Here we are in mid-December and obviously I got caught up in the heat of the season and with all of my school work and neglected the upkeep of my blog this summer and fall. It doesn't help that those things that I did have typed out have since been lost. I'm going to now take the time to review my summer internship that I spent at Onwentsia Club, through all of my journal entries, numerous notes, and pictures that I did take throughout the summer to update it now. I am now graduated from Hawkeye Community College with an AAS in Horticulture Science with a Turf Management emphasis. My last two semesters I carried a 4.0 GPA, which I am proud of and can say those were both firsts in my life. Now the step into the real world and hopefully into a career position of an Assistant Superintendent or a 2nd Assistant Superintendent. That being said I will review my summer at Onwentsia.
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| A morning view from Onwentsia Club |
Early in the morning on May 11th I said my good-byes to my family and friends and took off for Lake Forest, IL, about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Waterloo, IA. I arrived in the early afternoon after a nice drive and met Scott Vincent upon my arrival. Scott is the Superintendent here at Onwentsia Club. Right away after introductions, Scott gave me a tour around the grounds and the course. The first thing that I noticed was all of the great vista views that greet you at every hole. Scott was quick to point out the many projects that had been on going throughout the spring. These included many fairway expansions, some new tee boxes, some newly resurfaced tee tops, and a new bunker complex to name a few. I also met some of the crew including Kyle Haines one of the Assistant Superintendents and Rod Bozic the other Assistant Superintendent.
May 12- My first day at Onwentsia. I had arrived just in time for Men's Opening day. First thing in the morning I begin to observe the routine that goes on every morning at OC. Kyle begins each day by going around to each individual crew member and assigning them their morning task. This differed from what I was used to from the previous summers, where the morning would start with a group meeting. After talking about this later in the season with Kyle, he explained to me that they used to have the morning meeting, but after experimenting going from person to person worked much better for him. For my first days task, I would be riding with Kyle while he did course set-up. This was to help me get familiar with the course and get familiar with their expectations for this particular task. And more broadly their expectations for the "eye for detail" that is needed at all times, while working on any task. Everything for the morning went smoothly and the crew was off of the course with time to spare before the shotgun start. With this being a "mow and go" weekend day, our day was done and everybody was sent home for the day.
May 13- For my second day at the course, Scott and Kyle had the day off. That meant Rod was in control of running the skeleton crew for a mow and go Sunday. He assigned everybody their tasks for the day and then I rode around with him while he did some spot watering around the course and told me some stories from Onwentsia. Rod has been employed at OC for 35 years, so there are plenty of great stories to hear. With a mow and go day we were done working by 9 and went home to relax for the rest of the day.
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| Rod spraying in a Toro Multi Pro 5700D |
May 14- This would be my first full day at OC, which also happened to be a "Maintenance Monday". On Monday's at OC, the club is closed. With the exception of tennis activities. Therefore from a golf course standpoint, it is a great day to do many cultural practices, chemical applications, and any other activity that would best be done with no golfers on the course. On this particular day, we had a double verticut scheduled for the greens. This is done to remove the dead tissues from the plants and to also cut the stolons to promote new growth. Behind the double vericut, we had a double cut to pick up the dead material that had been worked up from the verticutter. Behind the double cut we had the rollers go out to roll the greens, to give them a smooth surface after all of the things that had been done to it already. After the rollers were all done it was time for Rod to go out and spray the greens. Please refer to my spray sheet section for the chemicals applied. In the afternoon, Kyle and I went out in a Toro 5700D Multi Pro 300 gallon sprayer to put an application of Dimension Ultra 40WP on our driving range. For the first couple of passes Kyle drove and ran through the controls to refresh my memory of them. After that I took control and sprayed the rest of the driving range. It didn't take too long to re-familiarize myself with the controls and it went smoothly.
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| Soil Probe indicating that spot could use water |
May 15- This morning i went out with Kyle, so he could start teaching me on their philosophies here at OC as far as water management on the greens. At OC, they have a minimalist philosophy on all areas of the golf course. This philosophy helps produce fast and firm playing conditions, which is the condition desired year round here at OC. This keeps the plants on edge at almost all times, which can be stressful at times, but is worth while when those great conditions are achieved. To check the greens each morning, it is important to take a probe or two around the putting surface to see where the moisture levels in the soil are at. After taking some soil probes we can then compare those areas to the other areas of the surface using their visual appearance to judge the moisture levels. After completing this process,you can then accurately spot water the areas that may need moisture to maintain a healthy plant but then leave alone the areas that may already have enough moisture so they don't become saturated. Obviously the greens are the most important part of the golf course, so this process is a very important part of maintaining a championship caliber course. Later on in the day, I observed Rod while he repaired an irrigation head that needed a pilot valve box replaced that was causing a head by the new nursery green to leak while the main valve for that was on. High winds, high temperatures, and low humidity made for a high ET today, so we will be checking and spot watering the greens in the morning.
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| May June Beetle |
May 16- This morning I was with Kyle once again and we were checking greens. We did a lot more probing than yesterday, since we weren't being rushed by play and really wanted to see how much moisture the high ET from the day before had taken out of the soil. For the most part, we observed ample moisture in the soil profile. However,there were spots that needed water applied to help them recover from the previous day. After our morning watering, I cut the newly sodded collection areas on holes #2 and #16 down to .550". The goal is to get the areas down to .375". After mowing, I applied a topdressing application of green's sand, and Kyle then watered over top of that. We than observed the first May June Beetle of the season, in the approach on hole #16. Kyle explained this is a good thing to note to help in scheduling applications of insecticides. We also got to demo the new greens roller from Toro, which was a new experience for me since I had never been on a Toro greens roller.
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| Newly sodded collection area-Hole 16 |
May 17- This morning we had a frost delay. I learned that you need to have things to do at these times in order to stay productive and efficient. I helped with taking out the wood paneling that was in the basement of the range house. I was informed this had been flooded a number of times and it was time to get it out of there. After the delay, Kyle and I went out on course set-up. I cut some of the holes along the way, and at this time I could use more practice at this to improve my accuracy and speed. During the afternoon, I syringed the newly sodded collection areas on holes #2 and #16 to help the top growth under the hot sun and low humidity.
May 18- This morning Kyle and I checked/prepped greens for the weekend. With the knowledge of a hot and sunny weekend to come, we gave spots that already looked weak a good shot of water to help them get through the weekend. On the weekends at OC is when most of the play takes place on the course. Therefore, the best playing conditions are desired on the weekends when most of the members are going to get to enjoy them. This is why during the weekends the greens get "let go" more than the week days. Meaning they may not get supplemented with as much water as during the week, providing the desirable fast and firm conditioning. Later on in the day, I went with Rod, Dave, Cesar, Gato, and a few others to move the tee pee that was put up behind the clubhouse for a wedding. This shows the many hats that are worn by a golf course crew. After the tee pee job, I put down a starter fertilizer (18-25-5) application on some newly seeded grass along Green Bay Road.
On a side note, I had a great first week at OC which set a great base for a summer of learning. Also had a great birthday today.
May 20- This morning I was on my own for checking greens for the first time. This made me feel good about being given the responsibility that Scott and Kyle had given me after a week of being at the course. Kyle stayed near by, in case a had questions. There was some new stress from the weekend, most noteably on holes 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The stress spots on these greens got a good shot of water, but we were sure not to go too heavy since we are expecting/hoping for some rain this evening. The rain would greatly help the course after a hot and sunny weekend and after what has been a hot and dry month so far. In the fairways and approaches there are quite a few localalised dry spots(LDS) that are popping up. A little rain would go miles for the course right now.
May 21- This morning I went out with Kyle to spray fairways. For most holes, I rode along with him so he could show me the most efficient ways to spray each fairway. With a lot of the new fairway expansions the new fairway runs right into fairway bunkers. Therefore, its a must to know where these are and knowing the correct places to start each fairway. Towards the end of the day Kyle let me spray a couple of fairways and it went well for my first on course spraying that had been done for this summer. Please refer to my spray post for more information on the products used for the day.
May 23-
As you can see by the above charts, the May temperatures weren't too high but the precipitation levels were extremely low. So, this morning Kyle and I applied spot applications of Pervade to LDS areas of the greens. Pervade is a penetrating wetting agent that helps water break through hardpan, hydrophobic soil profiles, to help moisture get to the roots and prevent LDS. The next day we planned on hitting the same spots again with water to help the wetting agent move through the profile.
May 24- This morning Kyle and I continued with our plan from the previous day to spot water over top of the application of Pervade from the day before to help push the product through the soil profile. Surpisingly, (to me anyways) we were already seeing better moisture levels in LDS spots by the end of the day. With highs approaching 90s, we went out on syringing loops in the afternoon to help the plants make it through the day while preventing wilt and also to make sure our application of pervade was not wasted. We felt good about where we were at after the day and the greens were playing exceptional.
May 25-31- As previously seen on the above charts, the precipitation levels for May were not desirable and the temperatures during the end of the month did not help. My task for the last week of the month was to keep on top of the west side greens, collars, and approaches and make sure the LDS was kept to a minimum with little to no help from mother nature. This meant mornings checking and spot watering my greens and afternoon syringing loops to keep them from wilting in the heat of the day. Thankfully, at the end of the month we got a nice surprise of cool temperatures and almost an inch of rain. This helped our cause greatly and gave us a little break from our hoses. Also, during this week when not taking care of greens, I verticut tees and sprayed fairways twice. Please refer to my upcoming spray post about the fairway sprays.
