Frost Delays

Well once again its that time of the year where you start having the dreaded frost delays. As I sit here writing this we just had a hour and a half delay to start golf. I understand that it can be frustrating for golfers so I would like to share some information from the USGA.

I am an early-morning golfer. What is the justification for frost delays?

 

Frost is essentially frozen dew. Ice crystals visible on the outside of the plant can also form on the inside of grass blades. The grass plant, normally resilient to footsteps or cart traffic, becomes brittle and fragile when ice crystals form. Under the pressure of traffic, ice crystals puncture living plant tissues and rupture plant cells. Damage will not appear right away, but it will show up in footsteps and tire tracks the following days as the plant is unable to repair itself and begins to die. Frost damage can occur on any turfgrass mowed at any height, but it is amplified when the plant is mowed low, as on a putting green.
Keep in mind that a foursome typically takes several hundred footsteps on each green, so even allowing just a few groups to play when frost is present can be very damaging to the greens, as well as to the rest of the golf course. It is not completely understood when frost will cause damage, so the decision to keep traffic off the course must be made conservatively to protect the condition of the course. For this reason, golf facilities are wise to delay starting times in the morning until frost has completely melted.

Here is the Definition on frost and what causes it:

Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from humid air. It is formed when the temperature of a solid surface is below the freezing point of water and also below the frost point.

Frost Damage on Putting Green.

 

 

Hopefully this gives some good information on why we have frost delays. Course is in great shape and soon we will be going to Cart Path Only!!!!! So if you can get away from work please come out to Minor Park Golf Course.




 

Aerification Completion

Its been over a week and a half since aerification was completed. Greens are recovering nicely and the holes are almost completely covered.  This year we tried a new piece of equipment for Minor Park Golf Course, The Core Collector. This equipment attaches to the back of the procore 648 and collects all the cores that are brought to the surface and then deposits them on the edge of the green for collection. By having this attachment we were able to eliminate the use of the core harvester and help save traffic placed on the green. Below is a picture of this new attachment.

 

 

Greens 1.5 weeks after Aerification

 

As the season comes to an end I would like to thank my hard working staff for the work they put into Minor Park Golf Couse. With my second season under my belt I hope that anyone that comes and plays can see the hard work and dedication that myself and my staff have at Minor Park. 

 



Aerification and Seeding

Just a reminder that we will begin aerification on Sunday September 22nd at 4:00 Pm. We will be closed Monday September 23rd and if everything goes smooth we will have 9 holes open on Tuesday September 24th. Thank you for your pateinces during this process.

We are currently in the process of seeding areas on the course. We were able to seed the area where the bunker was on #10 green right before the first rain this week. We are out doing cool season tees tops that will be used for winter play and after areification we will begin seeding rough areas around green banks and tee banks.

Kansas City Star

On Monday August 26th, we had a photographer from the Kansas City Star come out and take some photos of my staff out hand watering. With the temperatures soaring into the mid to upper 90's we had to continue our regiment of hand watering spots on greens.  A typical 90 degree day starts with watering spots on greens and collars, then at 12:30 we begin 2-3 runs of light watering on the putting surface This process typically keeps us on the greens for less than 5 minutes and we move to the next. Afternoons with high humidity and high temperatures we don't want to have excessive water placed on the green so our light syringing allows us to wet the surface and drop the canopy temperatures.

Here is the photograph that made the Kansas City Star:

From the latest weather report it looks like we will receive a break from this heat wave after Labor Day. The overall course conditions are great, so if you have time please come out and enjoy a round at Minor Park Golf Course.


Here is a video from the USGA on hand watering:

Zoysia Conversion on 13 fairway

About a month ago, we were able to purchase 1000 square yards of zoysia sod from Topeka Sod farm to strip in our only existing cool-season fairway. The process used a skid-steer with 2 cutters on the front that proceeded to cut 7 inch strips on 18 inch centers. The 7 inch stripes were loaded into workmen beds and dumped off site. It will take around 3-4 years for the whole fairway to fill in.

Before sod installation

After Sod Installation

1 month later

 

Vandalism on 8 green

On July 11^th we had a car enter our facility through the fence on 115^th street and proceeded to drive onto 8 green and do donuts on the green surface before leaving the property. We went through the process of rolling the green 4 times, aerified, topdressed, fertilized, and watered it. See below before and after pictures.

 

 

Bunker Removal #10

For anyone that has played Minor Park Golf Course, you may have noticed that the course was blessed with one bunker by 10 green. I am pleased to inform all golfers that on this day Minor Park officially has ZERO bunkers to maintain.

Bunker with sand removed.

 

 

 Grading the bunker down

Rough Grade

 

Mr. Bertels putting down seed



Dragging in the seed for proper seed to soil contact

David packing down seed with tractor tires

Finished Product

final grade and seeded

 

As you can see from the final picture it no longer looks like a bunker was there. We decided to seed this due to the fact that we were able to flatten it out so much and also save on budget that could be used elsewhere on the course.

Aerification

Well its that time of the year again... Aerification!!!. Here at Minor Park Golf Course we have started the process of punching holes and picking up plugs! We are hoping that the weather will cooperate with us so we can get this done within the next couple of days and get Minor Park back open for play. This morning we were able to double verticut greens and then starting at 4:00 tonight we are in the process of punching holes. Here are a few pictures of the process:

Double verticuting to help eliminate some unwanted thatch

David (My Assistant) running the Procore

Picking up plugs with the core harvester