Another piece of the winterizing puzzle was put in place yesterday with the completion of the irrigation system.  We finished in the moon light, which isn't saying much, it is out at 5pm now. Winterizing the irrigation system is not difficult, but it is important to do a thorough job.  When water freezes, it expands; and the plastic components of the irrigation system were not designed to expand.  Ensuring that all the water is out of the pipes, heads and valves makes for an easier start to the year in the spring.

We do not winterize our pump station. This provides the water for our fire sprinklers in the maintenance facility.  The pump station remains on and operational through the winter.  This does require a little extra work to cover vents and make sure the heater and thermostat are working.

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I am finally getting around to post about the lightning strike that has caused us some expected frustration with the irrigation system.  The strike happened on the Saturday afternoon of Labor Day weekend (Sept. 3).  Lightning hit the tree next to the halfway house and traveled to the roots and into the irrigation wires that are near the tree.  The tree was split perfectly down the middle with half falling after being struck and the other half standing.  The half that was left standing did have a large crack in it, so even if it had not have look the way it did, it would still have been removed.

The bark from the trunk was blown throughout the area.

The tree was shifted in the ground and roots and soil were blown our of the ground.

This is the irrigation pipe that was close to the tree that was blown apart.  A few wires were burned, and naturally the electricity traveled through portions of the system.  Several electrical boards were replaced in the  satellite controllers on 6, 7, 14 and 15.  A fused was blown in a satellite controller between 12 and 13 fairway, and an outlet in the pump house was burned from the strike.

This is a sampling of the boneyard that was created from the strike.  We are still working to get a few heads fixed on the tee box at 7.  The think we have the rest of them fixed at this point.

The remainder of the tree was taken down on the morning of Labor Day.

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I should have done a post about our irrigation auditing first, this post may make more sense if I had.

Golf Course Industry magazine asked several courses what methods they have been using to conserve water.  Naturally, the conservation of irrigation water is a big issue for many golf courses.  Though we are not subject to water use restrictions for our irrigation water, many areas of the country are subject to them on a regular basis.  Here is a link to what we offered.

Deep In Data

This is the graphical representation that we use to see what areas of the green are getting more or less water.  This is for the 18th green.  This image is of the first irrigation audit done.

This is the 18th green after the second irrigation audit when times were adjusted.  You can see that a more uniform application is made across the green surface.

I will get another post or a list of posts made about what we have been doing.

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I have gotten several questions from people who have seen me using this tool, and I am sure there are many others who were wondering but never asked.  This is a soil moisture meter that measures the moisture content as a percent by volume of the soil.  We have used this religiously over the past few years to better manage our irrigation applications with the hope of providing the most consistent conditions possible.

The two probes are inserted into the soil to get a reading.  The meter works by using TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry) to measure the time it takes for electrical current to travel between the two probes.  Because water is a good conductor of electricity, the amount of moisture in the soil can be measured.

The display on the meter shows a summary of the readings that have been taken.

VMWC%=13.4 - is the reading that was taken at a specific point

N004 - tells how many readings have been taken (4 readings).

A=13.8 - is the average of the 4 readings that have been taken.

The readings are logged into the meter and then downloaded and saved into an Excel spreadsheet where we can monitor which areas are wet or dry.  The Excel spreadsheet will also display a graph of the readings for the day.

This has become a very important tool in our tool box.  There is a large amount of information we have been able to collect from the data we have gathered.  We are feel certain we will only get better at providing more consistent playing surfaces as we continue to use this tool.

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We have been accomplishing much of the preparations needed to get the course in playing condition.  The greens will be open for play on Thursday this week.  We mowed the greens today and will cut the cups on the greens first thing tomorrow.  There is still lots to do, but some things are beginning to take shape.

 The first time cleaning the bunkers is always a time consuming.  The process involves raking the grass face, then picking up all debris from the face of the bunker and out of the bunker itself.  Then we check the sand depth and move sand around if it is necessary to provide a consistent depth.  We use metal rakes to loosen the sand after settling through the winter.  This process will take more than one day to finish.

The irrigation system was charged today.  We do not foresee needing it for a few weeks, but it is nice to get it going and make any repairs that are usually need to start the year.  This will be a good opportunity to continue our irrigation auditing that we started last year.  More on that in a later post.

A few of the tees were mowed today.  The rest will be done tomorrow.  We also plan to mow the fairways and approaches tomorrow as well.

We do not have a date set yet to open the driving range.  We do want the temperatures to be warmer to allow for better divot recovery.

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The irrigation system winterization was completed with no problems this year.  More detailed information about the system winterization can be found on last year's post about the same topic: Winterizing the Irrigation System.

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During the process of recharging the irrigation system, it is typical for problems to arise.  This year was no different, but fortunately we ended up with a short list of problems that need to be addressed.  Some typical problems are heads that stick on, heads that stop spinning, broken heads and leaks in the piping system. This year we had one head stick on, 3 broken heads and one leak.

Here is a picture of one of the broken heads.  The top portion of the head shoots out of the ground in spectacular fashion when the head is turned on for the first time in the spring.  Two heads put on this type of performance this week, with a head in 11 fairway being the unofficial winner for height of the projectile.  No doubt the head by the chipping green would have put up more competition had it not been for the overhanging appendage of a maple tree.  It is a possibility that there was some water left in the head that froze and cracked the head over the winter and resulted in its failure.

We had one leak in the system (that we have noticed so far) after refilling the lines.  This leak was between holes 10 and 18, behind the fairway bunker on 18.  A fitting was not installed properly and after refilling the lines this year it is likely the fitting shifted enough to cause the leak.  Most leaks in the piping system are fixed in the same manner, so here is the process for fixing a leak.

We were alerted of the leak by the river of water running across 18 fairway on Monday after filling the lines on hole 10.  We could see the water bubbling up around the head, so we started digging there.  After digging out the head, we found the leak was on the T fitting for the head.

We then cut out the T fitting.  

After cutting out the fitting, we found that one end was not inserted into the T properly.  The pipe inserted into the T fitting was not even through the gasket that seals the connection.  The arrows are pointing to where the pipe stopped, it should have been about 4" farther into the T fitting.

Now it is a matter of preparing the pipe in the ground for the new fittings.

I was able to reuse the T fitting, add a new section of pipe and join the two with a coupling.  When that is done, you turn on the water and cross your fingers.

Now the first leak of the year is fixed.

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The signs of summer are beginning to show at the Green Department this week.  About 2/3's of the crew started back today, and the balance of the crew will be back next Monday.  As usual on Mondays, we took advantage of the closed day to get some major jobs done.  We spiked and topdressed the greens, mowed the tees for the first time, removed the awning from the front of the clubhouse, began preparing the flower beds for the spring flower (which should be coming this week) and refilled the irrigation system.

Torres ran the aerator with needle tines across the greens today in an effort to help the soil dry and exchange some air after being saturated for so long.  Following Torres we topdressed and dragged the sand in with a brush.

The tees were mowed for the first time today and removing the old growth revealed lots of green grass underneath.  With the forecasted temperatures this week, look for the course to be much greener by next week.



Recharging the irrigation system was completed today with minimal problems.  Look for a post later in the week that will talk more about this.  We do not anticipate needing water soon, but it is ready to go when we need it.

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The winterization of our irrigation system is underway. We began the process on Tuesday afternoon, and should be finishing by Thursday afternoon. Winterization of the irrigation system involves removing the water from the lines and heads, as well as changing our pump station configuration.

Removing the water from the lines is easier than it sounds. This involves connecting a large air compressor to the piping system and allow the air to push the water out of the lines.

Air compressor used to fill the piping system with air.

This is showing the air compressor hose connected to the piping system.

Once the air compressor is connected, the heads are manually switched on at the satellite boxes to open the heads and allow the air to push the water out. The next two pictures show the water vapor in the air coming out of the irrigation heads.

Most courses power down their pump stations as part of the irrigation system winterization. However, our pump station for the irrigation system also pumps the water for our emergency sprinkler system in our maintenance facility. Shutting off the power to our pump station is not an option for us. We do have a valve that we close to block the water flow in the main line out of the pump station. This allows for all of the lines on the course to have water pushed through them while our pump station is still active and the emergency sprinkler system line is still pressurized. We have a heater in our pump station that keeps the water in the building from being exposed to freezing temperatures.

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The cart path extension that was created last fall on hole 11 was laid through an irrigation head. The resulting traffic pattern left the irrigation head in the wheel track causing it to be driven over on a regular basis. On Monday, the head was driven over once too often.

While topdressing fairways for the last time on Monday, the tractor drove over the head and broke a fitting on the pipe. Unfortunately, in my haste to shut off the water, I did not have the peace of mind to capture the 20 feet high spray of water in pictures.

Fixing the leak is underway. We are currently stymied by a repair part that we did not have in inventory. This part should be here within two days, and the repairs can proceed. The fix will involve moving the head off the edge of the cart path to prevent these problems in the future.

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This is the first post of a series of posts that will highlight the equipment and controls of our irrigation system at the golf course. This post is giving a tour of our Pumphouse. The Pumphouse is located directly across the wooden fence, north of the 14th green. The Pumphouse houses our motors that drive our pumps, and the controls for the motors, and our lake-fill wells. If you have any questions or comments about the system, I will address them in future videos.

Pumps

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Motors

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Wet Well

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Lake Fill Well

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Filtration System

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Main Line

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Sprinkler Line

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Panel

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The irrigation videos are still in progress. Original file sizes of the videos were too large to post on the blog, so new videos are being created now. The first videos should be posted on Friday.

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Stay tuned this week for a series of videos we are working on that will highlight our irrigation system. Videos will included a tour of our pumphouse, the components of the system, and how those components operate during an irrigation cycle, a brief overview of the design, and how we set the system up to water.

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Once again the rain forced us off the course for the day. We were unable to get equipment onto to the course today, and hope that the forecast for tomorrow only brings light showers. We were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather on Monday and Tuesday. Monday is typically a big day for the green department. We take advantage of the course closure to do our heavy maintenance. Monday maintenance included fertilizing all roughs and fairways, irrigation repair on the driving range tee, topdressing greens and fairways (more information on these practices soon!), and mowing all areas on the course.

Rough Fertilizing

The local distributor of our fertilizer offers a service the we take advantage of for fertilizing our roughs and fairways. We had them out on Monday this week after being rained out last week. The fertilizer is brought to the course in 2000 lb. bulk containers and applied to the course with a fertilizer truck.

The truck and fertilizer waiting to go.

The advantage of this truck is it's efficiency. On Monday the truck spread 12,000 lbs. of fertilizer over 80 acres and was on the property for approximately 4 hours.

Refilling the fertilizer truck.

Fertilizer truck on the course.

You may notice some tracks in the fairways from the truck. These tracks will recover in a short time with no adverse effects.

Now is a good time to fertilizer turf. The summer heat is beginning to break and evening temperatures are getting cooler, this results in less stress on the turf. Fertilizing now will allow the turf to remover quicker from summer stresses and traffic, and provide a healthy stand entering the winter months. If you fertilize your own lawn, you should try to make an application in the next week.

Driving Range Tee Irrigation Update

The irrigation problems that I wrote about earlier have been repaired now. The contractor was in on Monday, and early Tuesday to make these repairs.

Pipe-puller used to install new pipe.

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We have received a couple of inquiries into the condition of the driving range tee. There are a few situations with the tees we are battling with at this time. Two of them deal with irrigation system maladies, the other deals with a turf condition effecting the management of the turf.

We'll start with the irrigation system maladies. One of the problems is a result of the winterization of the irrigation system. The line that runs along the front of the front tee was not fully winterized. Water remained in the pipe through the the winter and froze, causing a large crack in the pipe for a large portion of the distance it stretches.

The sod that was dug up to inspect the pipe.

The company that did the winterization was out to inspect the pipe, and will be returning shortly to repair the damaged length. This problem only effects the line on the front of the front tee. There are irrigation heads that water the rough in front of the tee have been changed to full circle heads to water the tee as well to help this area along. When the pipe is completely fixed the area will be re-sodded and fully repaired.

The other irrigation problem is not as major as the first, but it has resulted in a few areas of wilt on the middle tee. This issue involves 2 lines on the back of the middle tee box. The valves controlling these two lines are not shutting off properly when they are run automatically. We have open them up to flush water through the valve to remove any dirt or rocks that may be interfering. The next step is to take them apart to identify which part is failing.

These two valves are currently being operated manually to water these areas.

The last issue that is present on the driving range tees, and likely to most detrimental to the health of the tee, is an organic matter layer on the surface of the soil. This organic matter layer is called thatch, which is undecomposed stems of the turfgrass.

This picture shows the thatch material between turf on top and dark soil.

This thatch layer is a result of the grass chosen for the tee. The grass chosen for the tees is an aggressive variety of bentgrass, called T-1, to aid in the recovery of divots. The aggressive nature of the grass also results in the more rapid production of thatch. To manage this thatch, aerification will be necessary to remove the material and provide holes for air and water to move into the soil. The benefits of aerification can be seen on the back driving range tee. The back tee was aerified after the fireworks event earlier this year.

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