Pace of play...

David Dore-Smith, Copperleaf Golf Club, Bonita Springs, FL:

"Copperleaf expects a round of golf to take just over 4 hours when playing in a stroke play format. However, I had a complaint recently of some exceptionally slow play that I was asked to investigate.

After closer inspection, I found the culprit on hole 18 and quickly asked the offender to pick up the pace and move to the next hole. Fortunately, he said that his round was over and decided to cool off in one of our adjacent lakes.

We are fortunate to have a wide variety of wildlife co-existing with the members of Copperleaf and enjoying the habitat provided for them."

Visit David's blog at copperleafgcm.com.

Culvert makeover...

Scott Bordner, Rivercrest Golf Club, Phoenixville, PA:

"We have accomplished more than I anticipated this off-season and if the snow continues to hold off, we will be way ahead of schedule for spring. The most visible change is the outlet pipe along the path on number 10. Besides the eyesore wall staring you in the face, the fairway side was slowly eroding with every storm.

The crew faced and secured the outlet into the hillside using the leftover rocks pulled off site during construction. We completed the project by utilizing the sod harvested from our bunker edging project to stabilize the banks. It was in dire need of a makeover and the staff worked extremely hard and efficiently to make it happen."

Visit Scott's blog at rivercrestgolfclub.blogspot.com

Out With the Old Water Coolers!

John Temme, The Wakonda Club, Des Moines, IA:

"Wakonda's Assistant Superintendents have been busy for more than a week building a prototype for new water dispensers for the golf course. The old water stations were more than twenty years old and in need of replacement.

Old on the left, new on the right.	Notice the cups tucked neatly into the right side.

We are pleased with the results and think these new water stations will be a nice addition to the Wakonda golf experience. Next we enter mass production to repeat the process six more times.

Visit John's blog at wakondagrounds.blogspot.com.

Addressing "the root" of the problem...

Ben Rink, Champaign Country Club, Champaign, IL:

"Having gone through a couple difficult summers in a row, we have noticed the full impact our trees have on the golf course, specifically through competition for both sunlight and water and nutrients. This past year it was painfully obvious that where tree roots and turf are fighting for the same inputs, the trees prevail. It has been shown that a mature tree can use in excess of 200 gallons of water per day, with Oaks, Elms, and Silver Maples being near the top of the charts. This is not good news for the turf at Champaign Country Club. These three species make up a large majority of our trees and in many cases we have 80' to 100' trees just yards off the fairways.

"A mature tree can use in excess of 200 gallons of water per day, with Oaks, Elms, and Silver Maples being near the top of the charts...."

To address this issue we have embarked (pardon the pun) on an aggressive tree root pruning program that will involve nearly every tree that is near a fairway, tee, or a green. We accomplish the pruning through the use of a trencher that will physically sever the roots of the trees. Having spoken to colleagues and other industry experts I am confident that the root pruning will not only improve the turf in the effected areas, but will not adversely effect the trees being pruned. While we will address 90% of the root issues this winter, it is important to note that we plan on re-pruning many of these areas every three or so years to keep the invasive roots at bay. Future prunings will likely be done with less damaging equipment."

Some areas we "spot pruned" by individual trees that have caused turf issues

Others we simply trenched down the entire tree line

Visit Ben's blog at cccgolfcourseupdate.blogspot.com

Winter drains...

Steve Cook, CGCS MG, Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, MI:

"Before shutdown in the fall, we check and open every surface drain and mark it with a flag. By removing the caps on small surface inlets we provide an easy channel for water to escape. The quicker we can remove surface water the smaller chance of ice buildup, and we have discussed the dangers of prolonged ice cover on turf.

Most of the South Course surface drains ultimately move water to either the pond on #16 or the pond on #7. All of this water exists the property through the creek on #5 out to Lahser Road.

In the spring, Copper Sulfate is added to some of the drains to reduce root encroachment from nearby trees. Or as Dr. Vargas calls them... 'weeds that got hard'."

Visit Steve's blog at ohccturf.blogspot.com