April Showers bring May Flowers?

Here's hoping for some average weather in the Ohio Valley, below normal temperatures and well above average precipitation including multiple measurable snow events in April has been a challenge on the course and for the Legacy project.

On the course; the putting surfaces have been aerified, we choose to use a less intrusive method this year to help with faster recovery. So far, this was a good choice considering the lack of growth of the grass plant due to low soil temperatures. It won't be long until they are healed!

The Zoysia grass fairways continue to lag behind with the cooler temperatures limiting the cart traffic on the fairways. Zoysia grass, being a warm season grass requires warmer soil temperatures to grow and recover from any damage. Cart traffic and wet soils are a perfect combination to damage this slow growing Turfgrass. With a little help from Mother Nature It won't be long until carts are consistently off the path.

Damage from cart traffic

Another sign spring is finally here is Bryan is hard at work in the garden at Hyde Park with many spring selections for Chef. Stayed tuned!

The Spring also signifies the arrival of our seasonal staff including our Turfgrass Interns. James Quinn, is the first to arrive, from England part of Ohio International Intern program at Ohio State. James will play a key role in our Turfgrass team, preparing him for his future in the Turfgrass industry.

Here is a little about James!

Hi, my name is James. I am from Cheshire, England and I am an exchange Turfgrass intern here on the Ohio State Program through the Ohio State University. I have been a greenkeeper for 4 years at both a 9 &18 hole golf course in my home country. I have studied music my whole life and I have a degree in music production from Leeds Met University. Then when I finished my degree I got a summer job at one of my local golf courses and never left. After 6 months of work there I started my Sports Turf Maintenance course and 18 months later I gained my level 2 qualification. I have always wanted to live in the U.S.A and when I found out about The Ohio Program it seemed like the next logical not only for my life in general but for my new career too.

Welcome James.

Legacy:

The weather, once again has been the story, considering these challenges the construction of the practice facility continues to move in the right direction. The golf course contractor, Golf Preservations and Golf Course Architect, Tim Liddy will be onsite in early May to begin fine shaping, bunker construction and drainage installation. My fingers are crossed for dry and seasonal temperatures!

For more information on the Legacy renovations please follow us along on Twitter @pobrienhpgcc

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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The Holiday Season at Hyde Park

The holiday season is here with a chance to pause and reflect as we head into 2018 with a lot to be thankful for. I would like to thank all of the Hyde Park membership for your support, with 13 seasons in the books for myself it has gone very quickly and it is nice to look back at the learning moments, accomplishments and the challenges ahead. The transformation of the Grounds at Hyde Park has been a team and collaborative effort, I am very fortunate to be surrounded by an amazing Grounds Team dedicated to provide the best to the entire membership. Thanks for all you do!
The last few weeks have been very busy, with final touches to the turf for the winter and the continuous preparations for the Legacy renovations ahead!
The last of the leaf clean-up has been completed along with the final sand topdressings and deeptine aeration to the putting surfaces. The staff is busy with equipment maintenance, enhancing course accessories for next season and participation in continuing education activities.

 The grounds staff continues to move forward with many tasks related to the Legacy renovations slated to begin in mid to late February pending a few details.
The Grounds staff and I have been busy with:

Laying Conduit

• Placing conduit for network, telephone, new irrigation and future expansions at the grounds building and beyond
• Temporary parking lot construction on Erie Ave.
• Relocation of irrigation infrastructure including pipe, wire and communication
• Finalizing details for contractor selection, we are excited to announce Golf Preservations have been selected to complete the renovations at the practice facility. Their work will commence May 1st with a ten week timeline, followed by a grow-in period for all surfaces
• Final landscape preparations around the entire clubhouse

My daughter Maeve giving me a hand!

Re routing com lines through old chipping green

From the entire Grounds Team and I we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thank-you,
Pat O'Brien
Grounds Superintendent

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A Busy but Exciting Time for HP

With the recent approval of The Legacy Plan for the South Side, the Grounds team and I have been very busy with final winter preparations on the golf course and grounds, along with whole host of activities surrounding the Legacy plan on the both the South and North sides. 2018 will be an exciting and busy time!

Golf Course Operations:

The staff continues to move forward with the following tasks:

"

Deep Tine Aeration

• Leaf removal. Which will continue well into December
• Final fall Herbicide applications to all 70 Acres of rough
• Winterization of the irrigation system
• Collaboration with the Grounds Commitee utilizing Ross drawings and Master plan for new 5 year plan for golf course and grounds
• Staffing for 2018 season

5-year plan template

Legacy Plan:

North-

• Landscape and irrigation and plans are approved
• Staff will begin removing dated landscape at front and rear of clubhouse
• Developing timelines for landscape and irrigation install
• Collaboration with multiple contractors

Landscape Plans-North

Dated Landscape Rear Clubhouse

Legacy Plan:

South-

Practice Area

Logistics- The South phase scope of work is significant and the compact site will pose many challenges

there are many details to work through.

Collaboration- working with multiple contractors and stakeholders to ensure a successful project.

Communication-use of multiple platforms to share information.

Execution- project management while maintaining golf course and grounds.

Over the coming weeks please check in or subscribe to our Grounds Blog: www.hydeparkgolfandcountryclub.blogspot.com

Follow us on twitter: @pobrienhpgcc

Or get caught up with daily HP emails concerning the Legacy Plan

As we head into the Holiday Season I would like to wish the entire HP membership and Grounds team a very Happy Thanksgiving!

If there are any questions or feedback please email me: grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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Winter On the Grounds of Hyde Park

Mother Nature has thrown us curve ball this January, with many unseasonably warm and very wet days. This has created a set of new challenges to completing some of the ongoing projects with these wet condtions; however there are a couple bright sides with all of the rain.

We have been able to measure the success of the infrastructure improvements such as the added green drainage and our sand topdressing program. These investments by the membership at HP have allowed in many instances opening the golf course much faster in comparison to even 3 years ago. The excess water in the sand profile, drains much faster, reducing the threat of soft conditions and damaging the turf stand. We are still very careful and strategic not to allow foot traffic on the surfaces, when the sandy profile is thawing to reduce root shear. Please keep in mind, all courses and green conditions vary around the region and the opening of each facility is dynamic based upon many factors!

The recent drainage added to the 17th fairway is working well and we are anxious to see how it performs next season. Could these drainage systems be applied strategically across the property to improve turf conditions and reduce cart path only days? Evaluation and time will tell!

Sand Topdressing and Aeration; Key to long term success!

Over next few weeks our team is finishing a few key processes on the golf course:

Fan stored away, ready for action on 14

• Fan installation on 14
• Recruitment of our Grounds Team for next year
• Drainage behind the first green to capture seepage
• Tournament volunteer opportunities
• Refinement and assessment of current agronomic and department strategies
• Legacy project planning for practice facility and details associated with other areas
• Tree management program
• Split rail fence installation on 14
• Snow and ice removal around the grounds and platform tennis

Exploring further concepts of practice area

As always, please do not to hesitate to contact us with any questions? Email: ground@hydeparkcc.com or follow us on Twitter for the latest course conditions and updates.

Thank-you

Pat O'Brien

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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Will the golf course be open?

After a string of the coldest weather of the year and some snow to make travel around the city challenging, Mother Nature is throwing another curve ball with a wonderful weekend of weather ahead of us. With full sun and highs in the low 60's this weekend, the million dollar question is: will the golf course be open for play? The short answer is it will not be open for play on Friday, the snow is receding slowly on the surface but what is most important for the health of the turfgrass plants are the roots below.

 

On many of the putting greens the rootzones are thawing slowly, damage can occur when the roots are sheared from mere foot traffic where the frozen and thawed interface meet. This photo below, from the USGA is an example of just how many footprints can occur from one foursome of golfers.

In order to reduce damage to the putting surfaces that could linger into the spring, we will continue to evaluate the conditions on a daily basis for any possible opening, please check with the Proshop (after 9:30am) club email and or Twitter for the latest. Also, Please keep in mind that all golf courses are different with, varying microclimates, soil condtions and grass types that will impact the decision to open the facility.

On the topic of winter damage, we recently at HP have seen the impact of another form- "sled riding". Sled riders took upon themselves to disregard signs, ropes and our staff to have some good old fashioned fun. The only problem was the 7th green was damaged from event. The picture below does not look good, however I believe that the damage is superficial at this point, we will continue to monitor and update as we see changes.

As always we welcome you're feedback and questions, please email us at grounds@hydeparkcc.com or follow us on Twitter @pobrienhpgcc for the latest initiatives and updates on the golf course and grounds.

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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Cart Path Remodel Update

 

The cart path remodel continues to move forward with a couple minor set backs due to the wet soil conditions, not allowing the contractor to utilize their heavy machinery needed for this project. The Grounds staff, led by Assistant Superintendent Dan Lawendowski are getting a rhythm with the drainage and final finish work to the edges of the path. A tremendous amount of labor goes into these final steps, there is a lot of juggling of staff resources between daily maintenance of the course and the project. Greg Nickerson has the challenge of leading the rest of the team with course maintenance. Both situations are dynamic and require constant coordination and communication between the two of them to make sure we hit the mark on both fronts. The week ahead looks dry with seasonal temperatures, which should allow for the blacktop to be finished on hole 2.

Topsoil and Final Grading to the Edges of the Path

A couple quick reminders concerning cart operation during this project:

-Please obey signs and directional ropes, the sod and seed will not survive if carts drive on theses areas

-Please enter and exit at the designiated areas marked with the 6ft Orange flags, most of these areas have plywood covering the edges to protect the carts and the sod work.

Enter and Exit Points designated with Orange Flags

If there are any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Or follow us on Twitter @pobrienhpgcc

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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Practice Tee

A few folks have been inquiring why practice was limited to the mats this week. As many of you know the tee at HP is far too small (less than 20,000 square feet) for the amount of use it receives. Therefore, there are periodic times where practice is limited on the grass to enhance divot recovery. This time of year is an excellent time to germinate seed. On Monday, the staff innerseeded, fertilized, topdresesed and drop seeded bentgrass to help with recovery. Over the next week we will be applying water more frequently to allow for the seedlings to survive.

 

Another Way to enhance divot recovery is the use of a lineal divot pattern as noted in the photo below. This practice technique allows the space to be used more efficiently and allowing the divot to recover via seed and vegetatively from the edges.

If the are any questions please email us grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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Preparations for next year!

Late August is a busy time for the Grounds Staff, the college students are returning to school and projects are starting to gear up. Recently the staff has completed aeration of the tees and greens with great results. Aeration during this time frame can be a challenge on the turf due to extreme temperatures but the healing process is much faster compared to late Septmeber and generally the golf calendar is slower with the return to school for Elementary and Highschool students.

Day 1

Day 4

The greens are bumpy and slow but they have filled in well, as noted in the photo above.

The staff and I have been busy with other initiatives such as:

• Slicing of the fairways to reduce compaction and improve water movement
• Rough aeration and spot seeding to enhance turf type tall fescue populations

Rough Aeration

Fall Projects

The are a few key projects this fall including;

Cart path renovations totaling close to 1.5 miles on Holes 7, 8, 2, 1 and 18. This project will commence September 21st and should be completed in 3-5 weeks pending weather conditions. The golf course will be open during this process, however hole closures may need to be employed to ensure the safety of the contractors and our staff. Updates and progress will occur via Twitter and the Grounds Blog.

Scope of the work including cart path re-routes, drainage and irrigation relocation

Other projects will include added green drainage on holes 8, 9, 12 and 17 along with tee enhancements.

As always, thanks for the feedback and questions concerning the initiatives on the golf course and grounds at Hyde Park. Please email us with any questions? Grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendnt

 

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