Terrible weather for bermuda

The cold nights have tally turned the bermuda off color. Hopefully it warms up this week to get things going again. It's been a slooooow spring. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Winterkill

Here is a pic of some winterkill on the backside of 9 green. I think it is from having a sand base and being in that hump. Any areas that are sand based are very slow this spring. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

14 fairway

Our reappearing drainage issues are back. I think there are a few springs that pop up in this fairway during wet periods. I isolated the irrigation system a few days ago on this hole to make sure it wasn't an irrigation leak.....it wasn't. Still had full pressure 2 days later. If the system was leaking there wouldn't have been enough pressure to raise a head. 

I'm ready for the rain to go away for a while. This spring has been awful with rain. It's getting to the point where some of the bermuda has been so wet, without any prolonged warmth, that I think we have some winter kill in some low areas and slopes. Not a lot by any means, but some. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Traffic

This a great pic of the result of repeated cart traffic. They dont drive the range picker on the targets. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Drainage

Fixing some drainage on 14. This area at the bottom of the hill stays wet.  Fixing that by running a drain line to the drop inlet in front of the tee.

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Plants 9

Adding some plants to the large bed on 9. We will pinestraw it soon. This is a giant bed. It makes enormous plants look insignificant. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Topdressing

We verticut top dressed and mowed yesterday. The topdressing helps prevent excessive thatch buildup and keeps the greens firm and healthy. I like to do it really light every 2 weeks throughout the growing season. Most of the time you can't tell we did anything by Wednesday. 

Also, we core aerated some of the green edges to work in some nutrients. This will give these select spots some added protection headed into the season. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Tifgrand

I love this bermuda. We have it around a few greens. Greens up early, fine texture, wear resistant.  You can see it around 9,10 and pg2. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Irrigation control

Even though our piping and most heads are a little out dated, our central control is pretty cool. We replaced it about 7 years ago and are pretty proactive about keeping everything up to date. The only issue we have is communication to some of the boxes through radio antennas. This is something that can really get addressed until we do a full system. 

Many of you have seen some of the ways that we can use the irrigation system. We can turn heads and programs on through our phones and Ipads. I just bought a new ipad yesterday for the irrigation system. Our old one was an original ipad 1 the couldn't get the latest apps and software for the irrigation system. It's funny how Apple can faze out old products and get you to buy new stuff....it was 7 years old I guess. The new one has 4G so I don't have to carry around a wifi card anymore. That's nice and it will save us $10/month not having to pay for a wifi card anymore. 

Using these devices saves us a ton of time. I can make run time adjustments, program adjustments, use the irrigation map, turn things on and off, and monitor the pump station all from a phone and/or ipad. This saves me a ton of time every morning from having to run back and forth to the office. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Cart path only

It's been a wet month and a half. We try and get carts out as soon as we can but a course built in the swamp really doesn't drain that fast, especially considering all the rain we have had this spring. 

Today would still be a good day to get out and play if you can stand the walking. Greens are rolling nice after the double cut and roll. We were able to do this today because we raked bunkers yesterday and didn't get much play. Not having to mow any bermuda and not having to do bunkers leaves enough guys to be able to put 9 guys on greens this morning. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Greens

We are double cutting and rolling this am. Greens are putting nice now!  I have been grooming and brushing trying to get all that excess leaf tissue. You can see the close ups....one is regular and the other is after running your hand over the greens. We are trying to clean up all that excess leaf tissue. It is a normal practice on golf greens this time of year. 

They are start to get good. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Greens

We verticut,  brushed, and mowed with the groomers and brushes down yesterday. This is a great time of year to try and groom the greens and get those leaf blades standing upright. These practices slow down the green speeds while we are doing it for a couple of days, but the end result is healthier, faster and truer greens. 

We just need it to stop raining for a little while now. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Common bermuda

The common in the fairways is real visible right now. It is green and growing, while the hybrid 419 is still just thinking about greening up. 

The common has much more of a broad leaf and isn't as upright and dense. Most golfers can't tell the difference (I think), but it does produce some ascetic and management challenges. The fairways look real patchy this time of year, and the common acts differently than the 419 when dealing with fertilizers and growth regulators. The common isn't hardly affected by high rates of growth regulators, while the 419 will bronze up and really be stunted. 

To have this much common in the fairways at their age, it had to have come in on the sprigs and sod when they were growing in the course. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Poa

This has been the worst year that I've seen for Poa in probably 4 years. All this rain has made weed control tough this year. We have been, and will continue to spray rough for Poa. I would like to be all caught up by the end of the week. We just need some dry weather for a change. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

FW: H-2B Update #7 Continue to fight!

 

 

From: Libby Whitley [mailto:dave@maslabor.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of Libby Whitley
Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2015 3:13 PM
To: bgraham@tworiversclub.com
Subject: H-2B Update #7 Continue to fight!

 

MAS Labor H2B, LLC  **H-2B Update 2015-7** April 8, 2015   Dear H-2B Clients and Friends:   We know many of you are still reeling from the news last Friday that U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS) reached the 66,000 annual H-2B visa cap for Fiscal Year 2015, effectively shutting down access to visas for any employer whose visa petition application had not been received at CIS prior to March 27, 2015.  We know many of you have contacted your Senators and Representative in the wake of this news and we appreciate your efforts.  I want to take a moment to update you on some of the current events which we believe are of interest to the H-2B employer community during this crisis situation.  First, we want to share the excellent and timely April 7, 2015 editorial from The Wall Street Journal, entitled "Obama's Visa Double Game," discussing the H-2B program and calling on the Administration to live up to the rhetoric that its immigration policies are intended to help business owners.  If you do not have a Wall Street Journal online subscription, you can also Google the title, "Obama's Visa Double Game," to view the article.  We encourage H-2B employers to not only read the article but to also post comments on the website in support of its message.    Second, we want to remind you again of the upcoming H-2B Fly-In on Wednesday, April 15th, in Washington, DC.  Congress returns from Easter recess on Monday, April 13th, and we need to make sure one of its first orders of business is to fix the H-2B program by passing legislation which, at a minimum, exempts from the H-2B visa cap H-2B workers who've had a visa in the previous 3 years.  We anticipate a bill will be introduced shortly after the Fly-In and we need to encourage as many members of Congress as possible to be co-sponsors of that bill.  Face-to-face meetings with Congressional staff is one of the most effective ways to make your voice heard.  We have no time to lose!  If you plan on attending the Fly-In please let us know by sending an email to DC-RSVP@maslabor.com.   Finally, we also want to remind you of another important H-2B event occurring in Washington, DC on April 14th, the day before the Fly-In.  This is when the Small and Seasonal Business Legal Center, also known as SSBLC or the H-2B Legal Center, will convene its first senior level strategy meeting.  For more information on SSBLC membership and current initiatives to save the H-2B program, please see the website at SSBLC.org and consider supporting our start-up by becoming a contributing member.   We will continue to keep you posted on additional news briefs, legal updates, and other upcoming events.  In the meantime, keep up the fight!   Libby Whitley

 

Forward this email This email was sent to bgraham@tworiversclub.com by lwhitley@maslabor.com |   Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. MAS Labor | PO Box 507 | Lovingston | VA | 22949

 

Fwd: H-2B program needs a fix

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

-------- Original message --------

From: "TurfNet.com"

Date:04/07/2015 3:58 PM (GMT-05:00)

To: bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Subject: H-2B program needs a fix

Brent Graham


I thought you might be interested in reading this web page: http://www.turfnet.com/page/news.html/_/h-2b-program-needs-a-fix-r485

From,

Brent Graham

---

Please note that TurfNet.com has no control over the
contents of this message.

---

TurfNet.com | c/o Turnstile Media Group | 1500 Park Center Dr | Orlando, FL

---

Done with the curb work on 5 next to the new concrete. Looks good. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Sod work

We fixed that BMW that was filled with water all winter. Now putting the finishing touches on it with some sod. Also song some sod work on the range, 2 and 11. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

Fert fairways

Fertilizing fairways to help get things popping a little bit. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com

It's alive

Things are starting to green up. The paint really worked to speed things up. Look at the difference between the tees and the fairways. 

Brent Graham, CGCS

Director of Golf Maintenance

Two Rivers Country Club

1950 Two Rivers Rd

Williamsburg, VA 23185

Office: 757-258-4606

bgraham@tworiversclub.com