...back at the Blog

We may have underestimated our commitment to the blog pre-season. It has been increasingly difficult to make the time to compose our thoughts and update everyone as to what we have been up to regularly. We have certainly been up to alot since our last post as a lot of time has past.

This season went phenomenally well. Greens were very healthy after their extended healing period following the sand inject Graden we utilized in the spring. I can't say enough about how great product the sand inject Graden is. We are big fans and happy to have such a great tool in our arsenal. The rest of the course held up well as we utilized a lot of spot watering and an intensive foliar spray program to keep everything looking good.

We were able to impress the NCGA's staff with our conditioning for their Mid-Am Qualifier and secured ourselves a spot as a site to host a U.S. Open Local Qualifier this next May 15th. It is a great accomplishment for us to be recognized as a first-class course worthy of the honor. The qualifier is an 18-hole stroke play competition for amateurs and professionals with the championship being held at Erin Hills Golf Course, Erin, Wisconsin, June 15th-18th.

Our Men's Invitation went great even after the less than exceptional weather experienced the first day. Once again the maintenance team came together to give the men some of the fastest greens we have ever had out here at Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club. GCM management returned in the afternoon to mow and roll before the shoot-out that provided a welcomed bit of drama.

Our most difficult tournament the Fountaingrave was also a big hit. Our Assistant Superintendent Nick Reyes picked some of the best pin positions we have seen to keep it a challenging as possible while maintaining fair playing conditions. If you missed the cup on a downhill putt you were probably going to end up off the green. A word to the wise, keep your ball below the hole and play defense on the greens.

The Women's Invitational also went great and was put together really well. It happened to fall over the week that the Olympics started and carried that theme throughout the event. Good time were had by all that participated.

As we wind the season down and have more time to add to the blog, we will try to recap a majority of the projects that we are and have undertaken and interesting happenings on the property here in this blog. There is no lack of work to be done out here and the management team feels very fortunate to have such a great crew to help us see our vision through.

The First Green Field Trip

We are very proud to state that we have now successfully hosted our inaugural First Green Field trip on our property as of the 25^th of April. Taking inspiration from a seminar I attended at the Golf Course Industry Show in February, hosted by The First Green (http://thefirstgreen.org/), we took the necessary steps to prepare ourselves to teach a bunch of bright eyed fifth-graders about some of the science surrounding our field. If your child attends Hidden Valley Elementary School, and is in the fifth-grade, than they were likely part of the event.

We covered four different topics, each with their own station and personnel. Topics included: 'What Makes-Up Soil', 'Soil Fertility and How We Determine What Fertilizers to Use', 'Irrigation Water Management', and also 'How to Properly Hit a Golf Ball'. 

The 'What Makes-Up Soil' station walked the students through the different components of soil, which include; sand, silt, clay, rocks, organic matter. Examples of the different components were presented to the kids to get a better feel for their textures. The differences in percolation rates were  then demonstrated by pouring water through different samples of the soil components which were arranged in upside down water bottles that had the bottoms cut off. They stood up by pushing the top of the water bottle into the bottom of an old practice putting green cup. We also showed them what a  Aerifier is and discussed why we aerate soils. We then let them apply a mixture of sand and seed to the driving range tee and have a little bit of fun rolling balls on our chipping green and playing in the bunker. 

Students check out the 'What Makes- Up soil' station

Asst. Superintendent Jon Arnett talking to kids about the importance of aeration and getting air into the soil.

Moving from that station, the kids were then exposed to the nutrient requirements that plants need in order to be healthy in the 'Soil Fertility and How We Determine What Fertilizers to Use' station. Here we utilized a television with a power point presentation to show them a Periodic Table of Elements and highlighting the relevant nutrients the plants require. The students had a blast showing off their knowledge of the different elements they learned about recently while covering the topic in their class. They were then shown a chart explaining the relative availability of nutrients based on soil pH levels and shown the relative look of abiotic nutrient deficiencies in plants. They were then shown  a recent soil test that we had conducted for our property and discussed how we use it to determine what fertilizers to apply based off those findings. A variety of different fertilizers were shown to them with brief descriptions about how to analyze a fertilizer bag's label, and with the little time that was left, the kids pulled out soil cores and mimicked what we do to take a soil test.

Asst. Superintendent Nick Reyes talking about how we take soil samples

Asst. Superintendent Nick Reyes discussing highlights from a soil test

The 'Irrigation Water Management'station exposed students to the complexities of an irrigation system as well as what it means to be a responsible stewards our most precious resource. Many different components of an irrigation system were discussed including: irrigation maps with an emphasis on the importance of proper design, central controllers, satellites, weather stations, sprinklers large and small, different types of valves, PVC piping components, hoses with quick couplers, and different nozzles. Brief descriptions were given for all the components and the kids were given the opportunity to touch everything. We also touched on the idea of ET (evapotranspiration) and how we determine how much water to use daily, and also the topic of wetting agents and the importance of spot watering were also stressed to the kids.

Before they had the opportunity to escape the kids were then all given clipboards, pencils and a worksheet to walk them through a math exercise in square footage calculations. Irrigation flags were laid out in a rectangle and used to outline an area the kids were to measure. A tape measure was given to a volunteer and the rest of the class wrote down the reported measurements. We primarily used the worksheet provide by The First Green's website which was great and challenging to some. After struggling to retain the kids attention through the worksheet they were directed onward to the next station.

Golf Course Superintendent of Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club, Dustin McIntosh along with Fernando Villagran, Golf Course Superintendent of Santa Rosa C.C. discuss the complexities of  irrigation water management.

Golf Course Superintendent of Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club, Dustin McIntosh discussing irrigation system design. 

The 'How to Properly Hit a Golf Ball' station was certainly a hit. The kids were shown fundamentals of a proper golf swing and then given the opportunity to try it out themselves. This is a station that requires a lot of organization to ensure a high level of safety and to keep it fun. After receiving initial instruction and being given the opportunity to hit a few balls, the kids were lined up and given a few chances to get their ball as close as they could to the pin on the driving range target green (which we highlighted with white paint). The person from each group with the  ball closest to the flag won a prized logo ball. Winners were announced at the end in front of everyone. After they completed the lesson the kids really enjoyed running out to pick up the golf balls.

Amanda Hauth and her fiance Kyle Listar give instruction of the proper grip and how to properly address a golf ball.

At the end of the event the class was gathered together. The teachers had asked that we talk about career opportunities in the hospitality industry. A quick oversight of the different careers around the field were given and any questions the kids had were answered at this time. The event culminated in the handing out of bottled water and chocolate chip cookies that stole the show (kudos Chef Paul) and were the highlight of some of the kids day.

The event was a hit and we hope to make this an annual thing for Hidden Valley Elementary's fifth-grade. Everything worked out great considering it was our first time, and the confidence gained from attending the class with The First Green at the Golf Course Industry Show helped tremendously. Their website is a great resource and is very user friendly. 

I strongly recommend taking The First Green's class at the G.I.S. to help organize yourself and generate ideas about how you could best implement a program like theirs at your property.

There were little nuances in the way we organized the stations that made a big difference in the flow of the event. We parked various large pieces of equipment out in the middle of the driving range tee to define the area and help keep the kids focused on their respective station. Each station except the  'How to Properly Hit a Golf Ball' station had a table and pop-up tent and were focused outward to also help in capturing the kids attention. We rotated stations after approximately ten minutes given a few minutes in between which seemed to be just about the right amount of time. The event catered to three classes which were split into two separate sessions. Each group consisted of little more than thirty kids, so each station had roughly eight kids (with a chaperone or two) in attendance.

Directly afterwards I sat down with Elena Hagstrom and composed a little video re-cap of the field trip for The First Green's website and our Facebook page. It was much easier said than done. It was quite a humbling experience to try to get through a couple minute speel without making any mistakes. I gained a lot of respect for those that sit in front of a camera for a living by doing this.

The teachers were thrilled with event and commented on how organized and engaging everyone was. About a week afterwards a couple envelopes arrived with letters from the kids. What a nice touch with something special that was greatly appreciated by all that helped out. I would like to formally thank those that helped out including: my assistants Nick Reyes and Jon Arnett, Fernando Villagran Golf Course Superintendent of Santa Rosa CC, Amanda Hauth and her fiancé Kyle Listar (Assistant Golf Professional at Santa Rosa CC), our Catering and Event Manager Elena Hagstrom and Chef Paul. This couldn't have been done without them. Thank you all for your help in making this such a great experience! 

Letters from the 5th grade classes!

Graden/Aerification Completion

        Our spring time aerification out on the course has come to completion, as we now wait for it all to recover. First off, I want to thank everybody for their patience throughout these past couple weeks as we went through these processes out on the course. Our staff did an incredible job in order to make everything run as smoothly as possible. We are very pleased with the outcome of the course after these couple weeks.
       
        As most of you have seen, we used our sand inject Graden on our greens this time around. This is a very aggressive process to our greens, but the benefits of doing it are great. We are able to remove around 15% of our surface area and directly inject sand to replace that 15% into our soil profile. Having that sand in the upper layer of our soil helps us dilute the amount of organic matter, which leads to increased water infiltration, air exchange, and improves our nutrient dispersion throughout the green. It also decreases disease/insect pressure and localized dry spots. The amount of sand (65-70 tons) instantly firms up our greens, and also will result in more of a consistent "true-roll."

        
        Dustin, Jon, and myself brainstormed weeks prior to prepare for the Graden. This was only the second time around using this on our greens. We were able to come up with a pretty good set up to make this process run as smoothly as possible for our guys. 

         There was a station at our maintenance shop to fill up to 200 sand bags using our Propass top-dresser. Those sand bags were loaded onto trailers, which were then transported out to the greens. The sand bags were then placed out onto the green in line with the direction of the Graden.

        We had two guys follow directly behind the machine with push shovels pushing all the removed debris to the collars, where it was picked up into carts to dump. Making sure the green was clean after each pass was important to help line up the next pass.

Following the completion of the Graden, we then dragged the green with a brush and Coco Mat to help work in the sand a little bit more. Granular fertilizer and gypsum was then applied, followed by some irrigation. 

All 20 of our greens were completed (2 passes on each) after 3 ½ days of this process.

        With the amount of work this does to the greens, the recovery process takes a little bit more time than our normal aerification. Weather plays a significant part to having a speedy recovery. We have unfortunately not had great weather to help give us growth potential in our greens. The greens have received both granular and foliar fertilizer applications to help aid the recovery. We now have to wait it out until the greens are able to heal up. Once we feel they have fully recovered from the Graden process, we can start working our greens back to tournament form for the season.

        The sand inject Graden is a rare piece of equipment in our industry that I consider a luxury for the club to own. We plan on continuing to use it once every three years. If we are able to keep on that trend, we will be ahead of the game in controlling organic matter in our green's profile.

        If you have any questions, comments or would like to talk more about the process, please feel free to contact us and we would be more than happy to help.

- Nick Reyes, Assistant Superintendent 

Finding the Balance

     The trick is to find the balance. Everything seems to have a balance and finding that is the key to success. Whether it is soil fertility, the timing of various pesticide applications, how much water we put out on the course, golf course play-ability factors, how we deal with our respective crews, and our work vs. home life all have to be balanced with the objectives of what we are trying to accomplish. Experience is the key to understanding the intricacies of balancing the job and there is nothing more valuable than first hand experience to guide the way.

     Through this blog we hope to shed light on the intricacies of what we do as golf course maintenance professionals with the hope of educating and communicating to our audience why and how we do the things we do. We feel very fortunate to be stewards of this great property and hope to create this as part of a legacy that we will leave in the hope that it is continued for years even after we are gone. 

-Dustin McIntosh, Golf Course Superintendent

Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club

     Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club is a private club that provides first class amenities to its members in a picturesque setting in the hills above Santa Rosa, Ca. The golf course is a Ted Robinson design which opened in 1985. The course has changed hands a few times through the years and at this time is the only course in Sonoma County to be held privately through its membership.

     The turf is predominantly Poa annua which thrives and is manipulated into a very fine playing surface. This course is a testament to the fact that Poa annua can produce high quality playing surfaces. The management philosophy for the property involves embracing this turf type and using its competitive advantage to our benefit.

     We operate year round with a medium sized crew ranging from sixteen to nineteen individuals including the superintendent, mechanic and assistants. We are also fortunate enough to have a crew dog, named Dixie the Catahoula, who was purchased by the club for the sole purpose of helping keep our local geese population off the golf course.

     The course is irrigated using well water and we do our part as stewards to conserve and apply the water in a responsible manner placing a high emphasis on spot watering. It is essential in these drought influenced times here in California that we utilize new technologies and are diligent in ensuring that everything we apply is of necessity. Our property has characteristically heavy clay soils which intensify the need to be attentive to the turf’s needs. It is extremely easy to become wet, and when we do, it takes a lot of time to dry out. Our goal here is to always present a firm and healthy playing surface for our membership.

     There is a slough of property specific nuances that we intend to shed light on here in future posts. This is truly a beautiful property that shines as one of Santa Rosa’s finest gems. 

-Dustin McIntosh, Golf Course Superintendent