Nick Nate leaves Chikaming

As you may or may not know Nick Nate has been the 1st Assistant here at the club since the spring of 2008.  Over the years he has proven to be a huge asset to our grounds department through hard work, dedication and diligence.  He will be missed.

Two weeks ago Nick accepted the Superintendents position at South Bend Country Club.  This will work out well for Nick and his family, who live Granger, IN.  For the past 6 years Nick has driven an hour each direction without a complaint and has had impeccable attendance.  Amazing.

A quick background on Nick.  He attended Rutgers University and did an internship at St. Andrews in Scotland.  After graduation, he became the assistant superintendent at Medinah on their championship course #3 for three years.  While there he helped prepare the course for the 2006 PGA Championship.  Furthermore, Nick has volunteered and worked at many US Opens and PGA Championships around the country.

Below is Nick (on the right) at the 2012 US Open.

If you are at South Bend CC sometime, please look him up and say hello.  I know he'll appreciate seeing you.

Good Luck Nick!  The crew and I know you'll do great things at SBCC.
 

2014 Tree Trimming coming to a close.

Winter has been winter this year.  We have had snow cover since Christmas and it has been great.  Currently, it is raining and 37 degrees, but we still have snow on 95% of the course.  The forecast is calling for more cold weather next week.

Up until today snow depths ranged from 1 to 2 feet depending on the location on the course.  This has made getting around the course to trim/remove trees challenging at times.  Fortunately we have a rental lift on tracks that makes getting around relatively effortless.

I always like taking pics of the course from 60 feet in air.  It's a viewpoint rarely seen.  Below is a view from 16 tee toward the green.

Early Snowfall

This past Tuesday we received 6-7" of snow and the next morning was a chilly 23 degrees.  It's odd seeing leaves on the trees and snow on the ground.  It does make for a great picture, though.

Rain, Rain, Rain......

This past Thursday we received 6" of rain from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Before this day a 2 month drought had forced us to lower the ponds on the course and we were in the process of transferring the water up to the reservoir.  Amazingly, every pond on the course was filled and some water was lost over the overflow near the club's entrance in a matter of hours.  We were able to transfer some of the water up to the reservoir for future use.  Below are some videos and pics of the day.

The new short game area got hit hard by the rain.  Washing out in a number of areas.  Thankfully, the greens are still intact. 

The video above is of the river of water going over the entrance drive.  At one point it was over 1 foot in depth. 

Al Peters: 1955 - 2013

This past weekend one of our grounds crew members, Al Peters, passed away during his work day here at the club.  Al was 58 and had been working for us for the past 2 months.  His son, Scott, who has been working for us since 2008 was by his father's side in his last moments. 

Al was a great addition to the crew.  He was consistently upbeat and got along with everyone.  Always quick to enjoy a good laugh or to strike up a conversation about current topics with anyone he was around.  He was willing to do whatever was asked of him and went about his normal day doing the best job he could.  He will be missed by all of us. 

Short Game Area Progress

Even after the rain event 2 wks ago, the new short game area is coming along nicely.  Today marked the first day for mowing the greens.  They were mowed at .250", which is 1/4".  As the greens mature we will slowly lower the height of cut to match our existing greens, which are at .125" or 1/8".    

Short Game Area: Greens Mix

The new short game area greens will be grown on a mixture of 80% sand, 15% compost and 5% peat.  The new greens (5-8) are grown on a similar mixture, while #2 & #16 greens are grown on a sand/peat mixture.  The remaining greens are "push up" or native soil greens.  "Push up" simply means that when the greens were constructed they pushed up the existing topsoil and shaped it into a green.

 

Below is a picture of the blending machine used to make our 80/15/5 mixture.  

 

 

The compost is used in our greens mix as a source of organic matter and nutrients.  The compost also allows the new greens to have a similar composition to our existing push up greens.  For many years now, the greens have been topdressed with straight sand and after taking a sample of the top 2" of the profile recommendations were made for a sand/compost mixture.