PTFC

The last week at work has been pretty important. It rained on Monday and I used the machine rake to rake the bunkers. It was my first time to use this machine, and it was pretty fun to use. All of the bunkers washed out so the main focus was repairing the bunkers to a playable state, as always is the main focus after a heavy rain.
Other than that there have been two new guys that have started working (because two guys have recently been fired) and I have been teaching them how to do most of the jobs that I have done throughout the summer. Such as fly mowing, weed eating, operating various equipment, mowing putting greens, spraying weeds with round up, picking poa annua from the chipping and putting greens, etc etc. One of the main things that I wished I would be able to do is mow a fairway while I was completing my internship, but that has not happened yet and I am still looking forward to it and will ask the superintendent to teach me soon if he does not. I am still using the POGO and Field Scout moisture meters every day to monitor the moisture levels on the greens. If a green gets to hot, I pull out the hose and water the green for approximately 15 minutes.

The summer is flying by and I have been somewhat looking forward to heading back to Fayetteville and starting class again. Getting to work at 6:00 am every day is starting to take its toll. Next week we are aerifying the fairways and approaches again so it should be a busy week. Look forward to some more pictures from that blog as well as a wrap up of the summer. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog for the summer. I have learned a lot and this internship has only made my decision to work in the turf industry only grow stronger. I look forward to work every day, although some days may be predictable or boring, most day I hope for something un expected to happen and look forward to solving that problem or helping that person.

July at Preston Trail

The summer has been flying by and I have really been enjoying my time at Preston Trail. The summer months have been warm and to keep the bentgrass greens cool, and to prevent them from burning up, fans have been installed on all of the greens, The fans help circulate the air and prevent stagnant air, in turn this prevents the greens from burning up and dying in the Texas heat. The average temperature on the greens is 98 degrees so watching them closely is an important job.

 President George W. Bush playing a round of golf at Preston Trail

Tools of the trade  

Leveling out the fan oscillators 

Using the skidder and Toro workman to install the fans 

Hooking up the electrical components to the greens fans

Installing the greens fans 

Installing the greens fans 

Pulling the fans from the storage, the fans are used from June to October. 

Spraying herbicides and wetting agents on the greens 

Flags at half mast after the Dallas police officer shooting, in which 5 officers were killed 

A lot of turf squares prepped and ready to be layed 

Cutting cups

POGO

POGO and Field scout moisture meter. Tools of the trade 

Cutting the intermediate cut of turf around the approach 

Cutting a putting green 

Preston Trail Golf Club, Dallas, Texas 

Thanks for reading,

Austin P

July 2016

Its beginning to heat up in Dallas, and the greens are drying out a bit. Some watering has been done as well as more raking and fly mowing traps. Along with watering greens I have also been mowing putting greens and helping edge the traps.

The fans on the greens were recently put back out (they are taken down every year around September and go back out in June) and installing them was about a week long process. Many of them had malfunctions in the wiring or setup of the oscillators and have since been fixed and are keeping the greens cool. Learning a lot and the summer is flying by.

Stay tuned for another blog with pictures of the fan instillations.

Thanks for reading!!!

Austin Pettit 

Trailblazer 2016

June 12, 2016

Every year Preston Trail has a member-guest golf tournament, which is known at the Trailblazer. This year it was June 4-6, 2016. The course needed to be in perfect condition, so the superintendents were working overtime throughout the week. After a busy week weed eating every tree, mowing every trap, green and tee, hand raking the bunkers, etc, the course was in nearly perfect condition. The members and guests were very happy about how the course looked for the tournament and had a great weekend. 

The usual schedule after the Trailblazer is to close the course for a week to aerate the greens, tees and fairways. As well as a heavy topdressing of sand. So early on Monday morning the pro-core started cutting holes into the fairways. Every sprinkler head and yardage marker had to be flagged off so they wouldn't be damaged. 

At the end of the second day all 18 fairways had been aerated with 1/8 in. x 4 in. length tines. The greens and tees were aerated next with 3/8 in. tines. After all the holes had been aerated and the sand was applied the course still needed to be dragged so all the holes in the fairway would be filled with sand. On the greens a brush and brooms were used to neatly fill in all the holes. It was a long process which is done bi-annually to remove 20% of the organic matter growing in the O horizon.

 Toro ProCore chewing up the fairways 

After the plugs had been removed from the green 

Close up of the plugs on #3 fairway

Two plugs

Cores on the fairway. Next to thick bermuda rough

After the plugs were removed from the green a heavy application of sand was added to all 18 greens

 Tractor and Tycrop adding sand to a fairway

Tycrop topdresser spitting sand onto the fairways

Tycrop on a fairway

Hole #4 green with a beautiful layer of white sand

 The sand used to top dress the fairways. Separate from the sand used on the greens

Sand being brushed into holes. After filling the holes a machine brush hit every green

Thanks for reading!!

Austin Pettit 

Preston Trail Golf Club Summer 2016

First two weeks at Preston Trail are done and the course looks great. Lots of rainy days recently are really going to help the course later in the summer when everything in Texas will be bone dry.

The first week here at the course consisted mostly of raking bunkers in the morning and various other jobs in the afternoon such as weed eating, mowing greens, spray painting the hazard areas, raking leaves and repairing/replacing the bunker rakes that are broken or faded. The traps at Preston trail are huge and a team of people hand rakes each one every day.

I learned the how the club sets up the course. They move the pin locations and tee markers every day. The markers are little arrows and the tips are called the "Nelson tees". Cutting the holes was somewhat difficult because the greens get rolled every day.

Also, I have been helping Fly mow the Rio, which is the river that runs through the course, as well as the traps. Most of the bunkers are deep and the grass slopes into it so fly mowing is really the only way to cut the grass consistently.

I also mowed my first putting green. I walk mowed the targets on the driving range which are basically putting greens.

I am really looking forward to the next couple weeks and all that I will be learning.

Raking the bunkers every morning. The rough is Bermuda

 

150 yards out on hole #1

Approach shot on #3. The approach areas are all Zoysiagrass

All of the putting greens are Bentgrass 

Hole #4

Facing the tee on hole #4, a short par 3

Approach shot on hole #12, fly mow along the water 

Facing the tees on hole #12, another one of the par 3's

Cart path on hole #14. The dark mulch gets replaced regularly and looks great with the dark green turf grass. 

Tee shot on #4 -par 3

Bridge over the White Rock Creek, which runs through the course. Also known as the "rio". 

Playing soccer during lunch break 

Picture of Bobby Jones, the late-great founder of the Masters Tournament

Setting up tee markers

Setting up the "Nelson" tee markers 

Thunderstorm in Dallas, Texas

Spraying away mud after another thunderstorm the night before

 

Washed out bunker

Toro greens mower 

The Walmart of herbicides and liquid fertilizer 

Very nice patio with beverage coolers, free of charge for members

 

Bent Tree Country Club. Across the street from Preston Trail. The superintendents both share equipment and discuss treatments of the greens regularly. 

Byron Nelson Memorial

Thanks for reading!! 

Austin Pettit