A few days ago we peeled back the
winter turf covers from the new tees on 16 that we had built and sodded late
last December. They came through the winter exceptionally well – well rooted
with light growth and good colour. Due to the rather wet weather through the
winter, a few spots of Microdochium patch had developed, but not
enough to be greatly concerned about.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
February 25, 2015
Earlier this February, Eastern Irrigation began work to
replace the irrigation pumps at the pump house because our wet well system was
failing. Unfortunately, the record cold weather forced a temporary stop to
the project, yet since we began this project so early, we should have no problem
getting it finished long before the season begins.
The wet well was built beneath the pump house in 1986 when
the present irrigation system was installed.
The wet well is simply a deep cylinder made of galvanized steel, with an
intake pipe leading into it from the center of the pond. The pumps, located in
the pump house, extend vertically down into the wet well and pump the water
into the irrigation piping. Simply, water was pulled through
the intake from the pond into the wet well, and pumped out.
Over the years the galvanized steel began to rust and parts
of the intake pipe disintegrated and the walls of the wet well became
structurally unsound. Divers were brought in to assess the severity of the damage
and to give us an idea of how much longer we had before the risk of failure
became too great. If either the intake pipe or wet well failed, we would no
longer be able to pump water, and we did not want to take any unnecessary chances. If it failed in the middle of the season, we’d be without water
when we needed it the most.
The dive took place last winter and it was determined that
the chance of failure was too great to risk for much longer. We
immediately began to research solutions. The solutions were to rebuild
the entire wet well which meant demolishing the pump house and starting from
scratch, attempt to insert a liner into the intake pipe and wet well which
would only be temporary and also reduce the volume of water that could be
pulled from the pond, or bypass the wet well altogether and install new
submersible pumps in the pond directly piped to the pressure controls in the
pump house. We spent the last year evaluating the three different options,
talking with officials from clubs who had faced these same decisions, and visited
a course that recently had the submersible system installed. Our research led us to decide that installing
the submersible system was the best option for us.
Prior to arriving here to install the new submersible system,
Eastern Irrigation assembled the main components at their shop in Glenmoore,
PA. When the site work is done and modifications to the
pump house for the pipe connections are completed, the assembled components – pumps,
motors, wiring, etc – will be put together and installed. The system will then be thoroughly tested to
ensure good workmanship and that the pumping specifications are met.
The irrigation system is integral to the golf course and if
it were to fail the golf course would suffer considerable damage in a very short
period of time. The club’s management acted proactively
and invested a considerable amount of funds into this system to prevent a wet well failure, insuring that we will be able to pump water for very long time to come.
New submersible pumps, motors in crates. |
Tubes and piping. |
Preparations inside the pump house. |
Piping to the pond. |
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
September 17, 2014
If I found a genie in a bottle who could grant me three
wishes for maintaining the golf course, they would be-
Everyone would rake traps after playing out of them
Everyone would fix their ball marks
Everyone would replace or fill their divots
Almost every day someone approaches me and says “how come
people don’t fill their divots?”,
“people don’t rake their traps around here!”, and “I wish people would
fix their ball marks!”.
You see, my wishes are not selfish – I am just passing them
along. As to why players don’t rake
their traps, divots are left unfilled, and ball marks are not fixed, I do not
know. But someone out there does.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
August 14, 2014
A sad goodbye…
The other day I received news that our former mechanic, Faro
Lanuza passed away on August 8, 2014 after a brief illness. Faro was the best
mechanic I had ever worked with, and a very special person who I and the staff
will always remember warmly.
Years ago, before he retired, I wrote the following article
about Faro for the club bulletin board and newsletter. I’d like to share it once more.
Faro
Lanuza is our mechanic and shop supervisor. Anymore, repairing equipment is no
longer tightening bolts and changing oil – although there are times for that
need, equipment technology has advanced the trade into electronics, computers,
and hydraulics, that require skills and knowledge far beyond knowing wrenches.
Faro
was born in the Philippines of Spanish parents who emigrated there from Spain. He attended and graduated high school in Iriga City,
and then moved to Manila
where he worked his way through college employed at an electronics manufacturing
plant. He first attended Mapua Institute of Technology, and transferred to Feati University,
graduating with a degree each in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
After
graduation Faro was recruited by many manufacturing companies to work for them,
and over time, held many positions in these competing companies as plant
supervisor, production supervisor, head of engineering and production, head of
manufacturing design, etc. During these years, he also began his own
engineering/electrical/ mechanical design consultant company, and later moved
to Saudi Arabia
to run a container manufacturing plant.
In
1986 Faro took time off from his career to visit relatives in the United States, and after touring the country,
decided to stay here, settling in West
Virginia, and starting a home improvement/ home
construction company. On a job in Brigantine, he met his future wife, and after
marriage settled in Galloway
Township. During this
period, at the urging of a friend, Faro appeared as a performer in the Broadway
production of “Oklahoma”.
In 2001 he became a United States
citizen, disbanded his construction company and began a construction equipment
repair business in Galloway.
Wanting
to do something new, he came to Greate
Bay in 2002, where he has
used every bit of his knowledge and experience to help us do our best. Faro,
who we nicknamed “Einstein”, can fix anything! And if he doesn’t like how
something is made or works, he fabricates his own designs and parts to make
them better. We could not do the things we do without Faro – he is special, and
is arguably the most important person on our staff!
Faro
lives in Galloway Township with his wife Prudence ( nurse at the Atlantic City
Medical Center), and his teenage son. Faro is very active in many church organizations,
sings for his church, plays piano, organ, violin, and harmonica, and is known
to sing karaoke now and then!
Thursday, May 29, 2014
May 29, 2014
We want to ask you to not use any type of bug repellent
while standing on any turf, whether it is a green, tee, fairway, or rough.
Most aerosols, including bug repellent sprays, contain
unnamed ingredients that are not safe for turf – besides DEET, one popular
brand also contains ethanol/ alcohol 50-60%, propane 1-5%, isobutane 1-5%,
butane 1-5%, N-N-diethyl-meta-toluamide 25-25%, and water 3-7%. I am no chemist, nor do I pretend to be, but these
extra ingredients, except for the little bit of water, are what “burns” the
turf, and in some cases, thins or kills it.
On a cool, overcast day, the ingredients might do very
little damage, but on a hot sunny day, the damage can be quite extensive.
The accompanying picture is of the 7th green.
Someone used the repellent on Sunday and we found this Monday morning. Sunday
was sunny, dry, and hot, and as you can tell by the amount of over spray and the
area involved, quite a lot of repellent was used. I am concerned about how this
area will “come back”, or more to the point, how much turf we might lose and
the length of time it will take the surviving turf to recover.
Friday, May 16, 2014
May 16, 2014
Francis, Irene, Mary, and Ellen are back to work after
spending a cold, but relaxing, winter being spoiled at home. This year the
girls will concentrate their duties on thinning out the brambles in the natural
area that borders holes 8, 9, and 10. Our intention has been, and still is, to
keep this area natural without the use of pesticides as part of our efforts to
provide wildlife habitat under the guidelines of the Audubon Sanctuary program.
Over the years the area has become over grown.
We ask that you not tease or bother the girls, and
especially, do not feed them, as it is a falsehood that they can eat anything.
There are many plants and human foods that are poisonous to them. Before
putting them in any area, I survey it for poisonous plants first, and I have
found areas they cannot go. Please don’t throw beer cans in their area thinking
that they will eat it, because they won’t! Its interesting how many appear in
their fenced area.
The best way to enjoy the goats is to simply watch them;
they are very interesting animals – they will rise up on their hind legs and
push down brush so they can easily eat it, play with each other, chew up
thorns, make little dirt beds and take naps, etc. If you do want to pet one or
meet them, give me a call or find me and I will do my best to introduce you to
them. They are very friendly, and each one has an individual personality, just
like dogs.
If your ball should land in the pen, please take a drop. We
can replace your ball later. If the pen affects your shot, treat it as a
temporary movable obstruction and take relief in line of sight, but not nearer
to the hole.
Just an interesting note...Francis weighed 45 lbs when she
began work here and now tops 160 lbs! I can hardly believe I once lifted her
into the truck...
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
May 6, 2014
The drill and fill machine close up. |
We finished up the drill and fill today. It is a time
consuming and labor intensive project.
Two machines, fitted with10” drills, drill into the green,
bringing up the native soil. Sand is then poured into the hole. The sand must
be carried by the staff from the truck to the machines, bucket by bucket to
keep the hoppers filled. For the 18 greens, we used approximately 90 tons of
sand, which translates to somewhere over 9,500 buckets filled, carried to the
machines, and tipped into the hoppers. It takes a lot of work. And its non
stop.
After the green is drilled and filled, it is rolled and then
cleaned up with our core harvester. As soon as it is cleaned, we graden the
green to a 3/8th depth, and once again, the core harvester cleans
the green. The green is then dragged, or matted, blown off, and dragged one
last time. From start to finish, an average sized green takes two hours to
complete.
Drill and Fill is different from standard aeration. This
process is done to create sand channels in the greens and help change the soil
profile deeper into the green than what a standard aeration can. The sand
creates pore space, aids in drainage, helps keep the green firmer, and helps
reduce compaction. Since this process does not necessarily remove thatch, we
follow with the graden, which does.
Filling the machines. |
Graden on left and clean up on the right. |
The final drag. |
After the drag, and ready to heal! |
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