Poa annua

Here is a great article written by Dr. Nick Christians at Iowa State University talking about controls for annual bluegrass. Please take a couple of minutes to read.

http://www.iaturf.blogspot.com/2014/11/annual-bluegrass-poa-annua-control-so.html

Firewood

We have firewood for sale again this year. It's all good, hardwood that was split last fall and has been drying all year.  Please let Chad or myself know and we can get it scheduled ASAP.

Also, we DO NOT split and sell any type of Ash firewood.

Fairway Drainage

Last week we installed 2200 feet of drainage tile on 18 fairway. The tile is anywhere from 18 to 30 inches deep depending on undulations and slope of the fairway. The tile is then covered with clean rock and 4 inches of sand at the top of the trench. Our crew did all of the sod removal and prep work, as well as the finish/clean up work. The Cutting Edge did all of the important stuff with the trenching and rock backfill.  We had a really good system down and the outcome is exactly how I wanted it, very good work!!
Below are some videos and pictures of the work that was done.  

Etiquette

I took a few photos of some very poor etiquette on the course after the stag last Thursday. If anybody might have a clue who could be the culprits, please say something to them. A lot of golf cart damage in the fairways and a LOT of people not raking their tracks out of the sand traps.  Please have some respect for other people playing the course. Thank you.

Trees/Emerald Ash Borer

With the Emerald Ash Borer going through Iowa right now, we're trying to be proactive before it really becomes a problem here at BHCC. Our plan with the Ash trees that we have on the property is to let nature play it's course and let the trees die out. In the meantime, you will notice us transplanting newer, younger trees mixed in with the larger groups of Ash trees. This past Spring, we were able to transplant 18 new hardwoods onto the course, and last week we put out 23 more. All of the new trees put in this past spring were purchased from Wapsie Pines and the trees that we put in last week came from our tree nursery here at BHCC.

The picture below is the left side of the fairway trap on 6. You'll notice the new trees mixed in with the older Ash trees. I've been marking the Ash trees on the course with a small, white dash of paint about a foot off the ground. There are five Ash trees in this particular spot that will have to come down in the next couple of years. By moving the new trees in, it will hopefully give them time to mature and develop while the Ash trees die out and have to be removed. 

We added two maples on the left and the right side of 1 fairway, 2 oaks and a locust on the right side of 2 fairway (up towards the red tee on 3), and 4 maples between 3 and 16 fairways. The left side of 6 got 8 new trees (3 maples, 3 locusts, and 2 oaks). And 3 new trees on the left side of 11 (2 maples and a locust).
You might notice a few trees on the course that are marked with an X at the base. These are trees that are planned to be removed in the near future. The trees with the white dashes at the base are just marked as Ash trees, not to be removed until they start declining.

Below is a great example of what most of the maples will look like in the Fall, should be some great color!

Practice Tee

I love seeing this! This is a perfect picture of how we'd like divots to be taken on the practice tee. Rather than creating one large hole of divots (like on the right side of the picture), divots should be taken in straight lines to speed up the recovery time. That large hole will take a LONG time to completely fill in, while the line of divots should only take a few weeks for that grass to close in . The seed that is in the divot mix is only intended to help fill in those holes, not completely re-grow them. We rely more on the grass surrounding the divots to spread throughout the divot. Thank you to whoever has been following the signs on the practice tee!!!

Cart Traffic

If cart signs or rope/stakes are put up, please obey them. Please do not just drive around them. Cart paths are put around the greens and tees for a reason. It's very common "golf etiquette" to keep carts on the paths when provided. Thank you for your cooperation. 

Overseeding

Getting some new seed in the ground over some high traffic areas yesterday. These areas will be marked with a lot of cart signs and as "Ground Under Repair," please do not drive carts into or hit out of these areas. The new seed should be germinating by as early as Monday of next week and will continue to fill in as the poa is dying out in these areas.

Water Damage

As you all know, we had a LOT of rain in June. With one of the storms, we had a major washout on the dam between 8 tee box and 5 fairway moving one of the tubes 100 yards down stream. On Tuesday afternoon of this week, we finally got it fixed. Thank you very much to the guys from Bentons to get it taken care of, it turned out great!! Below are a few pictures of them replacing the tube and pouring concrete around it to hold it in place better. 

nd it to hold it in place better.

Rain Totals 6.19.14

It's been quite the week for bad weather around here. Rain and wind have contributed to not so desirable playing conditions. Monday night we had 3 inches, 3/4 inch Tuesday night, and so far today we've had 1.65 inches (with plenty more on the radar). The golf course typically takes rain and drains pretty well, but not this much this quickly. I have some pictures below that I took this morning.

 Standing between 1 and 2 looking to the West

 Looking up 2 fairway

 Standing on 9 green looking down the fairway

 Putting Green

 17 Green

 17 Tee

 Looking down 3 fairway

Standing in front of 2 green, looking down the fairway

Storm Damage 6.17.14

The storm that went through last night caused considerable damage to a lot of trees out here. With straight line winds in excess of 70 mph, over two dozen trees were completely lost with some pretty heavy limb damage in many more. 3 inches of rain has the creek and ponds out of their banks, but the wind was definitely the worst part of the storm. Unfortunately, the Martin Brothers outing today had to be cancelled and the course will be closed until at least noon with no carts all day. Men's league tonight will also have to be rescheduled. Most of the damage was on holes 5 and 13. Below are a few pictures.

Member-Guest

We verti-cut and double mowed again today with a light topdressing. Greens should be rolling really nice for the Member-Guest this Friday and Saturday! Hope you're signed up!

It looks like it's going to get pretty hot and humid this week. Try to avoid turf stress in the fairways by driving golf carts in the roughs. Also (as always), keep them on the paths around greens and tees. Keep what we have looking nice!! Enjoy this weather, I know this is what I was praying for about 4 months ago!

Audubon

In an attempt to control the amount of aquatic vegetation we have in the ponds (particularly the algae), yesterday we released 40 grass carp throughout the ponds here at the course. The fish are about 8-10 inches long and will grow up to about 18 inches by fall. Grass carp will eat up to 3 times their body weight everyday, so hopefully they'll help us out a little bit with our algae problem on 8 pond! We're trying to do whatever we can without having to pour chemicals into our ponds and creeks. Let's hope they work!!

Divots

This is a great video explaining how we want our members taking divots on the practice tee. It's very important to maximize the small amount of space we have on the tee. We've only been open for a week and the lower practice tee has already been pretty badly beaten up. Please take a minute to watch.

The  video also explains how to use the seed and soil bottles provided on the golf carts, as well as when to replace/not to replace divots in the fairways. Remember, the seed that is in the bottles is BENTGRASS, meant for the fairways. Our rough is BLUEGRASS. Please do not fill your divots in the rough. Replace whenever possible in the rough, or just leave it if it's not replaceable.

Golf Course Update

Last week was a good week for the course. We lost 90% of our snow, but still have a lot in the heavier shaded areas. There is also still a considerable amount of frost in the ground. Before the melt, there were many reports of up to six feet of frost. We were able to get out on the course to get some clean-up started late last week, but the top 2-3 inches got very soft in the afternoons that made it very difficult to get much work done.
The course seemed to take the winter very well and everything is looking very good. I haven't seen any winter dessication anywhere yet and very minimal snow mold.  Covers are still on the greens and we won't be able to get them off until the staples aren't frozen down anymore, hopefully we'll be able to get started removal late this week or this weekend.
I know everyone is getting anxious to get the sticks out, but be patient. It's been a tough winter and there is a lot to do on the course before we're able to open up. It will take some good rain events to get all of that frost out of the ground, and course clean-up will definitely take some time. My best guess is an opening date of 2-3 weeks from now, only time will tell.

Winter Projects

As we "patiently" wait for spring to arrive, we're still busy in the shop preparing for the upcoming golf season.
We're currently working on a couple of projects, the first one being a new sign for the driving range tee box. Travis has been working on this sign for a couple of days and almost has it completed. The purpose of it is to encourage people to scatter their divots rather than creating one large "hole" in order to speed up recovery time. He's put a lot of thought and time into this sign and I think he's done an outstanding job!

The almost finished product:

Another thing we're working on right now is going through all of our cutting units for our greens, tees, and fairway mowers. We don't have the luxury of being able to sharpen them ourselves; so we have take them all apart, inspect and replace any bad bearings/bushings/rollers and then send them out to be sharpened. Well we just got them back this week, so now we're working on putting them back together and getting them back on the mowers. As you can see, we have quite a few and it takes quite a bit of time. Altogether, we have 40 reels to go through every winter. 

Audubon Recertification

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- February 2014

CONTACT:       Laura Karosic, Associate Director of Environmental Programs

                        (518) 767-9051, Ext. 120

                        laura@auduboninternational.org

Beaver Hills Country Club Recognized for Environmental Excellence

CEDAR FALLS, IA – Beaver Hills Country Club has retained its designation as a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary” through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, an Audubon International program.

Participation is designed to help course personnel plan, organize, implement, and document a comprehensive environmental management program and receive recognition for their efforts. To reach certification, a course must demonstrate that they are maintaining a high degree of environmental quality in a number of areas including: Environmental Planning, Wildlife & Habitat Management, Outreach and Education, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation, and Water Quality Management.

"Beaver Hills Country Club has shown a strong commitment to its environmental program. They are to be commended for their efforts to provide a sanctuary for wildlife on the golf course property," said Laura Karosic, Associate Director of Environmental Programs at Audubon International.

Beaver Hills Country Club is one of six courses in Iowa and 874 courses in the world to receive the honor. Golf courses from the United States, Africa, Australia, Central America, Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia have also achieved certification in the program. The golf course was designated as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in 1999. After designation, courses go through a recertification process every two years.

This year the recertification process, coordinated by Josh Peterson, Superintendent of Beaver Hills Country Club, required a visit by a local community representative. Scott Harvey of Hawkeye Community College’s Horticulture Department was given a tour of the course and sent his observations to Audubon International. “It’s hard to capture in words the positive changes that Beaver Hills Country Club has made over the years,” reported Harvey. “It is a remarkable transformation of plant, animal, water, and soil synergy.”

“We see the site visit as an important component of a course’s recertification,” stated Karosic. “It provides an objective verification of some of the more visible aspects of the course’s environmental management activities. In addition, it offers an opportunity for golf course representatives to share publicly some of the voluntary actions they have taken to protect and sustain the land, water, wildlife, and natural resources around them.”

About Audubon International

Audubon International is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) environmental education organization dedicated to providing people with the education and assistance they need to practice responsible management of land, water, wildlife, and other natural resources. To meet this mission, the organization provides training, services, and a set of award-winning environmental education and certification programs for individuals, organizations, properties, new developments, and entire communities.

For more information, contact Audubon International at 120 Defreest Drive, Troy, NY 12180, (518) 767-9051, e-mail at acsp@auduboninternational.org, or visit the website at www.auduboninternational.org.

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