Monday, March 25, 2024

March 25th, 2024 Spring is here... sort of

It is officially spring but it sure doesn't feel like it! This past winter was relatively mild- definitely no complaints from the maintenance team. That is usually a good sign for the course and the season ahead. We experienced our first cold week last week; we were out cleaning the place up and finishing a few projects that we started last fall. The course is in good shape as we get things ready for the season.

The team has been busy this winter as always going through the shop. We are just about done servicing the equipment, all of the reels have been sharpened, bearings, seals, hydraulic pumps and fluids checked and repaired. Many of our accessories like ballwashers, trash cans, flagsticks to name a few have been sanded and repainted plus our new roller came in last week. The staff breakroom, bathrooms, and office area of the shop have been given a fresh coat of paint and our posting area has been revamped. Many plant protectant materials and fertilizers have been delivered and inventoried, but a few deliveries are still scheduled for this month. Numerous reports have been sent in to state and federal agencies per requirements, continuing education classes for the professional team's licenses and certifications have been attended and we all went to the New England Turfgrass Conference and Tradeshow in Providence last month. We are in the process of putting together our summer maintenance staff; we are looking for one more full time position and a few seasonal/summer staff as well. We lost Evan Rose, a key team member to Belmont Country Club this past December. Evan was made the proverbial "offer he couldn't refuse"; we wish him all the best. You may see the staff scurry out of here after Opening Day morning setup to head to New Hampshire to attend his wedding... 

We have been busy working outside this winter as well. The club is continuing to work with our architect, Robert McNeil of Northeast Golf Company. Robert has been tasked with with a new master plan for the golf course; something to address the needs of the club moving forward. He has been here a few times in the last couple months and will be on site again this week. Some goals of this plan are to look at expanding our water retention capabilities, addressing safety concerns and visual as well as strategic impact with features (bunkers, mounds, teeing areas, etc.) across the property. He is also looking at agronomic and drainage issues; don't worry, looking at 7 green is on the list as well! It should be a comprehensive document that will be a great blueprint for the club moving forward. I would expect us to have something by the summer sometime.


We have done some tree work on the course this winter too; notably by the pond on 1, by the maintenance facility and most noticeably on hole 6. We looked at the original "new 6th" plan and noticed many of the smaller trees to the right of the approach area had grown so big that they blocked out the 2nd shot and changed the original intention of the hole design. Robert tagged trees for removal and the work was completed. New, lower growth will fill back in during the season once things warm up and native plants get going. Our cattail work around the ponds has also continued. These areas were sprayed per a DEP permit in October; they will be cleaned up as access is available. It will probably take a few seasons to get a real handle on these areas but a natural buffer is still intended, just not one with invasive cattails and phragmites. We've also gone through our drainage ditches and streams by hand removing leaves, stick and debris to keep them functioning well to keep the course as dry as possible all winter. 

Sod behind 4 green
Peter has been working hard on getting the new bathroom and water service station together between the 4th green and 5th tee. A large area was disturbed behind the 4th green to provide sewer, electric and water service to the bathrooms. We regraded the area last week and installed new sod; this area will be roped off for a while this spring until it can handle play and traffic. We will be working to tie the area in around the bathrooms over the coming weeks. As you might expect, we have a lot of things to get ready on the course in preparation to open so this won't be an area of focus but we will be working as time allows to make things as presentable as possible. They are still working on the bathrooms with plumbing, electric, roofing and all of the inside finishes to still be completed. Once they are completely done we will have to look at putting the cart path back into proper condition.

Some other cart path areas were addressed this winter; most notably the areas that tend to wash out during large storms. We purchased and installed some geo cell fabric from Vevor that seems to be working excellent thus far. A new mat is being installed on the back of the range tee so we decided to utilize some of the old mats in the lesson area. Last week we stripped the lesson tee sod, enlarged the footprint and tried to level it as much as possible. Unfortunately there is a large mass of tree roots right in the root zone but we did what we could without completely reconstructing the area. We were also able to install 4 mats in that area and seeded the top with a perennial ryegrass blend. The tee will be covered this week; we'll just have to wait for some good growing weather to get the tee back into use.  



A couple weeks ago, when it was actually still warm, we pulled the greens covers off, topdressed, aerated and brushed the surfaces. We followed this up with a roll before covering them back up. We are giving them a little help in healing up before removing the covers for the season. This was particularly important because the water hadn't been turned on yet, although Mother Nature seems to be taking care of that most of this month. Our hopes are that they will be mostly healed by the time we open, giving members the greatest putting surfaces for the longest period of time before we "ruin" them again in August. I did put the pump stations together last week and slow filled the system on Friday. We will be working on going through the whole thing in the coming weeks, tweaking anything that needs tweaking and checking all electrical connections and software. 

We are looking for a window to pull the covers permanently. This means we would like a few days without high winds or rain. If we see something this week we will start the process and hope to have them all uncovered by midweek next week. Once the greens are uncovered they will need to be rolled, blown and mowed before being treated for poa annua seedhead suppression and an early spring fungicide cleanup spray. As for looking to predict an opening, we are expecting to be on a normal timeline with the goal of being open sometime the week of The Masters. The weather will be the real determining factor. We will, as always work hard in the coming weeks to keep things moving forward and get you back on the course as soon as possible. We are looking forward to another great season here at Bass Rocks! 


Monday, October 30, 2023

Is it November or June?

November in here on Wednesday and the season is winding down. You wouldn't know it with all of the green grass out here on the course. The Turkey Shoot is this weekend, the most important tournament on the schedule; good luck to everyone. 

We have yet to have a freeze which isn't that abnormal but last week was magical. The switch will flip soon though and grass growth will really slow; I would expect mowing to be curtailed significantly with the probability of the last mowings sometime next week. Leaf cleanup, native areas plus stream and pond cleanups will be our focus moving forward the majority of November. 

We could really use some colder weather to let the turf know it needs to store food in time to get ready for winter. Last week we put our gypsum (calcium sulfate) , potassium and magnesium applications out before we winterize the irrigation system. The compressor is on site and we plan on blowing out on this Tuesday with Tanto Irrigation here to assist. We will have the portable bathroom on hole 6 picked up next week and winterize the bathrooms at the snack bar after the Turkey Shoot so be prepared. On course bottled drinking water will also stop after Saturday. 

Looking forward, I would expect us to begin the process of closing things down the week after Thanksgiving per usual. We will take that following week to get our last sprays out for snow mold protection, install temporaries, topdress greens and get all of the covers installed. I will probably put together one last blog post after the season is wrapped up.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

October Update

 October 10, 2023


2023 has been a BUSY season at Bass Rocks. A new 2nd hole grown in from seed and plugs, a new irrigation system, newly constructed mounds on holes 2,3,5,7,11,12,13,14,17 and 18, new tees on holes 12 and 17, some stone walls and paving all over the place are just the tip of the iceberg. Don't forget the deck and patio areas and some solar panels that were installed on the maintenance building. The schedule has been packed, the course is getting utilized to the max and the MGA was just here a couple times in the last month to re-rate the golf course. The greens committee is already talking to a few architects about the direction the course will be headed in the future to address course and member needs.

Where does the time go? Each year the season just flies by and this one was no different but WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. Last year it didn't rain at all, this year it rarely stopped, and as we get into the last bit of good golf weather, Mother Nature keeps giving us rainy weekends. Let's make some lemons into lemonade. We didn't get missed by all of the regular rain events; in reality we were spared from them this year. It seemed to work out: when we got 1 inch, other towns received 3 or sometimes even 5; when they received 1 inch, we got 0.25. It's not every day the rain gods are looking down at us but thus far 2023 has been pretty good to us!

The rain was very helpful for getting many of the irrigation system trenches back up to snuff. Tanto Irrigation did an incredible job with the new system installation and we were prepared with compost, sprayable fertilizers and wetting agents along with handwatering, but nothing did more than the regular rain events we received. The seeded edges of the newly paved cart paths are already starting to germinate and stabilize the asphalt. The second green was regularly watered with clean fresh rain water and much of last year's drought damage has returned with seeding, fertilizer and regular cultural practices. The new irrigation system is performing well; we haven't used it too much but when we have it has been extremely efficient and versatile. The extra time we've had to familiarize ourselves with it will pay dividends in the future. The maintenance team is still working on cleaning up and organizing some areas from the irrigation project, mostly in the dump area. Some materials still need to be trucked out and the last remnants of trash and debris discarded.

The DEP files we had for the irrigation system and the 2nd hole have been recorded at the Registry of Deeds in Salem and closed. The new file we opened for treatment of cattails in our 3 ponds has been recorded and our initial application has been made. We will work to physically cut down the plants this winter, after the product has had an opportunity to mobilize within the plant and do its job. This will be a multi-year process but will pay off over time. 

We are one third of the way through October with just a few events left on the schedule. The Cape Ann Cup, a few more outings, the rescheduled Lundberg Play Day and of course the Turkey Shoot are still to come. We will be aerating fairways on October 23 with a familiar outside contractor, Sportscapes Unlimited. We only have one day this year due to some scheduling conflicts so we will have to pick away at some of the other fairways ourselves. Please take free relief if you find your ball in an aeration hole. We also have a number of other items to tend to over the next 6 weeks as we begin preparation for the winter. The irrigation system will be winterized either the last week of October or the first week of November depending on the availability of Tanto and their compressor. Greens mowing heights will be slightly raised to increase carbohydrate storage for winter, light sand topdressing applications will be made to greens and some approaches, along with all important fall fertilizer and plant protectant applications. As always we will look at the weather as we make our way into November and start to think about greens covers.


Tuesday, August 8, 2023

August Update from the Course

It has been a LONG time since I've done a blog post, sorry, there is only so much time in the day; priorities. Before I get into it, I just want to express my gratitude to the membership, Board of Governors and my coworkers for recognizing my 20th year at Bass Rocks; thank you.

It has been a very busy season with lots of golf being played, loads of events and many projects coming to completion. The Ladies Invitational is in the rearview window and the Men's Michael J. Burke Invitational is on tap next week. This season is FLYING! We will begin aeration the week after the Burke and get right back into an extremely busy September schedule. The weather has been more manageable here on Cape Ann this summer. While other people are getting inundated with inches of rain at a time we are getting "spared" with an inch here and a half inch there; just what we are looking for. More of the same for the rest of the season please, Mother Nature kind of owes us! Don't mind this plug for fixing your ballmarks, they are very bad and numerous; PLEASE FIX YOUR BALLMARKS.

Here are some great photos taken by Patrick Koenig, a photographer/golf enthusiast that is trying to play 500 rounds in 365 days. He was here last week to play Bass Rocks. Follow him on Twitter/X @patrickjkoenig or on Instagram @pjkoenig 






As you know, both of our projects have been completed. Irrigation installation was complete just before Memorial Day and Tanto completed removal of the old system about 2 weeks later. The 2nd hole has been growing in since early spring and is doing very well for such a juvenile green. We are currently working on closing out both DEP files and hope to obtain our Certificates of Compliance at next week's Conservation meeting. Both projects finished up on time and under budget. We are currently working on getting a permit to manage the cattails in our three ponds while we are trying to close out the other projects. They have really taken off since last season, I suspect it has a lot to do with the low pond levels we experienced last summer and fall due to the drought.


We have been able to get the 2nd hole open sparingly this month for some events and regular play. The green should take great strides this fall if the cooler weather arrives in September and should mature well in the next two years. We used plugs from existing greens and some seed to fill in the gaps; this will allow the green to look and play more like all of the others in a couple seasons. It will also help since most of the other turf we have on property is more adapted to the high salt content we often get in our irrigation water.  Right now the thatch and mat layer in the green is very nominal which makes recovery from ballmarks and high traffic very slow. It also won't allow for a very close mow; we are currently using a separate walk mower for this green which has a less aggressive front roller and a slightly higher height of cut at 0.120 inches which is still below 1/8 but noticeably higher than the rest of the course. I would expect it to be able to manage a similar setup as the others by next spring; time will tell. 

We will begin aeration of greens, tees, collars and approaches on August 21st following the MJB. We are hoping the weather cooperates and rain holds off. Rain will create problems as it makes it impossible to put sand out and work it into the holes; this is essential for the quickest possible healing time. I wouldn't expect much upon returning to the course from the greens. Once they are done being worked they will be left to grow through any extra topdressing; we don't want to spend $10,000 on sand just to pick it up and dull the mowers. They will be getting a solid shot of nitrogen to speed recovery but this will also cause the turf growth to increase dramatically. They will be maintained at a higher height and much less "true" for at least a week so if you are planning on impressing your friends by bringing them as guests I would say waiting until September would be a good call. 

Finally, we will be knocking out some more paving while the course is closed for a few days. We will be replacing some existing areas that are well past their usable life and need addressing. Right now we are planning on doing work on holes 1 by the tee and holes 12 and 13. These areas are also relatively easy to access for the paving company; the only thing that would create an issue for them is the weather.  








Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Early May Update

Many of you have visited the club already, been out on the course over the last few weeks and seen the hustle and bustle of Tanto Irrigation and our new system installation. Its going well and on schedule. The second hole has been sodded, the path paved, fence installed and the green has been plugged and seeded. We are still out prepping the course for the season with numerous fertilizer, plant protectant and control products. This is a very busy time of year that will set us up for a successful 2023 season. 

As of this morning the entire back 9 irrigation has been installed and is operational. We are currently running two systems, the old one and the new one are interconnected on the main lines to allow us to have the ability to water as needed and its all controlled from 2 computers at the maintenance facility. Once every hole has been installed this connection will be removed and the old system "uninstalled". I would expect installation to continue for another 3-4 weeks if weather is optimal and days are as productive as possible. All that is left are holes 3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9. The biggest thing that will slow them down will be rainy days like yesterday and rock; we've been very fortunate since September with the weather. Once done they will remove any old controllers, sprinklers, valve boxes and quick coupling valves. This should take a couple of weeks as well. I'm looking forward to them wrapping up and getting around behind them to clean up any areas of wear and tear and all of the material storage areas! 

The 2nd hole project still has some planting to do. The detention area was seeded with a native plant seed mix and a monarch wildflower mix just yesterday. Potted plant material will be added toward the end of May when plant material becomes available from the nurseries. Its hard to keep perspective with things greening up and having that short lived warmup early last month but its only the the first couple days of May here on Cape Ann. We will be out aerating the bentgrass sod that was utilized for the collar and approach to remove the organic layer that remains from the farm and replace it with sand over the next few months. This will help firm the playing area and allow water to perk through the thatch. The weather has been less than desirable for seed germination with daily averages staying in the 40s; we will need to see this in the upper 60s and nearing 70° for optimal bentgrass germination. We planted creeping bentgrass seed on the 2nd green a few weeks ago with some plugs from other greens to get a mottled look once it is completely grown in. The cover will remain on to try and create any warmth from the sun even on days that are only in the 40s and 50s- watering with 50° water will moderate most temperatures... you may see the cover off for mowing and fertilizer applications... I am working on staying patient!  The hole is starting to set up and if you've seen it from a distance, keep in mind that perspective is everything regarding the green and what the surface looks like; its completely different based on where you're standing. Believe it or not the bottom photo was after the first mowing about two weeks ago and the top photo is yesterday. This is a classic example of the old adage, "good from far but far from good". We will continue to hit the green with sand which will encourage filling in but this won't happen until things REALLY warm up- probably toward the end of May and early June. 





As for the rest of the course, there is plenty of regular spring wear and tear that needs to be tended to. Couple the projects with the remnants of last season's drought and you get a recipe for some less than perfect areas. We will be working on roughing up, seeding and fertilizing many of these areas in the coming weeks as time permits. Most of these areas are in the roughs but some are on fairway edges where we had poor or no irrigation coverage in the past. Many path edges are also beat up from the numerous tractors that have been moving around the course on our paths that are narrower than the wheel bases. Please try to keep your cart with all 4 tires on the paths when driving around as much as possible. 

In the meantime, come out and enjoy the course as it continues to improve over the coming weeks.