Wade Nybakken

Course Update – July 10

This past Monday July 8^th the Turfcare team was able to complete many vital agronomic practices to set the stage for the prime playing season of golf ahead.  We would like to thank the membership for its support in allowing additional time for these practices to be completed. We were able to complete a vent on greens along with a topdressing and fertility application.  Large acreage saw the fairways and tee boxes receive a fertility application and fungicide application to assist with the disease pressures due to the high humidity. Greens will remain a little soft and slower to start the week with the watering requirements for fertility but should soon firm up and regain the pace expected.

This week we are fortunate as a club to host the Manitoba junior golf championship.  We made great efforts on Monday with the course closed to mow all rough on the front nine holes.  We finished up the back nine rough on Tuesday.  This will be all the rough mowing for the week with the junior event. Rough should start to stabilize with the warm forecast.

The warm forecast also has us in a spot to begin watering the property essentially for the first time this year.  We will be out hand watering greens and other areas throughout the day.  Please be aware of the team as they work to keep the course healthy.

Have a great week ahead.

Respectfully,
Shawn Major, AGS

Message from the Course Committee Chair

As was communicated in my previous message, I will be sharing some best practices on these and other course etiquette items. This information is intended to provide members with the necessary knowledge to ensure that we are doing our part to protect and care for the golf course.  By doing so we will help the maintenance team focus on their most important tasks while also providing every member and their guests a memorable experience day in and day out.

For this week we will be dealing with bunker care and raking. Below you will find some information provided by the course team:

Bunker Care and Raking:

• We have a significant number of bunkers at Niakwa.  These bunkers are labour intensive – it takes 6 team members to rake bunkers for play in their entirety ahead of the game of golf. 
• The Turfcare team does not have the ability to rake bunkers every day. 
• As members, if we are doing our part, the bunkers can remain in presentable and playable condition each day regardless of if they have received a rake for play.
• When your ball inevitably lands in a bunker, please note the following:
  • Never enter a bunker from the high side.  Always walk around and enter the bunker at the lowest point.  This prevents deep depressions on the faces of the bunkers, protects the integrity of the turf surrounding the bunker and provides the safest option for a golfer to enter and exit (see Figure 1 below).
  • While using the rake, ensure that both hands are utilized on the rake handle.  One handed raking will not provide enough down force to properly smooth the entire area of impact.
  • Bunker rake placement is also important: 
    • Once you are finished raking the bunker, the head of the rake should be placed in the bunker with the handle in the air on the perimeter of the bunker (see Figure 1 below).
    • There are ample bunker rakes on course.  If the rakes are simply returned to the general position they are found, then each golfer will have a rake within a short distance of their bunker shot.  Misplaced rakes create more work for our fellow members and slow down the pace of play.
• The following two links will provide you with information on how to care for bunkers
  • https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/58/17/how-to-rake-a-bunker.html
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBQwc8RjzFA

Figure 1  – See the placement of the rake above.  We want the handle in the air on the perimeter of the bunker.  The head of the rake in the bunker. When entering avoid the steep faces shown by the X above.  Please enter from the low side where the green arrow is.

Respectfully

Paul Beatty, Chair

Course Committee

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBQwc8RjzFA

A Message from the Chair of the Course Committee

As members of the Niakwa Country Club we have the privilege of playing on one of the best conditioned golf courses in the province thanks to Shawn Major and his staff.  That privilege comes with a responsibility.  Members and their guests are expected to do their part to help care for our course. 

Contributing to course care includes the following general items:

• Abiding by power cart rules and traffic restrictions
• Ball mark repair
• Bunker care and raking; and

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing some best practices on these and other course etiquette items. This information is intended to provide members with the necessary knowledge to ensure that we are doing our part to protect and care for the golf course.  By doing so we will help the maintenance team focus on their most important tasks while also providing every member and their guests a memorable experience day in and day out.

For this week we will be dealing with power cart rules and traffic restrictions. Below you will find some information provided by the course team:

Power Cart Rules and Traffic Restrictions:

• Power cart traffic control is an important item as it relates to course care.  We have a historic property.  With that comes a lack of space.  We do not have cart paths tee through green.  With the lack of space and cart paths, wear patterns and damage can happen quickly if we do not control where power carts travel.  Weather variables can also add to the challenges of power cart traffic on course.
• We utilize stake and rope in many areas to protect turf.  Without this in place we would have many soil voids on the property taking away from the playability and presentation. When you see stake and rope in an area or white and black traffic control posts the goal is to keep power carts from travelling in that general area (see Figure 2 below).

Figure 2 – These traffic control stakes and rope are preventing this damaged area from becoming worse due to power cart traffic.  If you see these setups simply keep your power cart away from the area and travel around it. We would ask for no travel in the red “X” areas but follow the green arrow around the challenged location.

• As a club we have a rule that power carts are to remain in fairways.  This is done for a couple reasons:
  • We have great drainage in our fairways.  If conditions are soggy our fairways will have the best chance at successfully handling the traffic as there is generally minimal standing water. 
  • There is a lack of irrigation and drainage in our rough areas.  When we get into wet periods we hold water in the rough.  Driving through saturated areas displaces the turf and with enough receptiveness we will see the turf die back creating unsightly conditions. On the flip side when we are in drought periods the rough can wilt with the inability to handle the traffic and recover.  Please keep carts in fairways.
• Travelling near a green or tee is not permitted. 
• Generally, we ask to keep power carts a minimum of 30 yards from greens and approaches. 
• All tee box locations all have a cart path.  Please keep power carts fully on these paths with all four tires on the cart path and off of the turf.

Thanks for your attention to this very important matter.  A little extra effort on our parts will enhance everyone’s experience at the Club.  If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.

Respectfully

Paul Beatty, Chair

Course Committee

Update – June 14, 2023

The beautiful weather to start the 2023 golf season continues.  We were fortunate to receive a ¼” rainfall last week.  This little precipitation was much needed and did green the property up from the early drought to start this season.  The forecast is remaining on the dry side with ample heat so we will continue to chase water and focus on moisture management in the days ahead. On Monday June 26^th we are doing a member volunteer day.  We will focus this day on thistle removal around the clubhouse areas.  Please keep an eye out for more information and feel free to join the Audubon resource committee in this exercise.

Greens:

• Received a topdressing this week on maintenance Monday followed by a brush and roll.
• We will be watering ahead of mowing this week to keep the sand in place.  Greens will be softer to start the week but should firm up come Thursday.
• Green speeds are beginning to increase with repetitive practices and some more manageable temperatures.
• We will be applying a growth regulator, fungicide and fertilizer this week on Tuesday.
• We will begin to manually remove some poa from the bentgrass greens in the days and weeks ahead.  You will see team members on the greens throughout the day.  Please get their attention prior to hitting.

Other:

• Water management will be in full swing again this week with the forecast.  Please be aware of Turfcare team members watering around greens and tee sites.
• The Niakwa bed at the putting green will be completed this week.  We had a delay in plants from one of our suppliers.
• A reminder to pull the flag stick when retrieving your ball from the hole.  This will assist in keeping the hole in great condition for your fellow members throughout the day.
• Please remember to rake all bunkers as you play in them.  Please remember to repair all ball marks as you hit into greens.
• As we continue to with the heat and lack of rains we ask all members to keep carts to the fairways as per club policy.  Areas of rough that do not have irrigation cannot handle additional traffic without turf injury. 

Respectfully submitted,

Shawn Major, AGS