4 West Fairway

Members will notice a white line painted in front of 4 West green and will wonder what it's for.  This area is not GUR or a drop zone.  Brain Huntley, our Architect, painted this line to indicate the new fairway section that will be added according to his master enhancement plan for the courses.  This  fairway area will be constructed using the bentgrass sod removed from the tee squaring project going on right now on the North and West.  After this area is complete it will offer a bit of relief for a short shot for both the men and ladies on an already difficult par 3. The work on this area will begin following the 2013 Brassie tournament.

Prepping, Seeding, and Watering Fescue Areas

The staff has been doing a great job preparing our new fescue areas on the North and West courses and we are now seeding.  Here are a few pictures of the process involved with seeding them.

Frances, one of our Chinese interns, is mowing the dead turf down to 1" to prepare for seeding.  Leaving a little bit of dead grass on top is a good thing as it serves as a germination mulch or straw which helps retain moisture and heat for germination.

After the old turf has been cut down to 1", a tractor seeder is used to distribute the new fescue seed.  The seeder cuts thin groves in the ground and drops seed at the correct rate directly into them.  

Finally, we use portable "roller basin"sprinklers for establishment because the rain all fell in June and July this year instead of August!

Fescue Seeding

The large area to the right that was once maintained rough is now being converted to Marco Polo and Ecostar fine fescues.  The seeding of these areas will begin this week.  Total between the North and West there is about 10.5 acres that will now be fescue.  These new natural areas will offer outstanding definition across the property and also reduce labor costs associated with maintaining unused rough.

North Fescue and Tee Update

A non-selective herbicide application was made to the North course future fescue areas today. These areas will be turning brown within 7-10 days.  After these areas die, they will then me mowed down very low to prepare for seeding.
Fescue will germinate in these areas this fall but will not get very tall this season.  

#8 North tees are shown here.  Last week we completed #1, 2, and 3 North and they have already germinated and are growing nicely.  Early progress this week got slowed down after we received 1.3 inches of rain but we've made up for it today.  #8 tee was soiled, seeded, and fertilized today and will be sprayed and covered tomorrow.  #5 tee surround was completely stripped today and will be top soiled tomorrow as well as seeded and fertilized.  #6 tee surrounds are scheduled to be stripped tomorrow.  As of now we are still on track for completing three holes of tees per week.  If we can continue this pace, North and West tees will be completed by the middle of September.

#5 North tees are completely prepped and ready to be top soiled tomorrow.

North Tee Project Started

Tee Squaring/Fescue: North and West

TEES: Brian Huntley, our Golf Course Architect, was recently on property and he worked on marking out where the North and West tees will be squared off.  Red lines have been marked on tee surfaces indicating the "new" square tee top. 4 West and 4 North have not been marked at this time as Brian is still deciding how the tees will be set up for these holes.

This week our staff will begin removing some of the old surrounding areas around the square tee tops that have been marked and we will begin the topsoil and seed process again as we did on the South.  Check back often for updates on the progress of our project.

FESCUE: Members and guests will notice red and white lines in the rough with an occasional irrigation flag on the North and West courses and may wonder why they're there.  These areas are future fescue areas that will be seeded this fall to tie into the same look that will be on the South course.

1 NORTH MEN'S TEE: PVC pipe outlines are used to get a good look before the square tee plan is finalized

3 WEST MEN'S TEE BEING MEASURED FOR ACCURACY

Recent Irrigation Repairs

Deciding the best plan for fixing the broken tee

Last week we were plagued with two irrigation repairs that took a fair amount of time and money to fix. Having irrigation repairs to do is very common during the summer months when irrigation is being used frequently, but these two repairs were uncommon.

The first repair came from an 8" main line tee that had a hole wear into it over time and began to leak.  This happened due to how old the system is and the pipes that are getting worn out.  After four days of work and disruption and over $400 in parts, the repair was complete. Normal problems with pipes are generally with smaller piping that is closer to the surface and can get freeze thaw damage with shifting soils. These smaller fixes are much easier to repair in the heat of summer and cause much less disruption to golfers.

The second repair we did this week was due to Mother Nature.  Last Friday night we had storms that produced a fair amount of lightning that came through and we we're not missed. Lightning struck a tree left of #2 fairway on the North course and traveled through a nearby irrigation pipe.  The lightning exited the pipe and shattered it in half.  Water poured out of the pipe all night and flooded #8 North and the surrounding areas.  This fix was much easier to handle since it was smaller pipe, but none the less a lot of work and disruption to play.  Both irrigation repairs are complete and the system is once again in working order.

New tee installed. Ready for the new 2" valve installation

2.5" irrigation pipe broken from lightning strike

Irrigation pipe shattered from the lightning strike

Fescue Update

By now members are beginning to see the previously marked fescue areas on the south course turning a little brown while other parts are still green.  Since we applied a selective herbicide a few weeks ago to kill the grasses we don't want in these areas, only the fine leaf fescues remain which are the green patches you currently see.

So what about the brown dead areas? All of the fescue areas were seeded with Marco Polo and Ecostar fescues and have germinated nicely.  With the recent cool/wet weather, the fescue areas have started to establish well.  In a few years, these areas will look beautiful!

Drainage installation and New Cart Path on 8 South

Drainage installation to the left of 8 South men's tee before new cart path is installed 

Removal of the old cart path leading away from the gold tee on 8 South.

Lighting Detection and Prediction at WCCC

We've reached the season for strong thunderstorms that pop up out of the blue and often ruin your perfect round of golf or invitational as it often seams to be the case.  Strong lightning has also been a problem in the last two days which brought up a good question a member asked me today after another strong storm hit us.  "When are you going to sound the all clear siren?".  It was at this point that I realized most golfers haven't ever been educated on how lightning detection systems on golf courses work.

The siren system we have for lightning prediction and detection is made by a company called Thor Guard.  Most systems are only lightning detection systems which will detect electromagnetic disturbances in the scanned area and sound the alarm only after lightning has already struck.  The same is true for sounding the all clear.  Normally systems that are detection based must wait for 30 minutes since the last disturbance to give the all clear horn.

Thor Guard systems, the one we have here at WCCC, actually predicts lightning before it strikes.  According to the Thor Guard website, its equipment measures the electrostatic forces that are building between the thundercloud and earth below and can predict when this field, which is capable of producing lighting, enters the zone of which you are monitoring.  This being said, it uses the same technology to predict when it is safe for people to resume their outdoor activities with the least amount of time wasted sitting around and it automatically sounds the alarm.

All that being said, the answer to the question of when anyone at the club will sound the all clear is up to the technology in our system keeping us safe rather than to any one person at the club blowing a horn.