Happy Holidays!

The 2016 golf season is coming to a close at HP with the grounds staff putting a few finishing touches across the entire property. The staff is spending the majority of their time these days cleaning leaves; fortunately the weather has been dry, allowing for heavy equipment to move leaves efficiently.

Leaf Clean-Up in the Swales

Recently, the staff did a wonderful job finishing the applications of pre and post emergent herbicides (weed control) across the entire property for next season; the graphic below shows the attention of detail to where various herbicides were applied.

Herbicide Applications to Property

Over the winter months the staff will be busy with the tree managment program, installation of a turf fan on 14, continuing education and preventative maintenance on the equipment. The staff is also responsible for snow removal for the parking lots and platform tennis.

In the near future, the cart traffic will be restricted to the cart paths, due to the Zoyisa being dormant, not allowing for any recovery from damage. Also, please be aware the opening of the course could be delayed by frost or even frozen soils. Please follow us on Twitter @pobrienhpgcc, our blog; hydeparkgolfandcountryclub.blogspot.com or call the Proshop for potential delays.

Frost Delays are Common

Please forward any questions, concerns or feedback to grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Happy Holidays!

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

Gearing Up For Spring

Even though it just started getting cold, preparations are already well under way for the spring season. In October, some dated plant material was removed from the south entrance bed to make way for some new plant material and an updated look. All part of gradually updating the landscape beds around the club. As you can see from the photos, the removal of Boxwoods, Euonymus, and other material, we were left with a great space and blank canvas to add some new plants to compliment the building and surrounding areas.

Before

After shrubs were removed

Blank canvas

A sneak into the future

 

Also as the colder weather sets in, it's time to start planting spring time bulbs. Last year, 4,000 Tulip bulbs were planted. This year we have doubled that amount. With a combination of Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, and Galanthus, roughly 8,000 bulbs will be planted this year. Sure to be an explosion of color and scents come spring time around the clubhouse grounds.

~8000 bulbs

Bulbs being planted

Enjoy the winter months and keep an eye out in the spring for many new plants.

Bryan Miller

Horticulturist, Hyde Park Golf & Country Club

Twitter @HPGCCplantman

 

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A New View from the Fifth

Original layout of the new tee box sizes

As you may have noticed the Grounds Department has been busy over the last few weeks taking advantage of the cooler temperatures and sunny skies to make a few changes around the golf course. With the continued help from Golf Course Architect Tim Liddy, the staff continues to improve the teeing grounds at HP with reshaping, leveling and realignment.

Stripping the Original Tee

And Again...

The objectives for the renovation of the tees on the fifth were to; properly align the tee up to the center of the fairway (rather than lining up to the woods), find a way to utilize the space in a way that increased teeing ground while reducing the square footage of the more intensely managed bentgrass, and finally, completing this all in a way that was as efficient as possible.

Laying out the New Front Tee, While Utilizing as Much of the Previous Tee as Possible

And Again...

Over a ten-day period the staff worked diligently to complete the renovation; meeting all of the objectives efficiently and within the prescribed budget. We encourage all the members to take a look at the new view, but please refrain from hitting tee shots from the new tees, due to lack of adequate rooting. We are hopeful that next season, the tee enhancements will be completed on holes 3 and 9.

Front and Middle Tee Surfaces Finished Being Sodded

New Back Tee after Being Sodded

 

A View of the New Compound as Rough Sod Goes Down

The New View from the Fifth

As always, we appreciate your feedback and any questions to: grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thank-you,

Pat Carroll

Assistant Grounds Superintendent

 

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Upcoming on the Grounds at HP

 

The staff continues to be very busy in preparation for next season, much work has been completed on the putting surfaces with added sand topdressings, deeptine aeration and next week with the help of a contractor we will complete the process of sand injection into the profile. The DryJect process utilizes high pressure water to inject sand into the rootzone http://www.dryject.com/howitworks/one-hour-challenge/

 

-- How it works!

The greens at Hyde Park were constructed in the early 1920's of native soil material that does not drain well and does not provide an ideal environment for healthy Turfgrass growth. Over the years with consistent discipline cultural practices (sand topdressing, deep time aeration and cultivation) the underlying profile is becoming much more sandier, allowing for air to the roots and a surface that is firmer and consistent.

Each year, we test the physical properties of the underlying profile to see if our cultural practices are moving in a positive direction. On November 8th, we will begin the DryJect process, it will be finished on Wednesday the 9th. The course will be open however, when the machines are on a green it will be closed. If your had clicked on the link above you can see the that it takes about an hour per green and the finished product is smooth and very playable!

If there are any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Grounds@hydparkcc.com

Thank-you for your patience,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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Ryder Cup Experience

As many of you know our team members at HP including myself take the opportunity each season to volunteer at PGA events around the country to help the host Agronomic Teams. Each experience is a little different, the take home ideas and strategies in leadership and turf management are diverse, many relationships are forged and we come back invigorated with ideas to share at HP.

This September, I was afforded the opportunity to be part of the Volunteer team that would assist Superintendent, Chris Tritabaugh and the Hazeltine National Agronomy team with preparing the course for the Ryder Cup. In all honesty, I really did not understand the magnitude of this event, but I quickly realized this event was unlike any other.

-Outstanding Conditions

-Hazeltine National Agronomy Team

-Superintendent- Chris Tritabaugh

-Chris Addressing Staff and Volunteers

Upon arrival, for orientation the near 150 turf volunteers consisting of Golf Course Superintendents, Assistants, turf industry folks coming from Minnesota and around the world were greeted to a perfect conditioned golf course from the 50 members of Hazeltine National. The team had been preparing this gem for many, many months for this event. The weather before the event was record breaking wet, but you could hardly tell from the past improvements with infrastructure and the efforts of the Hazeltine Staff.

At each event I attend I am always amazed at the high quality agronomic conditions (this was no different at Hazeltine) however, the leadership of Chris Tritabaugh and Ryan Moy, Assistant Superientendent was amazing. They were calm, poised and the team leaders executed well. There was no question there was a clear Vision of what was needed to be accomplished and how it was going to be executed was well laid out. From the time we arrived on site we felt we were part of something special, the atmosphere was conducive to have fun and enjoy the experience while getting the work completed for a world class event. The use of social media by the majority of the staff and volunteers was transparent and offered a behind the scenes look into agronomic practices and the culture of the organization. It also helped with memories and for this blog, proividing many photos that I pulled from various Twitter feeds! Thanks!

Team A- one final shot!

During the event I was part of Team A, led by Mike Graves, Assistant Superintendent. My primary role was working with the stimp team, the team consisted of Charles Granger (Professor- Horry Georgetown Technical College, SC) Mike Manthey (GC Superintendent, Mn) and Paul Maccormack (GC Superintendent, PEI Canada) Our primary role was data collection for ball roll distance, and let me tell you the greens were smooth!

Having a little fun with Stimp Team A...

Like many of the volunteering opportunities; the networking, discussions and idea sharing were incredible, I was fortunate to be part of this team and look back fondly at this experience. Thanks to Chris and his wonderful staff! Special thanks to the entire Hyde Park Grounds Team for their work while I was gone, it is always nice to come back to the property looking and playing fantastic!

To top off the experience, the golf was great....I was able to watch the US team take the Ryder Cup back after a little bit of a drought. Good Stuff!

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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Fall projects and cultural practices update

The unseasonably warm and dry weather in September and now October has been excellent for golf, but also what we like to call, project season. Here is a quick update on what has been accomplished:

 

Aerification and inner-seeding of the Roughs

The weather was perfect for the staff to complete this process and with help from the membership, cart restrictions enabled excellent germination of turf-type tall fescue in many areas across the golf course. You'll also notice bleaching of turf on 4 hillside and a few other areas, that is due to an application of selective herbicide targeting bermudagrass in these areas.

Fescue seedlings germinating in the rough

Herbicide application to bermudagrass on 4

 

Green and Fairway Drainage

The first week of October, we had an outside contractor on site to install drainage on 18 and 13 greens, the last two greens at Hyde Park without drainage! We are very excited about this being completed as it has been a successful process since it was started in 2008, along with being a great benefit to the entire membership. A few members have even noted following some of our 1"+ rain events, how little course status has been impacted.

While on site, drainage was installed to low and persistently wet areas on 9, 17, and 18 fairways and rough. Again, we are very excited about this because it is something that affects the entire membership. Much like the golfer, we do not enjoy when carts are restricted to the path, or what can seem like miles of rope and stakes to direct traffic. We expect that this initial test of drainage design proves beneficial and effective.

 

Tee renovations

The grounds staff has moved forward with renovations to the 5th tee, while having completed the back tees on 12 last week. The scope of work for each tee varies, but typically involves: lifting of existing teeing surface to be reused, removing old grasses in the surround, regrading the surface and properly aligning the tee to the hole, reshaping and regressing the tee surround. During and after these renovations, the new sodded teeing surfaces will be closed to play until proper rooting takes place.

12 tee - Before

12 tee - After

 

Upcoming cultural practices

During the first week of November, DryJect aerification will take place on the putting surfaces. Leading up to this process, deep-tine aerifcation will be completed prior to DryJect. The combination of these processes will relieve compaction, amend the soil profile while improveing drainage and root growth, all with minimal surface disruption. Upon completion the greens will be open for play.

As always, we are open to feedback and comments and welcome you to follow us for daily course and project updates on Twitter - @pobrienhpgcc, @djlaw308, and @pcarroll14.

 

Thank you,

Dan Lawendowski, Assistant Grounds Superintendent

 

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Project Time at HP

The summer is officially behind us with record heat and humidity, overall our staff and turf preformed well. In the coming weeks, the staff is engaged with enhancing the rough with more turf type tall fescue seed to replace some of the declining Annual Bluegrass that was impacted by Summer Patch. Please adhere to signs and periodic cart path only rules to allow the new seed to germinate.

Arron applying seed after cultivation and slit seeder on 6

The coming weeks we shift from maintenance to project mode with many new iniatives:

The remaining green drainage on holes 13 and 8 will be completed, all the greens will now have functioning drainage! This work will begin the week of October 3rd. One green at a time will be completed to reduce hole closures, this process will take 3 days and will be playable once finished.

Fairway drainage will be completed on 17, this will improve the playability of this area, and will serve as a trial for future work. This process will take roughly a week with hole closures for safety.

Arrows represent the new drainage that will be installed.

Our staff will continue to work on tee renovations on holes 5 and 12 along with running new electric service for a fan on 14 green.

Staff Horticulturalist, Bryan Miller has many new creations for fall plantings, many of which have not been seen before on the grounds of HP. Bryan is always happy to share ideas and tell you a little more about his wonderful designs and plant choices.

This is an exciting time of year for our staff to enhance you're experience with the many projects. As always we welcome your feedback and comments, we can be reached via email @grounds@hydeparkcc.com or follow us on Twitter @pobrienhpgcc

 

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Taking the time..The Loss of a True Leader

This forum has been used to update members on initiatives at Hyde Park, this post is a little different.....Darian Daily the Head Sports Field Manager for the Cincinnati Bengals passed away suddenly on August 27th. I know very few details, but what I do know is that Darian was a great father, husband and a leader in our Industry and he even left his mark at Hyde Park.

Darian

Our paths crossed about 7 years ago when I gave Darian a call to talk about painting a logo for the HP members for The Founders Cup. Darian was great, no questions asked he spent about 40 minutes running through how it could be done. Unfortunately, it still seemed complicated (golf course superintendents are not sports field managers) so he said he would come out and give me the visual guidance. He then took time out of his busy schedule the following Saturday to show me how to paint! Darian always took time the time, whether it was talking on the phone how great we had it with managing warm season grasses when it was 1000 degrees out, or engaging with turfgrass interns, or the many seminars he spoke at. He was even gracious enough to give Hyde Park samples of Bermudagrass to trial on the range tee. He was a true leader in every sense of the word, demonstrating it with his involment in local, state and national associations and left his mark with the hundreds of fields he painted around Cincinnati and the US.

The HP logo under the guidance of Darian

Many of you know at Hyde Park how we use social media as a tool to communicate. Darian, with the Twitter handle @whodeyturf was the guru! Many of us in the Turf Industry, enjoyed his enthusiasm with his updates on Projects at Paul Brown, his love for natural grass vs synthetic and of course the many interesting hash tags he would send across the Twitter sphere- I know my favorite was #grasscandomore!

Over the coming days there will be many folks that will try to make sense of his loss and they will have their own stories about Darian and how they were impacted by his empathy, sense of humor and his love for what he did and most of all how he always #TOOKTHETIME...

 

My deepest condolences to his family and friends.... Rest in Peace....

 

 

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