Greens

The greens are in really good shape for the end of July. There are a few thin areas in the typical locations (front of 5, back of 2, front of 13) but a fraction of the problems that we normally see this time of year. I think you can attribute this to the greens finally having some maturity to them and the ability to wistand traffic stress. 

It's amazing the difference between the new greens versus the old. We have only had about a week and a half of the entire year where they have been rolling less than a 10. Our old greens were routinely a 8-9 throughout the summer. With proper construction and a new grass they have the ability to recover from stress with some food and some favorable weather. If the old greens got dinged up from stress or weather they wouldn't recover until night time temps were consistently in the 60's every night (usually September).

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

Bunkers

Working in tweaking some sand depths. Very labor intensive. We have to go out and probe, then mark areas to work on. The bunkers are pretty close.  There are just a few small areas on each bunker. 

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

Rough

The rough has been really brutal lately. It usually gets like this every August when it starts to get leggy, but it came a little earlier this year due to all the rain. 

We are trying something new this year. We scalped all the rough down on 5 today to see if that will help. The grass will grow right back but hopefully not as thick. I think it will work really good but it takes a ton of time. It took all afternoon to do this to 5.  You have to mow really slow and then blow and vac up all the clippings. Not sure we have the labor budget to do this to all the holes but might try. I think it will make a really big difference when it comes to the playability. One thing is for sure...it would take a while. 

It's ugly for about a week but I suspect will come back better than ever. 

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

Pc drainage.

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

PC Drainage

We finished all the PC Drainage on 14 fairway this morning. Should work real good. We topdressing this area real heavy since we were already topdressing fairways. This should help even those plow slots out. Just working on getting everything cleaned up 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

Drainage 14

We are installing the trunk lines for the contractor to run his drainage into on Monday. 

We had to re-do the drop inlet on 14. It looks good now, but the original construction of these drain basins around the course is some of the most backwards thinking instill ation methods I have ever seen. There are no out falls into the woods. They were designed to overflow and slowly weep down and out. When we work on them now (14, 18) we do it the right way so it drains properly in a timely fashion. 

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

More irrigation pics

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!!!!!!!

Just had our 2nd pipe blow out...yesterday. We just repaired a 2" tee that blew out on #14.  That green was starting to light up with wilt and we had no water on that green due to the inability to isolate any lateral lines. We have to isolate the entire hole. Having to water with trash cans. Not good. 

I also found a large mainline leak under the cart path on 17. We started working on that yesterday evening. 

Not only is this a huge labor expense and not having enough guys to mow all the grass, install drainage pipe for the drainage contractor on monday, fix all these leaks....all very difficult with just a few qualified laborers/operators.  The same guys fix irrigation, capable operators at digging at a proper grade with the excavator, spray greens and water greens. We have about 20 guys on staff but only me and 3 other guys are qualified for these type of repairs. 

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

Rolling greens

Rolling greens this am after a mow. Hadn't planned on rolling this morning but after a water last night they were a little sluggish this morning. They were rolling 9.5' before roll and should be a little over 10' after. 

I try not to roll too much this time of year because it really wears out the edges. We hadn't rolled since Sunday and the weather looks really nice with some lower humidity for the next few days...so I figured a roll was in order. 

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

One good thing about the rain...

The course is green. Normally in July you can really see the inadequacies of the irrigation system, but I haven't had to run a cycle in about 5 weeks. 

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

Greens are in really good shape. They are still pretty wet and soft from all the rain but starting to dry down a little. This high humidity isn't helping but the last two nights have helped being in the 60's. The spike marks get bad by the afternoon when they are this soft. 

The greens are rolling just over 10.5'.  That's as good as they can get for the middle of July. It's important to note they are smooth...real smooth. That's one of the most important parts. "Good" greens isn't just speed - 2015 US Open for example. They were really fast but awful putting surfaces - really bumpy and not very true. 

They could use a small solid tine and a light topdressing to firm them up a little. I might try to get this in once these high temps pass this weekend and Monday. 

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

Drain 18

We finished that drain on 18. Started digging it up thinking it would be a small, quick fix. That changed quickly. All the pipes were clogged and we had to install a new out fall. 

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

The greens look pretty good for as wet as its been. They get beat up around the pins everyday where most of the traffic is concentrated. Hopefully we can get a couple days without rain. Got another 0.5" yesterday. 

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

Weather

With the exception of the rain...this weather is sweet for July. Next 3 or 4 nights lows in the 60's. That's just dreamy for July in Williamsburg. Hopefully this continues....without the rain. The amount of rain the last 3 weeks has been unbelievable. Not so much the amounts but the frequency. Every day. 

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

Just completed some more sod work on 5 and 3. Next areas on the list are the range and left side of 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

Forward tees

I guess there has been some question whether or not the forward tees on 13 and 14 are level. They are. Attached is a puck that we use to measure slope. 

There is a bit of an optical illusion because these tees are set on a slope, but they are in fact level. 

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

Bunker edges

Started working in repairing some bunker edges yesterday since it was too wet to mow. The bunker edges move in after so many years and it's really difficult to grow decent turf with that straight sand under the grass. We are fining the original edge and installing bunker liner and sand on those new bunker edges. 

Finished edge 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

Perfect morning

Friday morning was perfect....except for the more rain issue. Those are the mornings you appreciate picking this business...not being stuck in an office has its perks. 

We got a few fairways mown before the shotgun but didn't have enough guys to finish them all before a 9am shotgun. With 1" last night and more rain this evening, the bunkers washed again. We got them all fixed this morning, but it's pouring now. Hopefully they don't go again. I've lost count on how many times we have fixed bunkers in the last month. 

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