Llanerch Golf Course and External Activities

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.