June Men's Night Shotgun

140 Men all played hooky from work on Wednesday Afternoon and spent the day goofing.....I mean golfing in our 2nd Men's Night Shotgun. A special Thank You to Nigel Rennie of
ALL TURF for sponsoring the event. Those who won a prize owe Nigel a pint when you see him, without these sponsorships these events just wouldn't be as successful. So if you're interested in sponsoring the next men's Night, speak to Tony or Alex.
Yes - That's Nigel the sponsor for the night on the left - as you can see I don't think Nigel has a serious bone in his body.


Beverage cart OVER HERE........Beverage Cart hey..hey...Over here

I had about 20 wise cracks for this picture...but really does anything need to be said?

What you looking at chump?

Clearly Bernie has been doing some curls for the girls....unfortunately only Ferns is impressed.

Hey, where did it go...where did it go...anyone see it..

Tim is exited - he knows he has the closest to the pin locked up for the night...anyone else notice our President Kevin and Ron on the right of this shot? I took the liberty of photo shopping for my own amusement. Straight ahead 20 knots....it's probably not....but I found it funny.

$20 says James will save this as his screen saver.

THE AUGUSTA SYNDROME

You may have never heard of "THE AUGUSTA SYNDROME" but ask any Golf Course Superintendent anywhere, and they are all too familiar with it. Simply explained it is the unreal expectations of members for their home course to have perfect conditioning because of what they see on TV during professional events (not just at Augusta).
Sitting at home seeing what look likes perfect course conditions during televised PGA events makes many members at private clubs all over North America start to think this is the norm and is easily achieved, where as the truth is far from that. Cameras can pick and choose where they are located and what direction they are pointed in. The Director can pick from many different cameras and only call up the best of the best to be beamed through space and into your home. On top of this, camera filters are adjusted making all turf look greener than it really is.

I had first hand experience with this when I hosted the nationally televised Canadian PGA Championships in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Even though I knew all about the television crews ability to show only what they thought was good enough to air, I had never experienced it first hand until then, and even I was shocked at the outcome the Director had at manipulating the picture we saw.
After this past weekends US Open, it is clear that not everything can be hidden. I don't know what the exact issues were with many of the greens at Congressional, but I do know the extra stresses put on the turf as a course leads up to a tournament, and how easy and quickly a disease can ravage the turf.

So for fun, I though I would give you all a little test! Don't worry, I will not be marking you, but feel free to keep track of your own correct answers.
I have 11 pictures below which were taken around different parts of the course yesterday. I will give you a quick description of where, and when symptoms showed up from the different problems you will see.
See if you can diagnose what the problem is. At the end I will give the answers. Shall we begin?


Picture 1. Browning of the Poa on the collar of a green over 3 or 4 days. Turf continues to thin more each day. Bent grass is unharmed.


Picture 2. Turf on A bunker edge browning off and thinning. Turf closest to the sand is in poorest condition, but slowly improves the further away from the bunker you go.


Picture 3. Straw brown turf in a irregular pattern in the bluegrass about 2 feet off the fairway. Upper part of the leaf blade dried up and curling in but grass deeper below has less damage. The further down towards the soil surface, the less the damage. The spot was not there first thing in the morning, but was apparent by mid morning.


Picture 4. Straw brown turf just outside the edge of a tree well. This damage showed up after staff had trimmed grass at the base of the tree.

Picture 5. Browning and wilting of Kentucky Blue grass in a irregular pattern on the side of a tee getting progressively worse over the course of a week. Grass around the area remains green and very healthy with no signs of a problem.

Picture 6. Browning of Bent and Poa on a tee. Spots or area of damage getting larger every morning but no change through the day.

Picture 7. Complete death of turf in a circular pattern around the base of a tree. Yesterday the turf was completely healthy with no signs of an issue.

Picture 8. Large dead patch just off the edge of a bunker. Turf right on the edge of the bunker is alive, but within the irregular patch no living turf is found. The area was a funny brown/gray colour yesterday with no symptoms the day before that.

Picture 9. Major browning and curling up of the leaf blade on 5 fairway. Irregular pattern with some areas showing no damage at all right up against areas with sever damage. Other parts with damage seems to reduce the further you go from the centre of the major damage. No symptoms what so ever the day before.

Picture 10. Long brown shiny looking dead turf found on the top of a tee extending out into the bluegrass. No visible issues first thing in the morning, but severe damage by mid morning.

Picture 11. Light brown circle (smaller than my smallest finger nail) on a tee. No damage to the turf what so ever. Observed 7 or 8 in no pattern at all first thing in the morning, but were gone and nowhere to be seen by mid morning. The next day same visible signs on the same tee but in different locations.

So, there you have it. 11 different less than perfect areas that are found here at Whitevale (and would never be shown on TV if we were hosting a televised event here).

Were you able to find an answer for each of them?

Lets see how you did.

Pic. 1. This should have been easy for you. This is the same picture I posted on my last blog from the collar at 5. This damage is from the larva of the Hyperodes beetle which feeds only on Poa annua. We have since seen some damage on a few tees and continue to watch closely for other areas that will require treatment.

Pic. 2. Turf here is completely growing in sand and suffers from extreme heat stress. The sand in the bunker heats up from the mid day sun making the area along the edge too hot for turf to remain healthy. This area also dries quicker, causing a drought condition, but its the extreme temperature causing the main problem.

Pic. 3. This damage was caused by the exhaust of one of the mowers. This older model has the exhaust pointed down towards the turf and if the operator stops to pick up some debris in front of them, the heat from the exhaust causes wilting of the upper part of the leaf blade. (And yes, staff are trained to turn the mower off if they have to stop, but they don't always remember)!

Pic. 4. This turf was simply scalped by one of the line trimmers used to trim grass around the base of a tree. A line trimmer is a handy tool which allows us to efficiently trim grass in tight and hard to reach places, but they don't cut as cleanly as other mowers and sometimes tear the turf. Maybe a little like performing surgery with a pair of scissors.

Pic. 5. This is caused by drought. But why then do the areas around it look so good?

Its what you cant see! Soil below the turf in this area is heavy clay and is very difficult to re-wet once it drys out. Some areas on the course are high in sand, and also dry out much faster than other areas. Increasing irrigation run times to get moisture into these areas would turn the areas around it into muddy bogs.

Pic. 6. Hopefully this one you recognized. Dollar Spot cost more for us to control than any other turf disease. We don't get to worked up when we have some active Dollar Spot on tees or fairways as it is more of an aesthetic issue in these locations. On greens is where it will negatively impact puttability, we have zero tolerance.

Pic. 7. The turf at the base of this tree was sprayed with Round up. This product does kill all turf it comes in contact with. So why did we spray to kill grass? Killing the grass around the base of all the trees reduces the labor require to line trim and perhaps more importantly eliminates damage to the trunks of the trees from getting the line trimmers too close to the bark when trying to get all the grass cut. It also allows members to find balls that may end up along the base of a tree.

Pic. 8. A fertilizer spill kills grass! Once a spill occurs the small prills fall down deep into the thatch of the turf and around the crown of the plant. This draws the moisture out of all parts of the plant it touches causing a fertilizer burn, and ultimately death. This area has already been resodded.

Pic. 9. If you ever worry the products we use to maintain healthy turf might be bad for you if you touch them, well hows this news? Of all the products we use only Round up harms the turf at normal rates. But pull out your bottle of insect repellent and spray it all over your legs, and the small droplets that miss your legs and hit the turf, kill the grass! So that shows how poisonous bug spray is! In this photo you can see the shape of the shoes in the damaged area as the shoes stopped the spray from hitting the turf in that location. Please don't spray bug spray when you are standing on the turf, we prefer you stand on a paved path to prevent this damage.

Pic. 10. This ugly mess is from a hydraulic hose that burst on a rough unit. If the hose breaks under the machine it is very difficult for the operator to see and usually means damage over a larger areas before it is detected. Although most of the oil in these systems is vegetable oil and is inert, the temperature of the oil is extremely high and the real damage is caused by the turf being burnt by the hot liquid. Hoses are replaced on a preventative maintenance schedule to reduce this type of issue, but it is impossible to eliminate this potential leak on any machine which runs on hydraulics.

And finally, Pic. 11. I don"t know how well this picture showed it but this is not actually on the grass as much as it is above it. This is a mushroom growing on a tee, but unless you bent down for a close look it does look like a small dollar spot. Mowers cut the mushroom off when they mow, but more will grow back overnight.

Even with 11 different pictures, I could have shown more............such as grass clippings clumped, incorrectly repaired ball marks, ant hills, animal urine damage, dead divots..............well the list goes on. Hopefully you spend your time on the course looking for the green areas, and not the imperfections which are found on every course!

Weddingvale

Club Member 'sTim and Mary Charlton married off their son on Saturday. Below is the thank you letter from Tim and Mary along with some pictures of the great day. Thanks Tim and Mary, best wished for the happy couple.

Dear Shawn,

The wedding is now in the history books of the Whitevale Golf Club and a young couple has now been launched into the wonderful world of wedded bliss. Mary and I want to thank you and all your staff at the club for making the launch so smooth.

Your organization skills, educated suggestions, insight and understanding made the day not only one of our most memorable occasions but kept us relaxed and on track. I’m sure you are proud of the staff who were so friendly , efficient and made everyone feel special.

Add the fact that there wasn’t a guest that didn’t comment on the quality of the hors’ouevres and the superb meal and you have a perfect event. The attention to detail made our life easy.

The venue is unmatched, with the elevated panoramic countryside view, the greenery of the manicured golf course and the magnificent colourful variety of flowers. Whitevale was a perfect setting for this special occasion.

What a wonderful place to have a wedding…our nick name for the club is Weddingvale.

Thank you again

Tim and Mary Charlton

The Longest Day of Golf

At the crack of dawn four inspired golfers teed off for their first of 8 golf rounds. This year marks the 20th Anniversay of this Whitevale tradition. Congratulations to Ann, Paul, Kevan and Steve for their efforts in raising awereness and funds for Cancer Research, of course none of this would be possible without the work of Joan and Bob Store. Below are some pictures of the day. Congratulations and thank you everyone who donated!

STUPID QUESTIONS

A long time ago one of my elementary teachers told me "There's no such thing as a stupid question!" I think I'm about to prove him wrong, but bear with me because I am trying to help members understand part of my job just a little bit better.

So, my question, would you go to your doctor and insist on getting medication for you to take to control Diabetes if you didn't have Diabetes?

What about any other illness that you don't have, would you ask for medication to treat something that you are not suffering from?


Safe to say, no logical straight thinking human would do such a thing.
So let's talk for a second how this has ANYTHING to do with my job.

There are an enormous amount of possible problems that we might encounter on any part of the golf course which would result in lost turf or a decline in turf conditions. But treating for something before it is a problem, or before it has been properly diagnosed would be irresponsible, and expensive!

Some potential problems we are proactive on, such as maintaining a healthy amount of thatch by aerification, verti-cutting and top dressing. We know that significant accumulation of thatch will at some point cause the death of turf areas, so we have programs to treat and control the thatch before these problems arise.

But other potential problems might only be a threat under specific conditions and only need treatment years apart.
So with that thought, lets look at a picture of the collar at the back of 5 green I took just this morning.


If you were responsible for managing the course and you saw the collar slowly starting to thin out and look like this after 3 or 4 days, what would you be thinking we need to do?

Most people who see this are confident this is caused by drought and would easily be eliminated by getting some water into the soil. Others would say it's a disease, and wonder why we haven't already sprayed.



But a closer look..................and I mean a really close look.........reveals that something completely different is going on. In order to effectively diagnose the real culprit I had to get down on my hands and knees and dig through the turf to find what I was looking for.


These white specs are the larva of a bug called Hyperodes. The black ones you see are the adults. These destructive little pests feed only on close mowed Poa. As they feed, the grass blades slowly die back almost exactly as they would if the plant was under drought stress.




Trying to treat for this insect before it shows up and does some form of damage would be irresponsible, and expensive. A little like your doctor trying to diagnose and treat an illness before you are sick. Its nearly impossible to stop it before we have damage at some level. But when we do see a decline in any turf area it is imperative to make an accurate diagnosis of the real problem in order to properly stop the damage from continuing. Because of the isolated insect problems, we don't even keep product in stock to treat this insect. The treatment will take place early Wednesday morning and will have immediate effect on the pests. The recovery of the areas will take a little longer as the turf can only heal by growing back in.

Demo/ Fitting Days - Round 2

We have added 3 more Fitting Days.

June 22nd - Callaway Golf - 12:00 to 5:00

June 23rd - Mizuno - 12:00 - 5:00

July 13th - Cleveland / Srixon - 12:00 - 6:00

Sign up in the Pro Shop for a Fitting Session.

Hole in One

We had our third Hole-In-One of the season today!

Ed Manchul on the 4th hole smoothly grooved his 4th career ace!

"I think I'll come back up tonight so I can use my hole in one parking space" Said Manchul. Especially thankfully for Ed's hole in were his playing partners who enjoyed a couple cool drinks on Ed's tab.

Big Break Whitevale

This past weekend we held the Big Break for the Juniors up on the driving range. The weather cooperated and it was a great day. Congratulations to the winners of each event. The winners have been documented and we are going to post the results of the big break, and the Junior Opening tournament as they related to the Junior Cup (our version of the FedEx Cup) which runs season long. The winner at the end of the year will get a handsome prize and of course, bragging rights.

The point of the Junior Cup and the Big Break is to try to genuinely increase participation in

events. I say genuinely because having parents force their kids to play may get them out is not a

recipe for success (unless you are a Tiger Mother)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html#dummy)

The first event held was the infamous glass breaking. Juniors had 60 seconds to hit as many balls as they could to try and put as many through the window as possible. The winner was Brad Haley with an impressive 5 broken windows.

The second event was the Flop Wall. An intimidating shot with a 8 foot tall by 8 foot wide white wall blocking your view of the pin. While under construction some were worried this task would prove too formidable for the youngsters, I wasn’t worried at all. The Juniors dominated this event. We had a two way tie for first, and a 10 way tie for second.

The third event was the ‘obstacle’. A giant wedge in front of the players forcing them to hit a

cut or draw around it at the pin. This proved to be a good test for the Juniors. The winner was Ryan Brewer hitting a draw around the obstacle to 8 feet, narrowly edging out Mark Wodz who hit it to 8 feet 6 inches.

Finally a putting competition was held on the putting green. An incredible point total of 25 was achieved by Daniel Brunato.

We hope everyone had fun playing these events. It wouldn’t have been possible without the help from Captain Debbie Couch, and her husband Chris Couch. Junior and logistics professional

Luke Tanfield. As well as Volunteer dad Wade Brackenbury and flop wall erector Peter Garvey and Paul Dobneras well as the entire Pro-shop Staff that day.

See everyone at the Junior clinics - Every Saturday in June

Monday Madness

Hello again member's of Whitevale, It's Huge Jazz here. I had originally planned on making postings relatively often, but I have to admit I didn't realize what a huge commitment it was to become one of the greens maintenance staff here. You may already know but we work 12 days in a row before we get two days off! Then another 12 days on! Don't get me wrong.....I'm not complaining! But I am tired. And I am enjoying myself.

So when I actually tried to log back on for a update earlier this week, I found that all the security and fire walls had been changed! So it took me about 15 minutes longer to get through the new security software but I told you I would. For the guys that are putting up these firewalls - -I'll give you some advice - - using the password "whitevale" is about as secure as the Canadian border - -amateurs!

Anyway thought you should all know that Rennie has been acting weird all spring. I can't figure out if this is his normal personality, or if it's the stress of the job. But he's always talking to himself, or maybe he thinks there are people around him he's talking to. It's more of a constant incoherent mumble than talking really. Senior staff seem to be able to read him like a book because some days they talk to him and joke around, and other days they avoid him like the plague!

But I have to tell you, this morning after we all left the shop to start work I had to double back to get something I forgot when I heard all this yelling. Turns out it was Rennie! He was at his desk yelling at his computer, and hanging onto it like Homer hangs onto Bart around the neck (if you are familiar with The Simpson's). And he's screaming "go away, leave me alone" Then he yells "why are you doing this to me"?

I stick my head in his office and ask him "are you OK"? but he does not acknowledge me at all. I pulled out my cell phone and snapped this picture.........then got the hell out of there!

I could see the reflection in a picture on the wall behind him and he was looking at a radar image on the weather network. Later on, I was thinking he might have been yelling at another storm cell that did give us more rain later. Even as I drove away he was still yelling! I'm honestly starting to think he maybe going mad.

At some point he did leave the office cause I saw him running around the course on his cart the way he does. At one point he was scouting one of the greens for disease which I was at and he's mumbling to himself again. Over and over he's saying the same thing.

"Soft wet greens....I'll never get them stimping above 6"! He just kept repeating it over and over. This time I ignored him (not wanting to make eye contact with him) and just kept on working as if he wasn't even there. And I have no idea what "stimping 6" means..........I wonder if his wife Marge understands his ramblings?

At the end of the morning as we were all cleaned up and getting ready to head home for the day, Rennie was pacing the yard and all of a sudden his demeanor changes completely. He stops dead in his tracks, and I hear him say "That's it, it's the pins! It's been the pins all along" now he's got this weird giggle, or chuckle going on, but NOT a normal laugh at all. He continues, "it's always been the pins, why didn't I see it before"? At this point he's far enough away I can't hear anything he's saying. But just before I left for the day I had to ask Rennie if I can leave a little early one day this week for a dentist appointment so I went to see him in his office, but when I arrived Mickey was already there and I have no idea what Rennie told Mickey, but Mickey sounded nervous, and was trying to talk Rennie out of something. Mickey's voice was low as I think he was trying to calm this mad man down "I think it's a really bad idea Blair".

"I don't care" Rennie barks...."We can't be stimping 6" (What the heck does "stimping 6" even mean?)

Mickey continues to voice his concern with what ever Rennie has told him, and finally Mickey gives up one last attempt. "You don"t even have time tomorrow" Mickey says

"We're punching tees all week, and you know how much time that takes up! You just don't have enough time"! At this point Mickey see me standing just outside the office door, and gives me a look which made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I decided to get the heck out of there and approach Rennie another day. Just as I was about to turn I hear Rennie say, "your right Mick, no time............no time"

I see Mickey breath a huge sigh of relief. "Good"! Mick Says. I can see his body relax.

"But we're not punching Next Monday, are we Mick"? says Rennie

Mickey, swallows hard. "Ummm no, we're not, but Blair you can't, you just can't, we've never done anything like this before!" I don't think Rennie even heard Mick at this point.

"Alright then, Monday June 6th"

"The members will never forget Monday June 6th 2011"

"Everyone who plays this place next Monday will never never forget that day for the rest of the season"! says Rennie, as he's laughing and chuckling to himself and for the first time this season I think I see him crack a smile.

At this point I'm just trying to fly under the radar and get out before he sees me. Trying to get out of there before Rennie knows I've heard all this.

The last thing I hear is Rennie chuckling and mumbling:

"Monday Madness.....Monday Madness.....Monday Madness"

So I don't know exactly what this mad man is going to do on June 6th.....but something BIG is going down, and I can tell you even Mickey is scared!

If I find out anything more, I'll let you know. lets hope the masterminds behind this blog don't change to password to something tough like "Golf".

LARGE MARGE......STILL IN CHARGE ........AND APPARENTLY, IN A BAD MOOD!

A long time ago I learned that being optimistic, as opposed to pessimistic has a lot of advantages. And perhaps more importantly, you'll have more friends because people want to be around positive happy people more than they want to be hanging with whiners and complainers that have nothing good to say. But having said that, I also try to be a realist. I don't believe we can be true to our family and friends, or successful in our jobs if we are oblivious to the truth. And this spring has been a bit of a test!
So, without complaining, lets look at the current spring conditions.

Wet is a bit of an understatement. We have recorded just over 4 inches of rain since the 16th of May. And if we look back in our records to April 10th, we have recorded over 9 inches of rain.....................Awesome EH? At least the aerification healed quickly........right?

What a difference a year makes. A very quick comparison to the spring of 2010 for a second.
Last year, in the first 8 days after we pressurized the irrigation system, ( which is in the first week of April) we had already put out more water (144,271 gallons more) onto the golf course than we have for this entire spring. With only a few days left in May, we have put out 343,950 gallons, compare that to 4.99 Million gallons at the same time last year!
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME MARGE???
But........... I'm NOT complaining! It's still way better to be wet........... than dead, whether you are a human...........or turf grass!

And you know what else? It wasn't that many years ago that I sat through meeting after meeting hearing about how lousy the rough was. Really..............new members won't believe this, but if you were here before 2005, you know! We talked a lot about how much it would cost to totally tear up the rough and re-sod everything to try to get the turf thicker. I remember saying, "Once we get the double row irrigation system in, lets feed it and see what happens". It took a while to get the funds approved to buy the fertilizer, but we did!
Funny how we don't hear that song about lousy thin rough anymore.

And between the thick rough, and the wet conditions, we have actually had to push mow areas that are too soft to get the mowers on.

Good thing Steve was in a good mood when I sent him out to start push mowing 40 acres of wet rough. Some areas in fairways will have to be mowed with walker tee mowers set at fairway height if things do not improve early next week.

Now I know what is on your mind. You show up to play golf only to hear "NO CARTS TODAY"!

And your a little Pis........I mean, disappointed. But you throw the bag on your shoulders and head to the tee. You hit a half decent drive, and start sludging through the slop we are currently calling rough.

A few holes into your game and your thinking, Man I could use a beer...............but that damn Superintendent said "NO CARTS".............which also means no bevy cart..........so...........NO BEER!

But low and behold a few more holes in and what do you see? Maintenance workers...........driving carts.........and mowers..........others driving equipment blowing clippings! And you think to yourself...............WTF?..............which for you non "texting" people is short for "Whys that fine"? Well, we don't really thinks it's "fine" to be out there with the equipment in such wet conditions, but we have little choice. We are not going to get away with not mowing all these areas until thing dry and firm up. The mowers are getting jammed up with the long wet grass as it is, and if we don't disperse the clippings with blowers we'll never get through it next time we mow. But if it's OK for all my equipment to be out there, why not the bevy cart?

Well first of all we have many areas we train the staff they have to avoid, and every morning starts with a detailed meeting of where staff can, and can not go, and an update on changes to the normal procedures, but for the areas we have to go into, we have an advantage you may be completely oblivious to.

But lets look at what causes the damage...........it's not the bevy cart.....specifically.......but the tires. This is a picture of the tire on the bevy cart. Right about 7 and a half inches wide.

Now if we compare that to the tires on one of my mowers, what do you notice?


This tire is almost twice as wide. It acts like a snowshoe spreading the weight out and making it float on the turf, by spreading the weight out over twice the area, reducing.........but not eliminating the damage. Think the Bevy cart is light? not even close! with all the beverages and ice it carries, it is as heavy as my large equipment.

The simple act of driving in the wrong area, has severe consequences. On a daily basis we see the damage to cart path edges where people don't keep all four tires completely on the path!

This area at 9 green is badly damage just because tires are coming off the path slightly. The weight of the Bevy cart would do far more damage, and it has a very good chance of finding a soft spot and getting stuck up to the frame.


Here is a good example of what many areas would look like if we let carts go out in this weather.
The long range forecast is still for a HOT and DRY summer, so maybe we should enjoy the cool wet conditions while we have it.

And finally, The large Siberian Elm which was removed from the east side of the 7th red and yellow tees has left a lack of protection for members who use these forward tee to hide behind. I encourage everyone to take the courtesy cart to the back tees while people are hitting. We have put up a safety screen in the short term. Our plan is to plant a number of trees back into the same general location sometime this fall which will regain the barrier we had.