Rainy Days

Over the past week we have had a number of rainy days.  At this point last year we were begging for rain.  Remember that? 

Today the crew is working on cleaning up leaves and sticks, removing water from the course, cart path weeds, building organization and whatever else we can manage to do without causing damage on the course. 

The pic below is of our homemade contraption that we call the "Suck-O-Vac".  We started using this machine 6 years ago before our recent drainage improvements.  Although the responsibilites of the machine have lessened dramatically over the years, we still have a number of small areas on the course that hold water.

The Suck-O-Vac is an old 200 gallon sprayer tank mounted to a trailer.  We then added a wet/dry vacuum to the top.  The vacuum sits in the opening for the tank almost perfect and after a little silicone the machine was airtight.  The vacuum is plugged into a generator in the back of our cart.  After the tank is full a 2" ball valve is opened to drain the tank into an existing drain inlet. 

June Newsletter

Hello Everyone.  I hope you all enjoyed the spring.  

Within the past month the bunkers were edged and topped off with additional bunker sand.  A detailed map was created of each bunker diagramming the depth of the sand before the project.  Our goal is to have 4-6 inches of sand throughout the bunker. 

#6 fairway was also topdressed during May.  Currently, we have around 2” of sand capping the fairway.  We will continue these topdressing applications throughout the year and the coming years at monthly intervals to increase the sand cap to our desired 4-6”.  I am sure you will all agree the fairway has improved dramatically over the last couple of years and the topdressing program has played a big part in the fairway’s improvement.

The rough left of 4 fairway is close to being able to play out of.  The cold spring has really slowed down the grow-in process, so thank you for your patience.

 Every spring we receive a number “comments” about the rough.  Even though it seems we are growing U.S. Open style rough, we are not.  We actually are maintaining it at the same height that we do throughout the year.  It just grows very rapidly with the spring rains and when the grass flowers it gets very tough to play out of. 

 Yes, I did say the grass flowers.  It isn’t as pretty as the flowers we think of initially, but every spring some turfgrass produces seeds on a stalk and it is referred to as inflorescence.  This is especially true with the grass species Chikaming has on its property.  Normally grasses produce this inflorescence when they have not been mowed, but Poa annua or Annual Bluegrass (our dominant grass species) produces seed even at greens height.  This explains the “white-ish” blotches on the greens, tees, fairways and in the rough. 

 The Grounds Staff and I look forward to seeing you all through the year and, as always, please repair your ballmarks, rake the bunkers and replace your divots.  With your help, we can continue to make Chikaming a great place to play.  Thank you!!

Eric Rank

Director of Grounds