On The Course December 23rd

Greens are looking good under the covers

 What a difference in weather it has been this winter compared to last year. Last year at this time we were buried under a very healthy blanket of snow. We have only seen small traces of snow so far this year. The course has taken the rain and weather very well and as long as we get a decent coating of snow before the really cold weather sets in we should be in great shape for spring. The rain events that we have had in the past couple of weeks have soaked into the ground and the turf grass plants have hardened off for winter in great shape. Our biggest concern right now is going into January with no snow cover. The snow cover helps insulate the turf and prevent decication and a potential for cold temperature kill. The excelsior mats on the greens will protect them from decication and from cold temperature kill. The fairways are open right now but I would anticipate we get a good coating of snow before the cold weather starts. We have not seen any really cold nights yet because of the lack of snow. Once we get some snow covering the course we will see the colder temperatures set back in.

We have been working on some tree removals on #14

We have made some progress on our winter project list. We have begun trimming and removing some trees on #14 with the goal of opening up enough areas to help with turf grass growth in a few of the bare areas in the left rough. We have the ski trailed marked and ready for snow. We have been busy in the shop working on golf course accessories and equipment maintenance. We take time in the winter to rebuild all of the reels on our mowers and replace bearings. The reels are then put on the reel grinder and sharpened. With four fairway mowers, four triplex mowers, four tee mowers and 7 greens mowers this will take us until the middle of February to get this work all completed. We also need to do general maintenance on the rest of the equipment which includes oil changes and cleaning.

Very few frozen puddle on the fairways after the recent rain. Most have soaked in and we are waiting for a nice coating of snow.

We will be attending some educational conferences over the next couple of months. We have a pretty good selection of seminar topics for our annual turf conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center in January. This is also a good time to get Superintendents and staff together and talk about the past season.

Lena showing one of her pups how to bring the pheasants back!

Have a Great Christmas and New Years!!

Jason's pup Amani during her first trip to South Dakota.

On The Course November 18th

It has been an up and down week with temperatures on the course.  Yesterday morning the temp was 14 degrees and this morning it is 37.  The low morning and evening temps have allowed the ground to begin freezing and have also helped the ponds to begin freezing over which has been nice for goose control.  The dogs have been working hard this last week keeping the large flocks of geese passing threw off the course, there favorite landing spot is 7 pond.  We are expecting some sort of precipitation this weekend with the weather front moving in, we have heard everything from rain and sleet to 2 to 6 inches of snow.  Our snow removal equipment is ready for any sort of snow fall we may see.

The snowshoe and cross country ski trail has been marked again with 6 foot fence posts. We will be marking the post tips with blaze orange paint to better help guide the trail users this winter.  We will open the trail as soon as there is enough snow on the ground to groom and maintain it.

We have installed a snow fence behind the black tee on #14 to keep out snowmobiles this winter, there are a few other locations that we will be adding fence to also.  Last winter we had a small issue with snowmobiles getting onto the course from the woods on 14.  Hopefully this winter with the addition of the fences and no trespassing signs we can keep them off the course.

On The Course November 11th

Today will be the last day for our seasonal staff. They have done a great job getting the course closed for the winter and have done an even better job throughout the summer maintaining the golf course. We will be having our end of season appreciation for the crew on Tuesday, November 15th with a little Go Karting and Lunch. The crew had a blast last year driving around the ProKart track in Maple Grove we thought it would be a good idea to take them again.

Today we will be working on blowing some leaves and cleaning some equipment. The Executive coure remains open for play through the weekend. The golf course will be marked for the snow shoe and crosscountry ski trail next week and we are hoping for another snowy winter. I will be doing blog postings throughout the winter on a limited basis.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime over the winter either by email or on my cell phone.

Thanks for a great season!!

On The Course November 9th

The frost is a little thick on the course this morning and we have missed out on most of the snow that was forecasted. Southeastern Minnesota and Central Wisconsin could see 3-5 inches of snow today. The wind is coming in after this storm system and we could see gusts up to 40 MPH later today. Clearing skies tonight is going to leave us very cold for tomorrow.

We are working on winterizing the golf cart fleet this morning and will get back out on the course later today. We have a few areas to check staples and make sure the covers are buttoned down good. Most of the leaves are down but a few of the Silver Maples and Oaks are still hanging on to their leaves. We will continue to work on leaves but I think we need a good rain or snow to really help bring the rest of them down.

On The Course November 8th

The crew worked quickly yesterday and were able to get almost all of the mats down on the front nine greens. We have a little work left today and a lot of stapling to finish before we are completely done with the mats. We will be working back through the back nine and button up any mats that blew up from the heavy winds over the weekend. Overall the Excelsior mats are in good shape for the third season of use. This next spring when we pull the covers the mats that are looking thin and have holes will be marked and rotated into our tee cover pile. We will be looking at ordering some new mats going into next winter and start a rotation of ordering a few every year to replace the bad ones. The barn has been a great place to store the mats and keep them out of the elements for the summer. The hauling and handling causes some of the materil to fall out of the mats and overtime (3-5 years) need to be replaced.

We are working on cleaning up the barn this morning during the frost delay. The barn is used in the winter to store some equipment and give us additional space in our main shop for winter projects. the rest of the week will be spent cleaning and storing equipment as well as trying to keep the leaves cleaned up on the course. The cleaner the course is going into winter the easier it will be to open it up in the spring.

Carlos making sure the mats are going in a straight line.

Fernando, Rubiel and Jose working on covering the Putting Green.

On The Course November 7th

Today we are going to be out covering the front nine greens and the putting green before the weather that is forecasted for tomorrow and Wednesday moves in.  Right now it looks like a weak system but we will be watching it to see if anything changes, the rest of the week into next week is looking like low temperatures in the 20's and highs in the mid 40's.  The short course will remain open until the weather no longer permits it so come out and play the E9.  Just a reminder that the Pro Shop will be closed today.

On The Course November 5th

It is going to be a windy day with forecasted gusts into the 40 MPH Range.  The guys will be out preparing the course for play this morning, blowing leaves off of playing surfaces and cutting cups for the weekend.  We were able to cover the Chipping Green yesterday but will be leaving the Putting Green open for the weekend.

We put out some of our temperature data loggers yesterday.  They will be in various places on the golf course to take data on temperature swings under the soil, under the greens covers, and on the surface of the turf this winter.  They are a great tool we can utilize in the winter months to see large fluctuations in temperature.

Jason and Amani hauling mats to the Chipping Green.

On The Course November 4th

Frost on #9 Green in the shadow of the tree.

We are starting this morning with a temp. of 23 degrees on the course, it will be a while again this morning before the frost lifts.  Once it does lift we will be out preparing the front nine for play.  With the high winds forecasted for the weekend we will not be hauling mats out until Monday morning. With winds forecasted to gust into the 40 MPH range we do not want mats blowing all over the golf course.  If need be we will possibly start hauling sunday afternoon.  We will be splitting up the crew Monday, one crew for hauling and one crew for covering, it will be a very busy day.  We were able to finish up covering the back nine greens and putting green #10 yesterday. The weather is changing with a possibility of snow on Tuesday and into Wednesday. It is looking like a weak system but we will be covering the front greens on Monday.

Sunrise blowing the irrigation out.

The irrigation systems is blown out and ready for winter. We have some minor work left to do inside the pumpstations to winterize. We will be working on blowing leaves and changing cups today on the front nine. The Executive Course will open for play as long as we do not have snow or frost on the ground. If the weather allows please enjoy playing the Executive course.

Sunset on #8 Green.

On The Course November 3rd

Very cold this morning with a temp of 24 degrees. It will be some time before we are able to get out on the course. We are planning on finishing up covering the back nine greens today. We were able to get 14 through 18 done yesterday. It is a very slow and tedious process and we want to make sure all of the mats get put down and stapled correctly with minimal overlap. The back nine greens usually go a little quicker than the front. We have more green surface on the front nine and a few are wider than the Excelsior mats are long. We should be able to finish up 10 through 13 today and still leave the front nine open through the weekend.

Troy and Fernando were able to get all of the sod cut for the runoff areas and pull most of the drainage hole plugs. Jason and Cristian were able to get through all of the quick coupler valves on the course and we ran back through most of the irrigaiton heads. We will continue to finish up blowing the irrigation system out today. We will be blowing leaves and preparing the course for play as soon as we can get on the course.

On The Course November 2nd

Troy and the crew unloading Excelsior mats on #16 Green

 We made some very good progress yesterday with the golf course. We hauled excelsior mats out to the back nine and will begin covering later this morning or early afternoon. Tonight is supposed to clear of and get colder so we are probably looking at significant frost for tomorrow. We are hopeful to get the rest of the back nine finished tomorrow and leave the front nine greens open for the weekend. Saturday looks to be pretty good but a chance of rain/snow showers for Sunday. I am leary of the next system coming out of Colorado that could bring a better chance of moisture if the cold front stays to the north. Weather.com has the high temperatures next week in the low 40's and that should give us just enough time to finish covering the front nine next week.

Jason and Cristian are out blowing out quick coupler valves this morning and we will be working on our second run through on irrigation heads this afternoon. If you were out yesterday we were making a lot of noise with the air compressor blowing the water out of the system. We should have the irrigation system blown out tonight and do a quick run through Thursday morning.

We will be changing pin locations Friday on the front nine and blowing leaves. There are still a lot of leaves that have to drop before we can put the blowers away for the season. The oaks and silver maples are still hanging on but we will continue through next week blowing leaves as long as we do not have frozen ground or frost.

Started irrigation blowout yesterday and it looked pretty cool with the new fountain in the background.

Justin hauling mats with the other part of the crew.

On The Course November 1st

We are really busy right now wrapping the course up and getting things set for covering. Our compressor for blowing the irrigation system showed up today and Jason already has it hooked up. We have finished spraying all of our snow mold preventative for the season and will start to haul excelsior mats out to the greens. Course accessories are off the course except for a few benches and some flagsticks.

Current weather forecast looks pretty good going into the begining of next week but a possible system moving in for this weekend. Saturday looks pretty good but we have a 50% chance of Rain/Snow showers on Sunday with a high temperature of 42 degrees (weather.com). Next week is looking to be a little colder than this week and according to Ian Leonard last night a "change is coming". I am taking in a lot of different sources for weather right now and planning accordingly.

I still think we are going to cover the back nine greens Wednesday and Thurday this week and leave the front nine greens open for the weekend. We should have enough decent weather next week to finish covering greens and close the golf course.

Justin sprayed all of the fairways on Monday and Tuesday with Snow Mold Protection.

Troy hauling mats out to the back nine.

On The Course October 31st

With the humidity and passing showers yesterday we came in to see some very heavy frost this morning. The forecast has been moving all over the place over the weekend. We are going to start spraying greens and fairways today with our snow mold protection. We will continue to watch the weather forecast and look at making a decision on covering greens later this week.

Watching the weather forecast over the past two weeks and looking at  the re-emergence of the "La Nina" effect we are in for some cooler than normal temperatures and above average snow. Currently looking at several different websites for weather forecasting and Accuweather has next weekend in the upper 40's and low 50's but Weather.com has the weekend colder with rain and possible snow. I will continue to monitor the forecasts and make sure we have enough time to properly close the golf course for the season.

As I write this we are preparing to spray some snow mold fungicides today and tomorrow. Tuesday night we will look at determining if we will be covering the Back Nine greens Wednesday or try to keep the course open through the weekend. It will be a day to day decision from here through the weekend. Get out and play some golf while we are still open.

On the course October 29th

It is pretty cold this morning at 26 degrees, we have frost and will be getting out on the course as soon as it lifts.  It is going to be a beautiful fall day warming up to 50 degrees.  We will be out setting the course up this morning for golf, blowing leaves and getting ready for the hayride and bonfire tonight.

On The Course October 27th

The forecast has changed a little with the cold front stalling over us the last couple of days. The weather system coming out of Colorado that was forecasted to blow through yesterday has stalled a little and has change the long range forecast. We will continue to monitor the forecast through the weekend and make any necessary changes to our closing procedures. It is a very difficult task to exactly predict what the weather will do tomorrow let alone next week. We were fortunate enough last year to get all of our work done and the greens covered before the snow and cold weather closed us down. It is more important to get the covers down and protect the greens for next season than it is to stretch this golf season out one more weekend. If we see we have a few really good days after next weekend we can wait to cover but I want to see what the forecast changes to once this current weather system rolls through later today and into tomorrow.

Today we are working on some projects and blowing leaves. We might start to spray our snow mold fungicide if the spotty rain showers are done for the day. It is important to get our snow mold down and give it a good chance to dry on the leaf tissue.

The decision to spray and cover will be day to day which will enable us to keep the course open as long as possible. Please check foretees and continue to watch the Blog for current daily updates.

On The Course October 26th

At the Grounds meeting yesterday we looked at the long range forecast and have made the determination we could be covering greens early next week. The forecast right now for the weekend of November 5th and 6th looks for high temperatures in the upper 30's. We will be monitoring the forecast and will be making some final decisions going into the weekend. Right now the forecast has given us enough time early in the week to get all of the covers down and get the course closed up for winter. We would like to keep the course open for as long as possible and will make any necessry adjustments if the forecast were to change.

Today we are going to be working on #14 tee and will start pulling golf course accessories. Ballwashers are starting to freeze during the colder nights and therefore need to be pulled from the course. We will continue to blow and mulch leaves today. We are planning on spraying our snow mold pretection on fairways, tees and greens Thursday and Friday.

Please email me with any questions on the golf course and closing procedures.

On The Course October 25th

Mowing Range Tee.

 Warmer this morning with a temperature of 47 degrees which means we should be able to get right out on the course. We are mowing greens with triplexes this morning at a higher height. We will be hauling fill material to the new forward tee on #14 and working on blowing leaves. There are still a lot of leaves on the trees and some of the Hybrid Maples are in full color. The true Silver Maples still have yet to harden off and turn to a fall color. We will be dealing with leaves on the course for some time and it might take some snow fall to bring the rest down.

We will have the framing for the bathroom on #4 done this week and will finish the sides in the spring. We have planted a few Amur Maples around the structure for screening and will be adding some more Serviceberries later this week.

Grounds Meeting Today at 2pm

We are starting to work on the screening for the bathroom on #4.

On The Course October 24th

A little frosty on the course this morning with a temperature at 35 degrees and clear skies. The range is closed for the season and we will be working on aerifying the range floor this week. This week we will be completing some important winter preparation for the golf course and wrapping up a couple of projects. We are looking at the forecast closely and will be getting the course ready for closing. We want to keep the course open as long as possible but we will still need several days to cover greens. To ensure that we have everything ready to go we will start putting away golf course accessories later this week. We will also start our final winter snow mold application later this week.

We will be letting the height of cut on all of our finer turf areas grow to our winter height and once our snow mold protection is sprayed we  will no longer be mowing any turf areas. We will continue to have leaves to clean up and mulch. We will be cleaning drains and checking irrigation this week to ensure everything is working properly before we blow the system out.

On The Course October 22nd

It is currently 35 degrees on the course and we do have some frost setting in.  Golf will be delayed this morning, hopefully with the temp slightly warmer than yesterday morning the frost will burn off a little faster.   We will be updating the Pro Shop all morning to get play started as soon as we can.  The guys will be out as soon as possible to prepare the course for the day, we will be rolling and blowing off greens, reseting the course, and raking greenside bunkers.  We will also be blowing a few leaves around.  Once the frost burns off it should be a great day for golf with temps in the upper 50's.

On The Course October 21st

We are currently sitting at 28 degrees and the course is frozen. We are expecting to have a significant frost delay today but the temperature should warm up to middle to upper 50's. Warmer night time temperatures for the weekend are expected. Today we will be working on some frost projects and will be getting the course ready for play as soon as we are able to get on the turf.

 We can do a lot of damage to the turf if we get a lot of traffic on the frozen leaf tissue. When a glass window shatters and you are left with a bunch of little pieces that is basically what the turfgrass plant does when we put traffic on frozen plants. The last thing we want to do is have a bunch of damage going into winter.

On The Course October 20th

Very cold this morning with heavy frost and the temperature is currently 33 Degrees. It will be a slow warm up today but the rest of the weekend looks to be very nice with slightly warmer temperatures. We will be working on some frost projects this morning. We have planted several trees behind 3 green and near 4 tee where the bathroom will be located next season. We have also replaced a couple of in play spruce trees with several Northwoods Red Maples.

Winter is upon us so try to get out and play those last few rounds of golf before the snow flies. We will be formulating a closing plan at the Grounds Committee meeting next week and hope to keep the course open as long as the weather allows.

On The Course October 19th

Justin tilling in an area on the short course prepping it for reegrassing.

We are in project mode with the colder temperatures coming quickly. Jake will be out later today planting a couple more trees. We have moved most of the spruce trees from #2 that we needed to and have left a couple for later this fall or early next year. We are blowing leaves and spraying greens this morning. This is our first preventative snow mold application which we are targeting Pink Snow Mold. We are looking at the forecast to get the greens ready for winter. We are planning on covering greens this year with Excelsior mats. We are utilizing the same program we have for the last two winters. Next week we will continue with some drainage holes  on the greens and start cutting drainage paths off the edge of the greens. Accessories will start coming off the course next week and we will be leaving pins and flags out until we cover greens.

We are going to be spraying our final snow mold preventative November 1st and blowing the irrigation system out November 3rd. All of this of course depends on weather and what we are seeing in the upcoming forecasts. The Range will close October 23rd for the golf season so we are able to complete some projects on the range floor.

We are having a Grounds Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 25th at 2pm and will be discussing Course Conditions including closing procedures for 2011.

Jason and Fernando working on the drainage on #16 approach.

Coach Bobby Knight and Richard Childress at the Joe Foss Charity Hunt last week.

KODA finding some Pheasants last week.