Ice skating rink...

Jeff Johnson, The Minikahda Club, Minneapolis, MN:

"Over the past few years we have made significant improvements to the scope of our outdoor winter activities. Paddle tennis expanded from 2 courts to 4, we have invested in a more powerful snowmobile for pulling the cross country ski groomer, we purchased a larger and more technically advanced ski trail groomer and we continue to provide improvements to our skating rink.

This year, due to the warmer temperatures, it's taken a few more weeks than usual to have the skating rink ready for action. One of the biggest improvements you will see is in the form of the night lighting. We replaced some lights on court 4 of the paddle courts and utilized the old lights for the skating rink.

Skating is open all day and into the night until 10pm. We hope you enjoy the improvement."

Visit the Minikahda blog at minikahdagrounds.blogspot.com.

Winter Work at IHCC...

John Paquette, Indian Hills Country Club, Northport, NY:

"Lots of action from our reduced maintenance staff this winter, as mother nature has been very accommodating. We have done extensive root pruning where damage from tree roots is occurring. We were able to access a trenching machine with which we have been able to root prune many areas. Normally this would be done with the pipe pulling blade, leaving just a small slit. But, roots were so thick in most areas that we had to use the trencher to power through them. As you will see from the photos, the roots were so heavily massed that it has been very difficult to grow quality turf because the tree roots could easily out compete the grass roots for water and nutrients. Our arborist explained tree rooting to me this way; " turn a tree upside down, and double the size - that's how far the roots can reach.

Extensive tree work is also underway. We have thousands of trees, many of which are injured, damaged, broken or just over grown for their current position. On a private golf course where quality turf is a necessity, often trees are doing more harm than good. We try our best to have the best of both worlds, but turf comes first and we are taking strides to improve wherever possible."

Visit John's (brand new!) blog at ihccgrass.blogspot.com

Irrigation project

Matt Ceplo, CGCS, Rockland Country Club, Sparkill, NY:

The past few days have been spent mobilizing for the new irrigation project. Our contractor, Leibold Irrigation, has been receiving parts and supplies at a frantic pace. Over 1400 irrigation heads with all sorts of connectors and "thing a ma jigs" to go with the "what ja ma call its" are starting to arrive. All kidding aside, it is a massive project. To give you another idea, the parts list is over 20 pages long. We are still on schedule to start the main line installation the beginning of next week. So far Mother Nature has been very good to us.

Our first delivery of HDPE pipe.

Tony, Leibold Irrigation's project foreman, in his office trailer.

One of the most important parts of any irrigation system is the pipe. If a pipe leaks it affects the entire system not to mention the damage it can do. We are using a newer type of pipe called HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). It is relatively new to golf courses, but it is actually quite popular in other industries. It has been used for gas pipe lines for many years. We are using it because it is considerably stronger. In the past the cost of HDPE pipe was much higher than the common PVC pipe that is widely used. For some reason PVC costs have sky rocketed but HDPE has stayed relatively stable so the difference in cost has become negligible.

There is a major difference in installation. You don't glue HDPE; you 'weld' it together. That also makes it stronger. There is a special machine that heats or semi-melts both ends of the pipe then pushes the ends together. Once cooled the weld is stronger than a convention glued connection."

Visit Matt's blog at rocklandcountryclub.blogspot.com.

Winter drought continues...

Rick Tegtmeier, CGCS, Des Moines Golf & Country Club, West Des Moines, IA:

"Things have not been getting any better in our area. There are some golf courses that have re-charged their irrigation systems trying to put down some much needed water. Most of these areas that need water are greens that have no winter covers or protection. Last week we hauled water to the target greens on the west range and east ranges. Those targets are not covered and they were very dry. We also checked every green and watered all high spots or knobs trying to be proactive and get down some much needed moisture. Here is a photo of us out watering by hand with a water tank. You can see the turf is very dry, this photo was taken on January 4, 2012.



Now fast forward to today and below is the forecast for West Des Moines. This type of weather can really hurt turf if it is not protected or if there is not enough moisture in the crown area of the plant. First it is very warm and then the temperatures drop dramatically with blustery, dry winter winds.

We don't have enough greens covers to protect the target greens on the west and east ranges so today we decided to do some old time greenkeeping. We topdressed these greens with a very heavy application of sand. This was common practice many years ago before greenscovers became popular. We did both ranges with the heavy applications of sand. We hope that the added "layer" will protect the target greens through the cold and windy forecast that is predicted."

Visit Rick's blog at dmgcc.blogspot.com

Shade: Why it is bad even in winter...

Chris Tritabaugh, Northland Country Club, Duluth, MN:

"Yesterday I woke up to 37 degrees and a slight drizzle. Soon the drizzle turned to rain and after a couple of hours became snow. In the afternoon the wind turned from the NW and the temperature sunk like a stone. By the time I went to bed last night the temps were just above zero.

When it comes to turf, the weather we experienced yesterday has the potential to create disaster; especially when snow is present. This morning as I walked our daughter to pre-school I took note and a photo of the boulevard in front of our house. Our house is a two-story traditional and faces north. Due to this the front lawn of our house spends this time of year completely in the shade. With the constant presence of shade the small amount of snow we have had this winter has not completely melted here, as it has in non-shaded areas. If you click on the photo above you can see after yesterday's rain and immediate freeze, much the turf on the boulevard is covered in ice.

Now project this situation to the golf course. The photo below right shows 11 green on October 11th when the sun was much higher in the sky than it is now. The 11th green is in the same position to the trees as the boulevard is to our house; meaning in the winter the 11th green was shaded for most of the day, not allowing the sun to do its work. The trees shown were removed this fall and the 11th green is now almost completely free of shade.

The advantages of full sun on turf surfaces in the summer are well documented both on this blog and though countless university research projects. However, any turf manager in snowy climates will tell you shade is just, if not more, detrimental to turf in the winter. If the winter weather is warm enough that sun is melting snow then it is imperative for it to be able to due so. This winter the sun has been melting snow in mid-January, typically this happens at the end of March. Anytime the melting of snow is extended or suppressed by shade the potential for ice damage to our turf increases exponentially.

The tree removal completed this fall was done for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the elimination of shade from our putting surfaces."

Visit Chris's blog at northlandgrounds.blogspot.com