Thursday, May 21, 2015

Change in Seasons

Four weeks from today marks the official beginning of summer.  Where has the time gone?  As the golf course makes steps forward into firm and fast summer mode, it's easy to forget how much mother nature changes the landscape season to season. 
If I take a few days away from the property I am always amazed at how much change I notice. 

October 30th, 2014
 
If I notice change in just a short few days, what will change look like over time?
I have been taking a picture every other month since October to document change from a specific location. (I can't find the January photo anywhere.)  The visual change to both turf and trees is stunning. 

March 4th, 2015

 


May 18th, 2015

Going forward I plan on taking a photo more often to document the changes closer together and add more locations to the program. 
 

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Dryject by the Numbers

Two questions keep coming up about Dry-Ject
 
1. How long did it take?
 
It took three (3) machines from 7am to 6pm to finish all 19 greens (Putting Green and 1-18.)  Three people work with the machine at all times.  The operator who works for the company that owns the machines and two of our crew members, who keep the hopper full (green bin) while the machine is in action.


2. How much sand was used?
The non-specific answer is a lot, but being a numbers guy even I wanted to know a specific total.

The total area done with Dry-Ject was 123,000 square feet.  We knew that the sand pile had 62 tons in it before the day began and over half the pile was gone at the end of the day.  Over 31 tons of sand was injected into the profile.  That's over 500 pounds per thousand square feet or nearly 11 tons per acre.  (A dump truck holds on average 31 tons of sand per delivery.)

"How much was put out on fairways?"
 
That's the question I thought to myself immediately.  I ordered 14 truckloads of sand to be used for topdressing.  When the week was over the storage bin was empty.  The golf course has 27 acres of approaches, fairways, and tees.   
Using a 31 ton average per truckload over 16 tons of sand per acre was incorporated into the profile.