Walk bridge from 8 Green to 9th tee

The walking bridge that carries members from the 8th green to the 9th the will be closed until further notice.  The planks were scheduled for repair this fall, as many had become weak and loose.  We have been studying this bridge for some time as we have pilings that are starting to deteriorate to the point they not longer support the railing.  The walking planks are a special cut of lumber that is 2" dimensional thickness ( not standard 2x4) that we must special order, same for the bridges on 15.

We had started the replacement of the treads when it became apparent the supporting runners for the treads have rotted away.  So much so that we are unable to secure the new treads to the runners.  At this time we are looking at options and evaluating the best move forward.  Until we consult someone better suited for this task, we will have this bridge closed to traffic.

I will continue to update this site for information on resolutions and any progress towards re-opening.

A runner that supports the walking  treads

Irrigation Wrap up

Well it's been quite a year regarding all the work involved with the irrigation system.  As we approach the final stages, though it really never is final, we want to provide an update to the project.

We constructed two new pump houses, installed two new pump stations,  buried over 20 miles of pipe and wire and placed 1500 sprinklers to provide quality controlled coverage using new advanced software accessible by phone or tablet.  We have integrated the weather stations to adjust the system if we receive rainfall during the irrigation cycles.  We finished on time and better than budget, with no downtime to the play on the course.  The new system performed well as we learned all the nuances of it's operation.

Speaking of which, this process will be a continual education over several years as we start to dial in the system, reducing wet areas and changing watering cycle times to optimize the best conditions for turf and players.  That said there have been some issues that are being actively resolved.

Most notable is the work being done to the sprinkler heads on the course at this time.  The manufacturer, Rainbird, found a part defect and worked proactively to replace all the defective parts in a timely manner.  I covered this process in a previous post, but at this time all work has been completed at no cost to us.  There are a few more things for our staff to do over the winter but we plan a smooth transition in the spring with everything being done behind the scenes.

In addition, we are working with Arlington county water department who supplies the water to ensure we are receiving adequate flow into the system.  We based our designs on details provided by the county and as of this date have not reached those thresholds.  We continue to actively work this issue, but as you can imagine there are many interests on the county side to work with and around.  These issues do not have a direct effect on playability or disruption to play.  They do affect the green staffs ability to apply water in a more timely manner to allow the full flexibility of the system.  Some work has been done by the county to address the problem, but it continues to be a work in progress

Anytime you manage a project of this size and scope there are issues, but fortunately ours are relatively minor and the long term infrastructure benefits are well worth the investment.

8th Hole ( shown watering only the left side rough, no fairway water)

Jack of all trades....even when we don't want to

The last week was very trying for us here at the green department.  We had noticed the buildings water use was steadily increasing and never had any idea why.  One day last week we noticed water starting to show itself at the end of our driveway to the shop.

After several attempts to find the source of the water, we decided it was time to dig.  At the same time, the building toilets and sinks all started to clog up from sand and sediment.  All at once we had a full scale leak on our hands.

The only problem was we had no idea exactly where the problem was, only that it was coming from under the concrete surrounding the building.   Normally this is where you call in the plumbers and let them at it.  Unfortunately, their answer was, well, we will have to dig up everything and here is the charge; $2500/day to look for the leak.

Well, being the industrious types we are, and the understanding that we are as good as anyone exploring water systems, we undertook the job.  Boy was this an adventure.  We first had to start cutting 7" thick contrite slabs out to find the piping.  No as built drawings accurately labeled where the water was, in addition we knew the main power to the buildings was in the same location.  Maybe we should do some archeological digs when the time is right.

After locating the pipes, we then had to find the leak, which in this case turned out to be about 12 feet from our starting point and about 4 feet in the ground.  A small hole in a plastic fitting had worn itself into a nice sized hole.  Of course the fix was not as simple, since all the pipes did not line up, nor did they want to go back into the same location.

 After a lot of head banging, we came up with the solution to repair the issue and get things back together.  Needless to say, a large undertaking , with the staff being very patient with no water service for a week.  Because of the hard labor of Johnny Niccola and Trevor Garbow we were able to get this problem corrected with far less outlay than any service would have charged.  

Johnny cutting concrete, slab in background removed for inspection

Digging to locate piping

Finally locating the faulty connection

The hole that caused it all, notice the ladder and supports to keep the hole from caving in!

The tide has turned

As we rapidly approach the wintertime, we have been busy working on several fronts.  The leaf season is winding down, but the nature of our trees means that this process lingers on more than most.  The poplars fall first, then the maples, ashes, with the oaks last.  Any some, like the willow oaks never seem to finish.  Piles like those seen below are the norm for us here.

In addition we have been busy sodding areas that needed attention, like drive ons and off and some bunker surrounds.   Many wonder why we wait until now to do the work.  Normally this time of year the leaves and care of the day to day turf slows down enough for us to complete these type of projects.

Without a large turf nursery, we need to maximize the costs of trucking so we wait for weather and time to prepare several areas.  Sometimes cold freezing conditions at the turf farms prohibits timely  trucking as well as a backlog of other customers orders.  We must schedule deliveries well in advance then adjust for weather.  When it comes to fairways, only a few farms deal with bent grass turf and even those only grow small plots.  Thus they can easily be out of stock or not cutting due to tender conditions.  We do not like to have large areas open without sod on site to replace, so we wait for conditions that allow for rapid replacement.

Irrigation Work

In the past season we have been learning our new irrigation system.  The system is a marvel of new technology and advancements.  Gone are all the old control boxes littered throughout the course,  now control is done through a central computer that receives input from a weather station and feedback from both pump houses.  You may have seen us running the system through our iPhones and tablets.

This Rainbird IC decoder system allows a lot of flexibility and control not previously possible.  As we exercised the system through the season we started to notice some issues with the sprinkler heads themselves.  Most notably that the heads would not turn on or delayed when commanded,  isolated cases but issues none the less.  After the Rainbird technical engineers evaluated our problems they have instigated a complete changeout of a part in the sprinkler head.

The pictures below shows the assembly and part that needs replacement.  This process will affect all 1500 sprinkler heads on the course.  The company wants to make sure that all sprinklers have received the newest part available.  This process, labor and parts are completely covered under warranty and of no cost to the club.

A small crew will be doing minor digging around each head to expose the decoder, remove the part and replace the plunger,  test the repair and repack the soil and sod in the disturbed section.  Now just
repeat this process 1500 times!  Not something we are excited about, but better to take care of the issue now than wait until spring when play is ramping up.  Rainbird has been very aggressive in resolving the issue band is committed to solving any and all issues.

This work will not affect play and there are no plans to close any portion of the course during this work.

Sprinkler head with the decoder installed 

Decoder detached and plunger removed

Plunger that is to be replaced

Greens Aeration

We spent the last few days doing our twice annual greens aeration process.  We know this operation is never at the best time, but it is scheduled to allow for recovery before the winter sets in.  Timing this procedure a year before it happens is always dicey and you hope the weather gods look kindly on you.

This process has been talked about many times but a few items need to be reiterated just to make some sense of the process.

The coring Tines are .4 inches in diameter.
The spacing is 2.0 " by 1.33 inches.
This equates to 54 holes per square foot.
This correlates to only 4.72% of the surface disturbed.
At a 3" depth we removed 9.84 cubic feet/1000 sq ft of organic material.
We used nearly 40 tons of sand to work back into the holes

Interesting that at twice a year we affect only 9.5% of the surface.  Now it seems that those areas must all be where your ball putts along, but most standards suggest to affect 20% of the surface a year.  We try to add to this amount through some light verticutting in the spring, but in most cases we fall short of keeping up with the established recommendations due to the time and playability.

After we finish the process we allow the greens to rest for at least two days.  This allows the turf to recover from bruising due to the sand and to grow a bit.  As soon as a mower shears through sand, it is done as far a mowing is concerned and only adds to the damage by gnawing at the turf.

The link below is a you tube video of the entire process from start to finish.  This little movie was directed and edited by Trevor Garbow, the assistant in charge of nearly everything here at the green department.  A nice little production demonstrating the work that goes into just this one operation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzUIJWdRjUI

Now repeat this 20 more times and you've finished just the the greens!  Fertilizer and water are extra......

5 Green Renewal

Just a quick post of some pictures about the process of installing new sod at 5 left green.  I hope to have some video of the process showing the entire procedure in the future.  In the meantime these will illustrate a little of the process involved removing the old Poa and preparing it for the new bentgrass.

As a note, we used the old poa to create a new greens height nursery left of 7th fairway.

We cut the cut into small sections for removal

Placing it into carts for transport to the new nursery

Shows the years of aeration work to get sand into the profile

The rough surface after full removal

Trevor working the float to smooth out the surface after removal of the turf

Once we stripped the rough, all the bermuda grass runners still left in the ground