One of the smaller things that we make here in the maintenance shed are the tee markers and the broken tee holders that you see on the tee boxes out on the golf course. Ever since we made the switch to concrete, the tee markers have held up better than the old wooden ones. The tee markers are made with three different types of concrete to help with a faster set time and to insure durability. After a good mix of concrete is made it is poured into the mold and after a day it's ready to be removed and set to dry. When the tee markers have set for a few days and have finished hardening we then put a coat of paint to identify where they will be placed out on the golf course.
The other thing that needs addressing this time of year are the broken tee holders. The didn't make it through the season last year. A lot of the holders were broken with pieces hanging out. This winter we are making 18 brand new broken tee holders. Hopefully they will make it through the season in one piece. Below are some pictures of the two projects in action.
During the off season the maintenance crew is determined to stay busy. Another project that we have started is to build new ball crates for the driving range. These crates will be used on the driving range tee instead of the current buckets.
The crates have been designed with a dual purpose in mind. They will be just the right size to alleviate the need for a boundary board to designate the hitting stations while holding all the range balls. The crates will be spaced to the proper distance giving the golfer room to hit while giving it a cleaner look. The pictures below show the process of us putting the crates together.
These last few weeks we have begun an addition to our cart path. We have felt there was a need to modify the mulch path that cut through from #1 to #4 to concrete. This new concrete path will be for golfers to get to and from the alternate driving range tee. The new path will be 7 feet wide which will also help accommodate the maintenance crew maneuver our larger equipment around the course. There will be three phases to this process. Phase 1 was completed by removing all of the mulch from the existing path. We then painted white lines to set the boundary of the concrete path. Then we excavated the dirt out to a depth of about 8". Once the material was removed we brought in AB3 gravel and compacted it down to create a foundation for the new path in preparation for the concrete. Phase 2 will consist of forming up the sides and laying re bar along the top of the AB3. Phase 3 will then consist of pouring the concrete and smoothing it out for the final look.
The Blue Hills Crew took advantage of the weather that we had this past month with the high close to 50 degrees and cut down a few more trees. The trees that were in question were located on hole 11, just past the start of the fairway on the left hand side. It was a group of pine trees that were posing a problem agronomically as well as for playability purposes. Removing these pines will definitely help with the turf growth in the rough with their absence and the fairway will benefit as well. Looking at the playability aspect of this decision, when your golf ball would land near this area the shot would be very difficult to recover from and land back into the fairway. The removing of these trees will at least help your chances of recovering and landing back into the fairway, but the shot still leaves it difficult to go for the green. The next grouping of trees acts as another barrier to keep the hole challenging.
It was another cold day here at Blue Hills Country Club. Although it's cold there's work that needs to be done and so the Blue Hills Crew tackled another tree project this morning. If you have been out on the golf course lately you might have noticed there was a dead spruce behind 3 green. The tree itself was very tall, close to 80 feet tall, but it was as dead as they come. The branches were slowly breaking off in the presence of bad weather and there was nothing that was going to save this tree. So, we took it upon ourselves to cut down the tree and put it through the chipper.
This week at Blue Hills, the maintenance crew kept busy by cutting down and chipping up another tree that posed a problem agronomically as well as to the golfers. This tree in particular was located directly behind the right fairway bunker on number 18. The tree was close enough to the fairway that it posed a problem to the turf, but mainly we felt like the tree created an additional hazard, or a "double jeopardy" to golfers that were to land inside the bunker. The difficulty of shot would be hard out of the bunker, but it would be even more difficult to hit the shot out of the bunker and trying to avoid the tree as well. This is the first hole that was decided in this fashion, we will be looking at other holes/trees that have a similar setup throughout the winter months.
When we get rain it is a blessing here at the golf course. When we get a lot of rain, sometimes the effects can be a hindrance. When we take a look at our creek you will see exactly what I am talking about. In the last few years we have experienced multiple short bursts of excessive rain. These storms can bring a relief for a droughty turf in the summer, but when it comes to a water feature like our creek, the effects can be overwhelmingly destructive. The large amounts of rain will cause the creek to flood significantly, and when this happens there is a high chance for erosion to occur on the creek banks. This is especially true near the waterfall features of the creek.
There is a large washout near the stepping stone bridge behind the blue tee on 18. As you will see from the videos, the flow of water has managed to find a weak spot behind the rocks and is now flowing into the bank, the water then finds its way back into the creek.
One of the projects we hope to complete this winter is to create a long wing wall that expands into the creek bank. This wall will be made from poured concrete and will extend about 15 feet into the bank and placed at a 45 degree angle. This process will be tricky because when the waterfall was first designed it was placed on top of the city sewer. The stacked landscape rock was then placed through iron rods in the center to stabilize the waterfall rock. So with this in mind we will expand onto the existing foundation of the waterfall to create the necessary wing wall. Placing a wing wall at this length should help correct the flow of water and divert it back into the main stream where it belongs. We will then back fill the washed area with topsoil and bring it back to level.
These last few years we have been really working on cleaning out the canopy of the trees on our golf course. This winter we are continuing the process by cleaning out all the dead wood that has appeared in a lot of our oak trees. We contracted out a crew to come in and climb those tall oak trees. These climbers are professionals, they are able to climb the trees without spikes on their shoes so the trees aren't damaged during the process. They will start from the top working their way down the tree removing all the dead wood that is visible. The process should take only a few weeks since they are only concentrating their efforts on the oaks. Our crew then will come in later and limb up any maple trees that need it as well. This process is necessary for the health of the tree by severing off any portion of the tree that is dead. This will help keep unwanted insects from penetrating and entering those wounded areas and damaging the tree further.
Last week was a busy week for the Blue Hills Turf Crew. We had a group of people working on verticutting and another group of people working on the new installation of potable water to the bathroom on hole number 4.
The new installation of potable water to number 4 bathroom began with first locating the existing line. Next, we cut into, and branched off our new line towards the bathroom. After using the Dingo to help dig a trench, we inserted the newly assembled pipe into the trench and filled it back in.
Another cold day means another day we can work on projects. While we were digging next to cart paths we decided to go ahead and install a type of french drain system next to number 1 tee. If you can recall during rain events there always seems to be a decent sized puddle next to the flower bed on number 1 tee. We decided to install a drain box and create a drainage system to help contain and remove the water that would otherwise stand on the surface of the cart path and beside it.
We felt like this is necessary because the water that would gather along the cart path would sit on the surface, and on a hot day would bake and cause a scalding effect to the turf. The standing water on the cart path was an annoyance when driving through it on a cart as well.
Good Afternoon Blue Hills Country Club, the maintenance crew here at the club have been keeping busy during this cold weather. We had a great season this year and we are continuing this trend with some work next to our cart paths. When we first poured our cart paths a few years ago, the contracted work crew began first by laying the base foundation before the concrete was poured. This foundation was expanded to the size of our old asphalt paths. When we decided that we wanted to have some paths narrower than the old ones, this foundation wasn't shrunken down to size so it was left in the ground. So after it was all poured, our crew came back through and back-filled the voids next to the newly poured path with topsoil, free of rocks and gravel. There have been a few problem areas next to some tees and greens like hole 1 tee and green as well as hole 6 green.
We decided to take the mini excavator and dig down next to these cart paths. We began digging no deeper than 6-8 inches (The depth of the base rock should be), as we dug we found we were digging up the extra base rock. This is problematic because we only originally back-filled 4-8 inches of topsoil in some places. This means the topsoil wasn't deep enough to allow good root growth for the turf to be sodded. So, the extra foundation material would heat up excessively during the summer months and cause stressed turf. This makes it hard for grass to grow and to stay healthy. In order to remedy this problem we are digging down 8 inches and making it free of asphalt and gravel. We then are dumping fresh topsoil back in the holes and leveling them out. We will finish the process by placing sod on top of the back-filled soil.
Something that has been an issue lately are golfers taking their carts and driving them right down the middle of the walk paths. Here is an example of what we are talking about. Please refrain from driving on the walk path.
Monday was a busy day at Blue Hills for the Maintenance Crew. The crew began the morning with a little verticutting to the greens. This is the first of many verticuttings this season. Verticutting is a cultural process that is necessary to incorporate every season to help with thatch accumulation and grain control. Verticutting removes excessive roots and stems that have been accumulating just below the leaf vegetative tissue and just above the soil surface. It also helps with removal of organic matter. This practice will allow the leaf blade to grow more upright which in turn will help with ball roll and overall green playability.
With Spring here warmer temperatures are sure to come soon. When warmer temperatures are here long enough our zoysia will begin growing. This will be the moment when we will be able to open our Driving Range Tee. Some things that everyone should keep in mind is the correct way to make a divot when hitting off the grass. This video demonstrates this perfectly.
The only thing that we would ask you to change is to leave a little more space between divot lines, possibly an inch or two. This will only help with the recovery of the turf. Instead of the grass having to grow through a big square disruption it can now grow through a skinnier one instead and recover faster.
In case you missed our GM's remarks on the aerification process, we thought we would share it on our page as well. Thank you.
It's Done! The Grow In Begins.
Blue Hills Members, A perfect day to play golf clashed with the only chance we had to complete our Drill & Fill and Greens Aeration project this week. We are all grateful for your understanding and believe the benefits will last throughout this year. The aeration project is complete. Now, we begin the grow in process. Typically an aeration grow in will take two weeks. This will project will likely take 3 to 4 weeks to fully heal, and the recovery is weather dependent. You can begin playing Blue Hills again tomorrow. The forecast looks a little dicey on Friday and we all know the weather changes quickly in KC. To find out any course delays, restrictions or closings, check out UP TO THE MINUTE on the club mobile app or website. Reminder: PLEASE FIX YOUR BALL MARKS! Even though we have punched holes into the greens we still need you to repair your ballmarks. A repaired ball mark takes 2-3 days to heal. An unfixed ball mark will take 3 weeks and the surface will be uneven. Below you will find a picture recap of the aeration, our hard working crew, and a couple of videos.
The crews finished the Drill and Fill project Thursday morning.
They carried over 110 TONS of kiln dried sand, pouring them into the feeders of the drill and fill machines.
Then they worked on our regular core aeration throughout the day, pulling 4 inch deep plugs and unwanted thatch from the greens. Of couse this material needed to be removed, and the crews swept and shoveled the material into their work trucks.
They stayed at it all day, and needed to as they weren't done yet.
Cliff spread a fine topdressing of sand to fill in the aeration holes.
Bruce followed Cliff smoothing out the greens. But wait. There was one more step.
That same crew headed back out to spread fertilizer onto the greens. Correct. They walked every green on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Started out with a pickle bucket full of sand, and constantly filling and lifting them into a machine. Then they scapped off the unwanted material off each green. Then they fed each green to accelerate the healing process. I could not find anyone with a Fitbit to tell me how many steps they took, but we'll assume it was "Unbroken" esque. We are all very excited to get this project behind us and enjoy the great results in May .
This last week temperatures were rising and everyone believed spring was finally here. The Blue Hills Turf Crew believed this to be true and so we got out on the course and got down to business. We began our first verticutting of the season on all of our greens. Verticutting is a cultural process that is necessary to incorporate every season to help with thatch accumulation and grain control. Verticutting removes excessive roots and stems that have been accumulating just below the leaf vegetative tissue and just above the soil surface. It also helps with removal of organic matter. This practice will allow the leaf blade to grow more upright which in turn will help with ball roll and overall green playability.
This past Friday Woody and his crew made an addition to the irrigation pond. Some people might recall a few years back when we encountered a problem with a smell coming from the pond. We decided to correct this issue by installing four airolaters which help with pulling the water from the bottom of the pond to the surface. This keeps a constant flow throughout the pond to keep everything healthy and to help keep the smell away. In continuation of the project we decided to incorporate four more airolaters and dispersed them evenly throughout the pond. In total we now have eight airolaters, and our pond should continue to be in good health, free of smell and looking good.
The Blue Hills Maintenance Crew has begun work on the lagoon. This project has multiple steps that are required in order to get the majority of the debris out. The first step we took in order to start the process was to create a gravel path that would allow us to get to the center of the lagoon. We are now beginning to scoop out the debris and muck that has been collecting after heavy rainstorms. This is only a temporary solution because there are two constant flowing creeks that deposit directly into the lagoon.
This past week we have been busy working on a few different projects. One of these projects is the landscape bed next to the driving range tee. This bed was in need of a remodel. If you can remember this bed consisted of a row of tall shrubs that were enclosing the west side of the driving range tee. These shrubs were old and outdated and just needed to be replaced with something fresh. The remodel will consist of lower growing plants that will help with the beauty of the bed, and visibility of the driving range tee. Below, is a before and after picture of the bed. The design shown is what the bed will look like when completed.
This week we began dormant seeding our green banks. Dormant seeding is what it sounds like, you seed during the year when the ground temperature is below 50* and the seed isn't ready to germinate. It is useful and cost effective to do this now when temperatures are cooler and the soil can keep moisture for longer which helps minimize irrigation needs.
We began this project by aerating multiple passes along each green bank, this pulles a core of soil leaving a little hole for the seed to drop into and helps make soil contact. After every hole was aerated, we came through with a rotary spreader and dispersed our tall fescue. When the seed has been thrown we go behind and drag the area with a steel drag mat. This process helps to break the plugs up and work the seed into the high traffic, thin growing areas, where it will sit until temperatures warm and the seed can germinate.
During the off season the maintenance crew is determined to stay busy. Another project that we have started is to build new ball crates for the driving range. These crates will be used on the driving range tee instead of the current buckets.
These last few years we have been really working on cleaning out the canopy of the trees on our golf course. This winter we are continuing the process by cleaning out all the dead wood that has appeared in a lot of our oak trees. We contracted out a crew to come in and climb those tall oak trees. These climbers are professionals, they are able to climb the trees without spikes on their shoes so the trees aren't damaged during the process. They will start from the top working their way down the tree removing all the dead wood that is visible. The process should take only a few weeks since they are only concentrating their efforts on the oaks. Our crew then will come in later and limb up any maple trees that need it as well. This process is necessary for the health of the tree by severing off any portion of the tree that is dead. This will help keep unwanted insects from penetrating and entering those wounded areas and damaging the tree further.
The new installation of potable water to number 4 bathroom began with first locating the existing line. Next, we cut into, and branched off our new line towards the bathroom. After using the Dingo to help dig a trench, we inserted the newly assembled pipe into the trench and filled it back in. 
Good Afternoon Blue Hills Country Club, the maintenance crew here at the club have been keeping busy during this cold weather. We had a great season this year and we are continuing this trend with some work next to our cart paths. When we first poured our cart paths a few years ago, the contracted work crew began first by laying the base foundation before the concrete was poured. This foundation was expanded to the size of our old asphalt paths. When we decided that we wanted to have some paths narrower than the old ones, this foundation wasn't shrunken down to size so it was left in the ground. So after it was all poured, our crew came back through and back-filled the voids next to the newly poured path with topsoil, free of rocks and gravel. There have been a few problem areas next to some tees and greens like hole 1 tee and green as well as hole 6 green.
