Bunker Renovation Approved and Underway!

We have recently begun a 10 bunker renovation.  The bunker are chosen are consistently the worst bunkers on the course, on a  performance and  physical level.  These bunkers do not drain and consistently hold water after a rain event.  Bunkers on the front of 7 green and greens side on 12 will become (1) big bunker while all the bunkers on hole 11 and bunker on 17 just get rebuilt with new drainage, liner and sand installed.  Please bare with us this fall as these areas will remain GUR until we complete the project.  Sand will be installed first thing in the spring as the bunkers will be sodded top and bottom this fall.  The bottom of the bunkers will be sodded as a organic liner, allowed to root in and then sprayed with round-up in the spring and sand added right on top of the sod.  This method has proven to be a good method to keep stones and debris from moving up from underneath.  synthetic liners can be much more costly and in my experience, ineffective and cumbersome.  Please check back here as updates will be posted as we proceed.

Mike O'Neill, CGCS

Bunkers and Sand.

I have heard many complaints in the past of bunkers not having enough sand in them.  The truth is, as I have always preached, they have plenty of usable sand in them.  The problem is, when we get a big rain event where all the sand washes out, (Such as is depicted by the washout picture above) it essentially takes us weeks to have the time to properly redistribute the sand back where it was before the rain event. Bunkers are the most labor intensive aspect of our operation.  We typically spend 8 man hours daily to get the bunkers raked and after a rain event it can sometimes take us up to 130 man hours minimum to get them back where they should be.  We are currently in the process of extreme fine tuning of the bunker sand distribution for the upcoming member/guest as picture at the very top. We use the sand rake and the plow attached, with shovels and rakes to get the sand in the perfect placement.

Mike O'Neill, CGCS

Wildflowers Looking Nice Behind #8 Men's Tee!

The flower bed use to be a huge weed infested mess before I decided we would try some native wildflowers from seed in this bed.  It has taken a couple years to mature enough to look full, but it certainly has come along nice!

Mike O'Neill, CGCS

Healthy Rough, Unhappy Golfers!

Our goal, as golf course managers is to provide a healthy and vibrant turfgrass that can withstand the damage delivered to it on a daily basis from golfers and mowers.  Well, we have done that in the instances of our rough here at Bellevue!  We have the thickest rough this side of the Mississippi without a doubt!  This year we ended up lowering the height a half inch to combat how tough the rough is to get out of.  We are also experimenting with growth regulators as you can see by the pictures above.  We just sprayed the rough yesterday with a strong regulator.  We will monitor how the grass responds as we may see some discoloration of the grass from the application.

We are here to provide the best possible playing conditions we can and if that means experimenting with different growth regulators to make the golfing experience more enjoyable,  then that is what we will do!  Please bare with us as we do our best to thin the rough out a bit.  Once and if we get dry weather, the rough should thin out some as well.  Until then, do all you can to put the ball in the fairway or first cut!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Divot Repair Video.

Many members have asked about divot repair and this video explains the proper protocol perfectly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS4wbbtvyU4&t=22s

First Mow '17

Well it certainly has been a strange winter!  Mild February right into a late dumping of snow created a depressing end to March.  With all that mess behind us we are looking forward to a great 2017!  The mild winter allowed us to get out on the course and accomplish some major tree trimming.  We have focused on holes 2,4,5 and 8 with the trimming.  This area I have felt was the most dense and  needed the most trimming.  Golfers will be pleasantly surprised at the open feel with errant shots on these holes.  The trimming program will continue indefinitely as there are numerous areas to still get to. We will be opening the golf course for walkers this Sunday.  Lets hope for warm weather very soon!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Winter Work In Full Gear!

As I often get asked "What do you guys do all winter?"  Well, we actually tear down every mower in our fleet of many mowers to replace bearings, change seals and grind and sharpen reels and blades to head off any possible problems that would arise during the season.  The old saying goes..."An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" rings true with our operation daily.  We also address all course accessories from tee markers to benches to ball washers to spike cleaners.  This time certainly allows us the opportunity to address the issues we don't have time to address during the season.  When weather allows, we are on the course trimming trees chipping the limbs and when we get 2 feet of snow we are responsible for the snow removal at the clubhouse.  Our job is multi-faceted to say the least!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Aggressive Tree Work Before The Snow Flies!

The grounds staff has had the pedal to the metal removing trees on this winters "Hit-list."  We have successfully removed the main trees we wanted to with the pictures above representing the removal of a mature white oak left of the 10th green.  This tree, like all others we remove, was on the master plan for removal as it impedes a fair 3rd shot from the approach area.  Golfers will enjoy having this tree removed come spring time as it totally opens up the back pin area on the green.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Divot Mix Does have Seed in It!

We have finally discovered a good growing mix this year for our divot mix.  The plain green sand will not grow anything so we mix the green with a nice mix we found and viola! The seed actually germinates!  Please remember to fill all divots and the one next to yours.  Also, the divot mix is intended for all tee and fairway surfaces, not the intermediate rough or the rough itself.

Mike O'Neill,GCS

New Memorial Plaque Installed For Mrs. Joyce Donohoe

The plaque for Joyce came out great and the stone we found on the property really complement the plaque nicely.  The flowers in this memorial garden looked awesome this season as well!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Member / Guest 2016 In The Books!

Well the weather and course for this years member / guest turned out beautifully!  We faced many challenges leading up to the event through one of the driest summers on record.  We then received very hot and humid weather leading up to the week of the tournament.  The combination of hot, humid and wet leads to major problems with the greens and survival.  We made some good decisions on mowing and were able to get the greens up to speed by the second day of the event.  Having the event at the end of the summer unlike other clubs is tough as we need to peak for the event after a very tough summer.  The roots are shallow and the turf is beat up but we need to make it happen late in the summer.  I'd like to thank my staff who tirelessly and consistently work their butts off to provide the exceptional conditions the Bellevue members have come to expect.  

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Don't Think We Don't Try To Make Bunkers The Best They Can Be!

Part of our daily process in the bunkers is to pull any grass runners and weeds that may grow in the bunkers.  Also an important part of our routine is to pull any rocks that tend to migrate into the bunkers, especially after a heavy rainfall.   The pictures above shows the methods we use to screen the sand on a daily basis and we collect all the rocks we screened from one day and the result is the bucket of rocks pictured above!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Extremely Dry Conditions Currently.

The very dry conditions lately makes for a lot of work for my staff.  We have been running roller base sprinklers (as pictured above) lately to try to water the many "In-play" areas we have on the course that do not get sufficient irrigation coverage.  We continue to do our very best in a most efficient manner possible.  In the meantime, please enjoy the thin rough and the extra run from tee shots!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Bunker Rake Placement In The Middle Of Bunkers.

We have recently started to implement a different position of the bunker rakes in the bunker.  The placement of the rakes in the middle of the bunkers will allow for the golf ball to settle next to a rake perhaps and allow the golfer to remove the rake to play the next shot without the possibility of moving the ball.  With the rakes on the edge of the bunkers like we have done in the past, placing a ball that comes to rest next to a rake on the slope is virtually impossible as the ball will always roll down the slope when placed back in the landing position.  Please place the rake back in the bunker when finished raking as the above picture indicates.  We are going to give this method a shot and see how it works.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Member Donating Time To Fill Divots!

Recently a member has approached me to help out with filling tee and fairway divots.  We have very small tees so it is very critical that divots be filled literally instantly to insure a descent season long quality playing surface.  I certainly appreciate his time doing this and I believe this will make a huge difference with our tees.  The message really is...Please fill your divots right away after it is taken.  I would recommend just taking the scoop of divot mix from the cart with you and after you tee off and no divot is taken, you can always fill another divot that was not repaired.  The picture above is of the 8th white tee after the divots were totally filled by the member filling the divots every Wednesday morning!  Please fill your divots!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Divot Mix Changes.

The above photo shows what our typical tees look like on any given day.  We have extremely small teeing surfaces for the amount of play the course receives.  It is critical we have a viable divot mix that keeps moisture and doesn't dry out quickly.

The divot in the above photo is typical of the green mix we use.  I rarely see seed growing in this mix unless we go through an extremely wet period.  The decision was made years ago by the membership to go to a "Green" colored divot mix to look aesthetically pleasing and be user friendly.  The problem is, this mix is not a good medium for growing bentgrass from seed.

I have finally found a divot mix that I will be mixing with the green sand (above right) to create a much better growing medium for the bentgrass seed.  We will be mixing the two soild above to create a divot mix that will not dry out as fast and will promote excellent bentgrass seed germination.  This I believe in turn will allow our divots to heal up and fill in much better that just the plain old green sand.  The down side is it won't look as "Green" as the previous mix but it will actually grow grass!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

More Tree Trimming!

The mild winter continues as we capitalize on the unseasonable weather with continued tree trimming.  My staff and I have made it the number one priority to move through the entire golf course with the tree trimming and have been diligently progressing on this project.  You can see by the above pictures, certain areas of the golf course we trim more, other areas we trim less, it all depends on the significance of limbs in the area as well as how the topography funnels and collects balls.  The trimming has certainly been completely dependent on the golfers perspective and the golf course layout.

Let's keep hoping spring arrives early this year!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Hole #13 Before And After Tree Removal.

Before

                                                                               After
We have been fortunate enough to have some rare access to the golf course in February and we have certainly capitalized on the opportunity to bust out some more grunt work!  We have removed 3 trees on the right of the hole and 2 trees on the left to significantly open up the hole to allow for ample room on either side of the hole.  Trees and limbs before were encroaching into the ball line of flight on either side of the hole.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Winter Work....Our Work Never Stops!

We are in the heart of our winter prep work here in the maintenance department.  We go through every bearing and grease fitting ensuring we don't run into any problems during the season, causing problematic downtime.  This is the time of year we use to perform routine maintenance on every piece of equipment we have as well.  My staff does an excellent job of the details on all of our equipment ensuring we run smoothly during the season as well as long term maintenance of the equipment to allow us to get the most out of each piece of equipment now and in the future!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Tree Trimming...Well Underway!

We have started the process of trimming trees up from the ground.  The goal here is to open up the area under the trees to allow a shot from under every tree on the golf course.  We typically address the worst trees or the dead limbs every year but this year we will be looking at every tree on the course to make sure they are all trimmed up for the enjoyment of the errant golf shot!