Winter Course

Back by popular demand is the Wakonda Winter Course. This winter has been fairly mild which allows for a few enjoyable days on the course. Look for black and yellow tee markers placed in the rough and blue flags in the fairways. There are 9 holes which run as follows.
The first hole is #4, followed by 3 and 1. The fourth hole begins near #18 tee and plays to #16 fairway. Numbers 10, 11, 12, 7, and 8 are the final holes of the winter course.

Maps of the winter course can be obtained at the Golf Pro Shop.

Golf Course Closing

We will be covering the greens for winter beginning today, November 28.  Temperatures have dropped significantly  and the covers must be stapled down before the ground freezes.  We will also be topdressing and fertilizing the greens ahead of the covers.

We were able to drain and blow out the irrigation system on Monday November 21st.  We then applied fungicides to tees, greens, and fairways Tuesday and Wednesday the 22nd and 23rd.  We have the golf course prepared to overwinter.

SNOW GOLF

Course Closing Procedures

Monday was a beautiful day with very little wind and the grounds crew took advantage.  We successfully removed the driving range net and were able to blow and mulch leaves.  We were able to clean holes 1,2,3,4, and 18- areas which were in desperate need of attention. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we will be experiencing foul weather- there is SNOW all around!  With the weather rapidly declining we have been preparing for the golf course to close and thought we would outline the major tasks that must be accomplished before winter arrives for good.

13 green - 8 AM 11/9

 1. The driving range net has already been taken down.
2. The irrigation system must be blown out.  We use a huge air compressor to blow all the water out of the pipes.  If water is allowed to freeze in the lines and sprinkler heads, pipes would freeze and burst with disastrous consequences.
3. We must spray fungicides to all greens, tees, and fairways throughout the course to protect against snow mold.
4. There are several measures taken to prepare the greens for winter.  First, all greens are topdressed with sand to add an extra layer of insulation  We then fertilize the greens with an organic fertilizer to provide the plant with ample nutrition for good root building through the fall and early spring.  Finally, we will cover the greens with our breathable tarps.  The tarps protect the greens from harsh winter extremes which can cause dessication and turf decline. The covers must be installed before the ground freezes so that we can drive 6 inch staples into the ground which hold the covers in place during blustery winter days.  

We have pulled our green covers down from storage- ready and waiting for Old Man Winter!

We will likely blow out the irrigation system and spray our snow mold protection during the week of November 14.  You will also see us positioning tarps near the greens Thanksgiving week.  Weather will ultimately determine the final closing day when the greens are covered.

Practice Tee to Close Tomorrow

The grounds crew will be taking down the net along the south and west sides of the driving range on Monday November 7th.  Once the net is down all practice will take place from the west end of the range at the indoor practice facility.  This is the first major procedure in winter preparations for the grounds crew.

2011 Season Ending

We have enjoyed a mild, dry autumn at Wakonda Club.  Conditions for golf have been very favorable and we have observed greater than average play on the course. Our staff now consists of a mere 6 personnel and it has been a struggle to keep up with mowing and leaf cleanup.   Crew number peaks in May with 23 people and decreases in size beginning in August when our interns return to college  On October 14th our seasonal employees worked their final day for 2011.  Please be patient and recognize that our maintenance schedules must change when we have fewer staff members.  Greens, tees, fairways, approaches, and collars will all be mowed less frequently through the remainder of the season.  We will also change hole locations less often. 

November is typically a very busy month as we prepare to close the course for winter.  Course closing is obviously weather dependent but usually occurs toward the end of the month.  We will outline the course closure procedures in a later post.  We thank you for your understanding and hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to enjoy your golf course this fall!

BUNKERS!

 The bunkers at Wakonda Club are beginning to show their age.  During the very wet summer of 2010 and also during Spring of 2011 we experienced heavy rains which highlighted the growing need for bunker repairs or a complete bunker renovation.

Over time bunker sand becomes contaminated with fine soil particles which restrict water perculation.  An analogy would be to think of new, clean sand like a window screen- water would pass quickly through the large voids of this material.  Think of dirty sand like a coffee filter- the very fine particles of soil are very restrictive thus water tends to pool in the bunker rather than releasing to the drainage underneath.  A major source of this contamination is from the bunker's sub grade- especially when torrential rains send rushing water through the bunker carrying (and mixing) topsoil and clay with bunker sand.

There are several products/ methods available to improve bunker performance.  Essentially the idea is to keep everything in it's place.  A few years ago we applied a product called Klingstone in the left bunker next to old 9 green.  We are happy with this product and this bunker performs well.  This week we have begun a "trial run" at utilizing some relatively new bunker lining products from Sandtrapper. We will be utilizing these products in the left bunker on #13 and #16.  Every golf course is different so we want to find out what works best at Wakonda and get feedback from our golfing members.

We started by removing the old sand as well as the old drain pipe and surrounding gravel.

In this bunker we experimented with the drainage by lining the trenches with Sandtrapper II.  We utilized drain pipe wrapped with a fabric sock.  The pipe is then covered with sand.

The sub grade is then covered with the Sandtrapper fabric.

The fabric is held down by 6 inch sod staples spaced 8 inches apart.

We then glued the staples to the fabric in an attempt to keep winter frost from pushing the staples out of the ground.

The end result- before sand.  Notice we are also experimenting with two different Sandtrapper products.

 The process has taken several days for a team of three people- we're learning as we go!  For the bunker pictured above on #13 we used over 3,000 staples and 31 tubes of glue.  We will be filling the bunker with sand tomorrow and are confident this bunker will perform much better in years to come.