New Spray Rig

Here are a few pictures of our new spray rig that will ensure that we are making the best spray applications possible.  Pretty important when you consider that we make roughly 80-100 spray applications on an annual basis on our greens alone.

Time to turn in the 1985 Hahn.  It only made it 25years.  We can only hope that the new one makes it that long!

Bunker Construction Process #2 Greenside

Wanted to post a bunch of pictures that correspond with the rebuilding of a bunker and the importance of having a bunker to function the proper way.  By rebuilding the bunkers we will provide the most consistent hazard to play from throughout the entire course along with drastically improving the overall appearance.

Before photos of the bunkers.  You will notice that the design contours on all of our bunkers are very simple.  Basically they are just plain contours with no movement at all.  You can notice the red paint that is the basic outline of the new shape that will provide much more movement and be much more appealing to the eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting to remove the sand.

Removing the sand

 

I really love this photo because over the years I always have members coming to me and say that the bunkers need more sand.  You can see in this photo that the we had well over 2' of sand.  USGA recommendations are 4" in the bottom and 2" on the faces.  Major reason we need to have the bunkers reconstructed here.  It is almost impossible to maintain bunkers like this.  Basically what happens over the years is that because there is no bunker floor the sand is constantly getting contaminated with the underlying soil.  This contamination does not allow the sand to drain properly and you end up with compacted sand and what to we do when it gets compacted? "Add more Sand"  You will see in later photos the importance of installing a bunker floor so that we don't loose the integrity of the bunker along with not allowing for contamination. 

You can see here that we are starting to re-shape the contours and add soil where needed to form and bunker floor that is consistent.

Re-Shaping and adding soil

Re-Shaping and adding soil

Once the bunker has been reshaped to design the next step is to make sure that the bunker has proper drainage. A place for the water to go.  You can see here where the drain pipe will be installed.  Notice that we have not yet installed the "Sta Lock" material yet in the floor.

Making sure that we have proper drainage.

Here you can see us putting the finishing touches on the "Sta Lock" our bunker floor.  Notice the color difference from the above picture.  What this floor does is it creates a permanent layer between the sand and soil.  It does not allow the sand to become contaminated with the underlying soil.  So when we receive rain the water will move through our "clean" sand hit the bunker floor (Sta Lock) and exit through our proper drainage.  This is the proper way a bunker should function.

Getting ready to install Sta-Lock

Before we add the sand we want to make sure that we have proper irrigation around the bunker edges so that they do not burn out during the hot summer months.  We achieve this by installing a subsurface drip system around the bunker edges.

Installing the pebble beach white.  We are looking for 4" of sand on the bottom and 2" of sand on faces.

Finished product.  With our bunkers rebuilt and the installation of the sta-lock we will never loose the structure of the bunker.  I would estimate that we would have to replace the sand every 10 years and having a bunker floor will make this process pretty simple.  The following process should be completed on all of our bunkers for playability and visual purposes.

Poa Eradication

In our efforts to keep the course in top condition we will continue are battle with Poa Annua this fall.  You should notice some areas in the rough and green surrounds that have a lime colored turf (Poa) that stand out. The dark green color that ryegrass provides really allows the Poa stand out and it can be aesthetically unappealing.  Along with the visual distraction we want to ensure that we eliminate these infested areas so we do not allow for contamination.  Contamination meaning, time for the Poa to produce a seed head and continue to spread throughout the course.  Our goal is to try and minimize these areas and keep the Poa under control.

 This process to eliminate the Poa will start by spraying round-up the week of Aerification, October 3rd.  Once round-up has been applied we will come back in (7 days later) and scalp down the dead Poa.  After the scalping we will run an aerifier over the area and re-seed.   The final step of the process will be to shoot the area with hydro-mulch and allow time for germination.  The hydro-mulch is the same “blue goop” material that we spray every fall in conjunction with our over-seeding.  

  So this fall you should expect to see areas of the rough that are being re-seeded and will need a small amount of time to be playable. The finished product will produce a rough stand that is much more consistent and more appealing to the eye.  This process will have very minimal impact on play besides the fact that you will get a free drop from the hydro-mulch.  

 Pictures of infected areas that will die and be re-seeded

Weekend Fishing Trip

Had the opportunity to catch this beautiful brown the other weekend on the east walker.  One that will not soon be forgotten.

Palo Alto Tree Donation