Bunker Delete #17

When weather and time allow, we will be filling in the right bunker on hole number 17.  The lower pic shows the master plan for the 17th green complex.  The bunker will be filled and raised to 1.2'  above grade.  We will also remove the old cart path behind the green that is falling apart and serves no real purpose.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Winter Tree Work, Aimed To Make 2nd Shot Fair.

The above pictures show the landing area ( 250 yd tee shot) on the right side of the 4th fairway.  It is clear to see, the second shot is impeded by a few maples placed too close to the fairway on the right side.  A second shot in the fairway should never force the golfer to have to play a big sweeping fade from 180 yards out, not many have that shot in the bag!  The goal is to thin out some of these trees to make that shot fair because I believe 75% of golfers end up in this location.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Frost Damage To Turf.

The above photos show the obvious damage from someone casually walking down the 12th fairway early in the morning when there was a heavy frost.  The damage looks bad and will eventually grow out but it will not look better until sometime in April!  This appears to be a neighbor as the tracks head to Country Club Drive but it is exactly the reason we have to wait for the frost to lift to send golfers on the course.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Winter Tree Trimming Has Begun....Making Every Shot Fair!

As we quickly transition into winter it seems, we start the planned process of going through and trimming all trees on the course.  The  trimming involves cutting low lying limbs to raise the canopy to allow for a golf swing under them.  The process has not been done in a long time and has certainly gotten to the point of being a priority this winter.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Fall/Winter Work Has Begun.

Every Year when the seasonal staff gets laid off we as a grounds staff sit back and evaluate the season. We also formulate a list of to-do projects for the fall to get the course ready for winter and to better our operation for the following season in all aspects.  The irrigation system is something we are continually trying to make better as we often struggle with it during the point in the season when we shouldn't have to worry about it.  In the above photo, we  have placed a irrigation sprinkler in our nursery green that previously did not have any irrigation.  In the past, when the green needed water, we had to run 2-3 lengths of 50 foot hose and set up a portable sprinkler.  Now we just need to turn on a valve and let the sprinkler run.  This small project cost nothing and will pay dividends as far a staff efficiency goes in the future.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Growing In A Divot!

The above photo shows many new seedlings starting to grown in a properly filled in divot.  The mix provided in the carts as well as in the divot buckets on the course contains thousands and thousands of tiny, almost invisible seeds.  The bentgrass growing in the picture need the correct level of moisture and temperature in order to germinate and start to grow.  Often times we will run the irrigation heads on the golf course tees and fairways at night just to wet the divots that may be growing on the course.  Many times we do not need to water besides keeping the divots going with adequate water.  The next time you respectfully lay down some divot mix, understand that this step is only half of the process in getting the divot to fill in completely.  Again, as mentioned before, if a big solid divot is taken, it is always best to replace a big divot and step it down as opposed to filling in the divot with mix.  A thin divot will likely not survive and will dry out too quickly before it starts to grow.  Also, the divot mix is only intended for the short cut fairways and tees, not the rough or the intermediate rough.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Aeration, Dethatching, Healing...All In The Name Of Quality Turf!!

The above photos show the processes involved with providing the kind of conditions we have here at Bellevue.  The necessary evils of aerating and verticutting will go a long way in providing a great golf course next season. We are currently in the process of verticutting fairways and aerating tees.  The fairway are done during periods of dry weather only and we will typically only get 1-2 fairways done a day.  We will complete around 4 tees a day.  The bottom picture shows the greens 1 week after aeration with 5/8" coring tines.  The holes are 60% healed over already thanks to a well timed fertilizer application and some rainfall from mother nature.

Ladies Tee On #9 Re-Done.

In the ongoing battle of addressing the most uneven tees on the golf course, we have recently tackled the project of leveling the ladies tee on #9.  This tee was severely crowned in the middle providing a very uneven teeing surface, accounting for the numerous golf balls that land in the pond in front of the tee:).  The above photos show the progression of the process of leveling the 9th ladies tee by the grounds staff.  We removed the existing sod, worked the soil and leveled it with a laser transit and re-installed the same sod.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Warm And Dry...= Supplemental Irrigation For Us!

As the above photos show, when it gets dry and hot, we have no choice but to run "mobile" sprinklers around the course to supplement the insufficient coverage of our irrigation system.  The irrigation system covers only most of the short cut areas, so any rough area in play needs to be watered by our staff manually which takes up an extra 2 people during hot periods.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Another Problem Drainage Area Fixed!

The eye sore that existed on 11 approach is now fixed.  As is visible from the second picture down from the top, the drain was there but at some point in the past was not put in the low spot of the area.  We were left with a wet spot that never drained and we eventually lost all the grass in the area.  We found the drain pipe that ran through the area and simply tapped into it.  The area will never be an issue again!

How Do We Water All The Flowers On The Property!?

This Spring, we came up with a pretty neat way to solve the issue we have here with little to no irrigation system for our flowers on the property.  As apparent as it is, we have an extensive amount of flowers to take care of and water all over the course and around the clubhouse and pool.  We utilized a large 300 gallon fertilizer tank and a small weedwacker engine pump to deliver the proper H20 to all of the flowers.  This is a huge improvement from the jugs of water we have used in the past.  It also allows us to deliver liquid fertilizer to the flowers on an as needed basis.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Thin Areas On Green Edges...A Result Of Green Expansions.

This Spring we have made an aggressive attempt to keep the width of the collars consistent the whole way around the golf course.  Many have noticed the white dots on the collars indicating to the greens mowers where to keep the edge of the green cut as to keep everything consistent.  When we cut these areas down it takes some time to get use to the aggressive nature in which we maintain the greens.  During the last heat wave, regardless of how much water we applied, a lot of these areas thinned out some as you can see from the above picture of the 13th green.  On these areas, we often skip mowing these spots periodically to let them heal back in.  We will start the healing process with some plugs and some seeding of these spots.  It may take some time but eventually all of these areas will look as good as the rest of the green.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

More Drainage Work In Problem Areas.

The top photo shows the landing area on the 14th fairway.  It is very noticeable how wet the area gets when we receive any amount of rainfall.  We have recently installed a sump drainage system to remove the excess surface water that collects in the landing area of the 14th fairway.  The area will remain G.U.R (ground under repair) until it fully heals for play.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Rain Rain Go Away Already!!!

The monsoon season is apparently upon us since we have gotten one of the wettest months of the year rainfall in a few days!  All this rain means an awful lot of extra work for the grounds staff.  When we get this much rain, pretty much every bunker on the property (55) needs to be pumped out before we can begin the maintenance process of pushing the sand back where it belongs and getting the bunker playable again.  This process of pushing the sand back up is very labor intensive and unfortunately just brings about more and more rocks and contamination into the bunker from beneath.  All we can do is continue the rock picking all over again and do our very best at providing the best bunkers we possibly can.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Clover Control In Fairways and Tees

The above photo is a picture of a patch of clover in the 18th fairway.  Clover is a weed in our bentgrass/poa fairways and tees.  We have recently applied a herbicide that is safe on our fairways but will totally wipe out the clover and any other broadleaf weeds in the playing surfaces.  The clover area will die in a week or two and the surrounding grass will eventually fill in the void left by the clover.  As you are filling in your divot with divot mix in the fairways and see a dead patch, please take a little bigger scoop of sand and fill in the voids you see in the fairways too.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Importance of Topdressing Sand Applications On Greens

A cornerstone in our pursuit of perfection on our greens is a consistent topdressing program.  We topdress light every other week during the season.  This allows us to not only brush and groom the greens to stand the old bentgrass up, but it allows us to continue to build up our rootzone with sand.  This is very important as it allows the greens to drain better, putt better and receive a golf ball better.  Since I have been here we have accumulated around 4-5" of a sand layer which is very impressive.  This allows us to also manage the greens much more aggressively in the summer months to keep conditions consistent season long.  So if you see us out there applying sand to the greens, understand, this is a top reason our greens are in the shape they are currently in.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Utilizing Sod From The Old 11th Tee.

We don't let anything go to waste here on the maintenance staff as many have probably seen with the re-sodding of the 6th approach.  The area thinned out last summer as a result of the lack of irrigation in that area.  This spring we removed what "Good" sod we could from the re-constructed 11th tee, prepped and installed the sod to provide a much improved approach to the 6th green.  Make the most out of all resources on the property!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

#11 Tee...Before and After

A quick before and after of the work we have done to reorient, level, re-shape and re-sod the 11th tee to what it looks like now.  Now the tee actually aims down the fairway and will provide some much more fair shots from the tee surface.  Thanks to our hard working staff!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Construction Underway On The New #11 Tee

We have finished up our drainage work for now and have begun the work on re-doing the 11th tee.  This tee has been on my personal "Hit list" since my arrival here at Bellevue 8 years ago.  This tee is currently sloped 2 feet from right to left which is very unfair for a tee.  The plan is to have the new tee graded and sodded early next week, we have been waiting on our topsoil distributor to deliver the soil for a few weeks so we'll get it done and have it playable by Memorial Day.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Fairway Expansion #8

The fairway expansion on hole #8 near the pond is complete.  We have opened up the fairway as the master plan states around the pond, apparently to act as a type of bail-out area for golfers.  We have also overseeded the rest of the rough area and added some more stone around the pond. The area will need some warmer temps and time to fill in so please stay off the entire area as we get everything filled in and growing the way we want it to.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Finally off and Running!

After a very, very slow start and some recent wet weather we have started the mowing process.  Yesterday we double cut fairways...that's right double cut because we weren't satisfied with the single cut.  Coming out of winter some of the fairways are extra "shaggy"so we mow them until they look acceptable.  Also, please note the bottom picture of the brand new intermediate rough mower we have implemented today as well.  We will be cutting the intermediate rough right around the greens  and par 3 greens as we finally have a mower that can do the job properly.

Mike O'Neill, GCS