Planned Santa Anna Expansion

Last week as planned, we started preparation for expanding our Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda in some high traffic areas on the golf course adjacent to the cart paths. These areas include the left-hand side of #8 near the green, the right-hand side of #9 middle of the fairway, the right-hand side of #12 near the concrete bridge, the left-hand side #12 near the path entrance to the restrooms, the left-hand side #13 where all of the cart path traffic exits and finally the left-hand entrance area to the fairway on #15 after crossing the shared #15 & #16 bridge.

Our previous course update described the process of us stripping the old sod in these areas followed by conditioning the soil by adding sand and rototilling the compacted soil existing in these areas. These six areas totaled about a half an acre in size and will be re-grassed utilizing the cores from our upcoming fairway aeration starting the week of July 7th. Below are pictures of the process for all who are interested.

Step #1 is to remove all of the battered sod in the individual areas. We use a sod cutter to make strips of sod so we can easily pile up and remove with an excavator or front-end loader.

Removing and finding a home for all of this old sod is strategic as too far of a haul would add to the length of the job and we were under a hard deadline of getting the areas stripped and prepped prior to fairway aeration. We gave ourselves a couple of weeks for preparation and that ended up being about right as we stripped the sod last week and are preparing the soil this week, while setting up and maintaining the golf course for Member play.

The areas on #8 & #9 we hauled around #9 fairway to the pond edge near the new as of 2021 fairway bunker on the left. The addition of this bunker created a tricky maintenance scenario along the water's edge that needed some expansion to make it right. Above we are compacting the sod and soil placed there that was removed for #8 & #9

Above is the #13 cart exit area which has always been some of the worst turf on this golf course because all of the cart traffic exiting the fairway near the green to the left, a classic golf course pinch-point. In 2009 during a bunker renovation, we hauled tons of old bunker sand into the area to improve the grade and soil conditions which made the area better but still didn't solve the problem. 

Part of the problem on #13 is it's a very small area to concentrate all of the cart traffic and we don't have enough square footage to spread it out. If you remember there used to be a much larger rock at the end of the cart path curb that was removed during renovation in 2021. Unfortunately, there were some smaller, at least on the surface, rocks that remained that were now an obstruction to softening the grade to facilitate more exit areas. We were going to dig around them so we could jackhammer off the tops and re-grade, but once Enrique started digging, he was able to extract some of the rocks and move the other side of the cart path. The rock pictured above however was too big to extract for our equipment, so he kept digging and was able to push it into its own hole and bury it with dirt allowing us to re-grade and soften this area creating more exit spaces.

Above is a good look at the rock before Enrique pushes it on its side into the hole.

Our next step after stripping all of the sod off of all of the areas was to condition the soil prior to
re-grassing. Part of the reason these areas struggled with traffic was the underlying decomposed granite soil that the turf was trying to grow in. Here we are rototilling the area near #8 after we added sand.

The tractor mounted rototiller can't maneuver in the tight spots or edges, so we utilized our walk behind rototiller in these narrow areas.

This is the alternate exit on the left-hand side of #12 after stripping and before soil preparation with the rototillers. It's a good example of the shape we plan to re-grass with Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda in these carved out traffic areas. We plan to mow it at fairway height providing a smooth exit transition off of the fairway and onto the cart paths. The hybrid bermuda will be much more durable than the cool season turf blend that was there prior, especially in the spring, summer and fall where the course receives the vast majority of its traffic.

We will post another update soon, showing the grading and re-grassing of these areas.

Thanks for your support!

Fall Equinox 2023

 This week on Saturday 9/23/23 at 02:50 AM, the 2023  Fall Equinox will be upon us. 

"During an equinox, the Sun crosses what we call the “celestial equator”—an imaginary extension of Earth’s equator line into space. The equinox occurs precisely when the Sun’s center passes through this line." (Farmers Almanac September 19 2023)

The fall equinox is significant for GBGC as it is the best time of the year for our cool season rough to recover from summer stresses as nighttime and daylight hours are identical and  temperature's are typically cooler. Conversely our Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda will start to slow down as the days get shorter and  winter approaches. The hybrid bermuda will remain green for quite awhile, but recovery from divots will start to get slower and slower. 

Rough Seeding

In  the previous GBGC course update we addressed getting started on our fall  rough seeding early, and the late summer weather forecast  which was projecting some cooler then normal temperatures conducive to successful cool season seeding. The forecast held and we had  success getting some seed germinated in some of the worst areas of our rough that were impacted by yet another Granite Bay summer. We have a lot more seeding to do in our rough and this combined with this seeding we started in August should have us turning the corner on yet another summer at Granite Bay. 

This is us getting started with the seeding process late summer on Thursday 8/24/23. August would  be considered early for cool season turf seeding.

Here is the same area 27 days later, although the photo was taken at a different time of the day. I think getting started early paid off as many of our bare areas at least had some turf started in them 30 days before the equinox when cool season turf really starts to get going. 

We had our final seed delivery this morning 9/22/23. Above represents 5 ton's of  Tall Fescue seed on top of the 6 tons that has already been seeded into the golf course rough. It has been our observation that Tall Fescue germinates relatively quickly but takes a little longer to thicken up and establish as compared to Ryegrass.

Cart Traffic & Seeding

The more golf cart & vehicle traffic we keep off of the rough the better success we will have with the seeding process. Thank you for using the gates and driving only on the fairways. Pass the word, avoiding driving golf carts in the rough will be extremely beneficial to the  germination and establishment of the fescue seed we have been and will be putting down the next few weeks. 

Good image of #12 and where we should be driving carts and where we should not.

Greens Spiking

This coming Monday we will be spiking and topdressing the greens. As planned, we have been implementing the strategy of  timely, small hole frequent aeration events on our new greens in conjunction with frequent light sand topdressing. This Mondays event will be the the same small hole event we have been implementing, but the hole pattern will tighter then what we have utilized in the past. The holes will still be 6" deep and this tighter pattern will require more sand to fill them up which is precisely what we want. Deep holes equal deeper roots, and more sand equals firmer conditions that are less prone to ball marks and need less irrigation. The process could have a temporary minimal impact on putting quality mostly because of the extra sand to fill the additional holes, but aggressive rolling will provide a smoothness, however the pace will be slower for a few days. 

We made a practice run with the new tine configuration on the nursery green this week prior treating all of the greens on Monday 9/25/23. Picture depicts the tighter pattern with no sand or greens rolling yet. After a greens-roller rolls the surface, the holes will  hardly be noticeable and will not interfere with putting quality.

Above is the same green still not rolled or topdressed. We are excited about this new aeration configuration and the  process over time being transformative for our greens.

Winter Forecast

Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist at UCLA and the 2022 co-author of the thought provoking  Climate change is increasing the risk of a CA megaflood, Dr. Swain has been our go to resource for long term weather prognostications long before his infamous article, and he has recently made a prediction for the upcoming winter.

Where Granite Bay positions in this Pacific SW or Pacific NW is anyone's guess.  What we do know is wet winters affect golf course playability as well triggering cart restrictions, nothing new here.  The drainage work we did last winter should serve us well in the event of another wet winter, but if its anything like last year it really limits what we can do on the golf course, so part of me is hoping for dry conditions so we can get more done, and part of me thinks, let it rain as we always could use it here in the west. No use wishing or worrying. Onward, forward.

Thanks For Your Support. The Best Is Yet To Come!

Fairway Drainage & Traffic Control

 Fairway Drainage

Last week we received 1.5" of much needed rainfall here at GBGC and lets hope we get more as we move into the rainy season here on the west coast. The amount of rain in a short period time exposed some drainage patterns on the golf course that needed immediate attention, namely the very front portion of #4 fairway. There are, and will be other areas that will need surface drainage installed which is very normal for new fairways that have undergone the renovation and turf conversion ours have. 

Trenching for drainage on Monday 11/14/22. We trenched and installed 300' of surface drainage which involves trenching a 12"- 6" deep trench,  6" wide, remove the soil, add 1"-2" gravel, install 4" perforated drainage pipe tied into existing sub surface drainage system, bury with gravel 1" from top of trench, add sand to top, replace removed sod.

We dont point out enough one of the main issues with all turf at Granite Bay is we are growing grass on top of, in many cases, a decomposing rock. This photo illustrated this realty. The white area is a granite rock that we had to saw through to install the drainage. These type of conditions exist through the soil profile here at Granite Bay.

The finished product after sod replacement and some sand topdressing. Members playing the course had some fun with this drainage work as well as we dident quite finish the 300' of drainage on Monday, so we moved all tee blocks forward 100 yards onto a flat spot in the fairway on Tuesday and Wednesday  so we could finish the work and stay out of everyone's way.

Traffic Control

I know we all wish it were not so, but  reality is golf cart traffic  is hard on a golf course. Therefore is is incumbent on golf course maintenance to develop and execute a golf course traffic control plan that fits the club and protects the turf. Our goal is to elevate our current traffic control protocols in the coming months so we can further protect the course from golf cart traffic.

I would like to thank all of the members who are diligent in following the cart traffic rules we have in place such as entering and exiting through the traffic gates and staying on the cart paths when the hole is closed. During the recent seeding of the course we used signs indicating holes that were cart path only with very good success. Most members and guest abided by the restrictions and we had a successful rough seeding in part because of it. 

Restricting cart traffic on two holes for a week at a time is a traffic control measure we have contemplated doing for quite awhile. We started this past week with cart path only restrictions on #'4 & #17 using the multiple sign approach used for seeding to inform players.  Par 3's are a no cart traffic zone already, so by  adding the additional two holes, members will be able to use carts on twelve holes on the course at any given time and theoretically every par 4 & 5 hole will get a break from cart traffic for one week out of six. The plan is to restrict cart traffic on one hole on the front nine, and one hole on the back nine for a week then rotate to two more the following week. We'll see how it goes.

We are committed to the 2 hole rotating cart traffic closures using multiple signs along paths to inform members, therefore will be updating our signage in the near future.

Ropes and stakes are a big part of traffic control. Additional changes in the traffic control arena is we are gravitating toward these 12" stakes rather then the 18" previously used. 

Gates for entering and exiting the the golf hole will still be used.

Topdressing & Golf Carts

This past week marked some  significant events here at Granite Bay Golf Club Golf Course Maintenance. First the completion of our first post renovation Fairway Topdressing and second the return of golf carts on the course. The fairway topdressing went as planned, and I think showed us the potential of what subsequent topdressings this year and beyond will do to these new Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda Fairways. 

The carts getting back on the course just happened yesterday, 5/5/22, and I'm sure carts back on the course was a very welcome change for many members. Unfortunately, I dident order enough of the  black stakes with white tips we are using as on and off  gates I mentioned in last weeks update. So we improvised with some of the shorter stakes we used in the past. More proper stakes to arrive next week and I'm sorry about any confusion the smaller stakes might have caused in the short term. 

Here are some Pictures

Above are the gates we will use throughout the course
as planned.

Great example of Granite Bay Member, Don Darst not driving on the course when it wasn't necessary even though cart path only restrictions had been lifted.

Temporarily we are using some of these small stakes for gates. 

Topdressing Fairways at 50 tons per acre last week.

After allowing the sand to dry a little, we drag it into the Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda turf canopy.

After dragging, before irrigation which moves sand further into turf canopy.

If you were playing golf this past week you probably noticed another project we started and completed. We installed irrigation to water the pond banks on #1 & #9. This irrigation allows us to water these fairly steep banks independently of the new Hybrid Bermuda which will have a much lower irrigation requirement then the pond bank of what we plan to convert to cool season tall fescue. In order to accomplish that we needed to have independent irrigation.

And here is the new irrigation in operation.

Golf Carts Return To The Course in Early May

Brian Whitlark is a USGA Agronomist and a colleague whom I have worked with for years. He recently paid us a informal visit to check out our renovation progress. His overall impression was very positive on where we were relative to the scope of work accomplished in 2021 and related maturity of the turf grass playing surfaces. He was impressed we were able to keep golf carts off of the course for over six months after re-opening. The two major takeaways I took from him during our meeting were related to the greens and to cart traffic returning to the course.

On the greens he was impressed with current density and root development stating that year two of a putting surface's life "not the year for speed" but continued root development. On cart traffic returning to the golf course he warned that "whatever you do, dont allow more then two carts per foursome on the turf."

Golf Carts are a part of the game, but to pretend that driving on the turf does not effect health and quality would be a mistake. Cart traffic can be very hard on the turf playing surfaces, and that is why we are going to re-open the course to cart traffic with some very specific rules to follow while driving on the course. 

Golf Cart Rules

• When feasible, utilize cart paths rather then driving on the course.

• Enter & Exit the course through  "gates" designated by the white tipped, tall black stakes. (see below pictures)

• No more then two carts per group allowed on the turf on any given hole. 

• Travel in the fairway hybrid bermuda turf as it will take the traffic better then the cool season rough turf.

• Do not use a cart on any par 3 hole. 

Granite Bay Carts will be easier for us to manage as they will be Geo Fenced to keep them off  and out of areas we do not want them to go, and we can insist on players pairing up. Private carts are a little harder for us to manage, so we will have to rely on the honorable nature of the game as well as our private cart members to do the right thing. 

Examples of entrance gates on #1

Examples of exit gates on #1

Example of a the typical traffic pattern we would like carts to follow when carts are allowed back onto the course. Stay on the cart path until the first "entrance" gate. Drive on the fairway turf as it is more durable then the cool season turf in the rough, and finally exit between the "exit" gates further down the fairway. 

We would like to thank everyone for the diligence shown during the past seven months while we have been cart path only. The course benefited immensely. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going by following the rules and limiting cart traffic whenever possible. Lets keep in mind that Granite Bay has very young  turf grass surfaces that still need time to grow in and mature. We are grateful for your support and patience while this grow in process and maturation continues and promise that patience will be rewarded. The best is yet to come.

Thanks

Tying Up Loose Ends - part 6

There will be continued tie-up activity this week on the course requiring some temporary detours for golfers that will minimally effect play through Saturday if all goes according to plan. We are cleaning up a curbing project adjacent to #1 & #10 tee's, doing continued electrical conduit installation along #3 green, #3 tee and now heading across #12 fairway. Additionally we are putting the finishing touches on our new pump station installation and have completed the new stairwell leading down to the cart barn area. These stories are much easier to tell with pictures.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

In the spirit of celebrating a completed project, above shows the new stairwell down to the cart barn.

Almost completed is the installation of our new irrigation pumpstation. We still have to replace the old motors which appear in the background of this picture with new ones which are caught up in  the supply chain and wont be here until June. More importantly we have divers arriving Thursday 4/21/22 to inspect and remove silt from our wet well and intake pipe, along with inspect and size up the intake's pipe screen which is out in the lake irrigation lake on #9 that needs replacement. I plan to do a full on pump station replacement update in the future for those of us who geek out on this stuff.

Taking advantage of our last closed Monday for awhile we replaced the curbing around #1 & #10 tees that were severely impacted by construction traffic in 2021. We have more of that to do on the course, and it will all get done in time, but these highly visible curbs were always a priority. 

In addition to replacing all the existing curbing on #1 & #10 tees we added a section adjacent to the upper practice green. This area has always been bad  and hard to grow turf because of allot of parking traffic. In addition to keeping the the traffic off of the area, the curb gives us an opportunity to add good soil and re-sod which will make the area substantially better. We will have this area re-sodded and the practice green open by Thursday 4/21/22.

Special Thanks goes out to Todd Johnson, Roy Sampson & the entire crew at J&S Asphalt. These guys are a joy to work with.

We are continuing to install electrical service along the cart path on #3. We have been strategic on the last two closed Mondays to get the area's near #3 tee as well as #3 green. We have a 200' section to tie into between the #3 ladies tee and #3 pond edge which we will be completing  Wednesday 4/20/22 & Thursday 4/21/22. Cart traffic on these days will be detoured in front of the back tee on #4 and the tournament tees on #4 will be moved forward.

After crossing in front of #4 tee, we have setup a little turn around as carts will temporarily be restricted from turning around near the green. These detours should only be in place through
Friday 4/21/22 at the latest, weather permitting, although it is supposed to be raining on Thursday.

When we are finished with electrical install adjacent to #3 we will need to move across the very beginning section of #12 fairway. In order to be efficient and at the same time stay out of golfers way, we have constructed a small tee across the cobblestone creek

We plan to be trenching across this front section of #12 fairway on
Friday 4/22/22 through Saturday 4/23/22 as it will be raining on Thursday. This option of moving everyone forward allows us to keep the hole open while we complete the necessary work. It also provides us with a forward tee for some Ladies and Juniors and at some point we will get a Nugget Tee yardage monument installed.  There is a aproximately 60 yard diffrence between the 434 ladies level, making the hole play 374 yards from this new tee. 

Summer Is Here

The Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is next week on Wednesday June 21, 2017. This marks the beginning of the most difficult time for the cool season grasses which is the type of grass playing surfaces we have here at Granite Bay. Things can get interesting during this time which stretches from the Summer Solstice to the Fall Equinox on Friday September 22, 2017. Why this is the most difficult time for our course is in part due to:

• Extensive heat causes cool season turf to be more susceptible to disease & insect damage, weed infestation & heat stress and wilt.

• It is a challenge  to keep the course as firm as we would all like it because of the amount of irrigation required to keep it viable and alive.

• It is a time of year of high golfing activity which compound the above mentioned stresses.

What Are Our Plans?

We are in pretty good shape going into this stressful summer season and that can go a long  way towards our inevitable success. Currently however there is a heatwave forecasted during 2017 Mac Cup that has six consecutive 100 degree days predicted. Those kind of stretches have always left a mark on this golf course.  So sucess will be sustaining as much turf  as we can through the  summer so as to minimize our recovery efforts in the fall. The plans to achieve this success is twofold: Manage Irrigation & Control Cart Traffic

Manage the Irrigation

Irrigation management is constant. We make daily adjustments to the individual sprinkler head control that has been recently expanded. We treat areas of the course with surfactants or wetting agents that aid in both water movement where where we need to move irrigation into the soil,  as well as retention where the soil needs some help in holding onto the irrigation that has been applied. We shift GCM personnel resources into hand watering because no matter how sophisticated a irrigation system is, there is no substitute for a guy on a hose.  

There is no substitute for a man on a hose

We understand the traditional inconsistencies with areas of the course that can get soft and we are ever striving to improve them as well as micro-managing of the irrigation system in these areas. Our decomposed granite soil's and cool season grass varieties make this a ongoing challenge but I believe we have made progress over the years. That being said it is inevitable that the the ups and downs of a summer season will lead to periods of the course getting on both the wet & dry side. 

Control Cart Traffic

Granite Bay Golf Clubs Scatter Definition is:

Golf Carts can scatter on the course by entering by entering at designated entry points defined by green and white stakes. Once in the fairway you are free to scatter while in and among the fairway. Please exit the fairway or rough at the designated exit point designated by red and white stakes.

Enter

Exit

Additional precautions and strategy's to protect the course besides the scatter rules include restricting traffic to entire golf holes although limiting this practice when we can to only one hole per nine. Additionally when temperatures are forecasted to be over the century mark, we will call for cart path only in the afternoons.

Results of golf cart traffic driving on stressed turf during the summer.

How can Members Help?

By understanding that cart operation on the turf surfaces during the summer months is stressful. Please utilize cart paths as much a possible.  Additionally follow the scatter rule and drive on green healthy grass avoiding brown, stressed grass.

The Drought is Over 

One thing we wont be talking about is drought restrictions in 2017. Due to almost record rainfall  & snow accumulation in most parts of the State, our reservoirs and aquifers have been replenished. However the drought of 2013 has changed the way many of us look at water policy and use. The State will continue to exert it's authority over water purchase and use and we at Granite Bay will have to stay on top of these inevitable changes. We are currently forecasting to be 25% below a State calculated MAWA Water Budget (maximum allowable water allocation) for the 2017 season and have had a good conservation story since this game changing drought of 2013 started.

Current Folsom Reservoir level. 2017 was one wild graph line !

Golf Course Maintenance Weekly 8/23/16

Clarification of Cart Scatter Rules

We have had a few members ask regarding our new approach to cart traffic on the golf course so we wanted to clarify our new scatter rule again. "What is this blithering 90 degree rule"  was just one article linked to a google search on the infamous 90 degree rule. It was written by a British golfer when confronted with a 90 degree cart rule in America. Evidently carts are the exception in Great Britain whereas  they are commonplace in America. During this google search I also found as many definitions of "The 90 Degree Rule" as there are golf clubs that post their rules on line therefore not really helpful in acquiring a definitive history of the rule.

One could speculate that the 90 degree rule came into effect sometime after Merle Williams, an early innovator of the electric golf cart, began production in 1951. Because continuous cart paths likely followed the golf cart, it is also easy to speculate that the 90 degree rule came about as club officials observed ill effects of these new vehicles and limited their use in one fashion or another to the rough.

Granite Bay's and many golf clubs definition  of  the 90 degree cart rule  basically was was to  drive along cart path until you are at a 90 degree angle to your ball, then enter the hole to you ball and play it. Next drive back to the rough line and precede to a 90 degree angle to your partner's ball and repeat the 90 degree process eventually exiting the hole to the cart path near the green.

Our observations using this definition of the 90 degree rule was and is: 

1.    For those who observed the 90 degree rule, driving along the rough line created concentrated traffic resulting in extreme turf grass wear and loss along with severe compaction in those areas.

2.   Most people dident observe the rule and entered the hole at a traffic controlled spot (ropes) then drove up the fairway  playing balls along the way and exited near the green.

 One of the main tasks of golf course maintenance is controlling traffic to alleviate concentrated wear, as golf carts are a big component of the game and they do play a part in turfgrass wear. Concentrated traffic will result in  turf grass death therefore spreading out the traffic to avoid these concentrated traffic areas is essential, and was the main problem with our original 90 degree rule directing travel along the edge of the rough. Ideally cart traffic should then be spread out or scattered on the course avoiding at all cost this concentrated traffic.  In a sense our scatter rule is a controlled version of what we observed most golfers doing anyway and  a different way of saying carts allowed on the course or what many have understood industry wide to be the meaning of the 90 degree rule. So here is what we think is the best way to not concentrate golf cart traffic which commonly end in turf grass death.

1. Use Cart Paths Whenever Possible

We are stating the obvious here, but the more cart traffic on the concrete cart paths, the less wear and compaction on the turf grass playing surfaces.

2. Enter At or Beyond the Green Stakes

The green stakes are an indicator of the starting point on where we would like carts to enter the golf hole. There is absolutely no harm in entering after the green stakes  say 90 degrees from your ball as this does not produce concentrated wear which is the main thing we are trying to prevent with all of our traffic control measures.

3. Exit Before or At the Red Stakes

Exiting the turf back to the path needs to happen before or at the red tipped stakes. We do not want cart traffic close to putting surface or putting surface surrounds.

 

4. Please be Patient with Seasonal Cart Restrictions

Seasonal cart restrictions are necessary during wet weather in the winter months and extremely hot weather in the summer months to protect the turf. We are blessed with a golf course that drains well after a rain and carts can get back on it relatively quickly even after a significant rain event. We have gone to roping some select holes where we asses the unique  natural concentrated traffic patterns ( example #10 in above picture) to be so damaging that roping off for extended periods of time has proven to be a successful practice.  ( Does everyone remember what the above area used to look like in the summer before current traffic control measures?)