May 25, 2012

Years ago I was superintendent at Stone Harbor. There, during my first year, a skinny older man with a filter-less Chesterfield cigarette hanging from his lips introduced himself  to me as Chet, explaining that he was there to help out however he could as he had done there each of the past few summers. So I gave him the bunker crew to supervise...

And soon one of the guys on the bunker crew came into my office to complain in a way I still have not forgotten... “My mamma don’t even treat me like that!” Turns out Chet was a task master. His way or do it again. And again, and again, until it was right. I realized that I didn’t have to worry about bunkers getting done  when Chet was around!

As Chet got older – into his 80’s – he lost a little stamina but still came in every summer day, whether he was scheduled or not. The last few years I was there, he became my tee divot guy. Although I had to worry about bunkers again, I now never had to worry about tee divots.

I spent a lot of time with Chet, or maybe it was he who spent a lot of time with me. At work and not at work. He’d come over to my home and play with my kids. I’d go over to his trailer and check on him, as he lived alone. We became friends.

Many times I would just listen to Chet – he grew up in the depression, his father was an orphan, his mom sold pies to the neighbors, his son was a NASA engineer, his daughter a teacher, he worked as a printer all his life, his wife died of cancer, and he served on the airplane carrier the “Franklin”, or Big Ben, during WW2.

He had enlisted in the Navy and chance put him in the hold of the fateful ship. When the two Japanese planes came out of the sky dropping bombs, hitting the ship directly in the elevator shaft, the ship became an inferno with fuel igniting and bombs exploding. 724 were killed and 265 were wounded. Chet survived and helped with the fires and later to get the listing ship back to Pearl Harbor. Not one to stand out in a crowd, but to be humble, Chet was overlooked when the ribbons were passed out.

I didn’t know anything about the Franklin until I met Chet. Fact is, he didn’t really bring it up until the last few years that I knew him. He told me the story, and gave me books that were written about the ship and the people on it. This was a watermark in his life that he needed to share. I listened. Chet said it became important to him to talk because he didn't want people to forget. He said he didn’t have many years left in him, and he feared that when he was gone, no one would be left to remember...that bothered him.

A year before Chet passed away he was finally recognized with a medal for his help during the attack and the trip back to Pearl Harbor. 

And he died with my promise that I would not forget. I haven't.

May 18, 2012

So much going on! These past weeks have been very busy for our department.

Chris Lare, the Assistant Superintendent since 2004, left to pursue a career in teaching. He is now going to college full time and hopes to be in the classroom in a few short years. We all wish him the best, and he surely will be missed.

Rick Shetler is our new Assistant Superintendent. Rick is originally from Dennisville, and graduated from the Rutgers Turfgrass  Management program. He interned at Galloway National, and then worked at courses in Hawaii and Florida. He brings to us a solid back ground working at high end courses and managing both warm and cool season grasses. Rick will be a tremendous asset and he already has made many positive impacts.

We have planted 2000 California Privets (over a linear mile) along the perimeter of the golf course to give it privacy from the bordering roads and streets. We also supervised the planting of many trees and ornamentals throughout the course.

We aerated and topdressed the new driving range tee this week. It will be ready to open May 26! We are also making more improvements to the entire driving range and practice area. I think that it will all add to your enjoyment.

We re sanded the greens to help even out the surface after the aeration/ drill and fill and soon  we will be taking the greens height down a notch and getting them into championship shape..

In the background we have been applying turf protectents to suppress the annual bluegrass weevil, fertilizing the tees, doing irrigation repair, training staff, etc.

There hasn’t been an empty moment for a long while!!!!!!

May 4, 2012

We finished up the drill and fill and aeration this week. The drill and fill – drills that bore 12” down into the soil, and filling the bore holes with sand – improves drainage. The aeration takes care of compaction and thatch.  Both help us to amend the soil profiles. We did it together so that the greens would not be disrupted two separate times, and we waited until late spring to do the processes so that with warmer temperatures, the healing will be faster!

The 12" drills

Buckets of sand are poured into the top of the drill and fill machine

The bucketing operation

Following the drill and fill, Isabella aerates the green

Clara matting in the sand after the drill and fill/ aeration and topdressing.

April 21, 2012

We finished up the driving range tee this week! We still need to sod the perimeters and fine tune a few things here and there, but the Bermuda grass is down and ready to root and grow. The Bermuda is till a little bit dormant underneath the overseeded ryegrass. It will root (roots never go dormant!) and then as the temperatures warm, the Bermuda will take over!

Irrigation installed and working!

Before sodding the tee is fertilized.

Sod has arrived!

The staff rolling out the sod.

Finished!

The next question is " When can we begin hitting off the new grass?".
I am hoping that it will be rooted and ready in four weeks, depending upon the weather. The warmer the weather, the sooner we can hit from it!

April 14, 2012

The range is coming together! This week we worked on the irrigation, moved around more soil, extended drains, and had the top laser graded! If nothing out of the ordinary occurs, we will be laying down sod this coming Wednesday.

Max working on irrigation.

Georgia Golf came Wednesday and Saturday to laser level the tee.

The laser (foreground) controls the level of the box blade (background).

The box blade leveling the tee.

The leveled tee.

April 7, 2011

Now that the sod has been stripped off the driving range tee, we spent most of Thursday taking off the “mat” and trenched for the irrigation. Mat is a layer of combined thatch and soil that develops underneath the turf and at times acts as a barrier for fertilizer and water, and as such, limits root growth.  To remove the mat, we tilled it to a 3” depth to break it up, and then loaded it into the dump truck to take to our composting site. Meanwhile, another crew dug the trenches for irrigation pipe and wire. We hand dug because we are not quite sure what is under the tee – electricity, drains, etc – and we didn’t want to trench through anything that could compromise someone’s safety, or disable a pre existing service.

On Friday we began to do a rough grade. The tee actually sloped up from the back to the front an average of 15 inches! Whether you knew it or not, you were practicing an uphill lie! We are pushing this extra 15 inches of soil to the front and using it to extend the tee an extra twenty feet! This will add 3,500 square feet of teeing space!

The tee after tilling with irrigation work in the foreground.

Beginning the rough grade, extending the tee 20 feet.

New irrigation piping along the back of the tee.

One of eight new heads installed, along with a quick coupler valve.

April 4, 2011

Yesterday we began the driving range practice tee renovation. The renovation includes updating the tee irrigation, leveling the tee, and sodding it with Patriot bermuda grass, a variety that is cold weather hardy. We chose bermuda grass over cool season turfs because it is very aggressive in the summer months and will heal over quickly when the tee gets its most use, while conversely, the cool season turfs are weakest at that time of the growing season and don’t heal well. At the same time, Patriot  bermudagrass will provide a tight surface for hitting balls which we know everyone will enjoy. I am really excited about this project because I am confident that it will make your golf experience here an even better one!

Isidro cutting the old sod off the driving range tee.

Roberto pushing the sod into a pile that will be picked up and moved to our composting site.