More old questions answered by new discoveries.

In the last post I talked about the as-built map of the original irrigation system and what a treasure map it seems to be. Pure gold. Maybe it is more of a Rosetta Stone pointing us in the right direction to look for more discoveries. I have had so many questions over 23 years about that old system, the odd layout, the story of the 7th hole. Below are a couple of pictures of what we believe to be the 18 hole routing from Wayne Stiles. His Last. It hangs in the clubhouse. Each hole has two numbers, one is circled. The key reads "circle original 9 built 1936, plain number is what it will become after second 9 is built in 1937", which obviously never happened. Hole #16 is a 400 yd par 4 dogleg left. Exactly what and where I assumed the original 7th hole was. Hole #7 a 185 par 3 using the same green complex. Both are the location discussed in the last post shown on the map labeled "Water Mains & Tree lines". So you can see why I always thought the green was moved from 8 to its current location. The physical evidence of the ground features sure make it seem that it was there. The question now is for how long? On this routing plan there is a yellow line showing that  par 3 fwy. The tee location is about where the current 7 green is located. Similar to the location of the "15th" on this map only opposite direction. The remnants on the ground clearly show a green complex but the new as-built proves that the location was abandoned by December 12, 1938. I always assumed 7 green was much newer say the 1950's. Several things disprove this theory: the as-built map and the aerial photographs posted on Twitter that I was tagged in.  

Picture of the corner of 6,7 8 on same map.

South east corner close up of  1939 aerial

 The other major discovery was the term "fire valve" used all over this as-built. The engineer who is designing the new irrigation system planted a seed saying maybe original owner (Bigelow) was planning a development. I replied that has never been mentioned in our history. Houses came in the 60's as a way to save the course from development. I remembered I had some old maps still in my office so  I rolled one out that was never labeled. It is vintage blue paper and shows a similar 18 hole routing to the one hanging in the clubhouse (the white lines) and clearly shows house lots. Then someone, presumably Stiles, used yellow chalk? to draw yet another alternate routing with house lots. The bell went off. Proof as to why the damn main line was put in so deep (6 feet in most places and 3 where it is in the water table). It always felt like a municipal water system but I never heard anything about houses under the Bigelow regime. I had seen this map a few times but it never clicked what it was until I had the irrigation as-built and followed this train of thought. The map is not named or signed but is clearly vintage. Is it simply Proof positive that Robert Bigelow was at least thinking about housing. Enough so that he installed the irrigation system to double as a water supply system year round.

18 hole routing's with house lots

It sheds some light on the odd rectangular routing that we have and the depth of main line irrigation. It there any way to prove this is Stiles work? Is this just doodles of a landscape architect turned golf course architect? We may never know but it has been fun learning more about our history which all started by the chance gift of the original irrigation as-built.

Summer begins

Where has the time gone? Maybe it is me but time is going by rapidly. Seems like yesterday we were lamenting the lack of Spring and now July 4th is upon us. We had a dry stretch for a bit but now have had some timely rains. Hopefully they will ease the scars from the dry spell and set us up for the big heat wave being predicted next week. The course continues to play great and we are getting more members and public returning.

I have chatted here in these pages about ospreys this is another post with links inside and another older post 
These posts cover our history in the resurgence of this majestic bird and also my following of Belle. A bird who made several trips back and forth to overwintering sites in South America. I was able to catch a glimpse of her on the Cape just before her transmitter battery died. I joined the email list for Osprey Trax and this week learned about a book covering the story of Belle. See it here: http://www.ospreytrax.com/BellesJourney.html

We have had some really nice sunrises over the last couple of weeks. If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen them. I also shared them with the pro shop so they could post them on our social media feeds, so maybe you saw them there?
 

Mink Meadows Pond

9 green

1st hole

Busy couple of weeks

I made it to San Antonio for the Golf Industry Show and had a great time. The talks I was involved with went really well. The Great Debate was a debut light-hearted event meant to be educational but entertaining. We had a blast and the overflowing room did also. I heard a lot of positive comments throughout the rest of the week about the talk. One guy unsolicited said "was that the seminar with everyone laughing? I was in an architecture seminar next door and we were all jealous thinking we took the wrong seminar!" The other was in a booth on the trade show floor. Not as many people but just as much fun.

Speaking engagements

As I always do at GIS I spend a fair amount of time at TurfNet events. This year the Beer & Pretzels event had extra special meaning. We kicked off the Jerry Coldiron Embrace Life Awards This article sums it up perfectly: Press Release It was a very emotional night with awards given to some amazing people with stories we have all followed in the TurfNet forum over the years. We have a term called the "TurfNet Village" because we have formed a community that goes far beyond just an online forum. Another part of this wonderful evening was reuniting the ColdIrons with a student they had housed many years ago from England. That story is HERE There was a personal twist to that story since Josh Webber was my roommate for a couple of days. It was fun to meet one of the bright young men in our industry and be involved in the surprise. The TurfNet Emerald Challenge/Byrne Cup had lower attendance so instead of playing golf on a course against the Irish Greenkeepers we moved it to a Top Golf. That was a blast and I recommend you try one. Cheryl and I are looking forward to this event in Ireland come October.

TurfNet events and Professor hi-jinks 

Meanwhile back at Mink we opened the greens for the first time all year. All except number 3 which is still frozen due to all the shade even after all the trees we removed. We will continue to open that green up to more sunlight in the future.The weather continues to be a roller coaster. 25 one day then 50 the next. Otis said his yard was full of robins so maybe we are over the hump? The rain and temperatures over the weekend certainly changed the color of the course with everything starting to turn a bit green again. Finally the much awaited hard fought project to clean out the old drainage ditches in the marshes began. This may not be on the radar of the golfers who play Mink Meadows but if the intended consequences of a healthy marsh come true every golfer will be thrilled. Less Mosquitoes. A better flowing marsh and having fish pools to support natural predators is in everyone's best interest.

Marked up photo for environmental committee 

Marsh and beach channel work

Boat ride off

Just another week of roller coaster weather

After a nice warm weekend with golfers afoot on Saturday it rained Sunday but it was warmish at least. A predicted dusting for Tuesday turned into snow all day and about 3 inches. Hard to tell since it was blowing 30+ mph all day. Overnight temps in the teens and snow cover reminds us it is still winter.

Bill O'Brien Jr diagnosing a leak. 

Potential subnivean tunnel?

I often get asked "is the snow good for the course?" As with most things in life there is rarely a straight forward answer, but in short, yes. It acts as an insulating layer protecting from the extreme cold and wind. I discussed in an earlier post about how Twitter is filled with talk of people having to water their courses this winter because it is so dry. This tweet from Jared Kalina at Ballyneal in Colorado cracked me up:

from Twitter

 We are fortunate that we generally do not have to worry about drying out in the winter. We get a lot of rain and some snow but stay moist enough. I discussed the perils of rain on frozen ground and the damage ice can cause earlier this winter. How does snow act as an insulator? This winter I learned a bit about the interface between snow and earth. I follow this blog from Naturalist Mary Holland from Vermont. The title is Naturally Curious.

blog post

From the interweb: The subnivean zone is the area between the subsurface of the ground and the bottom of the snow pack. [under the snow pack] the snow that lands on the ground sublimates; that is, changes from a solid into a gas without going through the melting stage. Sublimation is prompted by heat radiating from the earth. Warm, moist water vapor rising into the bottom layer of snow cools, condenses, and refreezes into tightly packed, rounded ice crystals. [at 8 inches of snow the subnivean zone remains within a degree or two of 32 F regardless of the temperature and weather conditions in the outside world. For the full site click HERE

This zone is mostly described for the critters that live within it and the predators that feed on them. But it explains why snow is a great thing for turf. 32 degrees at all times. Perfect climate control. It would keep us from building feet of frost, and/or drying out. I remember one year getting almost 3 feet of snow on unfrozen ground. It lasted for almost two months and we had barely turned off color so when it melted we rolled right into spring. On a walk yesterday I stumbled upon some marks in the snow and it prompted this post.

intersecting paths?

Beach art

We lost another early house from the founding of the association. Possibly an original from 1964? It stayed in the family at least. Should be interesting to see what is put up in its place.

out with the old.....

Next week I will be off to a conference in San Antonio. I was asked to be involved in a couple of talks again this year. One is a new light-hearted  game show style talk titled The Great Debate. there are a handful of us that will debate some turf topics with another Superintendent acting as the MC/moderator. The other is a technology session happening on the trade show floor. I am sure there will be lots of activity on Twitter about it and I will more then likely be tweeting about other stuff happening at the show so follow along if you do not want to wait for a recap when I get back.

Technology!! 

Talk at the Golf Industry Show

Fescue, Little bluestem and hyperodes?

By the title of this post many of you must be thinking "he has finally lost his mind completely". I would not be the best to judge that, now would I? You will see some changes in the "Native" or Fescue areas. Basically I have mowed some of them because they were already too lush and unplayable. I assume because of all the rain we have had this spring and early summer. So what exactly is the difference between native grasses? Here is a couple links describing two main species: Little bluestem and Fescue. The only difference I really care about is playability or how easy it is to find your ball and then play it from these tall grass areas. Speed of play is directly related to enjoyment for all and will have an impact on the cash register as well.

just a small sample area. can you see the ball?

same area without the Little Bluestem

I have picked the areas where the most play happens and where the grass is the thickest. I started two weeks ago with a bit on the right of 2 and inside the fence on the right of 4 where it was weedy so impossible to see a ball under the flowers of the weed. Yesterday I continued on the right of 6 and the left of 15 and 8. I also mowed some poison ivy to the left of 9 green. We will try to spray that as well.

right of 6

 

left of 8 green

8 saved the wild flowers 

So what the heck is a hyperode? The article in the link provided will explain in detail but simply put the annual bluegrass weevil is a nasty little bug that kills grass. We have had a good run here with only one major outbreak on collars and that was 15 years ago. Once in the last 20 years have I had to put a rescue treatment on fairways and that was only 9 and 3 fairways. These buggers have multiple generations in one season, can become resistant to insecticides quickly and the timing of applying those chemicals is very tricky. We have some damage to many collars out there and possibly some fairway areas as well. I have begun insecticide treatments to slow their progress and hopefully stave off any more damage. Please keep all pull carts off all collars. The added traffic will impede any recovery efforts.

tiny adults from 2 collar

poor 3 collar suffers so much already from pull carts and tree roots

4 fwy near drain

The picture of 4 above shows the discerning pallet of the weevil. Look at the bluegrass sod we used to patch the drain we installed in front of the forward tee. It looks great, yet the edges are getting destroyed where the old fairway meets up to the new sod. It has been shown to eat other grasses when populations are extreme but it usually always starts on Poa or annual bluegrass which is why it is called the ABW or annual bluegrass weevil.

Greetings from the Sunshine State

(Editors note I started this in Orlando but had issues with loading pictures so completed today from office)
It has been a great vacation with perfect weather. The arrival to the Orlando area gave me the opportunity to visit with an old friend from my childhood before heading into the GIS conference. The show has been great and my presentation went very well. Here are a few snippets from Twitter:

Double Tweet. Original from professor facilitating the talk Dr. Soldat then Dave who is a turfgrass consultant in Calif.

Jesse is at Gull Lake CC in Michigan 

Kevin is the GCSAA field rep for the Northeast

Rick was a Super on the Cape. At least one person could see me!

I had to make a joke about the set up being geared for tall people("They did not bring me a box to stand on"). I was the only one with a portable microphone so I could walk around the podium so you could see me. I also had some fun on Twitter with Kevin's post and geography theme:

worst part of travel is dealing with weather

I decided to bail a day early to get ahead of the storm. Mostly because the weather after the storm was no picnic either with high winds forecast for several days. The snow totals ended up being lower but the winds wreaked havoc and we lost power for 5 hrs Thursday evening. I was glad I came home ahead of it but disappointed I missed that last planned day. It was an honor to be asked to present and it went well from all I have heard. It is encouraging to know that using less inputs may be more interesting to people. It is also humbling to be recognized for it on a national stage. My fellow presenters are two very sharp young men doing great things in the industry. I look forward to watching them as their careers continue to soar.
Jason posted his post show blog yesterday see it HERE It added perspective as he talks about it being his first show. I attended mine in 1993. I have yet to attend Canada's show however so he has me there.
On the local front we had some rain yesterday which took away some of the snow from Thurs. The temps are down and the wind is up but it looks like the storm predicted for today is staying north with just a few flakes falling. We have had a very mild winter thus far and maybe we can get back to that after this latest bout with snow and cold.

Speaking Engagements

I was asked back in July if I would participate in a low input turf maintenance talk at the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's national conference. GIS or Golf Industry Show is in Orlando this year. I was honored and thrilled to be asked. After hearing who the other two speakers were I spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince the organizer how I was not on their level. He was not swayed and thought I would be a good fit for the panel. I had started thinking about the talk and prepared an outline. We had a few conference calls to discuss content etc. I put together a slide presentation and even practiced it once. The other speakers are Chris Tritabaugh, Hazletine National GC coming off the Ryder Cup and one of the brightest young supers in our industry and Jason Haines, Pender Harbor GC in Brittish Columbia who is essentially doing research on his course and writing some of the best blog posts about it I have ever read. Esteemed company for sure.

original cover slide

one of the slides

another slide from talk

I then received a call from the organizer of the Maine Turfgrass Conference (Mike Guibord) asking if I would be interested in speaking up there in January. Thinking "in for a penny in for a pound" why not? After speaking with him for 20 minutes on the phone explaining what my talk would be about I asked how long the slot would be? He said an hour. I almost drove off the road. Now any of you who know me understand I like to talk. I am even OK in public having had to run meetings for my local superintendents organization and even being a moderator at the New England Regional Conference, but those are very different from being a sole speaker for an hour! The GIS talk is three of us with each being approximately 20 minutes. Mike responds you will be fine we just talked for 20 minutes, as if a phone conversation is akin to standing in front of 100+ people for an hour. I added a couple more slides and worked up a speech for each slide then shaved those to bullet points and then went for broke. Everyone was right. It went fine and I actually received many compliments on the talk.

Me in Maine starting talk

And some good natured ribbing on Twitter from the professor at Penn State Dr Ben McGraw who was actually before me, then a lunch break, then after me in the program. Speaking of Twitter, there were also some conversations leading up to the talk and I was getting nervous as it came closer. One response from Dave Wilbur really hit home and stuck with me:

Twitter conversation leading up first Talk

When it comes to the Bioject and using a biological control for fungal diseases there are not many, if any at all, who have done it for as long as I have here at Mink. 19 years is a long time to not use fungicides. I have seen very good results with it and am very proud to have been using less chemical inputs for 21 seasons. A lot of the credit goes to you the players who are willing to put up with less than "perfect conditions" and my staff who buys into the entire program. Some of it is less insecticides. It is frustrating to work all season keeping good turf only to see it torn up by skunks overnight. We are not regulated and can use any chemicals we choose so voluntarily decide to use less on the majority of the course. Living proof if the greens are good a lot of sins are forgiven. I will update you on how it goes after a couple of weeks on vacation before the show. Wish me luck. For more timely updates on what is going on check out my Twitter feed @22Crowther where it is mostly turf talk but occasionally a rant about the Boston Bruins or pictures of Bert...

Power of Social Media and a quick weather change

I was scanning through my Twitter feed last night and having a private conversation with a sports writer at the Boston Globe when I received a notification of a mention. A mention is when someone uses your Twitter name in a post or "Tweet" mine is @22Crowther. It was a simple note saying "Hey @22Crowther looking good" from a follower of mine and fellow superintendent Zach Bauer @ZBTurf411 . Zach is at The Broadmoor in Colorado and he was replying to a tweet by Simon Haines @Hainsey76, Golf Course Architect in England. Simon's tweet was two pictures of Mink Meadows from 1939 I had never seen before. I was blown away. My conversation with the writer was also very informative about the Buffalo area. Apparently not as snowy as one would think, "same or less than Boston burbs and better summer weather...." Who knew the lake effect snows are concentrated to a defined area? Social Media can be a great thing when used for the right reasons and that is all I will say about that. You can all insert your own jokes about our soon to be Tweeter In Chief.

screen grab of a Tweet

Back to the pictures Tweet seen above. A few tweets went back and forth and I now have this cool website with archived photos, two great new aerials of the course and a new follower Simon Haines. The link is HERE and just a quick scroll down that page shows a picture of the old Island Country Club, the predecessor of Farm Neck. Very cool. Two main features of the new pictures of Mink that stuck out to me are the lines across the fairways indicating a double row irrigation system and No bunkers.

July 4 1939

July 4th 1939

We also had a change in the weather with a couple of storms and a dip in temperature. Approximately 6" in the first one and 12" in the second. Surprised no branches or trees came down since it was sticking to everything and also had a bit of rain mixed in. Pictures from around the property while plowing:

Yacht Basin sunrise looking into channel

Yacht Basin East sunrise glow

Juxtaposition 

Connie's Way

Golf Club Road along 9 fwy

The skiers and sledders had their fun and tonight it warms up with some rain in the forecast so we shall see if we lose it all over the next couple of days. I am off to Portland Maine for a conference that I have been asked to speak about low input turf maintenance. More about that later.

Lots of recovery and the lab results are back

We have some crows poking lots of holes on 9 and 6. They are not doing much damage but the question is what are they going after?

crow damage 9 Fwy

I returned to the Island after attending the local conference and show put on by the New England Regional Turfgrass Foundation. I have been on this board as a representative for the Cape Superintendents Association for several years. Currently I am President so it was an interesting show with added responsibility. Always up for a challenge I embraced this time and had a great show. I was even fortunate to introduce the keynote speaker John Dennis. Formerly of channel 7 Boston and currently WEEI sports radio and The Dennis Callahan Show

Me and John Dennis after his speech

Upon my return Thursday I walked the course w/ Bert of course and saw a marked improvement in the cold temp injury areas. I also noticed how clean the place is. Will and Chris have done a great job getting ready for another great season

8 Green Thursday

8 Approach Thursday

8 Fwy Thursday

9 Fwy Friday

Folk Art 8 Fwy Friday

From Dr. Mitkowski at URI who looked at our samples last week:

"Very good recovery over the weekend.  The dead leaves are dead but plants very healthy and new leaves produced almost immediately.  These have had 24 hour light and 75 degree temps."

These plugs were solid yellow and ugly went i sent them in so great news. Of course it has been cold this week and it is snowing as I type this so recovery will not be this rapid. Forecast is good for next week and the grackles and red wing blackbirds have returned so Spring is upon us.