The calendar has flipped over to October, but the weather forecast has been anything but these last few days. Even with this weekend’s dip in temperatures, there is still plenty of great days for you to come out and enjoy your golf course. Nothing like fall golf!
As a reminder, greens aerification will begin on October 10th, with the front 9 being closed. October 11th will have the back closed for play so we can aerify. If the weather cooperates, all 18 holes will be open on the 12th, when we will begin poking holes on fairways. Both greens and fairways will be aerified with 5/8″ solid tines, with sand added to greens holes, which is the same process we’ve used for the past 3 years, depicted in the video below. All aerification activities should be completed by October 20th. Please check with the golf shop each day you visit Elcona for the latest updates on our aerification schedule and facility availability.
Many of you have mentioned why we seem to not drain as well as we do in the springtime, or even why we do not drain as well as in the past. The answer to those questions are explained by total maintenance and golfer activities. While our sandy loam soils are a blessing to manage turf on and often allow us to reopen the course much earlier than other facilities after heavy rains, drainage rates still slow down as the season progresses, beginning from the day after Spring aerification takes place. Daily/weekly maintenance on playing surfaces creates traffic compaction, as does the foot and cart traffic from the 18,000 rounds of golf that are estimated to be played on the course this year. All of that wear and compaction, combined with the lower angle of the sun, increased rolling and expectation for firm/fast conditions, can “seal off” the playing surface and make water percolation rates much slower. This continues until fall aerification takes place, in which compaction is relieved and drainage rates increase with the addition of fresh sand in the surface below.
One project we have begun is the repairs to the settling that has occurred on the north end of the practice tee. For those who do not remember, this area was where a bunker and collection area for water were located prior to the bunker renovation of 2020. Since this area was filled and seeded, much settling has occurred in the last 3 years making this area sub-prime for a practice area. We have stripped the bentgrass area behind the main hitting tee, and will be raising the grade to that area back to where it was when the new tee was constructed. Bentgrass and bluegrass sod will be installed after grading has been completed, and this area should be ready for use beginning in 2024. I look forward to completing this within the next 2 weeks in between greens and fairway aerification.
Another project that will begin in mid to late October is a technology upgrade to our irrigation system. For years, we have battled countless shorts, ground faults, and lightning strikes to the irrigation infrastructure and buildings, and these issues have severely increased in frequency over the last couple of years. In 2023, there have been a few instances of over 400 sprinklers scheduled to run overnight and none actually did due to one decoder shorting out, causing an entire wire path to shut down. The useful life of these electrical components are 15 years, which is how old the system is (2008 was date of installation!). As decoders are replaced, more burn out and need replacement depending on the necessity of system usage.
In meeting with both the Golf/Greens Committee and the Board of Directors, a plan was developed and approved to replace all 1340 decoders on the property with ones designed with upgraded technology, replace much of the grounding system that has become compromised due to 15 years of electrical faults and lightning, and the pump controls, in which have also become obsolete and would be catastrophic to course conditions if they failed and prevented water from being pumped our of sprinklers in the first place! At the end of the day, all of these much needed upgrades will allow our staff to focus fine tuning the efficiency of the irrigation system, rather than repairing it so it runs. These upgrades will also allow us to troubleshoot any future electrical problem on a wire path within a matter of seconds, not hours as is the case currently. Wissco Irrigation has been selected as the contractor that will perform 90% of this work beginning in mid to late October, with our staff performing some of the work as well.
As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to me at ryan@elconacc.com. I look forward to sharing the progress of this and all other fall projects with you as the season winds down. I hope you have a great rest of your week, and I hope to see you all out on the golf course!
Ryan
Rub of the Green 