Earth Day 2014 at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay

What better way to celebrate Earth Day 2014 than to spend it with about 50 friends promoting the environmentally sustainable efforts of the golf course industry.  Even though it drizzled from time to time during the day we had a great turnout of TDEC officials, community friends, golf course industry members, equipment manufacturers, and local, state, and national media.  All here to discuss how golf courses can beneficially contribute to the environment.

Before lunch we had time for people to gather, talk, and look at our Jacobsen ECLIPSE 322 electric mowers.  Some, non golf course people, were brave enough to take them out for a spin on the putting green.  All were amazed at how quiet they are and how easy it is to operate them.

After lunch, Deputy Commissioner Brock Hill kicked off the presentations detailing how the Tennessee Golf Trail and Tennessee State Parks contribute to the sustainability of the environment within Tennessee.  He then introduced Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Bob Martineau (pictured) who started his presentation with our department "motto" that "Every day is Earth Day at TDEC".  This is true and we strive everyday to make decisions that best limit our impact on the environment and natural resources.

I was very happy that Dr. Jim Brosnan (pictured), Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, was able to speak at our event.  Dr. Brosnan spoke to attendees about the role of golf courses in limiting the use of water by allowing naturalized areas to grow on golf courses and how golf courses can protect the waterways by providing buffer strips around the edge of waterways to filter chemicals and fertilizer runoff.  I was also grateful for Dr. Brandon Horvath and my "old" friend Dr. Tom Samples joined us for the day's event.

Our next speaker was Ron Wright, CGCS, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Southeast Field Rep.  Mr. Wright has a special insight into how golf courses can contribute to the betterment of the environment because he has been in the golf course industry for over 30 years. Mr. Wright gets to see a multitude of golf courses across the southeast each year and had many great stories to tell about how the golf course industry is turning our reputation around from several years ago of being "environmental polluters".

One of the most special things that happened on Earth Day, in my opinion, was when Mr. Wright, on behalf of GCSAA and the Environmental Institute for Golf, presented Ms. Lori Munkeboe, Director of TDEC's Office of Sustainable Practices, a special Certificate of Recognition for her and her offices work on the Electric Equipment Initiative at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay.  If it were not for Ms. Munkeboe wondering if there was any electric golf course equipment we could use, this celebration at Harrison Bay probably would not have happened.

The last speaker of the day was Mr. David Withers, Jacobsen Worldwide President.  Mr. Withers has a special passion for the environment that I have not seen from another equipment manufacturer.  Mr. Withers spoke to our guests about how equipment has changed over the years and how Jacobsen has embraced the need and desire of golf course superintendents to provide a high quality product while also limiting the strain on natural resources. Jacobsen's commitment to the environment lead to the creation of the fully electric Eclipse 322 mowers, one of the reasons we were able to reduce our gasoline usage by over 9,000 gallons this past year.

Mr. Withers, Paul Carter, Comm. Bob Martineau

Mr. Withers was also gracious enough to present The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay with our certification from Golf Environment Organization or GEO.  Jacobsen was the first equipment manufacturer to see the benefit of promoting environmental sustainability through GEO, so we were thrilled when Mr. Withers volunteered to present our certification.  Being only one of six golf courses in the United States to garner this exclusive environmental certification and having it be awarded on Earth Day was the icing on the cake.

Wildlife Walk group gathered in front of one of
our Operation Pollinator plantings

After the presentations were complete, and even though it was drizzling a bit, Mitch and Bill took our guests on a little "wildlife walk".  Our guests walked down along #10 fairway were Mitch and Bill showed them our wild turkey feeders, our blue bird houses, our wood duck nesting houses, our mallard duck nesting tubes, and finished it up near the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam nesting tree where Harrison Bay State Park Manager Don Campbell and HBSP Ranger Matt Vawter told the guests about the project and allowed them to look at the eagles through a spotting scope and binoculars.  For several of our guests this was the first time they had seen a bald eagle in the wild and were amazed at how beautiful they really are.

The Earth Day Celebration at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay presented by Jacobsen was a tremendous success and I think we were able to help educate and inform our guests on how golf courses can be, and are, environmental stewards.



A special thanks goes out everyone who decided to spend the day celebrating with us.  We had many state and local officials, community friends, and media from around the nation join us and we could not be happier.

A very special thanks has to go out to Mr. Adam Slick of Jacobsen for thinking of and coordinating the event. Ms. Sharon and Ms. Amy were terrific in organizing the event and being the smart ones who thought of providing umbrellas which came in very helpful to our guests.  Mr. Glenn Gray of We Are Golf and Buffalo Communications did a great job of coordinating with all the media around the world to make sure the event got the maximum amount of coverage possible.

In case you were not able to attend here are some of the media reports on the event

WDEF Chattanooga CBS affiliate "Earth Day and Eagles..."

CNN.com "A golf club with more eagles than most"


Chattanooga Times Free Press "Bear Trace a fitting site for Earth Day Celebration"

Low Mowing Heights Require Precision Setup

As Adam Garr said in his video in my last post, "Fast greens don't just happen".  It takes a lot of work and dedication on a lot of fronts to keep the greens performing properly.  In addition to the verticutting and topdressing that we do to the greens on a regular basis, Steve Bloom, our trusty equipment mechanic, has to keep the reels cutting at an extremely high level in order for us to maintain the greens at the proper height.  Our new Jacobsen Eclipse 322 with their 15 blade cutting reels provide a superior cut and with daily backlapping and adjusting, our mowers are always ready to go.

In order to insure our greens are maintained at their highest potential Steve daily backlaps the mowers and checks their contact and height of cut before they are sent out the next day to mow.  

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   From time to time the reels can no longer be backlapped to get that high quality of cut and they have to be ground to sharpen the blades and true up the cutting edge of the reel.  Since it was pouring rain all day on Monday Steve and Willie took the lead and ground the reels on all three greensmower triplexes. 

Here Steve is grinding one of the greensmower reels on our bench grinder.  The process takes off just a little bit of the reel with each pass of the grinding stone leaving the reel sharp and true across the entire surface of all 15 blades.

Also during the process of grinding the reels Willie replaced the bedknife with a brand new one.  The reel and the bedknife work just like household scissors and cut the grass as they come into contact with one another.  As with dull scissors or a dull razor, dull blades or bedknives don't cut grass very well and can lead to weakened plants making them vulnerable to insect and disease invasion.

Video of How a Reel Cuts Grass

Freshly ground reel and shiny new bedknife ready to go.  Makes me happy!!!

Once the reel is done in the grinding room it is remounted on the mower and a light contact is set getting it ready for backlapping.

Although the reel has been freshly ground and the bedknife is fresh out of the box the two need to be matched or "married" together through a process known as backlapping.  In the backlapping process the reel is spun in the opposite direction of its normal mowing operation.  Backlapping compound is applied to the reel to fine tune the contact and the sharpness of the reel.  Backlapping compound is really like "liquid sandpaper" and puts that finishing touch on the sharpening process.

After the reels have been backlapped, they are washed off to remove all the excess backlapping compound and then the mower is set up on the Golf Lift so the reels can be adjusted.  Here Steve is using an AccuGuage to set the height of cut, which is currently set at 0.130".  He will also adjust/check the height of the groomers, which are currently set at 0.115" and check to make sure we have 0.002" of clearance between the reel and the bedknife as recommended by Jacobsen.

 Once the reels are set the mower is ready to go mow some grass.  It takes a lot of effort and dedication to keep the mowers cutting at the high level that we demand and I am grateful to have a dedicated and committed staff.

Great Work Steve and Willie!!!

Programmable Frequency of Clip

As many of you know we recently got some new mowers for the greens.  The mowers have allowed us to provide a quality of cut that we have not been able to produce before.  We have been experimenting with the heights of cut to see how low we can go without damaging the putting surface and this past week we have been working with the programmable frequency of clip (FOC) which is exclusive to the Jacobsen Eclipse 322.

 
 
One of the great features that we are enjoying about the new mowers is the programmable frequency of clip.  Frequency of Clip is better explained in this YouTube video Frequency of Clip Animation than I could do. 



Over the past several weeks we have been double cutting the greens (mowing the green twice either in different directions or up and back the same pass) to provide the quality putting surface that we need to provide.  This week we started adjusting the FOC on the mowers to determine which would be the best operation for us to do, double cut the greens at a particular FOC or single cut at a lower FOC while still getting the same quality of cut and removing the proper desired amount of clippings.

FOC 0.07 (left) vs. FOC 0.10 (right)

In a very non-scientific experiment we found by using the programmable FOC that we were able to remove the same amount of clippings and provide the same high quality of cut while reducing our actual time spent mowing the greens, the battery powered used, and the wear and tear on the greens surround.

The photo above shows clippings removed from two greens which are very similar in size, #7 and #18.  They were mowed with the same mower and by the same operator the only difference was #7 was double cut, or mowed in two different directions, with the FOC set at 0.10 and #18 was single cut with the FOC set at 0.07. 

FOC 0.07 (front) vs. FOC 0.10 (back)

As you can tell the amount of clippings removed from the different greens is not substantially different and I can tell you that the quality of cut is no different.  What did change was the amount of time spent mowing the green.  Lowering the FOC from 0.10 to 0.07 slowed the overall forward travel speed of the mower down but did not change the speed at which the reel was turning.  As a result the same amount of grass was removed from the green but took 5 minutes less to single cut the green than it did to double cut the green. 

The programmable FOC gives us the flexibility to change the amount of grass removed from the greens quickly without having to change gears or sprockets or fittings as we would have to on other models.  Saving the additional time and wear and tear on the greens surrounds is another added benefit that is very important to our operation.

We are excited about what other great features we will be able to enjoy with the new mowers and how they will help our guests enjoy the golf course better.

Electric Equipment Initiative Goes Public

 The Electric Equipment Initiative of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation was officially unveiled yesterday at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay.  We had a great turn out including representatives from local and state government agencies, local electric boards, equipment manufacutures and distributors, and media representatives among many others.  The event was a great way to present the electric equipment we have purchased and to communicate how we are using this technology to help protect the environment while also reducing our use of fossil fuels and eliminate the creation of point source CO2 emissions.

The event allowed our guests to get up close and personal with the equipment, to look at the battery powered technology, and to ask questions about the project.  We had many great questions asked and hopefully other operations will begin looking at electric equipment as a possible choice.

David Uchiyama of Chattanooga Times Free Press was on hand (he is in the forefront as I try to explain the advantages of the 15 blade cutting unit on the new Jacobsen Eclipse 322  greensmower).  David filed this report on the event this morning.  http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/may/22/bear-trace-first-for-all-electric-mowers/

As David states in his article above, we have already seen a significant benefit from converting from gasoline powered equipment to electric equipment and I have to say the performance of the equipment has far exceeded our expectations.  If you haven't looked at electric equipment as a possibility you really need to, especially with the future of lithium battery technology on the horizon.

State Senator Bo Watson (front) and TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau were present to participate in the unveiling. 

 

 

Ms. Lori Munkeboe, Director of the Office of Sustainable Practices, enjoyed the event by hopping on and trying out one of the mowers.

 

 

Even John Reitman of TurfNet fame got in on the action and took one of the mowers for a spin across the putting green.  Read John's comments about the initiative and event here:  http://www.turfnet.com/page/news.html/_/the-quietest-golf-course-in-southeast-r122

 

Mitch Sivley, Bear Trace Assistant Superintendent, demoed the quietness of the mowers for the group which was a huge hit with all in attendance. 

 

 

Past posts on the Electric Equipment Initiative

 

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Greens verticutting in "Pollenville"

 This morning we did our first verticutting of the year.  This process removes large and laid over leaf blades to make the greens smoother and faster.  I tend to like the results that we get from verticutting our greens in circles.  This has worked really good for us in the past.

 Verticutting in circles, in my opinion, hits the grass blades in different and unique angles different than what we could achieve from straight line verticutting.  This process also means that we are continuously verticutting and not making even more tire turns on the surrounds.

 After the verticutting we mow the greens with our new Jacobsen Eclipse 322 greensmowers to remove the excess grass clippings from the putting surface.

 After we mowed the greens the topdressing sand goes down.  We use our Dakota 410 Turf Tender spin topdresser to lay down a light layer of sand on the green.  This sand helps to reduce the thatch layer, smooths out the putting surface, and helps the putting surface absorb incoming shots.  We have used green dyed kiln dried sand for many years which we and our proshop likes because we can topdress at any time and unless the golfers see us out topdressing they can't tell and the usual complaints about topdressing the greens all go away.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DISGUSTING!!!

 The lovely city that we live in, Chattanooga, Tennessee, is annually listed as one of the top three cities in the nation for allergies.  It is a great place if you are an allergy doctor but not if your profession puts you outside every day during the spring.  This is a picture of #13 green that I took the other morning after a light rain that morning washed all the pollen on the putting green surface down to the front of the green.

 Here is a lovely picture of the lake in front of #14 green.  I like to call this the "Pollen Tidal Wave".  It is amazing and disgusting to watch the plumes of pollen moving across the air and then get washed up on the shoreline.  And to think that this is what we are breathing into our lungs everyday. 

Spring Cleaning and Cleaning Out

The growing season is off and running for this year.  The greens have come out great and the new Jacobsen Eclipse 322 greensmowers are a tremendous hit with everyone.  The quality of cut is unlike anything that I have seen in my career.  The greens are smoother than they have ever been which our golfers are definitely noticing.  We are experimenting with heights of cut and frequency of clip to provide faster greens speeds.  I think it is going to be an exciting year at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay.

The grass is not the only area at the golf course which is getting a new look for this year.  After several years of loosing blue bird eggs and hatchlings to the long arms of our resident raccoons our wonderful volunteer blue bird monitors from the Friends of Harrison Bay State Park have devised a plan to thwart their evil ways.  Following a predator deterrent model in the Tennessee Conservationist magazine, they made simple but affective wire tube extenders which prohibit the raccoon from reaching into the nest.  Hopefully this will eliminate the lose of the eggs and hatchlings from now on.

Greens mowers and ice

We finally got out to use our new Jacobsen Eclipse 322 Electric greensmowers this morning and I have to say we are thoroughly impressed with their operation and the amazing quality of cut the 15 blade reels provide.  I am really excited about the quality of putting surface we will be able to provide our golfers thanks to these mowers.



Bill, Jonathan, and Eric have been working hard this winter to finish up the four year bunker renovation project of the greenside bunkers at Harrison Bay.  Our bunkers used to be our biggest complaint and one of our biggest budget expenses but that has all changed and we can provide now our golfers and guests with some very good bunkers to play out of.  The remaining three greenside bunkers will be completed in the next week or two. We are also going to work on improving the fairway bunkers which we have had some comments about by adding the sand we removed from the greenside bunkers to the fairway bunkers which will give them much needed sand and a firmer surface which is what you want in a fairway bunker sand.

We found an irrigation head stuck on on #4 green this morning and were surprised to see the layer of ice which had accumulated on the bunker face overnight.  Pretty funny to see the grass blades incased in an ice cocoon. 

Electric Greensmowers and Greens Rollers Arrive

 What better way to wrap up a great week of operations at the golf course than to take delivery of our new fully electric Jacobsen Eclipse 322 greensmowers and our new fully electric Tru-Turf greens rollers.

 

 Mitch is trying out the new Eclipse mower.  The operation is so quiet all you can hear is the sound of the reels turning.  It has been a long time since we have been able to cut any green grass and the arrival of these greensmowers just adds to that desire.  Really looking forward to a great year and some of the best manicured greens we have ever had.

 

We also took delivery of the new 48 volt Tru Turf Electric greens roller which will help us to provide faster, firmer greens.  The tri-roller smoothing heads and the rubber coated drive roller will help us to roll the greens in almost any direction without the fear of leaving creases or lines in the putting surface.

 

 

Here is another quick video to demonstrate the quietness of the electric equipment. 

 

Only a couple more pieces of equipment to be delivered and some finish up work in the golf course maintenance building by Ooltewah Electric and the Electric Equipment Initiative will be in full swing.

 

 

Electric Equipment Initiative at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay

How great for the environment would it be to be able to maintain the golf course without burning a single drop of fuel?  Well, that may seem like a dream but it is one that we are going to chase at Harrison Bay.  In an effort to reduce our impact on the environment through the emission of carbon emitted by our current gasoline engines we are converting the majority of our golf course maintenance equipment to a fully electric battery powered fleet.

This Electric Equipment Initiative, as we like to call it, will involve the replacement of gasoline combustion engines on our greens, tees, approaches, bunker rakes, greens rollers, and our staff utility vehicles with fully, 100% electric equipment.  It will be a total of 19 pieces of equipment which will allow us to maintain the golf course without polluting the air with carbon emissions and will allow us to not disturb our golfers and guests with the operation of loud equipment.

Working with the great people in the Office of Sustainable Practices in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation we were able to obtain funding from Tennessee State Parks and the Tennessee Valley Authority for this project through the Clean Tennessee Energy grant.  By converting our gasoline burning equipment to all electric equipment we estimate we will reduce our gasoline consumption by over 12,000 gallons, eliminate the emission of over 215,000 pounds of point source carbon, and reduce our maintenance expenses by over $30,000.00.

It has taken a while to get the project off the ground but we are getting very close to seeing it be a reality.  The equipment we chose for the project is the Jacobsen Eclipse 322  triplex mower for greens, tees, and approaches, the Smithco Super Star 48 volt bunker rake, the Tru Turf R52  greens roller, the Toro Workman MDE, and the Club Car Carry All Turf II.  These units will allow us on many days to maintain our golf course without burning a single drop of fuel or emitting a single pound of point source carbon emission.  The goal of the whole project.

We have taken delivery of a couple pieces of equipment last week which have already been placed into service and are operating beyond our expectations.

Mitch is trying out the new Smithco Super Star bunker rake.

Left is a video of Willie operating one of the new fully electric bunker rakes.  Be sure to turn your volume up so you can hear the full experience.

We also chose to replace the staff vehicles with fully electric Toro Workman MDE vehicles.  These vehicles will allow the golf course staff to perform their duties around the golf course quietly so as not to disturb the golfers or the wildlife.  Win Win for everyone.

The Toro Workman MDEs are powered by a powerful 48 volt system which we have already found to have all the power we need to haul fertilizer, sand, and a trailer around the golf course.



We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the remaining equipment and the onset of spring so we can put it all into operation.  We can already tell that one of the biggest things we are going to have to get used to is not hearing the sound of the gasoline engines as we perform our work but that is something we will gladly get used to.