Llanerch Golf Course and External Activities

We have started our Winter Tree Management Program. This is the process where we identify trees that need to be either trimmed or removed. The tree pictured here was an Eastern White Pine that had to be removed because of extensive insect damage. The winter is continues to be the best time to perform this type of work. 

Today we verticut 11,13 and 6 fairways. Verticutting is a process where we use a machine with spinning circular blades (the attachment on the tractor in the picture) and run it across the fairway bentgrass. This reduces the thatch layer, improves air movement in the turf canopy, make the bentgrass "stand up" for a better lie and assists in drying the surface out faster. We have done all the fairways on the Clubhouse side of the course and hope to get the remaining fairways done next week.

Yesterday we mowed greens for maybe the last time in 2011. The mild weather and rain had made them grow a little more then we expected. This will increase the speed a little and smooth them out. We are also starting to pull in the ballwashers and rakes in for the winter. There will still be a few ballwashers out on the course for our winter players.

The 18th Restoration is moving along quickly. With all this unseasonably warm weather, the grass has started to grow roots and "fill in". We have been spreading sand and rolling the green and new fairway to continue smoothing out the surface. We have already mowed the green over 15 times! More sod will be installed on the right side of the rough next week.  

Today we trenched the wet area on 1 fairway. The Greenkeepers are installing 4 inch perforated pipe with pea gravel to catch the water. It seems that the water is coming from a spring in the middle of the fairway. We hope to get all the drainage in today before Wednesday's rain. We will sod the trench line some time next week, weather dependent.

As we start a new week today, I thought I would blog about the planned activities on the golf course. First, Countyline Fence started installing the new fence on Steel Road this morning. The Assistant Superintendents are focusing on mowing, rolling and sand topdressing the 18th green. The Greenkeepers are still working to clean up the leaves. We also plan to trench in new drainage for the 1st fairway. I will post some updated pictures later. Enjoy the great weather!  

Our contractor is wrapping up the project today! They are finishing installing sod and compacting sand in the bunkers. Some of the bare areas in the rough will be seeded Monday. Some excess soil left over from the project will be used to fill in the stump holes. We are going to give the new sod some much needed water and fertilizer to promote root growth. I hope you like the end result as much as we do!

Starting yesterday, the construction crew began sodding the 18th green complex. They have installed bentgrass for the fairway extensions, low cut bluegrass for the intermediate cut and turf type tall fescue for the rough. They also installed some fine fescue on the bunker edges. We plan to finish sodding by tonight but might need to purchase a small quantity more next week to fix some construction wounds. 

The construction team is finishing the drainage in bunkers and installing the white bunker liner in all four bunkers today. They are also preparing the site for the placement of sod that arrives tomorrow morning. The Grounds Crew is rolling and topdressing the greens sod. This will help smooth out the putting surface in the future. We are still planning to be done sodding by Friday evening. We will still have some minor clean up that we will complete later. 

The 3 inches of snow stopped work on 18 for the last three days. Our contractor is bringing extra labor in today in pursuit of " catching up".  We will be putting drainage in all of the 4 new bunkers and preparing the site for sod. I hope to have a new update by the end of the day.

 Yesterday we finished edging out the three bunkers surrounding the green and rough shaping the new fairway. We are planning to install drainage in them on Monday. We will also begin edging and draining the new fairway bunker on Monday. Sodding of the entire green surround will begin on Wednesday. Of course, this all is weather dependent. A snow storm could potential push the whole schedule back a few days.

Yesterday was a success for us. The contractors were able to finish sodding 18 green completely before the rain came in last night. The sod came from our nursery by 5 green. I am hoping that it will "knit in" and start to grow roots into the soil within the next 14 days. Weather will be the biggest factor. Unfortunately we can't move to draining the bunkers until tomorrow. The rain has turned the soil into mud.

Today, we are focusing on installing the internal drainage for the 18th green. At the same time, we are also  installing new irrigation heads. We will then smooth out the green surface one more time. The goal is to sod the green by the end of the day tomorrow. We have to finish tomorrow because....you guessed it...rain on Thursday.

Wow! Greg Hufner, from our contractor Total Turf  is standing by a 6 foot long rock that we pulled out of the back right side of 18 green! So far, we have found over 5 large rocks on the right of 18 green that weigh at least half a ton! Total Turf has been great in finding ways to remove them and put them some where else on the course. It is funny what "buried treasure" you find at Llanerch.

As most Members know, long time Assistant Matt Willigan has moved on to become the Superintendent at Fiddler's Elow Country Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Matt spent ten years at Llanerch helping me install a new irrigation system, renovate the golf course and manage the department. I believe Fiddler's Elbow will be a better place place to golf under his stewardship. We all wish him well in his new endeavors and we will miss his trusty companion, Clancy, the black Labrador.

I would like to welcome many more international readers of Llanerch's Blog. They come from many new countries: Cyprus, Bahamas, Bermuda, Peru, Egypt, Vietnam, Brazil, Finland, Philippines, Pakistan, Yemen, Japan, Nigeria and the Ukraine! We are glad to have you visit the Blog!

The 18th Project was suspended on Tuesday because of rain. The contractors will start up again today despite the muddy conditions. We plan to strip the sod around the bunkers and start lowering the right side in preparation of the new fairway. The rain has moved the schedule back a day but we will continue to work on Saturday to try to catch up.

The 18th green restoration starts today. We will start with the removal of a few trees, delivery of construction materials and removal of sod. I plan to include photographic updates as the project proceeds. Of course the forecast rain for Wednesday will delay some of the construction. It would not be the 2011 golf season without some rain.  

Today starts the next phase of installing new fence on Steel Road. Our contractor is removing all the old split rail today. The new black aluminum fence was delivered today and is slated to be finished in November. The new fence will run the entire length of Steel Road and go up Edmonds Avenue to Dill Road.

Rainy September is finally over. We have received over 11 inches of rain over the past month. Between August and September, it rained over 36 inches! Just to put that into perspective, Philadelphia averages 47 inches of rain a YEAR! I am hoping October is finally dry. As for the Restoration of 18, the construction phase will start  October 18th. The tree trimming and removals by Aradar Tree Service will take two day and will also start on the 18th.

I feel like I keep blogging about the same subject: rain. As we tried to aerify greens yesterday, the rain kept making the task more difficult. We did get all the greens aerified but did not get sand topdress down on five of the greens. The wet turf makes putting the sand down to fill the aerification holes almost impossible. Our level of success in filling the holes determines how fast they will heal (ie: the more the hole is filled to the surface, the faster they disappear). We will spend the entire day trying every technique possible to fill the holes. We also have the forecast threat of flooding rains coming tomorrow also prompting us to finish today. Updates will follow.    

It has finally stopped raining (I hope). The course is starting to drain out. The main issue continues to be the bubbling of areas in the fairways. This picture shows what happens when we poke a hole in the bubbles. The water just spouts right out. In some locations, these spouts have been running for close to two days! The wettest spots are the bottom of  9 rough and 1, 18, 10 and 6 fairways. We just finished fixing all sand in the bunkers. The course is open for walkers but carts continue to be ruled out. We appreciate your patience as we continue to get the course back together and try to get the carts out and about. 

Since the last Golf Course Update, we have received 7.5 more inches of rain! 2.5 inches came last night and it is still raining! The course was so wet yesterday that we had to close it even to walking. It is safe to say that we will not have carts today at the least. As for the golf course, we are seeing the growth of black algae on some areas where the water is either puddling and/or flowing across on fairways and greens. This algae can damage and/or kill turf. We are going to do what ever we can to reduce the areas of damage. Lets just hope for the return of some sunny skies. 

The course was hit with just over 7 inches of rain. We had sustained gusts of over 55mph. All the bunkers had "washouts". Fairways 1,6,7,10, 5 & 18 were basically flooded in sections. As you can see in this picture, sections of the fairways actually "bubbled" up from all the water. (CLICK on the picture) We had to cut them open with a knive and squeeze the water out! Tree damage was not too bad. Most of the damaged is located along the 5 fence line. We have a tree company coming out this week to clean those spots. The Greenkeepers concentrated on leaf and branch cleanup yesterday. We were still able to mow greens but nothing else. We plan to mow greens, most of the fairways and rough today. We will also start raking and shoveling sand back in place in the bunkers. It will probably take us most of the week to get the bunkers back in shape. . Our task was made more difficult by the loss of power but I am glad to report the Grounds Maintenance Facility and irrigat...

The forecast has gone from bad to worse. We are planning on experiencing high winds and heavy rain. We spot aerified 18, 9 and 2 green this morning to improve water movement. The staff is locating and clearing all drains on the course. We are being as "proactive" as possible or as I call it, playing "defense". Heavy rains are our least favorite type of weather because we condition the turf all season to be dry. It is amazing to think July was the hottest month in Philadelphia history and August will be the wettest of all time.  I plan to post updates on the conditions as soon as possible once the storm is gone.

With all the rain coming over the next few days, we are working to reduce potential damage. Today we are "spiking" greens. The "spiker" makes very thin slicing incisions to the green surface. This helps the water penetrate the surface and increases the amount of oxygen in the soil. The last thing we want is the water to sit on the surface of the green. We roll the greens after we spike to smooth out the surface. It should have almost no affect on putting. It is more an aesthetic issue for golfers. We also will be aerifying low lying areas in fairways to again help drain water and increase oxygen levels. If you CLICK on the picture, you will get a better look at the "spiker" incisions. 

Here is the architect Stephen Kay's drawing of the Restoration of the 18th hole. The construction will start in mid-October. During the project, I will keep the blog up to date on it's progress. CLICK on the drawing to see it in more detail.

THE 18 TH HOLE RESTORATION This year it has become apparent that 18 green needed to be modified. The green, as everyone knows, is very sloped on the front half. The right side is very sloped from right to left. As the greens matured from the 2004-2005 Master Plan Restoration, the green keeps getting faster in speed. It has left the green keepers with only two or maybe three pin placements that seem “fair”. This stresses the turf on the green to the point that it barely stays alive every year. It also makes the hole set up the same almost every time. This was the same problem we had back in 2003 on number 17 green. That year we brought in Golf Course Architect Stephen Kay to redesign the front of the green. After his plans were approved by the Club, the Grounds Maintenance Department “lifted” the front of the green 14 inches with soil and planted bentgrass. Once the green healed, the project was deemed a success. It solved our problem of having only a few “fair” pin placements and the ...

The rain has finally stopped (for now). Llanerch got over 5 inches of rain in the last 48 hours! The course has always drained well but it is going to take some time after taking all this rain. We will have to keep carts off the course for now until the ground drains some more. I will continue to reevaluate the course throughout the day. It is our goal to get carts out every day but this rain has really soaked the course. We, as green keepers, are even restricted on where we can drive and what we can mow without damaging the course. We appreciate your patience.

The golf course has had over 4 inches of rain fall on it in the last 24 hours! The rain has washed the sand to the bottoms of all the bunkers. The greens are soft and the rough is growing like crazy. We will work to repair the bunkers over the next two days. We will also spend extra time mowing the rough to bring it back to a manageable height all this week. The rain is also exposing the need to modify the surface and drains for number 9 green. We plan to make those structural repairs on number 9 in the fall of 2012. The program of removing bermuda grass (a weed) out of the rough on number 18 is becoming more visible. As I stated in my last posting, the rough will turn yellow on 18 and begin to fade out over the next few months. We will use a combination of tall fescue seed and sod to repair these areas throughout the fall. 

Since my last blog post, we have had all kinds of weather: heat, a dry period and then heavy rain. The rough has thickened up in many location and some  "brown areas" have turned green. Some of those "brown areas" are by design. They are the result of applications of herbicide to kill weeds like nut sedge, bermuda grass and small spots of crabgrass. This will be most apparent on number 18. Next week I will begin to post details about some exciting plans to improve the 18th hole coming this fall. Enjoy the course.

Well, the U S Amateur Qualifier has just been completed at Rolling Green Golf Club and Llanerch. I believe the course held up very well. The average 18 hole score was 80. It just confirms that Llanerch is truly a tough test of golf. The course had green speeds just around 11.5 feet before the rain. I have had many people ask "who picks the pin placements"? For this tournament, as is with every other GAP sponsored event, it is done by the GAP officials. I do review them but they do such a good job, we rarely have to make adjustments. I would also like to thank all the participants for their kind compliments. We really appreciate it. 

Well, after weeks of no rain and heat indexes ranging from 105-119 degrees, we finally got rain. Llanerch received close to one inch last night. It sounds like that would be enough but it is not. We could use a couple more days of rain to get through the very dry soil. The rough has turned brown in spots because of the lack of rain and high heat. The irrigation system has helped us so far but is no replacement for good old rain from the sky. I expect some of the grass to "spring" back from the combination of rain and the somewhat lower temperature. Of course this will last only a day or so. The forecast is calling for a heat index of 106 degrees on Friday and mid-90s over the weekend. I will continue to play "defense" with the greens until the heat recedes. Our agronomic plan of protecting our greens so far has worked very well. I know everyone would like to see the greens be a little faster but hurting them now would cause short and long term damage. I appreciate e...

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year. In this picture, we used an infrared laser to measure the temperature of the 3rd green. It was 107 degrees! The only green that was hotter was the 18th. It was 109 degrees! The extreme hot weather will continue from today into at least Saturday night. As I have written before in this blog, we do not roll greens in high heat. We are trying to "nurse" the turf through the heat. We will start to roll greens again once the temperatures drop next week (if they do drop). 

Over the past week we have started to observe the greens having more ball marks than average. It is important that the ball marks are repaired to ensure both plant health and the smoothness of the putting surface. I have added an instructional video on how to fix ball marks properly. I would just ask that everyone try to find and fix their ball mark and fix an extra one each time you are on a green. Remember: a properly fixed ball mark take two day to heal. An unfixed ball mark take 30 days if it even can recover.

The construction of the resurfacing two of the tennis courts has started. Over the next few weeks, a contractor will be adding a new surface and paint to the two oldest courts. This process will make all four courts level will each other. Why now, you may ask and not in the "off" season? It is because it has to be at least 70 degrees to lay the new surface. We plan to have the courts open by the first week of August.

As you play the golf course, you will start to see black spots on some of the fairways. It is the divot mix we use to help fill in the fairways with bentgrass. These damaged areas are usually spots where either a divot was not replaced or divot mix was not used. I am happy to say that divot repair has improved dramatically this year but we still need your help. If your shot produces a divot, always replace it. If the divot "explodes" or is just a shredded mess, please use divot mix from your cart or caddy. Thanks.

As you play the course (especially 9, 10 and 18) or use the old putting green, you might notice "loose bark" on the ground. This material is truly just that.. "bark". The bark comes from the Sycamore trees. They shed because the bark is brittle in nature and rapid growth of the tree. They will shed bark from late June until late November! We rake up the bark every few days. The issue is the bark sheds almost every day and all day long! We will continue to do our best to keep the play free of bark as best we can.

Today is a tree maintenance day. We had an arborist company come to the course to trim some trees on 5, 15 and 11. We had the company cut out all the dead and/or damaged branches off. We do this for safety and to extend the life of the trees. It also makes the trees more appealing to view. 

As you can see from this picture (from the safety of the Grounds Maintenance Facility), we have just received an intense lightning rain storm. We measured close to a half of an inch of rain in 15 minutes! The greens will be slower because of the heavy rain. The sky are clearing now. The course was dry enough before the rain to allow carts today.

I had the pleasure of spending a half day at the US Open at Congressional Country Club. It is always educational to observe the techniques that the host club is using to prepare for the Open. I also had time to meet with other superintendents and USGA agronomists to trade ideas on how to make our course a better place to play. From what I saw, it will be a great test of golf.

The new putting green is open for play today! It seems to be just a little bit slower than the other greens. It takes a solid two year for a new green to "mature". Once it has, the speed will match the other "older" greens. I hope you enjoy it.

Now that the usually hot weather of last week has passed by, we are going to be busy improving "playability" of the course. The first step is grooming the fairways and greens today. "Grooming" is a process of mechanically standing the turfgrass straight up. This increases green speed and minimizes thatch build up. We will also lightly topdress the greens and fairways with sand. The sand firms up the surface, improves drainage and reduces potential scalping when we mow. The greens will be finished today. The fairways will take us any where between 2 to 4 day depending on the weather. 

The course survived the heat! We don't usually see the weather become so hot this early in the season. This time last year, the temperatures were around 80 degrees. The last two days this week were right around 97 degrees! We also received some needed rain last night. We are now back out rolling greens to increase green speed. The course should be fun to play today and over the weekend.  

If you look at this picture closely, you will see two green foot prints surrounded by damaged turf. This is the result of someone either spraying sunscreen or bug spray on their legs. I am all for protecting yourself from the harmful sun exposure and/or insects but both of those products damage or kill grass. Please apply these sprays away from the greens, tees and fairways. Thanks. 

An excessive heat warning has been posted for the Philadelphia tri-state area for today and tomorrow. Instead of roll the putting greens both of these day, we are only going to mow them. Our "rule of thumb" is if the temperatures are above 92 degrees, we do not roll. The roller just adds too much stress to the turf. Once the temperatures lower, we will start rolling them again. That being said, I just putted on a few of them this morning and they are still rolling very well.

It is that time of year where algae and weeds start to grow in the ponds. To combat that issue, we have an outside contractor treat our ponds. The company applies environmentally friendly products that reduce both the algae and weeds. All applications are monitored and regulated by state and federal laws. The contractor is also certified by both above stated regulatory bodies. This is our 6th year using this company.

Ever wonder who is reading this blog about Llanerch? Well, I am proud to say over 1600 hits have been posted since inception. The overwhelming are from the good old USA. To my surprise, we now can add 12 other countries to the list! We have India, Mexico, Canada, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Russia, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Belarus. Llanerch is becoming well known around the world!

The golf course is starting to really dry out. Golfers should be start seeing us water greens by hand. We do this to add water where it is needed and not where it is not. We also started to "level" the depth of the bunker sand in green side bunkers. We are hoping to finish this task today. The bunker sand will be somewhat "softer" in some spots until the sand "packs" down tighter. The sand will also be softer because it is drying out. We will also use a gas powered tamper to speed up the process of  "packing" in select bunkers.

The Old Pool House has now been completely removed and the foot print has been sodded. With the help of Lisa Barton our horticulturist, we have planted a group of beautiful trees. We plan to add some hedges along the fence at a later date. To add some more fun for all, we also install two sand horse shoe pits. We are looking forward to seeing you at the pool!

The new putting green is getting closer to opening. We are waiting for some small areas to completely grown in. Overall, the green is very healthy. We are hoping to have it open within the next three weeks. It is important to note that it will be a little slower then the other greens. It takes a couple years for the bentgrass to fully mature. Once it has, the speed will match the other greens.

The 16th Blue Tee construction is finished and growing in well. We will be open on Saturday June 4th. The fairway is roughly 170 yards from the tee. The right side fairway bunker is about 275 yard away and the left side pine is about 270 yards away. The hole is now 40 yards longer.

The question of what to do after hitting a shot that makes a divot is a common one. I have always advised that it is better to replace the divot. The seed and divot mix is only to be used if the shot creates a "scare" with no real divot or the divot explodes in numerous pieces. In that case, the divot mix is a better choice. Also, most players would rather have their ball land on a repaired divot then on a "sand pit". 

The Big Pool was painted yesterday. If you look in the background of the picture, you will also see the new canopies. These are the next steps in Llanerch's continue commitment in upgrading the entire property. The renovations on the big pool will help match the appearance of the baby pool. The canopies color was picked to match the colors we used on both the New Pool House and the refurbished Midway. 

Wow! The rough is tough! The four main reasons for the thick rough are years off seeding, aerifying, managing  soils fertility and the most of all....the weather. The temperatures and timely rain we experience in May push the turf to grow excessively. We are mowing the rough as fast as we can. We are also blowing the grass clipping to make it easier to find your ball. Once the June and July come along with their hotter temperatures and less rain, the rough will become more manageable. 

All new pool tile and coping was just completed at the big pool. They are the same color and style as the baby pool. We added more depth indicator tiles for safety reasons. We are going to put on a fresh coat of white paint in the pool in the next couple weeks.

Today,  we began the process of topdressing the fairways with straight sand. The sand is added to make the fairways more firm, make them drain faster and reduce the thatch layer. Once the sand is applied, we broom all the sand into the grass canopy. We have been doing this three time a season for over five years. The process takes us between 3-5 days.

Last week we installed a new cart paths on number 5 and 16 fairway. We repaved the paths on the 4 green / 10 green / 17 tee area and the path that leads to the  Grounds Maintenance Shop.

The golf course is slow to "green up" because of the unseasonably cold temperatures. When it does warm up (hoping next week) we should start to see the brown areas turn green. This week the greenkeepers have begun raking and smoothing out the bunkers to get them in "mid-season" form. Between the snow and winter rains, the sand has shifted and needs to be redistributed in an even matter. It roughly takes two weeks to iron out all the surfaces. On greens, we are beginning to lower the height of cut to increase green speeds. We hope to see you out on the golf course!

Over the past few weeks, we have been installing new paver walkways over at the tennis courts. We are now in the final stages of adding lights and seeding the entire area. Once the grass grows in and we finish panting the fences black, the area should look great.

We started yesterday to remove all the old tile and coping from the big pool. The replacement tile and coping will match the baby pool. We are also going to paint the the bottom of the pool and install a new drain line. We should be finished by the third week of April.

On Friday we started to build the new blue tee for # 16. This tee will add roughly 30 yards to the length of the hole. It will be completely sodded and should take about two weeks to complete. We will keep everyone up to date on when it will be open for play.

Last week we started the process of removing the old slate walkways and installing new paver walkways. They will connect the clay courts to the tennis deck and connect the hard courts to the tennis shop. The walkways will also have lights for better visibility. Depending on the weather (it stops raining), we hope to be done by the beginning of April.

The course has received way too much rain last night and today to aerify. We are rescheduling the aerification for next Monday and Tuesday. The good news is the course will be open the rest of this week. The bad news is the course will be closed next Tuesday. We are hoping (and expecting) next week will be dry.

Starting late last week, we began to apply stucco to the Midway. The goal is for the Midway to have the same colors and similar architectural features as the Clubhouse and the New Pool House. We also plan to install some new flowers around the building. Our scheduled completion date for the project is the first week of April.     

As of today, the Old Pool House has all been ripped down. The contractor finished taking down the walls and is now removing the concrete floor. If we continue to have good weather, we plan to grade and sod the site by the end of the week. The new black fence is still scheduled for installation on the week of the 14th. We will be planting new larger trees and shrubs towards the end of March.  

After rolling the greens yesterday, we are mowing them today. We just felt it was time to give them a "hair cut". This mow is somewhat earlier then years past.  It will take us above four weeks to get them down to our normal greens height but they will putt much better then last week. We look forward to seeing out on the course.

As some of you have noticed, the Canadian Geese have "left their mark"  on the golf course over the winter. Over the next few weeks, we will mow and sweep up their "dropping". It has been a long and difficult battle to control them. For decades, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has enforced rules to protect these migratory birds. They set limitations to what we can do to rid them from the property. In order to both follow the law and control the geese, we have hired an outside company that specializes in goose control. We used them in the fall of last year and had some good results. They will be using many different techniques from shooting off fire crackers to running specially trained dogs to harass the geese.  They have all the required and necessary federal and local permits. We are hoping this will help reduce their population. 

 Today is the start of the demolition of the Old Pool House. The contractor should be done by the March 14th. We will then install a new fence, plant trees and shrubs for privacy.  We will continue to feature more photographs of the progress on the website over the next few weeks. The building has been part of Llanerch since 1952.

Well, to everyone's surprise (including me), the course is open for play today. After some early afternoon rains yesterday, it became very windy. The wind continued through the night and helped dry the ground out. We still have some snow patches and tree debris on the course. The Greens Staff will work diligently to clean up as soon as possible. Because the ground has not totally dried out, we will refrain from carts today. Hopefully this is the start of warmer and dryer weather!

If you drive down Steel Road today, you will notice the installation of black aluminum fence on the Clubhouse side. It is the same type of fence we have used in the past along West Chester Pike and Manoa. The fence gives the course not just a better appearance but helps to reduce potential vandalism. Depending on weather, it should be done by the middle of next week.

Just when it looked like all the snow was melted, we received another 3.5 inches. The forecast later in the week is for warmer temperatures and rain. I am hoping that will melt most of the snow. We will send an email out when the course is snow free and dry enough for play.