, 2014, 7pm.

4 Superintendent s Report Fairway Hills Golf Club May 20, 2014 Course Conditions: The temperatures over the past month have been great for cool season turf growth. Our greens, tees, approaches have filled in nicely and the rough is filling in well. With the heavy rains it has been a challenge to get the rough mowed frequently enough. Rough mowers can do more harm than good if we put them out right after a heavy rain. To help greens consistency and to promote upright, dense growth we have been vertical mowing the greens on and off for the past week. Vertical blades skim the greens canopy just ahead of the mower blades to stand the turf up before its cut. With the cool temperatures this is a good opportunity for this practice. Tees, approaches and greens have been sprayed with plant growth regulators to slow upright growth and promote a denser canopy. PGRs improve plant health, prolong fungicide activity and reduce the amount of poa annua populations. So far this year I feel these playing surfaces are responding well to our chemical and fertilizer applications. The fairways have filled in a lot over the past week with the warm days. But we still have some work to do. Unfortunately many areas are not receiving as much direct sun light as others. These areas along with those that had standing water and ice over the winter are thin with growth if any at all. We have noticed a great deal of growing roots in these areas and are confident much of it will fill in naturally. Spring dead spot damage is far less than in previous years. Our program of proper aerifying, fertility and the right fungicide seems to have made an impact. We have sprayed the most severely hit fairways over the past 3 years and today the SDS is hardly noticeable. We ll definitely spread our program out to other fairways this year. The high water table has caused a number of abnormal wet areas (springs) on the course. The left side of # 2 fairway, right side of # 10 fairway and on # 15. I have seen this happen in years past after a severe winter. There is no way for us to dry these areas out so we ll have to be patient and let nature run its course. Once these areas do dry out they ll be mowed and aerified. Agronomic Plan: To promote growth on fairways we plan to feed them with a quick release fertilizer. This will give them color, density and promote lateral growth. The areas with little to no top growth will be aggressively verticut to open up the roots to air and sunlight. Over the next few weeks we ll be applying a preemergent on fairways for goosegrass and crabgrass and soon after our grub control product. Also upcoming tees, approaches and roughs will get their season long fertilizer application.

5 Storm Damage: We are still feeling the effects of the flood on May 1 st as well as last week s flooding. Our tunnel pumps were pushed passed their limit resulting in ponds in each tunnel. It takes about 3 hours for our portable pumps to clear each tunnel. Our 3 portable pumps do about 400 gallons a minute. That s over 70,000 gallons in each! The bunkers were washed out and filled with sediment but we have them back in shape. Some river banks were washed away and planning is underway on how to combat the problem. 12 tee station 6 green Thanks for all your patience as we continue to clean up storm damage. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me or Nick. Thanks and see you on the course. Wade Shaw wade.shaw@columbiaassociation.org

6 Director s Report Hobbit s Glen Golf Club May 2014 Course Conditions: It has been a difficult spring to say the least. The cool temperatures and more than adequate rainfall has created the perfect conditions for cool season grass growth. We have been using two rough mowers and two surrounds mowers out just to keep up. A blower is sent behind the mowers to disperse clippings. Greens are in terrific shape and have fully recovered from aerification. We have been aggressively grooming the greens to reduce the grain and laid over leaf blades. I have also increased the growth regulator rates recently to help reduce leaf tissue, to help speed up the greens and to help deter poa annua populations. You may have noticed that the poa populations have increased this spring. Cool wet weather favors annual bluegrass growth over bentgrass. However, I can identify bentgrass plants within the annual bluegrass patches. The annual bluegrass populations will reduce as I increase growth regulator rates and temperatures increase. Our annual bluegrass reduction strategy needs to be expanded into the roughs beginning next fall.

7 The fairways have been slow to green up and fill in completely due to the cooler temperatures especially night temperatures. I am currently evaluating the extent of any winter damage to determine what renovations are needed to recover. A combination of verticutting and sodding will be used on the moderately to severe areas while areas that are showing signs of growth will be helped along with nitrogen applications. The picture below is of Hole # 2. Notice the zoysia grass primary on the left made it through the winter just fine, while latitude bermuda grass did not. The zoysia installed last year on #14 fairway is also doing well. I am considering expanding these zoysia areas as early evaluations have been promising. Overall, I believe the zoysia to be a better choice over bermuda grass in shaded and cart traffic is excessive. There is less than 10,000 sq ft of bermuda grass that requires attention and only a small fraction of that will require sod. The turnhouse sewer line installation is nearing completion. The line runs the entire left side of hole # 10. The trench has been back-filled and strawed as temporary stabilization. My staff will take over soon to perform the final grading, sodding and hydro seeding. A machine, known as a rock hound will be needed to reestablish the area back to previous form. The contractor will provide a credit back to the Maintenance department for completing the work.

8 The course received 7.5 of rain in within three days over April 28, 29 ad 30. The flood waters eroded the soil alongside a large drain pipe causing a section of cart path to collapse. The damaged has been valued at $50,000. The repairs and replacement of the pipe will be covered under our insurance policy for the most part. The repairs will begin on May 26 and will take two weeks to complete. Thank you for your continued support as we improve the course! Nick Mooneyhan Director of Golf Maintenance Columbia Association