Research at Blackhawk

If you were out on the course last Thursday or on Friday morning, you may have noticed some PVC pipe sticking out of the ground on holes 3 and 7.

This was done to collect data relating to Japanese Beetles, in collaboration with the UW-Madison and University of Purdue Entomology departments. The experiment will be repeated once later this year.

The UW-Madison Entomology department has also been collecting pollen from the honey bees. The goal is to analyze the makeup of the pollen. They will be looking at the composition of the pollen and at the different sources of pollen during different times of the year.

Each "bead" in the bag is a conglomoration of pollen that falls off the leg of the bee as it goes into the hive. Some people believe pollen gathered by bees has special restorative properties. While it is ounce for ounce relatively nutritious the evidence of any special properties is dubious at best. I had a little taste of it one day while the pollen trap was being emptied. It tasted like tutti frutti bubble gum and had a chalky consistency. At  around $4.50 per ounce I don't plan on adding it to my daily diet.

Filling comb with honey

I hope you agree it is worthwhile to partner with the UW-Madison. Participating in research projects helps to keep Blackhawk on the cutting edge of the newest science and that's always a plus.

If you follow The Divot newsletter you are aware that work has already begun in preparation for the new pump station here at Blackhawk. The following videos will hopefully give an idea of the scope of the project, and I will provide a brief explanation after each one.

                     
Disassembling all of the components went very well. Even though 99% of the bolts(hundreds, if not thousands) hadn't been touched since the system was installed they almost all came apart easily. There were a few stubborn ones but our impact wrench was able to break them all free. We used a combination of floor jacks and an engine hoist to secure pieces as we took them apart. Again, considering the age of the components this part of the process went extremely well. We were left with quite the mess once we were done.

We carried out the pieces we could but many of them were just too heavy or awkward to lift. The machine we used (a telehandler) was great because of how precise you could be with it. Many of the components we lifted out had less than an inch of clearance. Being able to lift the bobcat in and out was priceless. Without it the guys doing the concrete removal might still be down there now.

All of the old components

The concrete work went very well even though it was bitterly cold out. Thankfully we were able to get the inside of the pump house warm enough for the concrete to cure. We were also fortunate that there was no ice and just a dusting of snow because getting the concrete truck down to the pump house could have been treacherous.

Now that the interior is ready, there is only one major step left and we will be ready for the installation. Due to the size of the new system the hole in the roof will have to be enlarged and the roof properly braced. That should be done in the next week or two.After that we will have to wait patiently while the system continues to be built. We are still 6-10 weeks out from actually getting to use it but both Chad and I are getting excited for when that day comes.

A Busy Spring

It's always hard to spend time making a blog update with so much going on with the course. With the recent stretch of rainy weather all of us at the shop have had a chance to get caught up with various odds and ends inside. It also gives me this opportunity to say a little about all that has been going on outside.

Fairway aerification was successfully completed on April 23rd and 24th. Everything went perfectly for us. The weather was ideal leading into Sunday night and continued into Monday, allowing the cores to perfectly dry before we ground them up. The rain that followed  later in the week was also perfect for washing in any remaining soil. The almost unrelenting rain we have been getting since isn't great for playing but it won't negatively impact the fairways in the long run.

We have been mowing the greens, tees, fairways and rough as needed. It has been a really good spring for root growth on most of the greens. Many times when I take a plug out while setting cups it looks like something out of a textbook. It's too early to tell what kind of summer we will have but we should be going in strong.

Dr. Williamson and Dr. Hogg have been out multiple times to monitor the bee hives on 3. The first few trips they supplied the bees with a simple mix of sugar and water to ensure they had a supply of food. On the most recent trip they also brought a frame with honey for each hive. They were very encouraged with the hive progress as the bees had already begun forming  some comb.

The bees aren't the only new wildlife at Blackhawk. Late one morning I spotted what I believe is a great horned owl on the ground at the back of the range.

I also snapped this picture of of a butterfly off the right side of 12 green.

My Google searching leads me to believe it is a Spicebush Swallowtail. The Blue Bird house on the back side of the bathrooms on 6 also has a resident pair of Blue Birds. It's amazing to see the variety of birds that call Blackhawk home.

We have already had a few of our older part-timers come in to help as needed. A lot of what we are able to get done is thanks to their help. In the coming weeks we will also see our summer roster filled out. We are happy to have a few people returning from last year and hope to have the new crew members trained before June.

If you have already had a chance to play this year I hope you enjoyed your time. If you haven't played yet now is a perfect time to enjoy a round; if you are anything like me it's the best time of year for golf as the trees don't have many leaves and my errant shots go a bit further. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you out and about on the course.

Honeybees at Blackhawk Country Club

The value and perception of golf courses can be enhanced by promoting their beneficial impacts on wildlife and ecosystems. Golf course managers can provide safe havens for a wide range of wildlife through careful planning and partnerships. They can also play a critical role in leading the initiative to promote and protect many wildlife species. The growing development of housing and commercial space, coupled with the high demands of agriculture, results in the loss or degradation of many natural spaces. Fortunately, golf courses are an excellent resource that can offer important places of refuge for wildlife.

Likely the most important organisms in our ecosystem are the pollinators, especially insect pollinators. They are critically important to the health and well-being of our environment. Nearly a third of the food that we eat has been made possible by pollinators. Insects are also crucial to the habitat and ecosystems that many other wildlife species depend on. Butterflies, flies, beetles and moths are important pollinators but bees (including honey bees) are the most industrious of all. A single bee can visit hundreds of thousands of flowers over its lifetime as it collects nectar and pollen.

Bees are a key indicator of the health and quality of an environment, unfortunately research suggests that their welfare is poor and continues to decline. Golf courses have an excellent opportunity to help redirect this trend by promoting and enhancing the ecosystem. Some relatively simple ways that golf courses can play an important role is by creating pollinator refuges, promoting pollinators and establishing honey bee hives. These simple endeavors offer an excellent opportunity to promote the tremendous positive benefits that golf courses provide to the environment. As for managing honey bee hives on golf courses, not only is it beneficial to the environment, but the honey harvested from the honey bees demonstrates the value of a locally produced, sustainable product. The honey harvested can be used in the clubhouse for food preparation providing a direct benefit to the members of the golf course.

Working with Drs. Chris Williamson and David Hogg from UW-Madison, we decided the naturalized prairie on 3 would be ideal for the honey bee hives. While honey bees can be very defensive of their hives, they are not aggressive while out foraging. The location chosen will be far enough from any regularly trafficked area that the bees should not feel threatened.

As we work on this project in the months to come we look forward to sharing what we learn and hopefully some honey.

Snow Melt, Rain and Frozen Soil

The recent Wisconsin weather has left a lot of water in the low lying areas of the course. At this point the only difference from a large summer storm is the frozen soil prevents any water from draining. This has allowed the water to pool more than normal. It's too early to predict what, if any, impact it will have in the spring. For now it has made for some interesting pictures.

3 Fairway to the green, it's worth noting the flag you see is in the fairway, not in the green

Between 3G and 4T's

Both front bunkers on 3 are submerged

There is enough water to form a small river from 3, across the front of 4 tee, towards the water on 6 and 7

6 Fairway

7 Fairway

Last but not least we finally got rid of the sand on 5 green. For now.

Bunker Removal on #9

If you've been on the course in the last week you've probably noticed and hopefully enjoyed seeing the change to the bunker complex on 9 green. The reason we removed the 3 large bunkers was two-fold and actually part of the bunker renovation plans.

First of all they were a maintenance nightmare. Almost any amount of rain caused massive washouts and even infusions of new sand did nothing to improve their quality. Secondly, they were considered as being extremely unfair to the high handicap golfer. Low handicaps rarely ended up in them but anyone who did was faced with an extremely daunting uphill bunker shot. After your shot out of them, you often ended up in one of the smaller remaining bunkers and were faced with more of the same.

Step 1: Take a picture of the bunker

Step 2: Remove sod as needed and begin filling

Step 3: Continue filling... and filling and filling.

Step 4: Irrigation and detail work

Step 5: Lay sod and the bunkers are gone.

Follow this link for all the pictures from the project.

Sunny Days

In my last post I predicted the grass would start growing. Call me Nostradamus because I called that one perfectly. Other than a few shaded areas and some north facing slopes the grass is well awake. Before our focus shifts to mowing next week, we have been able to take care of a few projects.

On Tuesday morning Dave, Omar and Angel braved the cold depths of Lake Mendota to hook up our intake pipes while the rest of us stood on shore sipping hot chocolate (also known as preparing the baskets, gaskets and nuts/bolts depending on which crew member you ask). Having the irrigation system ready to go is always a great feeling.

In order to minimize any problems we also spend time checking each head. It's much better to have a break while we are here to fix it. So far all the greens and tees have been run briefly and we did have a problem on 13 green.

A cracked sprinkler body led to this river across 13 green

Rather than letting this happen all night, it lasted only a few minutes until we got to the isolation valve to shut it off. After a quick repair by Omar it ran like new.

A few other updates include the yearly burn of the prairie on 3, the first tee mowing for 2016 and the opening of both bathrooms and the ice machine near 6 tee.

Burned prairie and bluebird nest box near 3

We've also started monitoring our bluebird nest boxes for the year. A few nests have been started and a few are still empty but it's too early to tell exactly who is moving in.

Looking forward, fairway aerification is scheduled to start Sunday April 24th and we should have everything done by Tuesday April 26th.

I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the great stretch of weather we are having with a couple rounds of golf!

April 1st

The 2015 golf season started 1 year ago today. While that was no April Fools joke, someone or something is definitely playing one on us today. Everything looked great this morning. Even under a cloudy sky I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures. The best was off the forward tee on 9.

9 tee towards 9 green

And a few hours later...

Same day, different view

8 green towards the tee

The hail/snow won't last long even with the cool weather, although it will add to the general wetness of the course. Aside from the weather limiting play, everything is going smoothly on the course. We've mowed greens 3 times since opening on March 22nd and the front 9 fairways were all mowed. There are also a handful of spots in the rough that are growing enough to warrant a mowing once it dries out. The course accessories have gradually been put out, and only the benches remain inside now. The bunkers were also cleaned and raked with special attention given to the front left bunker on 3 green. We stripped all the sand that had been contaminated by pebbles from the drainage lines and replaced it with fresh sand.

We hope to work on a few other projects (including opening the bathrooms on 6 once we are sure there wont be any frozen water lines) but once the grass starts growing in earnest, it will be a full time job to keep up with mowing. Even if we get the two more snowfalls that equipment manager Dave is predicting it won't be long before daily play is a reality. See you on the course!

What's happening? Sticks, mostly.

Between 3 and 4 Fairway

Raking sticks after the winter is always a big job. I am happy to say at this point all that is left is to pick up the piles scattered across the whole course.

Peeling the cover off 14 green

At this point the covers have been off for about a week. It's always fun to see the green color as the cover is taken off.

Shaded back side of 3 green

The covers are all white except for the green colored logo. On the back of 3 it was just that much warmer with the darker color to melt off the frost and leave behind this picture.

Rapid Changes

As is often the case, weather is the star of the show here at Blackhawk. The recent volatility has given me a few interesting pictures

Standing on 7 fairway, looking north towards the pond

This standing water lasted 3-4 days around the 19th of February. Almost all of the snow melted and eventually drained away, leading to the next picture.

Starting the course clean-up

After things had a chance to dry out a little, we were able to go out and start the after winter clean-up. 

Snowed out!

Less than 24 hours later we got hit with this snow, which is still lightly coming down now.

The good news is everything is looking good after the weird winter. The bad news is winter is not quite over yet.

January Shop and Course Update

January at the shop has been business as usual so far. Dave, Omar, Angel and Kevin have been hard at work on the fairway mowers. So far there has only been routine maintenance/repair, which this year included changing all the bearings in the cutting units. There is a lot of equipment left, but it has been going well so far.

We've also started working on course accessories.The benches got a fresh coat of stain, and the ballwashers are shiny and ready to be put together later in the winter. The picture to the right shows nearly finished tee blocks, missing only the Blackhawk logo.

As for the course, it's really too early to know exactly what will happen. With the dramatic swings in temperature and the rain and snow we had some worry about ice. Chad went out to have a look at a few greens, and thankfully there is no ice so far. We will continue to monitor the course, and take any action if necessary.

2015 So Far

The Weather
The year so far has been very good for course conditions here at Blackhawk. Almost without fail it has rained when we needed it but still been dry enough to have excellent playing conditions.


The Course

3/30/15

7/10/15

It's funny to imagine the picture on the left actually looking good at one point, but two days before opening  we thought the range was starting to look great. As with the rest of the course, July looks much better on the range.

The Crew

We ended up with quite a few new faces this year on the seasonal crew. The good news is, everyone has been eager to learn and improve every day. Going forward I can only see conditions improve as everyone is able to focus less on learning and more on the details of every job.

The Projects

Once the course is playing well we are always looking for ways to improve the overall look of the course. Going forward we hope to finish cleaning up all of the plantings on the course. One of the best gardens this year is the bed between 9 tee and 1. If you haven't had a chance to see it, it's much better in person. It smells even better than it looks.

9 Tee Flower Bed

                                                             Another focus so far this year has been the clubhouse. Aside from the new parking lot, we have started some work on improving the flower beds and hope to have some larger changes in the future.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       This year we also have a gentleman on the crew who is familiar with prairies and native plants. In his own words he "knows just enough to be dangerous", and has helped out tremendously with his work on 3,7 and near 8 tee.

The last major project so far has been the work done with the pond. Over the past 25 years grass, mud and leaves have made their way into the rock surrounding the water. It has been providing a perfect spot for weeds to grow and was only getting worse as time went on. The difference between the finished area on the south side and the rest of pond is dramatic. I can't thank the crew enough as the work is hard and messy, but the end product will last for years to come.

The Final Word

As always we hope everyone is enjoying their year here at Blackhawk and look forward to seeing you out on the course.

Spring Opening and More

As everyone probably knows we opened the course on April 1st. We were very excited to finally be able to pull the trigger and let the 2015 golf season begin at Blackhawk. See here how opening dates compare all the way back to 1973. The weather hasn't been great so far but every day the course seems to come more and more alive. Hopefully after the rain this week there will be more green for everyone to enjoy.

Opening Day Pictures

A few pictures can't show the whole story. Hopefully you can have your own before and after experience after seeing these photos and coming out to play.

The Range

Hole 1 - The Trail

Chad mowing the green

A view from the back tee

Down by the lake

We had a chance today to start work on one of the unsung heroes of the golf course. We spent the morning installing the check valves, pipes and baskets for the irrigation system. It's nice to have them all in so the system is ready when we inevitably need it.

As cold as it looks

Omar and Angel are in the wet suits battling the waves. Dave and Victor are in the waders, staying closer to shore.

Lining up the 4" pipe and basket

Attaching the 6" pipe to the check valve

Working on the 8" pipe

At the Mercy of Mother Nature

Contrast

What a difference 10 days can make. Just last week we were out cleaning the course and hoping the weather would stay warm. Now we are wondering when the snow will stop. That's March in Wisconsin for you.

8 Green on 3/13/15

7 Fairway on 3/23/15

Course Work

We had a few days during the stretch of warm weather where we could get out to most parts of the course. Aside from removing the covers (and some snow on 3 that never melted), we were able to mulch a lot of leaves. We also had a chance to pick up 90% of the sticks and branches that fell over the winter. The other project we tackled was adding a permanent line for air along the pro shop. This will allow us to move the shoe cleaner closer to the door for easier access. 

8 Green freshly uncovered

Removing snow on 3 green

Rolling the foam on 8 green