Irrigation Factoid

If you've spent much time on a golf course, at one time or another you've encountered a wet area on the course that was obviously the culprit of a leak in the irrigation system. (or, as Alex likes to say the "irritation" system). Here's a little something to ponder on when your mind has nothing else to do. The plumbing that leads to each irrigation head on our golf course comprises about 10 different joints, "T"s, and fittings. As you know if you've ever done any plumbing, each of those is a prime candidate for a leak. Now, multiply that by over 700 heads on our course and you quickly see that we have over 7,000 potential leaks in our irrigation system. Add to that the fact that most of our system was installed in 1988, making it over 20 years old and you can see how an occasional leak will appear.

Mowing

Have you ever really stopped to think about the mowing process at Lake Valley? You know, at home you mow your lawn maybe once a week, twice in the early spring growing season. At LVCC (and any golf course) mowing is constant. Weather permitting, something is mowed every day. Here's a breakdown of our typical in-season mowing procedures:

GREENS: Mowed DAILY at a height of .125". It takes two men using two mowers about 1.5 to 2.5 hours to mow all 19 greens. The mow direction is changed daily (front-to-back, side-to-side, 45-degree, etc).

FAIRWAYS: Mowed 2 to 3 times per week at .75" (3/4") height. We mow approximately 30 acres of fairway. It takes 8-12 hours to mow, depending on the striping pattern used and the amount of interruptions (play).

TEES, COLLARS, and APPROACHES: Tee boxes, collars and approaches are cut 2 to 3 times per week at a height of .650". It takes 1 mower around 4 hours with an additional worker helping with pulling and resetting the tee blocks.

GREEN SURROUNDS / TEE STRIPES: The greens surrounds are cut 3 times per week at a height of 2.25". It takes 2 mowers about 5 hours to cut approximately 15 acres of turf. Areas from tee to fairway at least 2 times per week. These areas take 2 mowers around 12 hours to mow approximately 20 acres of turf.

ROUGH: The rough is mowed is cut 2 times per week at 2.5" and it takes one man around 20 hours to mow the 50 acres of turf.

As you can see, mowing on a golf course is kind of like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. By the time you finish one round its time to go back and start again.

SPRING IS HERE!

Spring has finally arrived at Lake Valley. This picture from Saturday morning 4/10/10 shows that the pear trees have just about bloomed out, but the redbuds and other "red" flowering trees are still quite expressive. Dogwoods have started blooming as well, but with the temperatures expected in the upper 70's and 80's next week, they may not last long.

The bermuda fairways have started greening very well, and the few days of high temps next week should bring them in very nicely. All in all, the course is in great shape and starting to really wake up!

New Groove Regulations

As you may or may not know, 2010 brings in new regulations on the size and shape of the grooves on your golf clubs. Actually, most of the 2010 rules changes apply only to PGA Tour players, but changes are also on the horizon for amateurs in the next few years as well. Of course, if you only play with your group of four on Tuesdays this may not affect you at all, but if you play any events that are played under USGA rules you should be aware of the pending changes.

It's a bit of an infomercial, but Cleveland Golf has put together a web site with information about the changes and what they mean. The site address is www.yearofthewedge.com. I encourage you to take a few minutes and browse around their site. There's lots of interesting information there.