G&G - August 2024
We hope everyone is enjoying their summer wherever you may
be. The summer weather has been interesting. The humidity and higher dew point
came in around June 20 this year. 2-3 weeks earlier than expected. However, we
have not received much rain this monsoon. There have been many windy
nights but only ½ inch on July 14th.
The greens and collar are doing well. We are pleased with
their health at this point in the difficult summer months. The new fans on
4,5,6, have made a large impact on the health of those greens. Additionally, a fan
has been added to #13 and #17. However, #17 is not operating at this point. The
electrical conduit line must be dug through the G&G yard/parking lot connecting
the power to the new G&G building. Hopefully, we will complete this sometime
in August. We are coordinating with the General Contractor on the building to
complete this task. This will complete the fan project that has been ongoing for
7 years now. We have a fan on all greens for a total of 19 fans.
The greens are about to enter the most difficult part of the
summer season. August 1 through Sept 15 is the most critical period. The soil
temperatures, dew points, humidity, and air temperatures are very high and
outside the physical capabilities of the bentgrass green. The roots have been
shrinking and the turf canopy thinning for about 6 weeks now. These conditions
trigger the bentgrass to go into a self-preservation state and are restricted in their ability to grow
roots and leaf tissue. All these variables combined will make the greens feel
softer and will add to the ball mark challenges due to the turf's inability to
recover under stressful conditions. We ask for your patience as we manage these
stressful conditions and ensure the health of our greens. We also asked for
everyone's help in repairing ball marks and please be careful when repairing
your marks not to tear the turf. Stretch but don’t tear. The tearing will make
the ball mark worse by killing the surrounding turf.
G&G team recently completed our summer cultural practices.
This year’s practices focused on thatch removal. A deep and aggressive
verticut was applied to all surfaces (minus greens) to remove a year’s worth of
buildup. Thatch and excess organic matter accumulate through the year due to old leaf
tissue dying to make way for new leaf tissue, water, and the impurities in the
water, inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers, and decaying debris from the
surrounding vegetation and trees. The removal of this material aids in the gas
exchange of the soils to create healthier turf conditions. Additionally, the
work we do now prepares the turf to be healthy for overseeding and enter dormancy in
the winter months. This year practices produced almost 500 cubic yards of
thatch removal or approximately 12 large roll dumpsters. The removal of the
material was a bit tricky due to the ongoing construction of the new G&G
building and the limited room in our yard currently.
G&G additionally applied 200 tons of topdressing sand to
the fairways, tees, and approaches. This has been an ongoing practice for 8
years now. We now have been able to amend the soil on the golf course to have
approximately a 3" sand cap on the golf course. The sand cap has continued
to help drainage and provide firmer, faster, and tighter conditions consistently. Additionally, the better soil conditions help to improve the root and
turf density of our Bermuda grass which aids in our successful transitions over
the past several years.
The transition has gone very well this year. Except for several
high-traffic areas near bunkers the Bermuda base has recovered very well from
this past year's overseeed. We are very happy with the results again this year.
There continue to be challenges with Goosegrass. That is the wide leaf bunch of grass that can grow very large. Goosegrass is in the same family as Bermuda grass
and is very tricky to remove without damaging the Bermuda grass. We have been
applying a couple herbicides to treat and suppress the goosegrass and will temporarily hinder the Bermuda grass. You will see this damage around the high-density
area of the goose grass. Holes #2, #4, #14 green surround, and #16 seem to have
the highest population with other holes. We additionally are dotting the plants
with weed dobbers to kill off the individual plants.
The G&G building continues to move along. The target to
finish will be sometime in late August and move in early to mid-September.
The project has had several delays due to subcontractor schedules and materials
delays. Additionally, city inspections
have been difficult to get done promptly due to the city’s scheduling.
The project remains within budget with minimal changes.
The pond liner project on #1 tee and #9 green started on July
8th. In 2021 during the bunker renovations project the upper small
ponds were cleaned out and it was discovered that the liners were severely compromised.
This past spring the strategic planning, finance, golf, and green& grounds
committees all collaborated to move the repairs forward to address the water
loss concerns. The state of AZ will be implementing new water restrictions in
January of 2025 cutting PPCC’s water allotment an additional 5% on top of the
5% that was cut in 2023. Additionally, a tee box re-design project was added
for #1 and #3. Andy Staples was engaged in designing these projects. (see design
below). #3 Tee box re-design focused on enhancing the tee space, and conditions, and
providing a larger variety of yardage options. #3 Tee box is set to begin on
August 6th. All projects are currently on schedule and have a target
of being completed around Labor Day.
During the 12-day course closure, all contract tree trimming was performed throughout the entire golf course. Our contractor trims all trees that require being off the ground. The G&G team handles all of the small trees that can be trimmed from the ground. G&G is currently finishing up #17, #18 and the parking lot.
This summer 42 trees have been removed. The decision to remove these trees is based on a master tree plan
that was created by Andy Staples, golf course architect, and the health evaluation
by our Arborist Eric Belcher from Bartlett Tree Company.
PPCC_Tree
Management Report_11-29-23_Final.pdf
37 of those trees were Desert Sweet Acacias that were
planted on the turf. Sweet Acacias are not well suited to be in the grass and receive
the amount of water applied to the grass. The excess water has caused many of
these trees to grow erratically and become diseased. 4 eucalyptus trees were
removed. 1 on #10 was half dead and 3 on #16. The 3 eucalyptuses on #16
were in poor health and located to the SE of the 16th green causing shading
issues on the green. 1 mesquite tree was removed along a homeowner wall left of the #16 cart path. This mesquite was beginning to damage the wall and was in poor
condition.
G&G will begin planting approximately 60 new trees beginning
August 5th. All new trees being planted are following the master tree plan. The species and location of all trees were reviewed both by Andy Staples and Eric Belcher.
We hope everyone enjoys the remainder of your summer.
Regards - G&G Department
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Drilling in foundation for fans #17 Green
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| Adding draining #3 approach |
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| Verticutting fairways |
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| Verticutting Tee |
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| Cleaning tees by hand |
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| Some of the 500 cubic yards of thatch removal |
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| Topdressing Fairways |
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| Brushing in light maintenance topdressing on greens |
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| Andy's Tree Services doing the large tree trimming |
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| Andy Staples design for the pond and tees #1 |
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| Andy Staples Design Tee #3 |
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| Beginning of demo pond #1 |
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| Removing sludge and muck from the pond - 11 semi-loads had to be hauled off |
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| Starting to shape |
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| Broken liner in the water falls - water was eroding under the cement |
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| Moving the recirculation pipe to new upper pond |
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| Starting to shape upper pond and new tee and event space |
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| More shaping |
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| Lower pond in front of #9 green after demo |
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| Starting to shape lower pond |
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| Upper tee/event space and upper pond and waterfalls shaped with boulders added |
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| Starting the lining process |
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| Doors and windows being stalled |
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| Stucco Finished |
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| Stucco Finished |
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| Utilities and foundation are being prepped for new fuel tanks |
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| Grading west and leveling west yard for addition of 13,000 sq ft of asphalt |
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| West yard grading |
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| HVAC work being installed |
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Electrical being installed
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