100th and final post

I never imagined my 100th post being my last post, but it will be. I am leaving the club for another job outside of the golf industry. After being employed by the club for almost 13 years it was time to move on to the next chapter in my career. I would like to thank my Superintendent Greg Burleson for always being there for me over the years and supporting me on the next chapter of my career. The club has been a great place to work at and they have treated me and my family great, so for that I say thank you.

Aerifiying and Slicing Roughs

Yesterday and today we have been aerifiying and slicing the roughs on the course. These two processes will relieve some of the compaction that occurs during the winter months and also allows the bermuda to get an early jump on recovery. One machine is pulling (coring)  an actual plug about two inches in length and the other machine is slicing into the ground at around six inches.

Bunker Maintenance

April is always one of the busiest months here at the Club. Masters week brings in lots of guests and at the end of April we hold the AGA Jambroee. With all those extra rounds the course gets beat up more than normal; especially the bunkers. To keep up with all the extra play we are checking sand depths and pulling sand away from the edges that have become too deep. This is a very labor intensive job and takes close to 30 minutes per bunker depending on the size.

New Fairway Yardage Markers

Hopefully while you are out on the course during your next round you will notice the nice new fairway yardage markers. They have been installed at 150 and 200 yards from the center of the green. These new markers replaced the painted white concrete blocks that were in the fairways.

Irrigation Head Markers

All the sprinklers withinn 250 yards of the green have three yardages on them. Front, middle and back of the green. I recently checked every sprinkler to see if there were any damnaged or missing tops. I found a handful of broken or missing ones, so new tops were ordered and will be put on this week. 

Cart Path Repairs

Overtime the cart paths on the course become damaged and need replacing. Usually a section of path will break due to tree roots that become bigger over time. Today a contractor worked on replacing these bad sections. First they break up the existing path, frame the new path and then pour the concrete.

New Look at Number Three and Fifteen Greens

The recent ice storm damage caused quite a mess and changed the look of the golf course as well. Along with the loss of  a Live Oak and some Georgia Pines we unfortunately lost the massive Oak at three and fifteen greens. The rings in the tree were not counted, but the tree had to have been there well before the golf course was built in 1899. Losing this tree is bittersweet. On one hand it was a beautiful tree that came into play if you approached the fifteenth green from the left side, causing you to think how you played your second shot on the par five. On the other hand it was a nightmare to keep up with all of the leaves; we spent at least eight months out of the year blowing  these Oak leaves. Instead of replacing the tree with another it was decided to sod the area where the tree stood, allowing for more views across the golf course.

No Carts On Fairways

Over the next two to three weeks we are asking all golf carts to stay off of the fairways. We are asking you to stay on the cart path or in the rough. By having the carts stay off of the fairways it will engourage the Bermuda grass to green up sooner. Thank you for your cooperation.

Demoing Equipment

I am sure that everyone of you has some sort of toy, gadget, car or some other item that you cannot wait for the newest edition or model to be released so that you can demo it or purchase it. On the golf course it's equipment; most importantly mowers. We are very fortunate here at Augusta Country Club that we lease almost all of our equipment. At the end of our lease we get brand new state of the art equipment that has all the new bells and whistles. Even if we are not in the market for a specific type of mower, sprayer or any other type of machine that would be put to use on a golf course, we still like to demo them. This way we can see what is out there and how these types of machines could possibly benefit the golf course in the future. During the past week we have been demoing a John Deere walking flex mower. We currently only have walking mowers with fixed heads. The difference between a flex head and fixed head mower is the flex mowers reels are not attached to the actual mower, where as with a fixed head mower the reels are attached to the mower. The benefit to using a flex mower is that it will flex with the contours and undulations of a green. With a fixed head mower it does not flex with all contours and undulations, thus causing the mower to dig into the green ever so slightly on some slopes and mounds leaving behind scalped turf.

This is a flex mower. If you look closely you will notice that a chain attaches the reel to the mower.

This is a fixed mower. Notice that reel is attached to the mower.

Storm update

It's hard to believe that it has been over two weeks since we were hit with that awful ice storm. The course was hit pretty hard and it felt like we would never get it back to normal. The golf course crew along with Arbor Equity tree company has done an unbelievable job in getting the course cleaned up. Between everyone most of the trees, limbs and stumps have been chipped or removed from property. Now the golf course crew will work on picking up pinecones and all the remaining small branches and other debris.

Redefining some of the Green Edges

You probably have noticed by now the new pieces of Bent sod around the edges of the greens. Over time either Bermudagrass has encroached into the green or the original edge has been lost. To correct this issue Bent sod was laid along the edges that needed to be corrected.

Ice Storm

Everybody was hit hard during the recent ice storm that went through Augusta and the surrounding areas. Hopefully you and your family made it through this awful event ok. The golf course sustained quite a bit of damage. Thankfully no transformers , fans or irrigation boxes were hit. We had more damaged trees than trees that uprooted and fell over. Anywhere from Pine trees to Live Oaks, Crype Myrtles, Oaks and Maples took a beating. We have cleared all the cart paths and most limbs and debris around greens, so that we can reopen the golf course today as a par three course. All holes will be played as a par three. This way you will not be in any danger from hanging limbs and us and the tree company cleaning up. 

Preemergent time

During the last couple of weeks we have been spraying the entire golf course with a preemergent for summer weeds. It takes about 40 hours for us to spray the entire course. Lucky for us both sprayers were up and running so we were able to knock it out quicker thanks to the second sprayer. While spraying we use a foam to mark where we have sprayed. This way there is very minamal overspray and skips. 

Dealing with Ice and Snow

Today was only the second time in my entire life that I had to put down some type of material to prevent and melt any ice or snow that had accumulated during the night. Before the snow came to town last night we received some freezing rain. The combination of the two caused the main entrance to the Club, walkways and stairs to become dangerous. The first time I prepped for weather like this we used sand to help melt the ice and snow. I was not a big fan of this process because we first had to shovel the sand where it was needed and then after everything had melted and became very messy we had to pick it all back up again. This time I used Calcium Chloride and it worked out great. I used a rotary spreader like we would use to fertilize the grass with and applied it to the areas that I felt would receive the most traffic. I'm glad this only happens every now and again because 4:30 was a pretty early start time.

A loss in the Augusta Country Club family

This will not be one of my typical blog postings. This one will be about Ms. Beverly. Beverly Bentley was the recently retired golf course office manager.  Ms. Beverly passed away this past Thursday while in her own home. The shop was already different not having her around to brighten your day. She could always put a smile on my face and she would do the same for the others as well. She loved talking about her family, especially her grandchildren. Ms. B as a lot of us called her was the heart and soul of the golf course department and she will never be forgotten. She touched so many lives during her time as office manager for us. I will never forget the day I told her that I asked Alex my wife to marry me. She looked dead at me and said Andrew now don't go and do anything foolish you won't find a better women than Alex to put up with you. Ms. Beverly you will be truly missed and I'll see you again one day.

You never know what you might find on the course

Over time a golf course is bound to find and rescue a dog. Today we found two puppies on hole number two thanks to a group of ladies who called them in. After I caught the two pups I took them back to the maintenance shop and we dried them up and got them some food. The stayed in the mechanics shop in a couple of boxes where they were nice and warm. Ron our mechanic will be taking home the girl pup. This will be the third dog Ron has rescued over 15 years at the country club. The second pup will be going home with one the cart guys Bryan. I personally rescued two puppies six months ago when I found them on number seven tee box. It takes the right kind of person willing to take in and give a home to a stray animal.

Eight Creek Erosion

During some of the more recent heavy rains the fairway side of number eight creek had begun to wash out a little. To prevent further erosion problems and to cover up the unsightly looking bank we have reinforced the bank with rip raft. Rip raft is rocks that come in different sizes ranging from a softball to a basketball. These rocks will help prevent further washouts on this half of eight creek.