GOLF COURSE UPDATE - JUNE 2021
June 2021 Course Updates.pdf

GOLF COURSE UPDATE - OCTOBER 2020
Colin J Fenby - Golf Course SuperintendentWith 2020 being extremely challenging we have been very pleased that we were able to keep the course open and that staff and members worked together to stay safe and at the same time be able to enjoy Scioto Reserve. Logistically keeping the course prepared was a a challenge - we placed numerous protocols in place to make sure staff stayed safe as well as members and guests. I personally would like to thank all the members for there continued support..Below are some of the improvements and events that happened over the last few months.New Back Tee # 11We began building a new back tee on number 11 in early March and the tee is now open for play as of August 25th. The tee will play 200 yards and the elevated look over the fescue adds a new dimension to the hole. Our goal is to add another tee to number 13 starting this winter.

We brought in solid for the base and graded. Added drainage and moved irrigation.
           

Tee surrounds was sodded and a sand base was added in preparation for seed.
We seeded with bent grass and then we started to water.

             

The New Tee opened August 25th and even if its not a tee you play from, please feel free to walk up there and take look.



One of our members Mike McGuire, was kind enough to buy lunch for all the staff at the Turf Center.
After of all our challenges this year -this was a very nice gesture! Thanks Mike!!



We added Rip - Rap to the creek in front of 7 Green



We installed supplement irrigation to number 4 right rough.

         


A new product called Poa Cure was made available this year to use in the state of Ohio.
This is a tool to help in the fight to eradicate Poa Annua on putting greens. We did a trial on
our putting green only and we made 3 applications in the spring and will do 2 repeat applications
this fall. As you can see it had an impact and we will come to a conclusion on how effective it is after the fall.

    


Storm damage on number 4 and 6 when we had a microburst hit the course in July
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I hope everyone is staying safe and looking forward to getting back to normal. As we approach fall, we will start doing a lot of fall preparation and renovation work, all these tasks are in preperation for 2021. The Fescue areas will be mowed down and cleaned up. This keeps a thick stand of grass and keeps weeds to a minimum for next season. Aerification will begin at Scioto Reserve after Labor Day, this is a necessary task and we will accomplish it as fast as the weather allows.

 

GOLF COURSE UPDATE - MARCH 2020
Colin J Fenby - Golf Course Superintendent   
I hope everyone is getting excited for the new season as its just around the corner. With the weather giving us a mix of winter and spring at times, we have been able to get out on the course and complete numerous projects. We are planning on aerating the greens as soon as the weather allows. With this being completed before the greens open in the spring, it will limit the disruption during the playing season. The thatch in the tee's at Scioto Reserve has been a constant issue and we are hoping to get out in the spring and aerate these also. If the weather allows we will hopefully complete before we re-open. Below is a list of projects the staff at Scioto Reserve have been working on. We also invested in some new equipment during the off-season too! All the projects below couldn't have been done without my team and the extreme dedication to Scioto Reserve they make on a daily basis. The staff listed below are the core staff that stay year round and please feel free to say hi next time you see them. They work through all kinds of weather and Scioto Reserve would not look as good as it does without them.
 

From left to right: Hugo - 13 years of service.  Juan our Equipment Manager - 7 years service. Jonathan our Assistant Superintendent - 14 years of service. Rusty - 16 years of service. Kile our Assistant Superintendent- 2 years of service.

Project 1: 10 Creek was Renovated in the same format that the creeks on 6, 7, 17, and 18 were.

 

Existing Creek at #10

Excavating the creek banks and base

Excavating silt out of bottom of the creek

Installing Geo-textile liner to prevent erosion and weeds, also allows us to power wash the creek on a monthly basis to prevent algae and scum build up

Installing Rip Rap on top of the liner

Over 140 tons of Rip Rap stone was used.

Some of the crazy nice days this winter gave us a lot of time and some nice days to get creek on 10 complete.

All Finished! This will help against any future erosion on Number 10.

Project 2: Replacing Hole Signs

We had to replace all the Hole signs as the wood was rotting and the cross pieces were sagging. The paint also on the signs was faded and flaking. We built new sign posts and re-conditioned the metal signs.

The new sign posts are built with a few changes, we added a brace to help support the cross beam. They will be primed and painted black.

The old metal signs were sanded and painted white, they used to be gold. This should contrast better and be more visible.

The metal sign put back together.

Project 3: We added over 4000 feet of drain tile on the driving range tee. In addition to enabling more oxygen to get to the roots: this will greatly reduce a saturated surface and will aid in recovery and germination of the new seed.

Installing a 6 inch drain tile at the front  of the tee.

6 inch drain tile will go across the entire front of the tee box

We attached tee's to the 6 inch pipe with a  reducer to 4 inch drain tile. The 4 inch lines will run from front to back every 15 feet across all 4 tee boxes. The project will take 2 to 3 weeks to complete.

Project 4: We had to address the large green side bunker on #9, the existing drainage is being impeded by the tree roots to the right of the cart path. We decided to create a new 6 inch discharge line that would run directly to the creek in the woods to the right of the hole. We will now use this line to continue the drainage work for this bunker.

We had to rent this excavator to make a trench wide enough for the 6 inch drain tile.

We unfortunately had to cross the cross path to get the pipe to our desired discharge location

Installing of new 6 drain tile and repairing the existing drains we hit.

Putting new equipment to work!

We continued through all types of weather. We can now tie into this new line with 4 inch lateral drainage as needed. We were able to  complete this project in less than 3 days.

Project 5: We added 4 part circle golf heads on the right of #10. This is to give the bluegrass rough the water it needs and enabling us to turn down the irrigation in the fairway landing area. This should firm those areas up and make them more playable.






GOLF COURSE UPDATE - NOVEMBER 11TH 2019
Colin J Fenby - Golf Course Superintendent 

As the winter fast approaches I wanted to keep everyone up to date on the most recent activities on the golf course. We will be completing numerous projects throughout the off season, as these projects are completed we will post pictures and descriptions of the improvements.  These investments will enhance the aesthetic value and playability for 2020. 

The irrigation design on hole 7 has been insufficient in trying to keep optimum playing conditions. The bent grass fairway needs significant less water than the bluegrass rough. The right rough is also on a south facing slope which gets thinned out during the season due to environmental factors. Below are pictures of the irrigation installation on the right rough that will only water the bluegrass - this allowing us to keep the fairway firmer during the season and the rough healthier.

Work was completed between October 28th and November 4.

Marking the positions of all the new Irrigation heads.
 
Removing Turf in preparation for trenching.
 
The club invested in a Bobcat last year and we purchased a trencher attachment - this will be used later in the season to complete drainage work.

Installed 42 new irrigation heads which included a section around the green complex.

New heads working well!
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Below is a list of upcoming course projects planned at Scioto Reserve:

-We have some important projects taking place in early December. Scioto Reserve's Pump Station has been in decline and this year as we had some significant failures with two main pumps. The club was monitoring the health of the system over time and planned accordingly by having the new system’s manufacturer build the new equipment this summer, our concern was having the system fail entirely during the golf season leaving us without adequate irrigation. The old station will be removed in December and replaced with a complete new station. This is a large Investment for the future of Scioto Reserve - we will update and post pictures once completed. Once complete the club will have invested nearly $200,000 on the new station.

-Prior to years end we will install and repair existing drainage and rebuild all bunkers on hole 9 - this will take place as weather allows.

-The creek in front of number 10 Tee's will be cleaned out and upgraded with stone similar to the creeks we completed on holes 6 and 17 the past two winters.

I hope everybody had an enjoyable 2019 season and I look forward to sharing the improvements the club makes in the future. Lets hope we have a few more nice days!