Lake Norman Enters Stage 1 of Drought Protocol

The Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group (CW-DMAG) today announced continued dry weather conditions and above-average temperatures have placed the Catawba-Wateree River Basin in Stage 1 of the Low Inflow Protocol (LIP).

Stage 1 is the second of five drought stages outlined in the LIP and recommends voluntary water conservation by water users across the Basin, in addition to operational adjustments by Duke Energy. The LIP is the drought management plan major water users in the region employ to share responsibility and set priorities to conserve the limited water supply during drought conditions.

"While some areas of the Basin have received scattered rainfall, the lack of widespread precipitation the past several weeks and high temperatures have resulted in increased drought conditions,” said Ed Bruce, P.E., Duke Energy, CW-DMAG coordinator. “We are asking the community to conserve water and energy as we enter the height of the summer season and the typically drier fall period.”

Continued below normal rainfall and very hot temperatures have pushed two of the three LIP drought indicators (triggers) into Stage 1. Water storage in the 11-reservoir Catawba-Wateree Hydroelectric Project continues to decline and streamflows feeding the reservoirs are well below normal. In addition, the U.S. Drought Monitor trigger indicates most of the Basin is experiencing drought conditions.

Earlier this month, the Catawba-Wateree River Basin entered Stage 0 of the LIP which is a drought watch stage and prompted the CW-DMAG to closely monitor conditions.  After observing declining trends in the triggers, the group decided to proactively declare Stage 1 conditions. 

“We wanted to be proactive in making the community aware of increased drought conditions and ask customers to be mindful of water use,” explained Barry McKinnon, Mooresville Public Utilities Director. “The sooner we start conserving, the better for our region as we work together to preserve our shared water resources.”

The Golf Course Maintenance Department has implemented its Water Conservation Plan. At Stage 0 we reduced our water usage by 5%. As we have now entered Stage 1 we are reducing our irrigation by 15%. At this stage we will reduce our run times in the evening and eliminate 1 cycle of rough, 1 time per week. 

Our Water Conservation Plan is as follows for future stages:

Stage 2: 25% Reduction in water usage. Eliminate a cycle per week on high priority areas (Fairways, tees and green surrounds), irrigate low priority areas (roughs) only one time per week. To comply with homeowner restrictions, the clubhouse lawns and grounds will only be watered 2x per week and ornamental plants as needed.

Stage 3: 35% Reduction in water usage. Reduce run times and water no more than 1x per week on high priority areas (tees, fairways, green surrounds). Whatever water is necessary to maintain greens will be reduced from the amount provided for fairways, tees, and green surrounds. 

Stage 4: 85% Reduction in water usage. Watering only necessary zones (greens) for maintenance and survival is allowed.   

As we begin to reduce our water usage to comply with the Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group we will begin to expand our handwatering of dry areas. This will enable us to conserve water and put water where it is needed to maintain plant health and survival. 

Handwatering dry spots allows us to put the water where it is needed and conserve water.

(Some excerpts taken from July 20th Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Group News Release)

Peninsula Hosts USGA Ultradwarf Surface Management Field Day

On June 29th The Peninsula Club hosted the 9th Annual USGA Ultradwarf Surface Management Seminar. This event had been hosted by Rodney Lingle at Memphis Country Club for the past 8 years and is considered by many to be the “Godfather” of Ultradwarf Management. Forty superintendents, assistants and club officials, attended the event. Jared and Rodney teamed up to discuss their greens management practices. There was a classroom question and answer session followed by in-field demonstrations on putting greens #5 and #1.

The day was a resounding success. It was a great time to learn, meet new people and share various methods to achieve excellent putting greens surfaces.

For more information on the field day click here for an USGA write-up on the field day.

The Field Day started with a question and answer session in the ballroom.

Jared answers question regarding his putting green management philosophies.

Assistant Drew McRorie demonstrates our topdressing practices.

Arnold Deherra shows how to verti-groom to get just the right amount of grass standing up to achieve a good cut. 

Bradley Furr and Nick McLennan show the last step in the verti-grooming process by brushing and double cutting the green.

Aeration of Greens is Complete

Aeration of the greens is finally complete. The process started on Sunday evening and finished Wednesday afternoon. It was a HUGE effort by the entire staff to get all of the greens punched, cleaned, washed, sanded and broomed. Below is a chronological look at what our aeration process at The Peninsula Club entails.

The greens looked amazing at the start of aeration.

The first step in the aeration process was vertically mowing the greens. This removes undesirable lateral growth in the canopy. 

View of the green after the vertical mow. Slicing into the canopy allows for more sand incorporation into the channels.

After the greens have been vertical mowed they are rolled and mowed.

Dumpe'! Dumpe'! Dumpe'! Aeration begins and the staff immediately catches and removes the cores. This makes for a very clean green after the holes have been punched.

Arnold cleaning the holes and making sure the holes are ready to receive sand!

This is exactly what the goal is. Large, clean and open holes. The bigger and cleaner they are the more sand that can be incorporate into the holes. 

The dry sand was push broomed into the open holes. This entire process decreases the amount of heavy equipment driven on unstable, open holes that can potentially cause shifting and rutting of the green surface.

The final look after the sand has been brushed in. The holes officially have begun the healing process. 

Now the process of healing and repairing the putting green slate begins. The holes will rapidly begin to heal and the greens should be like new in 12-14 days.

This process would not have been successful without the excellent help of the entire GCM Staff. 

Thanks Nick, Drew, Cesar, Jonathan, Paolo, Arnold, Margarito, Bradley, Alberto, Raul, Chayanne, Roberto, Brian, Wilfred, Jose, Milo, Wes, John! You guys rocked it out! 364 days and counting...

Jared Invited to Speak for USGA

Jared Nemitz, Director of Golf & Grounds at The Peninsula Club has been invited to speak at the Annual USGA Southeast Regional Conference being held at Hope Valley Country Club in Durham, NC on March 24th. His speech is titled, "Data Collection Ideas to Assist with Putting Green Management". It will highlight the data collection, organization and scrutinizing of scientific data that helps the agronomy team make sound agronomic decisions. Jared has spoken at various conferences and industry expos across the United States and the world.

Peninsula Bird Project

Over the past 16 years The Peninsula Club has been a participating partner with Dr. Mark Stanback and Davidson University. Dr. Stanback and his graduate students have been studying bluebirds, chickadees and wrens at the Peninsula Golf Course since 1999.

Dr. Stanback and his students have been studying the nesting and breeding behaviors of these birds, documenting their group composition and the competition between nuthatches and chickadees. They have also collected small blood samples from all of the nuthatches for DNA analysis. The Peninsula Club has allowed them to put up over 40 birdhouses across the golf course for this research. The data they have collected has been integral in a variety of studies that have been published in multiple scientific journals. 

Over 40 stands like this can be seen across the golf course. Another stand can be seen in the background.

 If you would like to know more information on the research conducted by Dr. Mark Stanback you can reach him at 704-894-2325.

Root Pruning Has Begun

Root pruning is an integral and necessary part of golf course tree maintenance. The majority of the holes on the course are tree-lined, creating beauty and dimension. Unfortunately, some of the rough adjacent to these tree-lines has performed poorly. When dry weather persists the tree roots out compete the turfgrass for water and nutrients. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that surface roots (see image below) are severe in many areas creating extremely poor playability.

Surface roots cause turfgrass decline, equipment damage and playability issues.

Tree roots can also wreak havoc on cart paths and contribute to increased equipment repair costs. Tree roots are one of the most significant contributors to cart path failure as a course ages.

Tree roots are a significant contributor to cart path decline.

Our root pruning program is accomplished with an Imants Root pruner. The machine cuts two parallel lines ten inches into the ground, suppressing and severing lateral growth by the tree. By only cutting ten inches deep, the roots are severed and turfgrass quality and golfing playability are not affected.  Roots are pruned along the tree's drip line.  After the roots have been cut, a small crew manually removes the root from the playing surface. Soil is then placed in the areas left void from the removal of roots.

Turfgrass quality drastically improves when roots are not competing for water and nutrients.

The Imants (background) severs the roots and the staff pulls them out of the playing ground (foreground).

Arnold pulling up large roots out of the playing area.

Surface roots removed from the first five trees.

The finished product after the Imants has cut through the roots.

We have begun the root pruning program and have completed holes #1 and #2. We will continue this process through March. The process will be repeated every other year to maintain a root free playing surface and increased turfgrass quality.

Shop Drainage Complete

During heavy rain events (>1 inch), the GCM Building used to flood. The equipment bay, shop area, employee lounge and offices would all flood. The maintenance building is located at the bottom of a ravine that receives high amounts of rain from the streets from above. When the water would funnel off the roof it became trapped behind the building in a ditch with nowhere for it to go except into the shop. 

The back of the building, where much of our storage space is located, was also sloped in a way that much of the water was coming back towards the shop instead of deflecting the water towards storm water basins. We created a ditch network with drainage to move all of the water away from the building. We also sloped the back of the shop, cleaned out all of the trash and sealed it with concrete screenings. We are now able to work more efficiently, maintain a dry work environment and be able to get to the golf course.

"If you can't maintain the back of the house, you can't maintain the front of the house!"

Jared's office after a rain storm event.

Over 1 inch of water in the employee break room

Water from the roof and streets above would get trapped in the ditch behind the shop with nowhere to go but inside it.

Drainage pipe and basins were installed every 20 feet.

Surge gravel was installed so we can keep the area free from debris.

Back of maintenance building before.

Back of maintenance building before.

Back of maintenance building before.

Back of maintenance building before.

Back of maintenance building after.

Back of maintenance building after.

Back of maintenance building after.

The landscape in front of the building also received a makeover.

The men showing me how they poured/mixed concrete in their native country.

  

The results of our staff's hard work.