Winter and the 4 F's

The roller coaster continues. This is our second spell of single digit temperatures this winter season. It has been wet with over 7" of rain in January and fairly mild temps but these deep freezes remind us that is is truly winter. We continued our light and air enhancement of the third green. The unexpected bonus of this tree removal was the improved sight lines to the fourth hole. The stunted cherry on the edge of this tree cluster was saved, for now, and should make a nice specimen tree in the area.

3 green corner thinned out

nice view of 4

This should really help get some much needed morning sun onto the 3rd green. It will also allow for errant shots to the left be found and played easier which will speed up play.

These roller coaster temps with rain have created some issues when it comes to the ability to stay on the greens. When they are completely frozen damage is not an issue. Nor is it a big deal if they are firm when not frozen. It is when there is frost in the ground and the temps get above freezing the surface can become mushy with the ground underneath frozen. A simple way to think about when the greens are playable is the 4 F's: Frost Free or Fully Frozen. It may not be a perfect axiom but it is close.

Foot prints in soft wet greens while frozen underneath

Here is a deep dive from the USGA on the principles of winter play: USGA winter play article

ice puddle on the road

Great sunset the other night

New look and repurposed fence

There have been a few new looks on the property. After some discussion about the proper way to take relief from the fence on 4 we decided to remove it. The original plan was to have the bunker be a waste area and the right side be a playable naturalized area. Well the bunker was constructed  more as a traditional bunker and never had the "waste" feel in spite of all our attempts to firm up the sand. "Playable" naturalized area is a misnomer, a unicorn, the holy grail of tall grass. Instead they become ball magnets that slow down play. If we allow carts to the right of the bunker it will become worn to dirt in no time so that will be an issue as to how we keep them from doing that. A fence may go back up over to the right. For now the plan is to allow that area to continue to be tall grass but it may get irrigated and maintained as rough in the future. It looks interesting without the fence. After much deliberation I thought of an area to use some of the removed fence and installed it on the edge of the road and the pollinator habitat area to the right of #2. I will remove the logs used to keep cars off the course.

re-purposed fence from 4 on the outside corner of 2

New look 4th hole

new look 4th hole

Another new look is on the final mowing of the fairways. I decided to try some contour mowing just for kicks. This is simply starting on one edge of the fairway and following that same contour throughout the rest of the fairway. It makes for some interesting patterns on a few holes.

Contour mowing 

Sunsets and Swans

Fall season with Tornadoes

Well another month has gone by since the last post. The weather continues to be a dominate force in our lives. We have not had a typical Martha's Vineyard Fall. It was unseasonably warm after a cold and rainy spell then really cold. It seems to rain every weekend and now it is November already. We managed to get the greens aerated and topdressed for the first time all season but even that took two days. Aerating was disrupted by a Tornado warning and a blast of tropical rain. The greens have healed nicely and we mowed them for the first time today.
The collage below shows some collar/fairway expansions. The approach on two had narrowed down to a skinny little neck and screamed to be widened. Three needed it as well since we did all that construction this Spring so it received a bit of re-sculpting. Then I was simply on a roll and did some on 4 and 5 for good measure. They were aerated, seeded, topdressed and should take shape before the growing season wraps up. 

approach/fairway re-shaping

The morning was shaping up to be a decent one with a few storms predicted. I figured we would not be able to apply sand due to the chance for rain. Then a tornado warning and a blast of rain really put a scare into the day. Luckily it went by with nothing more than rain.

close call

Mid week the weather cooperated and tossed in a couple of perfect Fall days. I ventured off to the Cape for a match play tourney finals and returned to this glorious sunset.

never gets old

The end of the week brought more rain and some heavy winds but today is another beautiful Fall day. It seems the weather roller coaster of 2018 continues. You have to pick your days and enjoy it while we can. Winter is just around the corner and most forecasts have been for a cold one.

First Friendless Week

No matter how well you prepare or how obvious it may be that the time is getting near, it is never easy to say good bye. Lambert was my second dog while here at Mink and he had big paws to fill since Thumper made quite an impression. Bert held his own and proved to be quite a character himself. Some of you may remember Thumper but may not be aware of the odd coincidence that he and Bert shared the same Birthday. When I filled out the adoption papers, Bert was a rescue who came into our lives at 7 months old, I noticed something odd about the date. I thought it was a niece/nephew or a cousins birthday that I should know. It was not until Cheryl came home and saw the date and could not even finish the sentence that it hit me. How strange. We always felt he had a bit of Thumper's ghost in him. Leave it to my wife to remember that we lost Thumps in July as well. Too much coincidence for me.

Lambert 9/26/07 - 7/6/18                      Thumper 9/26/95 - 7/16/06

Both just shy of their 11th birthdays. Two great dogs who could not have been better ambassadors for  me and Mink Meadows.

Bert as a puppy

Bert had a tough life living in a 10 x 10 fence kennel for his first 6 months. Then spent a month in the shelter. He developed what is called kennel syndrome. He had to learn to entertain himself so he started with his water dish. He used to tip it over and play with it. His affinity for plastic coffee cans was a site to see. I never had to clip his nails since he wore them down on the gravel paths kicking things around.

Bert loved to play golf. He almost sunk a few putts rolling whatever he had with him at the cup as we putted out. He would find a rock early and play with that for 9 holes. Often dropping it in the cart by your feet so you would throw it for him. As he got older he enjoyed riding in the cart more. He would take up the entire seat when it was vacated. Annoying for sure but many members would jump at the chance for one more annoying round. I know I would.

Frank Cecelio and Bert

He loved it when we would repair irrigation breaks. He would stare at every shovel full as it came out of the ground looking for a rock to play with. Often he would throw it back in the hole at us so we would have to throw it for him. The repairs were made more enjoyable being entertained by him.

Some of you knew Bert had a girlfriend. The owners started walking their pup by the gate of the shop twice a day. Soon they asked if they could take Bert with them. The dogs bonded and Cheryl and I gained new human friends. They were gone most winters which left Bert to hold a vigil on the deck waiting for his girl Ella to return and come walking by.

A regular event

Bert and Ella

Bert loved his stoop. He would sit there for hours refusing to come to work with me. Content to wait for Ella or simply to keep an eye on things from above. He would run down the stairs however, when one of his favorite members showed up often with a treat for him.

Favorite spot

He truly was happiest at the beach. That was Thumper's Ghost for sure. Two peas in a pod. The difference being Bert had abandonment issues and only left me to walk to Ella's and bound through the doggy door. Of the 4 dogs at the house Bert is still the only one to embrace the doggy door. This video was in the last few weeks. He did not have the ability to play for long with his stick but he sure enjoyed trying.

We visited my sister once in VT and he would attack all of her dog Scout's toys. His favorite was actually a stuffed animal and not a dog toy. She and her husband were so taken by his aggressive affection for Santa Bear they gave him to Bert. He remained a favorite snuggle and shake toy. We buried him with Santa Bear and his favorite blue ball. He is out at the Linden Tree with Thumper.

Bert and Santa Bear

I dragged Bert out to hose the dew on his last day and we were greeted on 1 with a small buck

He used to love to chase the hose since I took him out that first day we brought him home.

RIP Lambert

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

Storm Recap

We dodged another one. Sure we had hurricane force winds, flooding, road closures, a few trees down, and some power loss, but nothing out of the ordinary. It could have been much worse. Power was restored quickly and we didn't get much snow, so most roads were fine by the morning. The dirt roads are covered with ice as well as the course, but it mostly has texture and not super slippery. No major tree issues and once we get through the bitter cold over the weekend it warms up next week. Then the melting can begin and maybe we can return to our normal moderate winter after that. Only time will tell what this weather has done to the turf. Hopefully we come through in great shape. Here are some pictures to tell the story of the last couple of days:

Mink Meadows beach before and after. Fair bit of erosion

angry sea-west chop, MM bridge, frozen road

9 green rain soaked then frozen

1st hole rain soaked then frozen

Season ending

It would not be a post without some talk of the weather. Being in New England means it will vary and never be exactly as predicted by the professionals. Overall it has still been nice. We had one real cold snap for a weekend but then it climbed back up to normal temperatures and a few players enjoyed the course. As anyone here knows it is all about the wind. Since the shop closing during the week we have had 19 cart rounds mid-week so the program is keeping a few people enjoying the outdoors and the course. I opened the barn today but at 24 degrees and a wind chill of 8 I cannot imagine any sane person attempting a round, but I have been wrong before. We continue to get rain with our total this year being over 51". My average yearly total over 22 years is about 45".
The staff has been reduced to the Full timers. Prior to that all final mowing has been performed, The final preventative plant protectant has been applied, and all relevant areas have been winterized. Chris and Will continue to clean up the leaves that are down and continue to fall.

Final spray with test plots on 3rd approach

I continued my quest for answers from last Fall and this Spring. I always try to evaluate every practice and determine whether it is necessary or giving us the intended results. As our program to convert the greens to bentgrass progresses, I am questioning the best timing for annual bluegrass (Poa Annua or Poa) seed head suppression chemicals or if they are even needed anymore. You can read the post I did in the Spring HERE. Last year I did not leave any test plots fearing I would have snow mold damage in these areas since our last spray is really for snow mold protection. We add an anti desiccant to protect from the open winter and drying winds and also a colorant to help the plant absorb the lesser sunlight and stay warmer. This year I said what the heck, in the name of science, so there are all these squares and rectangles that are off-color. Hopefully I will learn something about the Fall seed head application as well as our other products in the final spray. I will decide in the Spring whether or not to even do the normal Spring application.

Segregation and biotypes

Same area as above but different day

In the shoulder seasons our course takes on a patch work quilt appearance. This is mostly a function of the different grass types we have and the age of our course. In season everybody is growing at the same rate, relatively, and the colors are more uniform. As the soil temperatures cool some grasses are less efficient at mining phosphorus from the soil and take on a purple hue (a classic P deficiency symptom). This is a good time to evaluate or notice how much Poa we have left. It is often the really light colored, pale green, turf easily seen in the pictures above on the green expansion in the front of 15 green. " Segregation refers to the “sorting out” of individual clones or biotypes with which the grass cultivar was planted. So why does it happen?" That quote was from a USGA article which can be seen HERE for anyone interested in a deeper dive into this phenomenon and Poa invasion.

sunrise 9th hole

Have a great holiday if I do not see you before then or get around to another post. Hopefully you are somewhere warm or heading that way soon as old man Winter seems to be moving in here on Martha's Vineyard.

Fall Update

We survived the tropical storm OK. It was very windy and wet with boats not running for more than a day which always makes things interesting. We lost a few limbs and trees and lots of twigs and leaves but the crew did a fabulous job cleaning the course. Some areas were cleaned several times before the wind stopped. We had our last tourney of the season the Bass Ackwards. Always a fun event. Greens were aerified this week and came out very well. They should be back to 100% soon. They are putting fine this morning as they still grow through the sand topdressing and heal from the procedure. As they get longer and require mowing they will get slow but this is a good thing since it means they are healing.

Jonah & Kelly did a great job on signs this year!!

This week we made some more headway on solving our salt water intrusion issue. We selected two locations within the range allowed for replacement wells and drilled several test wells. Each location had soil samples taken at intervals so we could get an idea of what the structure was and they also help set the screen size for the eventual production wells. Each location had two wells so during the pump testing measurements could be taken. We also drilled an observation well at the pump house so we had data there in case we needed a third production well and also how the pumping on either side influenced that area. All the tests showed positive results. Having multiple wells at more shallow depths than current wells should give us enough water and clean water.

soil cores, well screens, setting second well, well rig

 Another milestone since the last post was Bert had his 10th birthday. He has definitely slowed down since his arrival at 7 months old but he still loves to be on the course and the beach.

Bert turns 10

Change of Schedule - Aerification

As the club changes so to must our cultural practices. We have aerified greens the day after Labor Day for as long as I can remember. There used to be a two week gap before the busy Fall tournament schedule commenced. Well, per my suggestion, the club has moved the championship out of the summer season and so the gap is gone this year. My thoughts were that the majority of people playing in this event are here in the Fall and maybe we could get it back to a 3-day event if it was out of the high-season. What this means is we will not aerify greens in the normal fashion until October 10th. We will do the tees sometime before that. Greens may get a smaller tine aerification such as we did in August. This is much less disruptive and heals very quickly. As with everything we do this new schedule will be evaluated and we will adjust if needed. This is the first year trying the championship in the Fall so who knows how that will be received?

Greens aerification on 10/10 this Fall.

We have had a great season so far and the long range forecast is for a warm Fall so we should continue to have a great year. We all know that Fall is the best season on Martha's Vineyard and the weather is perfect for golf. It would appear that we had a much cooler and wetter year compared to 2016 so I did a bit of comparison and it is interesting to see the difference.

personal rain totals

Rainfall is not that far off from average in most months. It would appear we are in for a few dry months if we are to stay "average".

2016 weather station data

2017 weather station data. note: thru 8/28

The rainfall totals include the storm this week whereas the weather station data does not. I uploaded the weather station on 8/28 and we received 1.15" on 8/29. The interesting columns for me to look at are the mean temps, total rainfall and rain days. For what appeared to be a hot dry year it is not far off from this year which appeared to be cold and wet. Amazing what a couple of degrees can do I guess.

sunrise gazebo

Temperature Changes & Great Sunrises

We have been on a roller coaster this year with a few warm days then a few cold. Great for growing cool season grasses. The normal pattern is for the weather to break from summer oppression by the third week of August. The days are shrinking and the nights get a little cooler and the humidity seems to drop a bit.  This is already noticeable when it comes to day length. We have been starting at 5 am for months with hosing off the dew and putting ice in the coolers first thing. We are now in complete darkness when starting this procedure. The dew is not done forming and settles back on the grass after we finish and at times it is foggy in the morning which makes for a great scene.

4th hole misty sunrise

This morning was just such a day. Spectacular while hosing and then while spraying fairways. I stopped to take a picture on 4 then again on 5 as the dragonflies were going nuts in the tall grass in front of 6 tee.

 Every month brings a change and new challenges which keep the monotony of course maintenance fresh and new. We have seen very small acorns falling off the oaks which is a premonition of the season to come.

I mentioned our son Josh in the last post. He grew up here at Mink and many of you enjoyed watching him grow. Many members had a strong influence on him as well. One of my favorite memories is of Mandred Henry, former leader of the MV NAACP talking to Josh and one of his classmates about their Black History month reports. Josh's was on Langston Hughes and Mandred was thrilled to tell the boys everything he knew about their subjects. He was a large man in many ways and I can still see his massive hand dwarfing the ones of these school children as he shook their hands (and mine for that matter). Josh has not been on MV much in the last few years so it was great for many of you to catch up with him while he was here. I am often asked "what is he up to now?" It is still the same for the last 18 months. He is traveling around the West seeing as much of the National and State Parks systems as he can. Where he gets the adventurous spirit I cannot imagine since I rarely leave this corner of the island.
Here is a clip from one of his stops in Montana. He knows I love history and drive everyone crazy when I stop to read every historical sign on the side of the road. That he gets from me so he takes pictures of many in his travels. I love the one with the Montana cattle brands. We follow him with "find my friends" on his iPhone and I often take screen shots which is the top right map picture.

Communications with our son Josh

The recent rains and cooler weather have been great for the course and it is in as good a shape as ever for August. Our programs of low chemical use on fairways and roughs really shows up during the hot months. The fairways can get slimy from the salt water intrusion which makes them vulnerable to mechanical wear such as cart traffic. I have seen a few tire skids out there so hopefully we get a few more natural rain events, at night of course, to flush the salts and firm up the surface. Until then be extra careful with cart traffic please.

Spring- officially here & chasing a leak underground

They are Back!

Well it is official, Spring is here because OUR osprey is back. Who cares about Belle? Actually it has been great to watch her progress, as of yesterday she was in CT. Ours was spotted yesterday as he/she flew right over the maintenance building. One of my favorite osprey memories is watching one fly into a dead tree right next to the shop trying to break off a branch to add to the nest. It was impressive.

Murph mowing greens for second time this week

The season has officially begun in my opinion because we started mowing. We tried an official "opening day" once but it really does not work when you are open all the time. There is something special when the greens get mowed and start to look and feel like greens again. We mowed Monday, then rolled Tuesday and then mowed again Thursday. I applied the Spring seed head suppression application. This product keeps the annual bluegrass (Poa Annua) from seeding. This will keep the greens smoother through the seeding process. As we convert the greens to more and more bentgrass this application will change to a Poa killing application. Well maybe not killing but certainly one which will put a severe hurting on it. Right now we still have a bit too much to take such extreme measures. The next post will explain how this product works and show some of the test plots we have set up to test the effectiveness and best timing for it.

Finally

With an 81 year old irrigation system that has main lines about 6 feet deep there are bound to be issues right? One of the main issues is that we drain really well and if there is a small leak we never know where it is. We have a small submersible pump in a small well that maintains the pressure in the system, 115 psi for those interested. For context the pressure on municipal water supply to your residence is 40-70 psi. We live and die by the cycle of this pressure maintenance pump (pm pump, or pm cycle). It tells us how tight the system is and whether or not we have any leaks and how bad. The pumps have settings for major blow outs and will hopefully shut down before doing extreme damage to the ground around the break but for smaller leaks they do not know the difference between that and us watering. Hence the reliance on the pm cycle. Historically we start the season in the high 20's and eventually settle out in the mid teens. Murph and I look at this cycle constantly. It is usually the first thing I do when I wake up, checking the irrigation system to see what kind of day I will be in for. We live every day waiting for failure due to the age of the system. 

I can honestly say this is the most excited I have been for a leak

Well, last Fall the pm cycle dropped to 4 minutes for weeks on end. We drove around and around looking for weepy heads and leaking pipes to no avail. We came up with a plan to open the system in small stages hoping to pinpoint the leak. This never really came to fruition since a couple of the fairway valves would not hold and filled with water against our best efforts. The newer system from the 90's is plastic and really the worst part of our system or the part that gives us the most trouble. The glued joints on this system are starting to fail and there are literally thousands of them so our worry was that maybe we do not have one big break on abandoned galvanized pipe down deep but many small leaks on plastic all over. After 4 days of tinkering with the system partially filled up, at an increased pressure of  120, the leak finally improved enough to show itself. I can honestly say this is the most excited I have been for a leak. At least I can stop worrying about where and when and whether the pm pump is going to burn up from such a short cycle.  

With a big storm predicted for today and tomorrow the sunrise was really good. Cheryl took these above. Mine are below and were too early and I was already off to work when it peaked.