Composting

Before working at The Preserve, I had never been to a golf course that collected their fairway mower clippings. I think the collection of clippings is significantly necessary. I had also never before worked at a golf course with bentgrass planted fairways. The fairways at The Preserve are planted bentgrass. Because of bentgrass fairways, there is a greater tendency for thatch accumulation in the turf profile. This can lead to spongier playing surfaces, localized dry spots, false crowning, and an increased requirement for inputs among others. Collecting our clippings is just one method we use to reduce potential thatch.

Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3

As you can see in Fig. 1 we mow our fairways with the Toro Reelmaster 5410 and the grass clippings are being collected in the basket attachments. Once the baskets are full, they are emptied in the back of a Toro Workman, or our customized Pronovost clippings trailer. The full Workman and trailer can be seen in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. The clippings are then transported to our composting field and dumped in organized rows (Fig. 4) where the composting process will begin. You can see in Fig. 5 how big the piles can become over time. After the mound of grass clippings, straw, and horse manure is at the right size and ratio, it is time to start turning or mixing the piles. The machine used for this is seen in Fig. 6 and greatly helps with the process of decomposing organic matter. Composting is an interesting process and can be very useful for golf maintenance facilities if you have the extra space and correct equipment.

Fig. 4Fig. 5Fig. 6

Here is a link that provides the science of how composting works: http://www.howstuffworks.com/composting1.htm

Once the process of composting is understood, it is easy to see our goal. With our fairway, green, and tee clippings collected, we can compost them and our final product is created. This final product, seen in Fig. 7, is a rich mixture that is mixed with seed and re-used back on to the golf course.
Fig. 7

StaLok Path Clean-Up

Over a three to four week period, many weed-seeds will germinate in the cracks and crevices of the StaLok stairways and walkways. StaLok paving material is a natural aggregate soil that is enhanced with a polymer. It is heavily compacted and eliminates infiltration. The weed-seeds usually find their way into the staircase cracks or near the edges of the paths. This can be seen in the picture on the left. This picture shows many juvenile and adult weed plants. These weeds can vary from Dandelion, Thistle, Fescue, and Ryegrass. The removal process of these weeds is quite a bit more difficult than in bare soil. It is much more difficult to access and remove the rootzone in the heavily compacted StaLok surfaces. The tool that I found works the best is a Hula-Hoe. It is also pictured on the left. The Hula-Hoe breaks up the surface and reveals the rootzone of the weeds. This makes weed removal easy and clean. The picture on the right shows what the path looks like after the weeds were removed and the StaLok material was re-compacted.

Clubhouse Section Work

All of our putting greens and the areas surrounding them are maintained by section work. The section work includes putting green mowing, dew whipping, ball mark repair, green-side bunker maintenance, edging green-side irrigation heads, and pop-up irrigation around bunker surrounds. There are five different sections on the golf course. These sections are 1, 2, 3, 18, and clubhouse. The first four sections are maintenance on the golf course. The clubhouse section is maintaining everything surrounding the clubhouse and practice areas. For seven weeks I will maintain the clubhouse section. The clubhouse section includes maintenance of everything that was listed for the golf course sections, but includes a variety of additional areas. This section is much different from the sections that are on the golf course. My additional duties in the clubhouse section are as follows:

Croquet Lawn/Grass Tennis Court Maintenance



























Clubhouse Courtyard Maintenance






















































Thistle and Mustard Removal









StaLok Maintenance

Small Ornamental Grass Removal Project

PROBLEM

Here is a look at our greenside bunker on number 15. It had a controversial patch of rustic grass between the inside lip of the bunker and many potential pin placements. It is a typical look for Fazio's design. The problem, as you can see in the picture on the right, is that you may be faced with an unplayable bunker shot. If your ball lands inches below the patch of ornamental grass, you will be faced with an impossible shot to a frontal pin placement.


SOLUTION

The decision was made to remove the patch of long grass. The first step I took was to remove the layer of sand down to the soil profile with a flathead shovel. I moved it about 3 feet away from the edge of the ornamental grass, avoiding dirt/sand contamination. This is illustrated in the first two pictures. I then cut my bunker edge on the inside of the ornamental grass and began its removal. In the picture on the bottom you can see how easily and clean the grass was removed, leaving a nice bunker edge behind with little dirt contamination. All of the loose dirt that fell down the 3 foot slope was removed, and the solid surface was compacted with a tamp. The final process of pushing clean sand back onto the bunker face was ready.





RESULT

Once the loose dirt was removed and the solid surface was tamped down, I used a plastic bunker rake to push sand toward the new bunker face. I also spent some time tamping the sand making sure that this bunker was consistently firm with the other bunkers on the golf course. Fried egg lies in soft sand are not ideal.





Here is a final look at the bunker from 16 teebox