County Drain Project

The county drain project through the back portion of the range is nearly complete. The contractors have been slowed by the hard clay and the depth at which the tile needs to be laid. They should be completed with our portion of the project by the end of the week.

Rain is here.....

After a couple of months with very little rain, the last week has produced 2.4".  This can be good and bad.  It's good for our water supply and for the grass on the course.  It is bad if we have hot days and warm nights, which we have had for the past month or two.  That type of weather pattern creates a perfect opportunity for turfgrass diseases to infect the grass plants.

Turfgrass diseases are fungal pathogens.  Just like a mushroom, they like warm, moist conditions.  So, for me, the rain is good and bad. 

Chikaming C.C. Irrigation Water 101

Chikaming C.C. is supplied irrigation water only by the precipitation that lands on the property. Both rain and snowfall are captured by our drain tiles and then retained in our ponds. The entrance pond is the last opportunity for us retain the water before it leaves the property. The pumphouse located near the 13th T pumps water up to our reservoir where it is then stored for later irrigation needs. 
All ponds and the reservoir were full this past March.  Normally we are able to replenish much of the water that we pull out of the reservoir through large rainfall events during the spring and summer.  Obviously, this has not been the case over the past few months.

Drilling a well would be a logical solution, but after a number of test wells were drilled in 1991 only one well showed signs of water. That was only 30 gallons per minute. We need ten times that amount to keep up with our irrigation needs.  

So, for now you will see the entrance pond is lower than usual.  We are in the process of drawing the entrance pond down and transferring the water to reservoir.  Other ponds will follow unless we receive substantial rainfall.  In addition, areas on the course will begin to receive less water as the drought continues.  The decision to reduce water from these areas will be made by order of importance.

The decision has also been made to buy water from the township.  Currently the township is restricting us to around 25-30 gallons a minute at this point so they can also meet the needs of the homeowners and businesses in the area.  It is very little but beggars can't be choosers!  C'mon rain!

Quality of cut.....

Quality of cut is important for a number of reasons. 
1.  It looks nice!  Shaggy grass just has that "blah" look to it.  Wouldn't you agree?
2.  Better playing conditions.  Ball roll on greens is partially dependent to the quality of cut.  A more consistent cut across the surface will give a more consistent quality of roll as you putt the ball. 

3.  Disease resistance.  Yes, disease resistance.  A crisply cut turfgrass blade has less surface area for disease infection than a jagged edge.  So, as Paul Kniola (our Equipment Manager) checks the quality of cut of our mowers he is helping the plants fight off disease infection.  Paul does this quality of cut check after every mowing and he adjusts each reel to cut paper cleanly.  If the reel doesn't cut paper then the reel or bedknife or both get sharpened.  Thanks for your diligence Paul!

Water Supply Issues

Today is the 25th of June and we are currently looking at a shortage of water for the remainder of the year. Due to the dry weather over the past spring we have drawn our reservoir down by 8 feet. One week ago the water level was at the 10 feet level (see picture) and today we are 1.5 feet lower. 

The climate map below shows why our water is in such shortage.  According to this, the area surrounding the club is 4-5" below our normal rainfall for the past 90 days. 



Spring Work

After a mild winter a warm spring has given us the opportunity to work on cleaning up from our winter tree trimming project.  Stumps were ground down in early March and the result is mounds of grindings.  After the grindings are hauled to our compost area, we begin backfilling the holes with topsoil from our compost area.  The amount of material moved is large and takes a number of days.  Currently, we are in the process of finish grading and seeding these areas. 

During the winter the willows front left of 13 tee were removed and we were faced with stumps on a steep slope that could not be ground down by a conventional stump grinder.  So, we were forced to dig them out with an excavator.  As you can see a huge hole was dug and was immediately repaired to match the surrounding grade. 

Chikaming C.C. Grounds Crew

During the past weekends Men's Invitational, we took a short moment to take a crew photo. 

Front Row (r to l):  Paul Kniola (Equipment Manager), Nick Nate (1st Assistant), Ben Turner, Nathan Turner, Tim Munday, Ryan Piner, German Gonzalez, Forrest Galanda, John Maximoff (Max), Rob Lemon (Facilities Manager)
Back Row (r to l):  Derrick Walden, Ed Adams (Special), Nick Conklin (2nd Assistant), Carl Ardissono, Paul Ardissono, Kevin Kill, Austin Cross, Darrell Chitty (Big D), Scott Peters, Eric Rank (Director of Grounds)