Spring 2021 Quarterly Update from Golf Course Maintenance

THE COUNTRY CLUB AT LOCH LLOYD GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE UPDATE

Dear Member, Thank you so much for the warm welcome as I begin my new role as Golf Course Superintendent! I’m excited to lead the Golf Course Maintenance team in our continued efforts to provide the best golf conditions in one of the top Clubs in the Kansas City area.

I value the relationships I’ve made throughout my last three years at The Country Club at Loch Lloyd and look forward to building on those as well as creating new relationships with those of you I have not yet met.

Throughout this issue of , you’ll learn the status of ongoing projects by the GCM team as well as new maintenance practices being implemented this fall.

Please feel free to reach out if you have a question or concern about this report or about course conditions in general. I welcome your feedback and invite you to stop by the maintenance facility as I am always open to having a conversation about the GCM team and the work that we do. I look forward to seeing you around the course, the Club and the community.

Grant Suderman Golf Course Superintendent grants@lochlloyd.com

Sunrise over #18 green after natives have been knocked down

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The summer season has shown extremes at The Country Club at Loch Lloyd with the month of August producing high heat and limited rainfall. Due to these conditions, we ask that cart traffic be focused in the fairways to reduce stress and disease pressure in our fescue and bluegrass roughs. We ask that you continue to enter and exit each hole at the green and red posts (as shown in the diagram below). This will give the GCM team the ability to control traffic patterns and limit stress in our vulnerable fescue and bluegrass areas.

Another area we are focused on is our practice putting green surfaces. These surfaces are highly valued and receive constant foot traffic from golfers. Please don’t stand in one spot on the practice putting green surfaces but, instead, shift your stance when you can. Standing in the same spot for an extended period of time can severely damage and even kill turf. Your help in these practices will greatly affect the playability, sustainable and aesthetics of the course.

Footprints from an individual golfer, putting in the same spot for an extended time

X

Do Not Enter

Enter Here

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Scatter Carts/ Remain in Fairway

Exit Fairway NOTE: #3, #18 and all par 3s remain cart path only 3

Recent and upcoming initiatives within our operation.

BUNKER “BOARDING” A recently changed cultural practice at The Country Club at Loch Lloyd is the raking of the bunkers by the GCM team. The “Aussie Method” or “Boarding” way of raking bunkers helps keep the faces firm by raking the faces with a flat edge. These firmer conditions will help prevent plugged lies, providing a more consistent play while encouraging the ball to roll to the bunker floor.

This change does not affect the expectation of our golf members. We ask that all golfers continue to rake out the bunkers after any disturbance as you normally would, using the rakes provided.

The flat boarding of the faces for firmer conditions, distinguished from the floor bottoms

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Recent and upcoming initiatives within our operation.

GOOSEGRASS CONTROL With the summer heat comes summer weeds. One of the most prevalent weed species in the Midwest region is Goosegrass … an annual grassy weed that resembles crabgrass. Goosegrass thrives in stressed areas of turf such as cart path edges and constant traffic routes.

The product “Pylex” is the best control of this invasive weed species. Without damaging the desired turf, Pylex selectively kills the weed. During this process the Goosegrass weed turns a bleach white. This can be unsightly and alarming when first seeing the area. Within a few weeks, the bleached weeds will fade away and die, allowing the desired turf to fill in the voided areas.

The photo on the left shows the Goosegrass weeds bleached by the product Pylex along the cart path on #15.

We apologize for any inconvenience the bleached discoloration may cause as we continue to eradicate Goosegrass from the property.

Goosegrass along the cart path on #15 after the Pylex bleaching product has been applied

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Attention to detail is ongoing and takes time.

Changing a culture within the work environment so that the entire team works as one and works toward a unified end goal is imperative.

This is also true for our golfers who enjoy the course each and every day.

Repurposing Turf We are currently in the process of re-establishing the turf on the back range tee at the Practice Facility. Throughout the summer months, we have repurposed turf from this tee to declined areas in the fairways.

To promote regrowth of the range tee, it was decided to use a fraze mower to remove the top layer of thatch and leftover strips to level out the tee. The spoils from the fraze mower will be used to sprig the remaining depressed areas on the tee. This process will be followed by aerifying, top dressing, rolling, fertilizing and consistent watering to aid in the regrowth of this tee.

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Sodding of the declined green surrounds Seeding the rough, wall-to-wall Finish mowing and trimming native areas and creek banks Sod declined collars and approaches Fall aerification scheduled for August 23/24

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Todd Cody is a new member of the Golf Course Maintenance team this year. With more than 33 years of golf maintenance experience, Todd has worked at many of the top clubs in Kansas City including Deer Creek Golf Club, Wolf Creek, Nicklaus Golf Club at Lionsgate and Lake Quivira Country Club. He also served as Golf Course Superintendent at Monett Golf Course in Monett, Missouri.

Always on time and ready for any task, Todd takes a professional and thoughtful approach to work each day. His attention to detail is second to none and sets a great example for the rest of the team. This eye for detail can be seen in his course setup, bunker work and sod projects.

Please welcome Todd to the Loch Lloyd family when you see him out on the course! It’s a pleasure having Todd and his vast experience as part of the team.

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The mowing and trimming of the native and creek areas will be a focus moving forward. The past week we have started knocking down the overgrown native areas. This will continue as a consistent, yet slow, process as we strive to get caught up.

The trimming of these areas and creek banks will also be a priority going forward, as labor allows.

Weed control this time of year is always a challenge. Crabgrass, nutsedge and broadleaf all show their colors during the peak summer season. Any “escapes” will be monitored and treated accordingly.

As mentioned in the August newsletter, we will continue to address declined turf areas in collars, fairways and roughs.

Sodding of the collars and fairways will continue going forward.

Declined fescue and bluegrass areas will be sodded in the fall where needed. The declined green surrounds on holes #3, #5 and #6 will continue to be aerified, seeded, fertilized and pinemulched to promote any regrowth prior to sodding.

#5 green surround after aerifying, seeding, mulching and fertilizing for turf recovery

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The tree branch affecting the tee shot on the right side of #18 has been removed. This change will create a fair starting position for all golfers and will open the right side of tees.

Pictured below is the before and after of the branch removal.

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Thank you for taking the time to review this latest edition of and, once again … thank you for your support and warm welcome as I begin this new role.

We have an incredible GCM team at The Country Club at Loch Lloyd and I am proud of each and every one of them. They put in long hours and are passionate about the work that they do. The kind words and gestures given by you are very much appreciated by them.

Please reach out to me with any questions, concerns, suggestions … or just to say hi.

I value your feedback and look forward to seeing you soon.

Grant Suderman

Golf Course Superintendent grants@lochlloyd.com

Follow the GCM team on Twitter!

Please check us out at @LochLloydGCM

August 23rd-24th

Fall Aerification

Golf facilities will be closed these two days. The rain date is scheduled for August 25th.

September 17th-18th

Men’s Gross Match Play September 23rd-25th

The Brigadoon Classic The Loch Lloyd GCM team hard at work picking up aerification plugs

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16750 Country Club Drive Village of Loch Lloyd, MO 64012 816.322.1022 www.lochlloyd.com

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