Allison - Flight Zone Toptracer Driving Range

Seed. Seed. More Seed.

We have had several consecutive years of interesting weather. Hum. Ok. Maybe I should use the word challenging. In 2010, we had more water than we knew what to do with. It basically rained every single day. On 6 separate days, we had to close the course. When you really only have about 100 days of being open a year, 6 days is nearly 10%! Lots of grass was lost and we planted nearly 14,000 pounds of grass seed. In 2011, we had 1/2 of a year with non-stop rain and then the rain stopped. The end of 2011 was the beginning of a drought. That brought us to 2012. The year of the drought. First time in our 40 years of business that we basically ran out of water. Man, it was tough to watch our golf course lose its color and beauty over something that was completely out of our control. That leads us to the spring of 2013. We have high hopes. Our ponds are full and the rain has been a welcome sight. It truly is amazing how well the golf course came through the drought, but there are many bare spots.This spring we have planted lots of grass seed. On number 9 tee box, we have bentgrass because it is a tee that gets pretty beat up because it is a short par 3. Bentgrass does a better job at filling in quickly. It is also a low lying tee box which makes it challenging to keep grass growing on it, too. Bentgrass likes warm weather to germinate. To keep things warm, we cover the tee box to help with germination. At the end of the year in 2012, we had to stop watering tees in order to keep enough water around to continue to water greens. Just typing about last year makes my stomach turn. Anyway, we got to work this spring planting seed on number nine tee box. We covered it up with its little blankie. I don’t blame that tee box. I like a nice warm blankie to keep me warm, too. When I was a little kid, I had a special blankie. I loved on that blankie so much that it basically fell apart. My sister would tie all the bits of blankie together for me until my blankie was about 10 feet long. How about you? Did you sleep with a blankie? Do you like to play golf when it is cold or warm?

Fixing Cart Paths

Project List

This post is about one of our great nemesis: our cart paths. It seems like we just can’t ever save enough money to put in continuous cart paths. There are many factors that come into play, but typically there is always a project or piece of equipment that ends up being more important in the budget. The cart paths never make the cut. Some day. In a family owned business, you just take one day at a time. Having few cart paths which are mostly located near the greens and tees has its ups and down. Golfers enjoy being able to drive around wherever their ball lands, but when we have bad weather in the form of mega rain or lack of rain, golfer’s carts can cause a lot of damage to our turf. In an effort to make due with what we have, we ordered some crushed asphalt to add to our cart paths. I found my dad one day getting ready to spread some crushed asphalt on to the cart paths. He fell in love with this crushed asphalt a few years ago because it compacts so well. I’d say that our skid loader is probably the most used machine at the golf course. It was purchased from Star Equipment in downtown Des Moines. The owner of Star Equipment, Max, is good friends with my dad. Max was also good friends of my grandpa’s. Basically, he has been a good family friend for many years. He and my dad have a lot of fun together playing around with big equipment. I’d say that my dad is always happiest when he is running a piece of equipment. He has gotten himself into many predicaments with large pieces of machinery, but he considers himself to be an expert skid loader operator. When I was a kid, he let me sit on his lap to help him. I think the fascination of large equipment comes to him very naturally given that his own father, Dale, invented farm equipment. Dad put several loads of the crushed asphalt into the work vehicle and I hopped on for a ride to catch him dumping the load of asphalt onto a cart path. Here is my dad telling me that I’m not dressed warm enough. The nice part about parents is that you never really feel your age. I zipped up my coat at his encouragement. The dump box comes in very handy in many projects around the golf course. He dumped the rock out into a big pile. Some day, I’ll have to tell you the story on how we got this Cushman. It’s quite a story. We use it all. of. the. time. In fact, I think I have actually witnessed the drawing of straws with our outside staff on who got to use it. When dad was done, he drove the skid loader back to the cart path to smooth all the crushed asphalt out. I didn’t stick around to get a picture of him spreading it out. This project took place when it was 31 degrees outside. Not only am I a fair weather golfer, but I am also a fair weather photographer. How about you? Do you like to operate large pieces of equipment?

Project. Project. Man. I want to be a Project Man.

Golf Course

Please sing that title to the tune of Macho Man. It will make you smile. Or maybe not. As I told you earlier, we have been blessed to have a great crew. Not the least of which is our outside staff who also happen to be great carpenters. Evidence seen HERE. They have been building us projects on the golf course long before I started this little blog here, so I thought I’d do a quick round up of some of the other projects they have created since last fall for the golf course. First up was the building of some benches on the golf course. We previously had benches, but we were ready for a different look. Something simple and immovable. Once again, I described a general idea of what I wanted and Dick and Doug set to work making things look good. They built 7 benches to put on tee boxes on the golf course. Mainly the par threes where traffic can sometimes get backed up. They dug holes in the ground and inserted the posts into the ground. This project was done last fall, so these babies need to be stained when the weather gets warm enough for us to get out the stain. If you’re wondering why the tee sign on number 9 is just laying on the ground, there’s a good story to go with that. My dad, Toad Valley’s Tree Guy, loves his trees and he doesn’t really like to cut them down. There was a pine tree that had been slowly dying near number nine tee box. I had asked him to cut it down last spring, but I was met with much resistance because there was still a small amount of green on the top of the tree. It took showing him a picture that I had taken on the golf course for him to change his mind. He agreed that it was time to cut down the mostly dead tree. Out came the chain saw and down went the tree. Right on top of the fake boulder hole sign. Crushing the fake boulder. Now. The sign rests in the woodchips waiting for a new real boulder. I digress. Back to our handy Project Men. They also built a fabulous new bag stand last fall which can hold almost 3 times more bags than our previous bag stand. Once the weather warms up, we will get our staining crew in action on this piece, too. Man. I sure hope the person who stains things around these parts doesn’t read this blog. Lots of staining work needs to be done! We also installed some fabulous new benches for golfers to gather around the clubhouse area. This tends to be a pretty busy spot with people. Parents wait while their young ones are in lessons, wedding guests wait to be seated for ceremonies and golf outings wait for friends to arrive. These benches will definitely get a good work out. As I had mentioned in this post, these benches are placed in the area that previously held our starter shed. As you can see by this picture, our starter shed has some new plans of its own. Here is a reference picture of what it kind of looked like. That is, until we began disassembling it. We have been tossing around some ideas on what we can do to warm up this area with plants or vines. Possibly some outdoor pillows. You just never know what we have up our sleeves. In the meantime, these benches make for a pretty nice resting area. What about you? Where do you sit when you’re waiting for friends at the golf course?

Grass Seed is King this Spring

Our Green Thumb

We have been seeding this spring. My husband, Kelly, always likes to comfort me by telling me that the seed only costs about $1 per pound. The trouble with that? We order about 5,000 pounds of seed. We use a rye/bluegrass mix. The rye grass germinates quickly, while the bluegrass is a more hardy grass.The seed gets puts into the bin of the seeder. It drops down through these shoots at the bottom of the bin. The seeder has wheels that cut slits in the ground. Then the seed is dropped inside the ground. The soil is roughed up a little and lines are formed where grass will germinate. It is always exciting to see the little lines of grass coming up on the golf course. The nice part about having a seeder is that the seed is placed in the ground, so it is less susceptible to being washed away by the rain. How about you? Have you been doing any seeding in your lawn this year?

Golfers. Start Your Engines.

Project List

In a family run business, everyone just chips in. Clogged toilet? I’m on it. Carpets need cleaning. Yep! That, too. Tables and chairs need moved around for a party? Garbage left in the driveway. There is no shame. You get dirty. You get pulled away from your “real” job. You just chip in. Same goes for our employees. Have a skill set from a previous job? We’re going to take advantage of it. Enter. Dick and Doug. Our two skilled outside workers who also happen to be fabulous carpenters. The project list at the golf course could probably circle the earth a few times. In other words, there are lots of them. Some big. Some small. All are important to at least someone. How do they get to the top of the list? It usually comes down to time and money. Let’s start with some back story, shall we? We had already moved the starter shack that used to be near number nine green several years ago. We had it placed in the little raised area where pull carts were previously stored. It looked nice there and fit perfectly. The problem was that our starters never used it. They preferred to stand near the Coke machine. It was just an easier place for them to preform their duties, juggle carts and talk to golfers. When our Menards rebate check arrived this spring, we knew what we were going to do. Last fall we removed the starter shack off the premises and replaced it with some nice benches for golfers and guests to gather. Our starters were going to get new digs. The boys went to Menards and spent all but $2.13 of our rebate check! Woot! The lumber includes enough material to fix the signs on number 1 and 10 as well as building three directional signs for guests when they arrive. We have had many frosty mornings this spring, so they used those mornings when they couldn’t get on the golf course because of frost to start knocking off items on the project list. My favorite part about our staff is that they are all friends. Our outside crew gets along like peas and carrots. You give them a list and they can knock it out in no time. Dick and Doug came up with the design after I told them what my goals were. First, I wanted a place to store pull carts that wasn’t ugly. Next, I wanted a shelf to store all of our starter’s belongings. Then, we also needed a counter, so golfers could easily visit with the starter and sign cart release forms. They still need to add some shelves and we need to wait for the weather to warm up, so we can stain it. How about you? What kind of spring projects have you been working on?

Burn Baby. Burn

Project List

In the spring, we burn down all of the grasses that grow along the pond banks as well as along the front of the clubhouse’s landscaping. It’s a great trick to turn the grass green much faster. It seems like this year, the grass just doesn’t want to turn green. I can’t remember the last time that we have had such a late spring. Our outside guys, Doug, Dick and Steve set to work. Normally, when it is time to light fires, we are never lacking for volunteers. Not sure why guys like to light fires, but they do. Where’s my torch? Hey, guys. I need some more fire over here. Most of the grass burns quickly because it is dry, but there are a few stubborn spots. Before. Of course a fire wouldn’t be a fire if we didn’t set something on fire that we actually wanted. Just a little damage to the handicap sign. The after pictures are worth it! Check out this beautiful view. Now everything is all freshly cleaned looking and ready for new grass to germinate. Any burning going on in your neighborhood? It’s probably my favorite part about living in the country.

A Frosty Morning

Golf Course

Sometimes the frost is so pretty as it glistens in the sun. When I arrived to work this morning, I couldn’t help, but take some pictures.On this particular morning, the frost was covering all the trees. They were glowing. I grew up on the golf course, so I didn’t fully come to appreciate my surroundings until I moved away to college. I can remember walking on the campus and smelling the scent of cut grass and it made me homesick. How about you? What made you homesick when you went away for the first time?

Chinese Elm “Ulmus Parvifolia”

Our Green Thumb

This is Tom, Toad Valley’s Friendly Tree Guy, back with my first introduction to the trees of Toad Valley. If you recall, I earlier described how I have planted nearly all of the trees on the course. Over the years, I have planted almost 300 different varieties. Today I’m going to introduce you to the Chinese Elm. This article was originally written in the year 2001-ish for Timber Talk which is a quarterly newsletter for the Iowa Woodland Owners Association. I have added more information at the end of the article about how the trees are doing now. This tree should not be confused with the Siberian Elm “Ulmus Pulmila” which I consider to be a weed tree whose only good attribute is fast growth. Chinese Elm, also know as Lacebark Elm, has the American Elm Shape (sort of) but is resistant to the Dutch Elm Disease and the Elm Leaf Beetle. It has a weeping appearance and grows up to 50 feet tall. It has small leaves that have good fall color from yellow to purple. The trees that I have are too young, but the trees flower in late summer to early autumn and then set its seeds. Various publications describe the flowers as red to light green. They are subtle but add to the tree’s interest. The seeds are small with pale green wings. They hang in clusters that contrast with the darker leaves. The best attribute of the Chinese Elm is its mottled bark which is shades of gray, green, orange and brown. Unfortunately this happens on older trees. I planted one tree in 1997 and 500 more in 1998, so I will have to wait to see this bark. The tree has a wide range and we’re on its northern edge in zone 5. I’ve seen them growing in Florida and California as well as at the Iowa Arboretum in Boone, Iowa. If you can find a northern source, then I encourage you to plant one where you can view its magnificent bark. Since I wrote this article 10 or 12 years ago, most of the 500 trees didn’t survive. They were planted in our CRP ground (this is the ground that is in between the golf course and NE 80th, just north of number 1). Many just couldn’t handle our winters, but also deer apparently think trees are candy. There are two Chinese Elm on the golf course. One is on hole number 11 right about 100 yards short of the green and the other is on hole number 4 on the right about 75 yards short of the 150 yard marker. Both are starting to show the mottled bark and are producing tiny seeds in the fall (this is unusual for an elm). They are 15 to 20 feet tall. They are, as their name implies, imported from the Asian continent. The Human Squirrel, Tom Brady original source for the picture comes from http://texastreeplanting.tamu.edu

Oh UPS Man… Over Here!

Golf Shop

In the spring, the UPS man and FedEx guy make regular stops at the golf course bringing us new product for the Golf Shop. It is always so exciting to get the big boxes filled with goodies, until the inventory part starts. Each item gets rung into inventory and all new products have to be put into our Point of Sale system (POS). That. Isn’t so much fun. Theresa received a big pile of small boxes within this large box that she got to place on the H2 Display in our Golf Shop. Sometimes when you are unloading and unpacking and ringing into inventory and pricing and on and on. Well, you get a little goofy. It’s kind of like when your kids are small and you raise their hands while you ask, “How big is baby?” Then your baby raises his hands and says, “Soooo Big!” Picture me asking, “How done is Theresa?” She replies with her arms outstretched, “Soooo Done!!” New putters and bags have been arriving into our Golf Shop almost every day this spring. Boxes come in and get unpacked. These are a fun new product that we are offering this year. There always seems to be a golfer who forgets that the sun sometimes shines on a golf course. No excuses now! What about you? Anything fun arrive in the mail at your house this spring?

Oregon Trail

Golf Course

As it turns out, my gift of gab got me several speaking jobs this winter. At the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) conference in San Diego, I got stopped by Liz Doyle who asked me to come speak at the Oregon regional NGCOA conference. I had never been to this part of the country before, so I took her up on her offer. I had so much fun. I really enjoy traveling and touring other golf courses from around the country to see how they set things up. Here’s a little peek into Liz & Jeff Doyle’s beautiful golf course in Monroe, Oregon. It’s named Diamond Woods. I loved to hear all their fun stories about how they built their golf course. It had been a dream of Jeff and his brother, Greg, to build a golf course. Their family wanted to name their golf course Rattlesnake Creek, but Liz put the axe down on that! She didn’t want people to be afraid to come to their business. A beautiful golf course that Greg meticulously carved out of an old Christmas tree farm. Jeff had previously been a professional baseball player, so the name Diamond Woods was something everyone in the family could agree. When I first arrived, I got to meet Liz and her family and we had some light snacks in the Sky Box. This was a really cool room that overlooked their finishing holes.You can see it in this picture. It is the series of windows of the building that have a cart path that runs underneath the building. The family and staff were charming and we chatted about everything under the sun. It is fun to talk to other family owned businesses who share the same trials and concerns as we do. It was like I was talking to my own family members. We walked outside of the clubhouse and toured the outside facilities. I loved their driving range! It had such a beautiful entrance to it.Once you were at the top of the driving range tee, you could see that they had two options for hitting. A covered area that was on concrete and had mats that golfers could use, then in front was a grass tee box. My favorite part about their driving range was this old decoy moose that they had positioned for golfers to take their aim at hitting! I absolutely loved it.We hopped on a golf cart and toured the course. It was an unusually nice day in Oregon, so it felt good to see green and smell freshly cut grass. Just like at our facility, most of her staff felt like family to them. They were proud of all the work that Diamond Woods had done over the years. Her outside crew had recently finished carving out all new tee signs for each hole. We stopped to see more decoy animals. This made me realize that I definitely need to put some decoy animals on our golf course. I just think it’d be awesome for golfers to get their picture taken with an elk or bison hiding in the woods. Liz told me that these were animals that her golfers had placed on this hole. She said that sometimes she finds them in inappropriate positions. I was happy to hear that golfers are the same no matter what part of the country they call home. Her outside staff was so creative in using what they have to make things work. I loved these ropes that they had created to keep golfers at bay.It is some re-bar with a golf ball on top. Loved that idea! They also had several bridges all throughout the property. The golf course has some pretty steep terrain, so it was necessary for there to be cart paths throughout. They used old railroad cars as their base for the bridge.Once the bridge was in place, they covered the old cars with some lumber and BAM! Beautiful bridges!They also had been busy cutting firewood that winter to sell from their property. It was all perfectly stacked and ready for sale! I also really liked their idea on how they handle water out on the golf course. They have built two different housing stations out on the course with an “honors” box. They install small refrigerators in these buildings with bottled water inside. The metal lock box is where golfers just put in a dollar. They had a lodge on their property. I seriously wanted to move it to my golf course. It was absolutely lovely! They have been working on launching wedding receptions and events, but have had some trouble because it is quite a drive from town. To help accommodate that deterrent, they have four rooms that are in the lodge and ready for rental. I seriously left like a queen staying in the lodge. You could see the lodge from the distance. It had some gorgeous views! From the deck off of my room, you could see horses grazing in the neighbor’s yard. My room was the honeymoon suite, so it had a jet bath tub and a king size bed! We walked around the lodge and got to take in all their great ideas. Liz and Jeff’s daughter has quite an eye for interior design. She had decorated all of the rooms. Their staff had helped to build the lodge to help with cost. They were set up for a business retreat that would be happening the next day. There were tons of great outside views. Here is their reception area. They are only able to seat about 100 people inside, but they have a huge deck and covered patio areas where they were able to host additional guests. We walked out on the path and I loved all the old rustic charm. It was just a beautiful place to visit. She had several fun chandeliers that were hanging outside. It was such a great space. I could see them continuing to grow this side of their

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