Looking Back on 2019

It has been a while since our last blogpost.  Close to a year to be exact which has been noticed by many and commented on by several.  My apologies for not updating the blog more regularly this year.  It has been a year of new adventures for me as I have stepped into my role as a Director on the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America board of directors.  I am extremely thankful for our amazing agronomy staff who pour their passion and dedication into the conditioning of the course and allow me the opportunity to serve the golf industry as I enjoy doing.

The 2019 growing season was one of the best in recent memory.  Even with all the rain in the spring and the drought in the summer our agronomy team continued to provide excellent conditions for our golfers and guests. One of the changes in our cultural practices that we began a few years ago and is really starting to pay dividends is the application of our topdressing sand using push broadcast spreaders instead of the vehicle mounted spinner style we used to use.  This practice has allowed us to apply the proper amount of sand needed by our greens without affecting the play of the greens and has been widely received by our golfers as an excellent practice.

National Golf Day was a new venture for me this year as I joined with hundreds of other golf industry professionals from around the country in Washington DC for two days to promote the benefits of golf.  Representatives from GCSAA, PGA, USGA, Club Managers Association, Golf Course Architects, Golf Course Builders, Golf Course Owners and many other associations came together to give back to our nation through a Community Service Project where we performed landscape and turfgrass renovation projects, planted flowers, and made irrigation repairs on the National Mall.  The work performed was recognized by the National Park Service as the Outstanding Group Volunteer Service Project of the year.  On the second day we divided and conquered Capitol Hill as representatives from each state met with members of Congress to promote the benefits of the game of golf.  I, along with Brad Marcy, GCS at Indian Hills GC in Murfreesboro and Michael Seabrook, GM, at Belle Meade CC in Nashville had the pleasure of speaking with Senators Alexander and Blackburn and Congressmen Desjarlais, Fleischmann, and Cooper.  It was a great experience and I look forward to returning in May for National Golf Day 2020.

Summer closure for aerification went perfectly this year as our staff was able to perform the needed cultural practices to the course.  We were able to perform core aerification to the greens in multiple directions removing organic matter, relieving compaction, and allowing for increased oxygen exchange.  Aerification is always one of the practices that is frowned upon by most all golfers but I think, or at least I hope, we have shown over the years that by performing these practices in the time and manner we do that we can provide the high quality putting surfaces our golfers and guests demand with only a limited disturbance in the golfing season.

We were able to make a few improvements or renovations to the course this year but mostly spent our time maintaining and conditioning the course for play.  Projects such as crosstie curbing, protective matting on the bridges for our walking guests, sod work at parking areas were among the projects we completed but the project we enjoyed the most, and was appreciated by the golfers the most, was the bunker renovation project on #13 fairway.  This bunker had been an eyesore for many years and could not be kept in playing condition due to the direct inflow of water which contaminated the sand. That situation was remedied and we now have a nice looking and great functioning bunker.

Our environmental programs are still one of the best parts of our golf course and this year was no different.  We had a new female in our Harrison Bay Eagle Cam nest which was given the name Athena.  She and Elliott fledged two more eaglets into the wild.  Our cameras experienced issues again this year so we didn't get to see them hatch and grow up but we are working on the system for this year and should be up and running in time for us all to enjoy this years brood.  The course continues to be a haven for deer, turkey, raccoons, all manner of small woodland creatures and a plethora of birds and insects.  When people ask me what the best part of my job is, seeing the wildlife live and thrive in partnership with all the activities on the golf course is the first and easiest answer for me.

As all good things have to come to an end, Bill Greene retired from service to the golf course this fall.  Bill has been instrumental in maintaining the golf course for many years, and although he did a great job at that, his biggest contribution to the course was his ability, and willingness, to work on many of our environmental projects such as the mallard duck nesting tubes, the wood duck nesting boxes, deer and turkey feeders, and the Bobwhite quail restoration project.  Bill also used his carpentry skills to provide many of the course accessories our golfers enjoy on a daily basis, along with helping with the new front entrance sign and wood fencing which greets our guests.  Enjoy your second retirement and your new home, Bill.

As we look back to 2019, the successes of the golf course and the enjoyment our golfers and guests enjoy would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of the agronomy staff.  They are a small group but one that is determined to provide the best possible conditions we can provide no matter how much rain we receive or how hot it is.  I am very grateful for this group and especially for the leadership Willie Hamby has shown in running the many day to day operations of the course.

Thank you to everyone who played or visited our course this year.  We hope you enjoyed your time on the course as much as we do every day and we hope to see you in 2020.  We have some cool projects we are hoping to complete this winter, so come back and see us, and I will do my best to update the blog more regularly in 2020.

Mallard Duck Nesting Tubes Revised

Our mallard duck nesting tube project has been one of our most viewed projects on the blog over the past year.  As this was a project Bill and Mitch designed in house there were some aspects that we did not account for and so in order to prepare the nesting tubes for the upcoming nesting season we made some minor changes and improvements.

 

 The biggest issue that we noticed with the construction of the nesting tubes was that the large 2" x 3" openings in the coated garden fencing allowed the pine straw to become dislodged during heavy rain storms.  In order to compensate for this problem we decided to bring the nesting tubes in, disassemble them, and add a layer of chicken coop wire around the outside of the inner tube.

 New pine straw was spread over the remaining nesting tube fencing.

The nesting tube was rolled back up and secured with new hog rings.

Here's Mitch with the "new and improved" mallard duck nesting tube.  They also added a small platform on the front of the nesting tube for the ducks to land on or use as a diving board when it comes time to go swimming.  Even mallard ducks need a little fun, once in a while.

Mitch and Willie decided that today, even though it was only in the upper 20s, would be a great day to reinstall the nesting tubes in the irrigation lake.

The forethought of using the U channel road signs came in very handy as it made reinstalling the nesting tubes rather easy, although rather cold.  The tubes were refilled with broomsedge and straw from the surrounding area and the nesting tubes were positioned so the platform would be facing out to the water.

The nesting tubes have all been renovated and reinstalled in the irrigation lake.  We are hopeful for a successful nesting season with many little mallard ducklings to follow.


Thanks to Mitch, Bill, and Willie for all their hard work and dedication.

Environmental Outreach

With all that has been going on at the golf course over the past month posting on the blog has had to take a back seat.  Hopefully things are slowing down, or at least the grass will slow down on its growth, and I can get back to the blog. 

I was very encouraged this past week though that we are making an impact with our environmental activities, both near and far, when I received a comment on the blog about our Mallard Duck Nesting Tubes.  The comment came from Mr. and Mrs. Chris and Heather Miller which stated "My son loved the idea and used it as an Eagle Scout project.  He is 13 years old and just completed them and installed them in the pond around our community in Utah.  Thanks for the detailed instructions."  It is great to see environmental stewardship activities taking place and to know that we had a small part in it.  Great job young Mr. Miller and best of luck to you and your mallard ducks.

Mallard Duck Project Update

Today was graduation day for Bill's little mallard duckies.  He moved the ducklings out of the outside shelter and released them into the irrigation lake where we have installed the mallard duck nesting tubes.  Hopefully this will be their new home and they will raise many more mallards in the future.  Catch up on the project by viewing Building Mallard Duck Nesting Tubes or by watching the  USGA Mallard Duck webcast.

Bill ordered 10 mallard duck chicks from Efowl.com and we received them on February 28.  We kept them in the maintenance building where they were fed and watered and kept warm with a small heat lamp.

After they had grown some, which did not take very long at all, Bill built an outside shelter for them where they had some more room, could get used to the outside temperatures, and quit stinking up the maintenance building.  They were very cute to look at while they were so small but they really did stink up the place.

The little ones in their outside home.  I was surprised by how much water they went through in a single day.  The watering container had to be filled up several times per day.  I guess that is why they call them water fowl.

Bill felt that they were ready to face the real world so he gathered them all up and took them over to one of the mallard duck nesting tubes and placed them inside.  The ducklings do not have their flight feathers yet but they should know the tubes are a safe place and will fly back up and use them.

After they all fell out of the nesting tube they swam back to the shore and gathered up in their normal huddle.  It was fun to watch them explore the new environment for a while and try swimming for the first time. 

We already have some new mallards on the pond using the nesting tubes so we hope these mallards will take our ducklings under their wing and show them the ropes.

Although Bill and Mitch have been the leaders of this project, I am very proud of all my staff for their hard work in completing another environmental conservation program at the golf course.  With the unsuccessful nesting of our Bald Eagles this year it is nice to turn around and have a successful nesting program of a different sort. 

Eagle Cam and Mallard Duck Webcast

As many of our faithful followers know, our environmental programs at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay are extremely important to us and the success of our golf course.  Several months ago Bill and Mitch built seven new mallard duck nesting tubes and installed them in the irrigation lake on #11 green.  We were pleased that the fine folks at the United States Golf Association Green Section saw the blog post and requested we record a webcast about the project.  Another great way to promote the environment, so I jumped on board.  Below is a copy of the USGA webcast. 

And as if the great people at TurfNet have not done enough for me and The Bear Trace already they have put together a video about the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project and are continuing to add informative articles to keep the TurfNet readers up to date.

A Project for the Birds--TurfNet

Eagle Cam Video--TurfNet

I do want to let everyone know that one of the eagle eggs has been discarded from the nest. Eloise moved the egg out of the nest on Friday morning.  We were all very sad and disappointed but spirits were lifted on Friday evening when the remaining egg began to crack open and our newest eagle at Harrison Bay began the hatching process which can take up to a day to complete.  We are very much looking forward to seeing the little one grow up and take flight.  As I am typing this it is raining outside and like a good mother Eloise is sitting contently on the nest keeping her little one dry and warm. 

And contrary to popular belief we do more than just take care of the "zoo".  We were able to complete the bunker renovation on the large greenside bunker on #12.  We have plans to renovate the small greenside bunker on #12 and the two rear greenside bunkers on #15 before the heavy play season begins, if it hasn't already.

The greens have come out of winter dormancy in great shape this year.  We have begun the process of lowering the heights and will begin our light topdressing program in the next few weeks.  Fairways, tees, and approaches have all been cut down and we will continue to spray the Poa in the roughs throughout the rest of March.  Hope everyone had a great winter break and are ready for some warm weather and great golf.

Building Mallard Duck Nesting Tubes

 Now that we have successfully launched our Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project we have turned our attention to yet another environmental conservation project.  Several weeks ago Bill Greene and Mitch Sivley approached me with the idea of building and installing nesting tubes for mallard ducks.  Mallard ducks tend to nest on the ground or in small patches of grass above the water level but this nesting habitat leaves them vulnerable to predators.  Bill and Mitch have been instrumental in our environmental stewardship program for many years so I was very happy to see them taking the lead on improving our environmental stewardship program.  I told them to put together some ideas and pricing and we would go from there.

Bill researched different nesting designs and found one at  http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/henhouses/build.php  that was inexpensive and looked like it would work well.  After some discussion, we made some slight modifications to the design that we thought would work better and allow the nesting tubes to last longer and be easier to maintain.

One of the main changes that we made to the project was using PVC pipe for our support for the nesting tube.  The PVC was a more readily available material around the maintenance building and would cost less to use. 

The nesting cradles are made to hold the 36" long nest tubes.  A section of 2" PVC is used to connect the cradle to the post which will be driven into the ground.  We used a 1.25" tee in the middle of the cradle with two sections of pipe extending each direction to reach 36".  On each end another tee was used to which we reduced each end to accept a 3/4" electrical conduit 90 degree fitting.

This is the final product of the nesting cradle.  After a few trials Mitch and Bill determined that it is best to run the wire which will be used to secure the nesting tube to the cradle through the piping before you glue them all together. 

Once the nesting cradle was completed they used four different colors of paint to camouflage the piping.

Built, camouflaged and completed nesting cradle and support tube.

The structure of the tube is made up of a 7 foot long section of common 3 foot tall coated garden fencing with 2" x 3" spacing. The first three feet of the fencing is rolled into a tube and secured with hog rings or wire ties.

Once the center tube is secured the remaining 4 feet of wire fencing is covered with a 2-3" layer of material.  We used pine straw but you could use flax straw or a common straw to your area but it is discouraged to use hay as it degrades rapidly and will not serve well over the long haul.

After the layer of pine straw was spread out over the remaining wire fencing, the previously constructed tube was rolled up over the pine straw.  This creates a cylinder of pine straw which is small enough for the mallard duck to get into but not for larger predatory birds to reach and harm them.  The end of the wire fencing was attached with hog rings and the nesting tube itself was complete.

The nesting tube was placed in its nesting tube cradle and the two were secured together with the wire bands that were run through the pipe in the beginning.   Ready for installation.

The first part of the installation process was to drive the steel posts into the ground.  The nesting tubes need to be about 5 yards out from the bank and needs to be at least 3 feet from the water surface.  We were able to acquire some 8 foot "U" Channel road signs from Don at the State Park.  Bill and Mitch then used a post driver to set the posts in the lake bed.

The 2" support tube is attached  to the post with bolts so that it will be easy to remove and perform maintenance on.

Prior to being installed on the posts the nesting tubes are filled about 2/3 of the way full with a combination of flax straw and broom sedge harvested from the surrounding area.  This will serve as the bedding for the nesting tube to keep the eggs safe and warm.

Once ready the tubes are brought out to the post and glued in place.

Finished product ready for some homeowners.  The project is really easy, we made and installed all the nesting tubes in two days.  The materials cost us about $35.00 per nesting tube and will be a great addition to our conservation program.  Bill has ordered some hatchlings which we will raise at the maintenance building for a few weeks and then introduce to the pond.  These ducks should return to this "home" pond to raise their young.

This is a very simple project to do and complete and will provide suitable, safe housing for waterfowl.  Anyone who wishes to get more information about this project or has any questions about it please let us know. 

We will have follow up posts on this project as we go forward.

Great job Bill and Mitch!!!