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.

Happy Birthday- Discovery

This map was delivered to us last week from Antone "Tony" Lima, the grandson and namesake of the Superintendent in the 60's-80's. It is an as-built of the original irrigation system. The first I have ever seen. There is a bit of the "where have you been all my life" feeling. Since we are designing a potential new system it seems a weird twist of fate to finally get my hands on this one. 80 years ago today is the date of this map. Unfortunately it is in really tough shape. We will try to have a copy made but I do not have high hopes. I have taken some pictures of it and will do more in the near future. One major discovery is the location of the 7th hole. You see, all the other maps I have seen show the 7th as a dog leg left par 4 with the green in the location of the forward tee on 8.

"Water Supply System Dec 12 1938"

7 in it's current location

1938 July "Water Mains & Tree Lines"

I have showed tons of people the remnants of what sure look to be a green complex with bunkers. Even the architects I have shown agree it sure seems like it. So was it roughed out only? Seeded and then moved? No one has ever been able to tell me they remember the green anywhere other than where it is now and this new map sure as heck proves it was, as of Dec 1938 at least. But what about the features on the ground on 8? The mystery of the 7th continues.

Below are a couple of pictures of the pond off the parking lot. One is looking East at sunset and it looks more like a sunrise with the water on fire. the other is today with a skim of ice holding the dusting of snow we received. It did not settle on the grass and we had a golfer enjoy the day. Winter on Martha's Vineyard

fire and water

ice and snow

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

Last Day for Golf Auction

Regulars to this blog will remember me discussing the Tee Up New England Auction. I covered it HERE in a post. This is the last day for the on-line auction. There are some great courses as usual but this year we have added the ATG Alumni Turf Group from UMass. They have solicited rounds from outside NE and they would be bucket list courses for any golfer. Here is a screen grab of one of the current auction pages. Remember these prices are for foursomes with carts in most cases. Read the descriptions of each to see what, if any, restrictions may apply. All proceeds go towards turf research in NE and the ATG.

 TEE-UP LINK





Thank-you

Getting closer

Well it has been almost three weeks since the last update. I lamented then about the weather and honestly nothing has changed. We have received some rain and the place has greened up, so it is starting to Look like Spring but we had snow flurries again today so it certainly doesn't Feel like it!!
In the last post I showed the spoils from the marsh project dumped on two being spread. One of our members and landowners flew in on a Cape Air flight and grabbed this picture. I circled the two main areas we worked in. You can clearly see the trenches and fish pools dug in the marshes.

Aerial of West Chop showing our marshes

We graded out the spoils again and spread the fill over the top. It was too wet to drive the loader on and even our bobcat was rutting the fill and not able to do a great job of it. I gave it a couple more days to dry out and was able to get it smooth but it was still like walking on a waterbed and the water was trying to poke thru in a few spots.

Marsh spoils on corner of 2 fairway

spoils with a line to show rough plan for grass and pollinator habitat

Tomorrow we turn on the irrigation system. A very frightening day since we had so much frost in the ground this winter. The last time we had that much frost it took a week since we found 13 pieces of galvanized pipe that had leaks. We no longer use any galvanized pipe from the original system but if it is attached to the original 1936 main it is technically live. Last Fall we lost power to a bunch of the satellites. We knew we had to replace the leg from 9 to 8 (1500 feet) but I was hoping to find a single break in the leg from 8 to 7 and repair just that. No such luck. Similar to the other piece it was riddled with so many breaks it needed to be replaced. So another 1100 feet of trench to dig and clean up. Part of the problem with this type of work is hitting things inadvertently such as the three "abandoned" galvanized lines I hit in the first run. With the main line being 6 feet deep repairs are not fun. I am praying for a miracle and these lines are no longer connected to the main. To say we need a new irrigation system is the understatement of the century considering we are still using parts of the original installed early in the last century.

Wire and trench issues

The tree cleanup from the storms continues slow and steady. These are the ones on the lawn which I showed leaning in the last post. Pictures do not do this justice. Even the video of the partial pile accumulating does not give you the full breadth of the damage all over the property.

Two large pines on clubhouse lawn

At least we have some golfers enjoying the property. I caught these two on 8 while it was flurrying last week.

Spring

As February comes to a close this week our thoughts turn to Spring. We are seeing the signs such as grass greening up a bit, return of red wing black birds, warmer weather. It was 39 this morning but they are predicting 50 today. I played 18 holes Saturday and most of that time it was stunning. The sun went away which made the last couple of holes chilly but still nice for Winter. It rained all day Sunday so we still have not broken last years rainy cycle. The records keep on being broken with temperatures and rainfall. Last week we did not have the 70's like the rest of the area, instead a marine layer socked in and kept us in the 40's. We did set a February rainfall record, at least for my 23 years, with 8.38" so far. This is on top of 5.96" in January. Most are saying it is better than snow but my Superintendent brain keeps thinking this trend has to stop at some point. I am planning for a very dry summer.

2 Green with weak looking Poa

3 Green new shot

3 Green Test plot

3 Green same test plot different angle

5 Green

The golf course is extremely clean thanks to the work of Chris and Will this winter. They have been diligently cleaning up after every storm. The turf for the most part looks healthy. I am a little concerned about the Poa Annua on a couple of greens. It does not look good on 2 and 3 but it is hard to tell to what extent since it is still covered with dye. The check plots, where we skipped the last application, are real ugly looking on many greens. You can see the yellow squares in the pictures above. Yet, on some greens such as 5 it is hard to see the square so things are greening up for sure. Once we get through the Nor Easter coming this weekend we will be turning the corner into Spring. Since the year 2000 the earliest I have mowed greens is March 14th. I do not see that record being broken but you never know.

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

Road Trip

In the last post I mentioned how wet we had been. That trend continues. We ended up over 7" of rain in May and now on June 10th we have over 1.25" so far. There are glimpses of a brighter future with full sunshine and even some heat in the forecast. It is currently 76 at 10 am, not bad. I found a couple of hours of sunshine to get some outdoor painting done. There is a gate on the West side of the property that has not been touched in years. I prepped it then put a rust proofing on it and the next day a coat of paint. Good for another 20 years!

Gate painting

I made a road trip this week to play a course in Maine. I had set this up while at the Maine Turfgrass Conference in Jan. The Superintendent is on the board of the NERTF with me. It happened that there was a board meeting scheduled this week also so I tied in a visit to my sister's in Vermont. It was great to see her and her wonderful gardens.

Big Sister's gardens in VT

I am proud to admit that i have an affinity for 9-hole courses and this one on the coast of Maine was a treat.

Abenaqui in Biddeford Pool, ME

On the way back to MV we played Renaissance GC in Haverhill, MA. Another treat and another spectacular weather day.

Woods Hole sunset at the end of the road trip

And lastly a few pics from around the course since the last post:
Turtle tracks in a bunker, Rainbows, Osprey, Salamander & Bert

Random pics from the course

6.32 inches of rain so far this month

I was going to call this post rain rain go away but figured that would come back to bite me on the backside. It has been difficult to get anything done and actually quite depressing to have this much rain and such little amounts of sunshine. We have some disease in the rough but for the most part the course is handling it well and playing as good as it has all year. With June starting this week the year feels as though it has been flying by. The cooler temps may be lulling us into thinking it is earlier but that will change soon enough.

Murph painted up the Fwy stones

leaf spot in the rough

Deep roots equals healthy turf. bottom of the cup cutter on greens

Salamander on a green

Forest of lady slippers

Adventures of Belle - update. That bird gets around

If you follow this blog you may remember me showing you Belle the osprey. I found this phone app and then a website that lets you follow birds that have been outfitted with GPS tracking devices. It was great fun to watch Belle and others make their journey from South America back up to the North East. Well a couple of weeks ago, on my way to the homestead on the Cape, Belle was hanging out in Mashpee right where I drive, so I dragged my wife Cheryl to see if we could get a glimpse.

GPS is accurate

Was an osprey way out over this pond

The phone app showed Belle at this little water body right off the main road. We pulled in and drove right by it and headed to the big pond thinking it had to be wrong. We could hear an osprey flying over the pond so I took a picture and was disappointed in the accuracy of the GPS unit. As we drove out looking at the little mud puddle where it said she was we both saw an osprey fly right over. I pulled out onto Rt 130 and then pulled over hoping to see her again but did not. I have checked in on her over the last two weeks and the silly bird has been all over. She took a day trip out here and another to Chatham.

Trip to MV

Trip to Chatham

"Silly bird has been all over"

Gypsy Girl

It appears by the last update I grabbed above Belle has made a few trips out to Martha's Vineyard. After traveling all the way from South America a few miles everyday to explore around is no big deal. Our osprey who comes in and stays on one nest for the entire season seems dull by comparison. 

Quick Osprey Update

I checked in on Belle this morning and she had made landfall on the main land USA. She is a real trooper and this would be her 6th migration back to this area. After my last post someone shared this website with me: Osprey Trax which also has information on Belle and Stadler another in my favorites list on the phone app mentioned in the last post. According to the website there is some confusion as to the sex of Belle but I am sticking with female. Another clear sign spring is on the way.

Belle is in Florida near a course called Westminster Golf Club. 

Maybe this year she will finally find a mate and settle down here at Mink Meadows?











Here is a video of a very nice sunset from the roof of the clubhouse last Sunday. Have a great weekend.

Spring? tracking the osprey's return

We have changed the clocks. We have cleaned the course (some areas several times). We have seeded the tee divots. We have had a few days in the 60's. OK that last one isn't very normal for our Spring weather but the rest of them sure point towards the end of Winter. Yet the roller coaster weather continues. We had a snow storm Friday and temperatures in the teens all weekend. Today we are getting a major storm but the snow turned to rain and washed it all away and is chipping away at the snow on the ground. The ground is frozen and putting up a good fight though. The wind is the main concern right now with forecasts for 60+ mph gusts. Eventually we will be through with this nonsense and actually playing golf again.

West Chop dock

Heart rock

The pinkletinks started up and then froze so went back to sleep. The red wing black birds returned but one of the best signs of Spring is the return of our mascot the osprey. The screen grab below shows a bit of a spreadsheet I keep to track important parts of the job such as first mowing etc. The earliest the osprey has returned is 3/7 and is generally at the end of the month. We were the first pole erected by Gus Ben David in an effort to help the osprey after being threatened by DDT. We have had a mating pair on our pole since the 70's and were a vital part to the resurgence of this great bird. See more HERE or do a search of Osprey Mink Meadows and all sorts of interesting stuff will appear.

I found this really cool app called Animal Tracker. You can zoom in on birds that are tagged with a GPS unit. They have bios and a bit of history on them. You can click on two animations for activity last year or last two weeks. The pictures below show a screen grab of an osprey tagged on MV. The green bird is where she was in March of 2016 and then the red dot at the end of the red line is where she is now. Belle has made a move north in the last two weeks. It will be fun to see her make the journey from South America all the way back up to our little island in the North East.

great phone app to follow GPS tagged birds

Follow Belle as she makes her way home to MV