Swan & Sod News

We have many great artists and resources who are Members here at Granite Bay, but we'd be challenged to find an equal to Michele McCormick in photography and Birding. Michele frequently visits the course on closed Mondays to get spectacular photos of Birds, Wildlife and Interesting Plants so I contacted her to inform her that our Mute Swans had hatched their cygnets. She jumped at the opportunity to get some shots of the new arrivals last Monday. She spent the day out here and documented  31 Bird Species this visit.

Additionally she  let me know that she catalogs her findings with eBird, a site that catalogs birding activities, photos and species migration from collaborators all over the world. And through Michele's passion and skill, Granite Bay Golf Club is contributing to science and conservation on a global scale. We are blessed to have her as a part of our community. Below are what Michele deemed some of her best shots of the day. 

Coopers Hawk

Besides the great photos of the swans, we received a bonus through Michele's efforts as she captured a first at Granite Bay, a Coopers Hawk. Michele told me it  "Was fun to get the Swan pix but I was even more excited about the Coopers Hawk and chase! There were actually two Coopers. Here’s the juvenile."

"Here's something you don't see every day - A Cooper's Hawk determined to have an Acorn Woodpecker for lunch. It was like something out of Top Gun! Near #3 green. mm"

Links

Michele McCormick Photography

Cornell University's eBird

Sodding Behind #2 Green

One area of turf on the course that never really fared well nor came out of winter was behind #2 green. Shade of the large oak tree behind the green was the main culprit but there were some inherent bad soil issues in the area as well. Shade and suspect soil are a bad combination for growing anything much less hybrid bermuda turf.

We stripped out the worst section this past week, conditioned the soil and re-sodded the area with new Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda. We plan to get some tree trimming done in the area to alleviate the shade issues as well, allowing more sun to get into the area particularly, in the winter. Time will tell if this will be the permanent solution for the area, but the turf will certainly have a better chance with the soil modifications and future tree trimming. Below are some pictures.

Adding compost and sand blend

Rototilling the blend into our native soil

Conditioned soil

Grading and preparing for sod

Re-sodded

2020 Summer Course Update

2020 has been quite year so far and I'm  not sure many of us anticipated how much our lives would change. In some ways our work lives in Granite Bay GCM hasn't changed drastically as the golf course never completely closed due to COVID and actually before all this pandemic stuff we thought we would be closed to finish the turf conversion we started in 2019.  Then "The Project" was cancelled followed shortly after with COVID shutdown's and all of our worlds changed.

#2 FW low shady area. Stays wet, collects golf balls and without
Member divot filling help is pretty tore up in early August.

In many ways the cancelling of the project was fortuitous for the GBGC membership as you now had somewhere to go and exercise and socialize in a socially distant fashion, so the golf course has never been busier. To give you an idea of how busy, through July 2020 we have run 26,000 golf rounds through the course. All  of which were Member rounds. In the entire year of 2019 we ran 29,000 rounds including both Member  and Tournament rounds. Most of these rounds were done without the help of Members filling divots because we were required to remove all of the divot bottles from the golf course and single cart riders because we cannot send out carts with dual occupancy. 

#1 Granite Tee. It got wore out early in the 2020 season and needed
to be re-sodded. 

All this activity didn't leave as much of a mark on the course early in the spring months as the course's cool season turf is thriving at that time of the year. But as we progressed into the summer months where the course has historically struggled, the traffic is starting to take its toll. GCM has more then doubled its man-hours on filling divots but it is hard to keep up. Additionally we are trying to culture new hybrid bermuda surrounds and #17 FW to help create the playing surfaces we all want at the same time taking care of a cool season course in another Granite Bay summer while receiving historic traffic. Something had to give and the course is certainly summer worn in areas in early August. Weather hasn't been to bad even after recording 15 days over 100 degrees and another 15 days in the 98+ degree range. Nighttime temperatures have been cool and the two distinct heat spells have been proceeded by nice cool downs.

Newly installed tee-line at the rear of the driving range was
a traffic related add in the social distancing world we now live in.

View from the back of the range on the new tee-line

None of us know when we will get back to normal. We do know that the fall equinox is 46 days away and post labor day aeration is only a month away. Let the recovery begin!

Golf Course Maintenance Weekly 1/25/17

Historic Winter

Although it's been awhile since we have published a course update, allot has been going on, most of it weather related. Below are rainfall totals measured right here at the golf club by our on course weather station. As you can see  during our current rainfall year in which the data is measured from October through September, total accumulation YTD is just under 23". Average historic rainfall for our area is 24" so we are only 1" below average with February and the spring ahead of us. Additionally two of the four rainfall months in 2016 - 2017 have #1 rankings. October 2016 was a historic month State wide for rainfall and we measured just under 5-1/2" by far the most measured ever at GBGC for the month of October. I don't know if January rainfall accumulation will be a record for the State but the 10-1/2" accumulation measured here at GBGC is another record for us.

An article in the Sacramento Bee this morning (1/25/17) conveyed the reasons why with all of this rain the reservoir is half full. Bottom line it is a comparatively small reservoir that is fed by a substantial watershed and the reservoirs primary purpose is flood control for Sacramento. The up and down graph has us currently below historic average however the best news for the reservoir that supplies all of our summer irrigation  is the snow accumulation in the North and Central Sierras.

The month of January changed the below snow map almost overnight. This will be the water that will fill Folsom reservoir hopefully to the top by June. 

State wide the reservoirs are looking very good as one would expect with the rain we have been receiving. It will be interesting to see how the State proceeds with drought regulations and such this year although water conservation is the new normal in CA despite all of this wet weather.  

Wondering How The Golf Course Handles All The Rain?

Recent storm just getting started on #3 green.

For the most part all of the rain we have received has been fallen fairly steady with very few heavy downpours. Areas that are covered with turf handle even large amounts of rain very well, even downpours. Sand traps are another story. Our traps can handle steady rain pretty well but downpours wash sand off the faces of the traps and have now started to undermine the liner and sub surface base of these faces in a few areas. When we do get sustained rainfall there is allot of recovery that takes place in the sand traps afterwards which is just part of the job. Depending on the severity of the washouts it could take over a hundred man-hours to recover all of our sandtraps after a good rainfall, and close to 200 man hours after a severe downpour. So far this year we have had to do plenty of recovery but have avoided those serious downpours that makes our life difficult afterwards.

Fairway bunker on #9 after a recent storm.

Recovery in process

On rare occasions usually after a good rain event we have some visitors that come to play and dry out. These are two North American River Otters . River Otters are spotted occasionally here at Granite Bay but they don't stay long.

Golf Course Maintenance Weekly 8/11/16

Summer is Almost Over

We are 42 days away from the fall equinox which marks the beginning of the rejuvenating season of fall and the departure of summer. This is important time for the turf at Granite Bay because the majority of turf types we maintain on the course are what are known as cool season varieties of turf. Cool Season Turfgrass Varieties do much better in the cooler times of the year and thrive in temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees. The 95 days of summer between late June and late September do not have many days that the daytime high temperatures are in the mid 70's to mid 80's so it is not hard to understand why the turf on the course often struggles during the summer particularly when temperatures exceed 100 degrees.

The lack of heat tolerance inherent in  these cool season varieties of turf combined with the fact that much of it is growing on very dense, non draining decomposed granite soil completes the picture of our summer struggles with the cool season turf.

#16 Fairway typically gives us troubles  during the summer months. It's still one of those holes that can go south very quickly as we adjust irrigation between too wet or too dry. It's had its moments this year but has remained fairly stable.

We can say the same thing about #9 as described above of #16. We still have to fight the wet and the dry.

This picture is a great illustration of some of the challenges we have always faced here at Granite Bay. This was a sprinkler that was leaking in the #8 fairway that we repaired just this morning. You can see the brownish soil towards the bottom of the hole that is decomposed granite. Its hard as a rock (granite) and dry as a bone. Directly above it is a gray layer of clay that is moist but dense and does not allow the free lateral movement of water. Directly above that is the fairway sod that easily peels away from the heavy soil beneath it.

This picture continues the illustration of wet conditions we experience in many areas. The turf layer above the dense clay or decomposed granite holds onto moisture that has no place to go. Its not as simple as just turning off the sprinklers as the same sprinkler that irrigates a wet area inevitably waters an area that is dry as well.  We mitigate with hand watering but we can't hand water the entire 80 acres of turf. 

The Good News

Fortunately Granite Bay did receive some added resources to the golf course maintenance budget that did make a difference this summer season. We got extra funding for disease prevention as well as fertility, topdressing sand and manpower. Extra manpower hours were primarily spent on hand watering and detail work. Combined with the lack of any real drought restrictions this year and fruition of capital spending on the irrigation control system which delivered more individual sprinkler head coverage, these resources by all accounts have lead to some of the best late summer conditions at Granite Bay in recent memory.

#3 Green in a healthy state into August

We can't say that we are perfect. There are still  wet spots and dry spots that we are constantly adjusting irrigation to mitigate. However the greens are good, green surrounds are good and  absent any real turf losses, fairways are better than most seasons at this point and the rough has many areas that have allot of real good grass. Bottom line there is allot more viable turf going into fall that will spring back when the weather changes and we will not have as much recovery to do at a time of the year that golf activity really starts to pick up.  However our battles are not over yet. We still have 42 days.

Installing a "French" drain in one of these soft spots in #4 recently. French drains are relatively shallow and use gravel and perforated pipe. the herringbone pattern pictured above carried both surface water and accumulated soil moisture typically to a tie in to our subsurface drainage system. This is a good way to deal with these nagging soft areas on the golf course.

Another french drain we completed in July in that chronic wet area in #8 adjacent to the cart path. This area is in pretty good condition today and the turf around it is much better as we are able to irrigate adequately for the dry without making the fairway wet.

Golf Course Maintenance Weekly 7/21/16

Summer Weeds

Much has been written about summer being the hardest time of the year for the turf here at Granite Bay Golf Club. In addition to the heat and long days of summer being hard on the cool season turf that encompasses most of the course, these summer conditions facilitate every type of pest as well. Disease, insects and weeds all prosper when the weather gets hot. Therefore our task to maintain healthy cool season turf in the summer goes beyond managing irrigation and into prevention of disease, insects and annual weeds but reacting and pushing back on perennial weeds. 

Crabgrass near #10. Crabgrass is the easiest type of weed to control because we actually prevent it from germinating. It is an annual weed therefore applying pre-emergent products at the proper time prevents the weed from ever getting established. Above recent picture at GB is an example of an area where the pre-emergent product was missed.

Annual weeds such as crabgrass are much easier to prevent so are not as much of a problem as perennial weeds. Annual weeds emerge from the seed they produced the previous year(s). Pre emergent products that prevent the weed from germinating, establishing and producing seed interrupts the cycle and keeps that pest problem in check. 

Perennial weeds return every year from both seed and root and stem system's that have overwintered. If they are not prevented or eradicated their spread will just continue. Preventing and eradicating is easier said then done with some of the weeds we that have taken a foothold here at Granite Bay. A picture is worth a thousand words so below are some illustrations of the various weed issues and control strategies for those who are interested.

Dallas Grass (paspalum dilatatum)

Dallas grass is one of the most obnoxious weeds and difficult to control as it is a perennial weed that comes back year after year from it's roots. Isolated patches like this it is almost easier to dig it out. There are selective herbicides           ( products that hurt the weed but not the desirable turf)   that can eradicate this nasty weed but you have to remain diligent.

Dallas grass in a bunker finger on #12.
We will just dig these out and hope we get all of the roots.

Dallas grass near creek on #16.
This area has become so inundated that we will have to treat with a non-selective herbicide ( products that kill whatever they are applied to. Most common non selective herbicide is Round-Up ) or be diligent with selective products that are marginally effective.  When selective products are used in a aggressive manner, which means frequent re-application's, we have been able to push the encroachment back.

 Dallas Grass in the bank directly in front of #16 green and the fairway side of the creek where we have treated with selective products on multiple occasions  and multiple years. We are gaining a little bit of ground but mostly just pushing it back and not losing ground.

Knotgrass (paspalum distichum L)

Untreated knot grass in #18 FW.
Knot grass is another perennial weed that has the potential to be even more of a problem for us then Dallas Grass in that it has started to infiltrate the playing surfaces. The most successful strategy to date is using the same limited selective product that we use for Dallas Grass remaining diligent on reapplications while it is actively growing. we have not eradicated the problem as effective selective products just don't exist at the present time but we have been successful in mitigating and pushing the problem back

Knot Grass in the process of selective control.

Closeup

Example of slight discoloration of the desirable grass while using selective products to control knotgrass in #9 FW

A few years back we attempted the non-selective approach of controlling Knot Grass in #9FW. After the knotgrass was dead along with all surrounding desirable grass we seeded and topdressed. 

The following year we still had Knot Grass reemerging in the areas we had seeded. Needless to say the non selective approach of eradication was scrapped.

Nutsedge (cyperus rotundus L)

Nutsedge bunker finger #9
Nutsedge is another perennial weed we have to deal with here at Granite Bay. The good news for this weed is we have been able to keep it in check with a different selective product then we use for Dallas Grass and Knot Grass. This particular product is very effective for the selective control of Nutsedge therefore the infestation has never gotten  out of hand.

Yellow Nutsedge patch in the approach of #16

Conclusion

Weed control and prevention will always be something we will deal with in one way or another here at Granite Bay and most of the heavy lifting will occur in the summer months when the perennial weeds are actively growing. Until a effective selective product is available for control and eradication of Dallas Grass and Knot Grass we will have to rely on old school chemistry for control which currently does not  completely eradicate the weeds but keeps them pushed back. 

Golf Course Maintenance Weekly Monday 2/1/16

We received just over a half of inch of rain last week here at GBGC so I wasn't really paying much attention of what was going on with Folsom Reservoir (FR). I customarily check the reservoir levels every Monday morning as a ritual of sorts and was shocked to see how much it came up last week. It came up 80,525 acre ft. in a week crossing last years level and crossing the Normal level for this time of the year. However it is the only reservoir that is above normal on the State Department of Water Resource's map of Major CA reservoirs. 

On this chart FR is the only CA reservoir
at normal

The weather station measured 0.56" of rain last week bringing our annual rain year total to 10.35" behind a 24" normal by 13.85". We did get some dry weather last week and were able to let the carts off cart paths for the first time in awhile only to have to restrict them again after weekend storm that lingered through Sunday AM. Dry weather forecasted for the week so we will be able to let carts off the path by Tuesday.

What a difference a week makes. FR surpassed last years level and went above normal

Besides mowing the golf course this week since it still will be dry, we will be trimming sand traps along with miscellaneous weedeating and edging cart paths. Trimming sand traps and associated weedeating takes the GCM staff between 80 and 100 man hours depending how we deploy the labor. As in most routine maintenance tasks we are much more productive if we put a  several maintenance staff on the task at a time as well as getting them started first thing in the morning. This job really slows down when we are caught by players which puts a premium on staying ahead of the crowd. Today, (Monday) we don't have a tournament so we deployed 5 GCM guys to get a big jump start. 

Edging Bunkers

The process includes weedeating the edges and banks followed by blowing the created clippings and debris out of the bunker. Next we rake the bunker and check sand depths on the faces. We target one to two inches of sand on the steep bunker faces as we want golf balls that hit in these areas to move down to the bottom of the bunker. That's our intent. It doesn't always work out that way as I am sure everyone has found out on a occasion or two. 

Blowing out the debris

Along with sand trap trimming we made a light application of sand topdressing to the greens this morning and will continue pruning near #17. That's our plan, any major changes I'll let you know.

Thanks 

Checking depth and raking bunker faces

Golf Course Maintenance Weekly Monday January 25 2016

Granite Bay Golf Club is starting off 2016 with a lot of changes even in golf course maintenance although ours are not as dramatic as in the clubhouse and golf shop. Our changes have to do with communicating on a much more consistent basis what our plan's and processes are for the course. I originally set up this online course update to do just that and it evolved into more of a monthly or bi-monthly article on what was done on the course rather than explaining what is happening in the now. Interested Members can get e-mail updates by submitting a e-mail address in the top right hand corner and you will be notified when an update has been posted. My goal is to send out short and sweet weekly updates including pertinent information and of course pictures. 

Current level of FR as of 1/27/16.  As you can see the reservoir is
still below its level at this time last year but should eclipse that mark
in early February.  The drought buster news is snow pack in the
Sierras over 100% of normal for this time of year.

Last week was a wet one. Rainfall measured 2.68" from 1/18/16 through 1/24/16. Total rain so far in January was 5.10" Only two other January's exceeded this  amount at GBGC since 2005. YTD rain season (October-September) accumulation 9.79". Greens remained firm in part due to a light topdressing we applied last week on Thursday ahead of rain on Friday. We have found that light top dressing the greens this winter ahead of a rain event works out well as the rainfall drives the sand into the turf canopy. Since it was so wet last week we were able to shift most of our labor resources into pruning and a re sodding of the wedding ceremony area. With some dry days this week we were able to get out on the course and mow along with allowing carts to leave the path.

Recent pruning efforts at the #15 & #16 bridge. 

Additionally this week we started a irrigation project along the cart path on #18. If you recall previous summers, turf conditions along this path can become marginal. These supplemental irrigation heads will change this situation for this upcoming summer and beyond. In addition  to starting this irrigation project we kept a crew working on the pruning we started  in the #14 green, #15 tee, #16 green, #17 tee area. We hope to finish the pruning in this area by next week and then move these pruning efforts to the fence line along Roseville Parkway starting in the area behind the restroom on #5.

Small sprinkler heads being installed
along cart path on #18 this week.

Trench along #18 cart path.   900' long.
40 new sprinklers.