Its almost time for summer and that means warm days and potentially dry days as well! Water is a big issue that we need to be constantly aware of during the summer time. We don't want our course to be super dry but we also don't want it to be super wet. Both can cause problems for the turf. So we are always watching the weather and reading the moisture levels on the greens.  If the greens get to dry, everybody knows what happens. The grass wilts and starts to die, which no one wants to see dead grass on the greens and the rest of the course.  However if the grass is constantly over saturated with water we could start to see a wide variety of diseases. Which in turn looks bad and can damage or kill grass. This is why you will start to be seeing us checking the greens more often. Also over watering can shorten the roots of the plant. This is bad because without deep roots it is only getting water that is near the surface and may dry out faster. 

    Different types of grasses is another factor when it comes to moisture.  For example our fairways are zoysia grass, that is a warm season grass.  It's grown in warmer climates and is made to withstand drying out and less water.  We are in a transition zone here in Missouri and Kansas. Which means we can grow warm season and cool season grasses. If you are trying to grow a great lawn this summer just be aware of what type of grass you have or want to seed in. If you have an suggestions about the course and or questions don't hesitate to ask the club house or the turf crew!! 

Hunter Hill

Assistant Superintendent

 Heart of America Golf Course

Spring is Here

 Spring has officially arrived and the golf course is starting to come alive.

The maintenance staff at HOA has been busy getting things back into shape for the spring and summer playing seasons. We put some fertilizer on the grass range tee to wake it up and get it growing, it has been mowed once so far and is looking great. I know people are itching to start hitting range balls off the grass tee and we are only a couple weeks from opening it back up. We have also done a few little things to make the course a little nicer. First of all we built a new scorecard and pencil box for the first tee on the river course, in the past we have used a mail box to house cards and pencils, the mail box never really worked very well and didn't look very nice. The new box is made from rough cedar and will match the other wood signs we have on the course. Speaking of signs, we completely re finished the sign at the entrance to the river course. Lastly we finally put out our new cups, flags, and flag sticks on the river course. We went with a new color combination this year, the flags are yellow and black checkered pattern instead of blue and white, and the flag sticks are yellow instead of white. We hope these yellow flags and sticks will be a little easier to see. 

We hope to see you out here, and never hesitate to stop and ask us questions or offer suggestions on how we can continue to try and make HOA the best golf course it can be.

Sam Marlin

Superintendent

smarlin@orion-mgmt.com

 

More tree work

If you read the last blog post you know that wee have started doing tree work on the river course. We started by removing some smaller trees on holes number Two and Four to open up the view from the tee on each hole, well the work continues to hole number Seven. I think we can all agree that number Seven is the most challenging hole on the course and possibly one of the most difficult tee shots in the KC Metro. The view of the fairway and landing area has become blocked by small trees that have grown between the forward tee and the river, and small trees growing on the river bank just in front of the blue tee have made the tee shot next to impossible if you cant get the ball up quickly. The work we are doing will address both of these issues.

We have cut down many of the trees on the steep bank just in front of the blue tee allowing shots that are hit lower to still get across the river. At the moment we have only cleared in front of the top tier where the tees are placed the majority of the time, we will continue to work on the left side to clear it out as well making the entire tee useable. The next issue we started to address is the large native area on the river side of the cart path, think of the left side of the path from the bridge around to the yellow tee. This area has become very overgrown with brush and vines as well as being littered with dead trees that have fallen over the years, we are in the process of clearing out all of the fallen timber and removing the under growth to open this area up similar to the section between the tees on hole Nine. Also there were a number of small trees growing behind the forward tee that were blocking the view of the right side of the hole, we have removed all of these trees and it has made the tee shot from the blue tee much more inviting while allowing golfers to see the ball land when hit to the right of the fairway.  

Some of the tree work we have done this winter may not be completely noticeable until spring and summer when the trees have leaves on them, but we hope that the effort we are putting in will increase playability, speed up play, and most importantly give golfers a more enjoyable course to play. 

Sam Marlin

Superintendent

smarlin@orion-mgmt.com

Tree Work

    Hello! We hope everyone is having a nice winter and hope that everyone is staying warm these past couple of weeks! When the weather is cooperative and warm we are open! So we encourage everyone to come on out and play a round with your friends and family!! 

    The course does have a bit of snow on the ground so sadly we wont be open for a few days at least but as soon as it melts off the course will be good to go for everyone that would love to play. If you have not been to the course for the past couple days, we have cut down a few trees on number 4 right before the  fairway.  Four on the left side and one on the right side.  We did this so it would open the hole up a bit more and be a bit easier to play. Now you can hit to the left side and not be in too much trouble.  Also we had found a boat load of golf balls down in that native grass just off the tee box so if there is anyone that wants some free balls go check that spot out!! Those aren't the only trees we will be cutting down though. There are a couple of trees in the range that have been sick looking and or just plain dead. So we will be taking a few trees out of the range as well. Also we took out the two little trees right out side the front entrance of the club house.  They were getting a bit big for their location so we took them out.  The next project we will be undertaking is the cart path on the rock course. It's over grown and it needs to be trimmed back so you aren't being hit when you drive on it.  So we will be cutting back along the cart path from nine green all the way to seven tee box.

    We have also been getting machines ready for this up coming season. Grinding reels on mowers, changing oil, oil filters and air filters on all the machines. But we have the machines pretty much finished up so we can focus on the golf course when the weather warms up so this season will be a good one for you! Stay warm and stay safe out there!

  

     Hunter Hill

    Assistant Superintendent

    Heart of America Golf Course

    Happy Holidays from the Heart of America crew!!  

This blog post will be a bit of an update as to what we have done so far to the course.  While also a bit of a step by step on the irrigation shut down for winter.  

     We do have our winter cups out on the River course and on the Rock course and will be changing them through out these next couple months so there will be some variety for you guys. The tee markers have been picked up so feel free to use the entire tee box to your advantage!! We will be sanding the tee markers down and repainting them so they are looking fresh and clean for next years play.  The exit posts were brought in from the course.  We have sanded them and put a nice new coat of paint and clear coat for moisture protection.  

    One of the big projects that we undergo every winter is getting the irrigation shut down and winterized.  During the winter we don't want water in the irrigation pipes or heads to freeze and crack to cause us headaches in the future and wet spots for golfers. This means closing the main line valves so that the water is not actively trying to move into the pipes. Once the water is shut off there is still water sitting in the pipes that can still freeze if or when it gets cold enough.  Now we can go around and open the drain valves throughout the system so the water can drain out of the pipelines.  But we have a bit of help to push out the water, we use big air compressor that has a special attachment that we can plug in to the irrigation system.  This will blow out any remaining water that is trapped in low spots that haven't quite drained out. We go around the course to every hole to make sure that all the water is out of the system.  Plug in and turn on the irrigation heads so we can blow those out as well, because the irrigation heads are the most susceptible to freezing and cracking. 

    Once again we are all wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

    Hunter Hill

    Assistant Superintendent

    Heart of America Golf Course

           

    

Seeded Range Tee

     

    Hello again! It has been awhile since the last blog post and we just wanted to give a little update on the range tee! As many of you have noticed already the range tee has been closed now for quite some time. We had reseeded the top section of the range tee a few weeks ago, and we are all thrilled with how it is looking so far!  We planted two different grasses this year a rye grass and a bluegrass blend.  We first aerified the top section of the tee to break up the soil and to make some holes for the seed to be planted into.  We then over seeded the rye grass, and then strip seeded the bluegrass all throughout the whole tee box. Lastly we dragged in the rye grass that we over seeded earlier. With seeding two different ways we can target a much wider area than just strip seeding row after row.  This means more areas will grow in fuller. 

    Here in the next couple weeks or so we will be starting to have people hit from the mats instead of in the front of the range tee.  We usually have the back lower section of the driving range tee open so you can still enjoy hitting from the tee.  But we decided this year to close that area off to save it for next year. 

    We want to thank everyone for staying off the tee so it has a chance to grow.  Once this winter is over and the warmer weather comes back we will be more than happy to open the tee back up so you may enjoy the freshly seeded tee box!  We also want to thank Tony Bertels for taking the time to help us during this whole process.    

     Hunter Hill

    Assistant Superintendent

    Heart of America Golf Course

      

Frost Delays

 Hello! Its been quite a long time since the last time we have posted on here and we are very sorry to everyone that reads these blog posts! We will try to have updates about the course work/projects and some further information regarding the course on here as well. My name is Hunter Hill. and I will be taking over these blog posts! I will try to have a post every two weeks or so, so I hope everyone that wants to learn more about the course reads these and gets a bit more information out of them!!  If you see me out on the course feel free to wave me down to ask questions!! 

    

    As we head into these winter months we are of course going to see a fluctuation of temperatures. Colder nights, chillier afternoons, and frosty mornings.  A big issue that arises during the winter months are those pesky frosty mornings.  Frost is a bigger deal than what people seem to believe.  It is essentially the water inside the grass freezing and becoming ice. That might seem like the grass is becoming stiffer and more solid to walk on but the opposite is in fact happening. Grass is very forgiving most times you walk on it, it bends and springs back like nothing ever happened. But when it freezes from the frost its as fragile as glass and if stepped on could break and possibly die. This leaves brown dead footprints where ever someone has walked. These footprints won't go away over night either. They will persist longer during the winter months because the grass is now shutting down and becoming dormant, cause of the colder weather.  Which means the grass isn't actively growing as much, compared to when it is summer time. This is why we have later tee times in the mornings and have frost delays.  It is to protect the grass and to make sure that golfers are given the best greens possible to play on! 

    

    Thank you for sticking it out and reading this blog post! This is the first time I've made a blog post so it will be a learning process. But I hope this helps people get to understand the maintenance side to the golf course industry.  But lastly from everyone here at Heart of America we wish everyone a Happy Halloween and a Happy Holiday's!!!

    Hunter Hill

    Assistant Superintendent 

    Heart of America Golf Course