Minutes of the Lake Wildwood Golf Committee Meeting on May 8, 2007
Approved June 12, 2007
I. The meeting was called to order by Frank Chilberto at 2:03 pm.
II. Roll Call
A. The following members were present:
Jane Butler, Michael Byrne, Frank Chilberto, Doug Dorfmeier,
Maddie Graham, Rick Levy, Bob Martin, Duane Mayfield and
Dianna Mortara.
B. The following liaison personnel were present: Bill Haushalter, Jim Knight, Don Streseman and Ken Wolford.
C. The following guests were present: Mike Lesnewsky, Chuck Murphey and Ken Towns (Special Projects Subcommittee).
III. Minutes
The minutes of the April 10, 2007 meeting were approved as submitted (Vote).
IV. Reports
A. Golf Course Superintendent - Ken Wolford
1. Course Aeration
Ken was unable to complete aeration of all of the course. Holes 10, 11, 12 and 15 have not been done.
2. Ground Squirrel Extermination
Ken was given a demonstration today of a technology for exterminating ground squirrels by injecting a mixture of propane and oxygen into a burrow and then igniting it. He is evaluating alternatives.
3. Irrigation System Evaluation
Bob Pleski submitted a letter to the Golf Committee on the subject of “Irrigation Piping Golf Course”, see attachment to these minutes. Ken was asked his thoughts and stated that he was familiar with the 1997 report by Benbow Engineering cited in Pleski’s letter and that he felt that piping is still subject to wear. As agreed to by the committee at it’s last meeting, he has been seeking bids for a new (10 years later) evaluation and so far has received one bid.
4. Responses to March 22 Golf Course Inspection
a. Eradication of clover is an ongoing process.
b. There was a great deal of discussion on the subject of widening the #15 and #17 fairways. Ken will study the situation.
c. The perceived apron “washboard” effect is do the thatch and has been greatly improved.
d. The “peg board” effect on greens is not due to aeration; this situation has improved greatly.
e. A number of “seasonal” problems are beginning to be seen 6-8 weeks early this year due to the dry winter and spring.
f. Bunkers are a conditional problem and are being addressed. Gravel removal will be deferred until fall and winter.
g. The tee situation has improved since the subject inspection report.
h. After some discussion, it was decided that there are enough left-handed mats in the practice area.
B. Golf Professional - Jim Knight
1. Ball Marks
Jim said that there is an increasing problem with ball marks on the greens at the end of the day and asked that the club representatives communicate this to their constituents and ask for their attention and help.
2. Summer Hours
Beginning Monday May 14, the Pro Shop will now be open until 7:00 pm and the Practice Facility will be open until 6:30 pm.
3. For both the Ladies’ Invitational and the Men’s Invitational, the Practice Facility will be closed.
4. Chuck Murphey stated that he did not have complete financials for April but that we appeared to be about $8,000 below revenue target for the year while maintenance is currently $70,000 under budget.
C. Special Project Subcommittee Report
None.
D. Board Liaison Report - Don Streseman
None.
E. General Manager’s Report - Bill Haushalter
Bill informed the committee that the Association has a new contract for cleaning of employee uniforms and that a new lawsuit has been instituted against the Association for the death by drowning of a child two years ago.
F. Guest Input
None.
V. Correspondence
A. Public Safety Committee - Diana Thompson
Diana sent a letter to Frank Chilberto and each of the four club representatives asking if there was interest in First Aid training and offering to arrange certification classes if there was. The club representatives agreed to take the issue to their respective clubs.
B. Golf Course Irrigation System - Bob Pleski
See Golf Course Superintendent A. 3. above and the attachment to these minutes.
VI. Old Business
A. Golf Objective Status - Survey re: Rule Changes/Master Plan - Chilberto
We are still waiting for historical information relating to golf course usage and maintenance costs.
B. Practice Area -Synthetic tee modification
Ken said that the timing on this is now uncertain and may be delayed until after the Ladies’ Invitational.
C. Practice Area - Replace synthetic turf on practice bunker green
Ken said that this will be done in the fall.
D. Removal of oak tree behind #17 green (Vote)
After reviewing the report submitted by Mr. Randall Frizzell, a consulting arborist in which he stated that the tree will probably only survive 2-3 years and considering the safety hazard presented by the tree in its current state and location, the Golf Committee voted to have the tree removed and to replace it with a “large” new tree. The removal will take place soon and the new tree will be planted in the fall.
E. Golf Committee Charter (Vote)
After reviewing the new charter of the Golf Committee found in the Lake Wildwood Committee Handbook, as modified by Frank Chilberto, the Golf Committee voted to recommend it transmittal to the Lake Wildwood Board of Directors for acceptance.
VII. New Business
A. De-fibrilator for Golf Course Use - Byrne
Michael recommended that one or more defibrillators be purchased for use at the Pro Shop, the golf course in general and perhaps the clubhouse. During discussion it was noted that there is a defibrillator in the ambulance and another in the “primary” security vehicle , both of which are “first responders”. Michael was asked to bring this up with Diana Thompson and the Safety Committee.
B. Master Plan Task Chart - Martin
Bob submitted a chart summarizing the various tasks listed in the Golf Master Plan. The columns of the chart show items of work on a per hole basis and the rows show which holes are affected by a particular item of work, e.g. which ones might have mounds added.
C. Golf Committee Web Site - Martin
Bob announced the implementation of a new Internet Lake Wildwood web site presence. Currently there is an obsolete one page presentation on the Golf Committee which can be accessed on the Lake Wildwood web site. While it will be accessed through the Lake Wildwood site, the new presentation will be actually stored at a free Yahoo site and will be managed by a GC member, not the Lake Wildwood Web Master. Besides general information about the committee, it will initially make available to the public the 1) Golf Committee Charter, 2) a copy of the latest Golf Inspection Report Summary and 3) a copy of the minutes of the latest meeting of the Golf Committee.
D. Golf Course Inspection Report - Dorfmeier
Doug had reviewed the report with the Golf Committee last month. This topic was primarily devoted to responses from Ken Wolford. See Golf Course Superintendent A. 4. above.
E. Recommendation - Ken Towns
Ken expressed the opinion that if all of the aeration cores were collected in one place they might serve for the construction of the new forward tees. During discussion, the following comments were made:
1. Some cores are currently used for special projects and are not wasted.
2. Transportation costs to move to a central location would be high compared with distributing in the neighborhood of collection.
3. Construction of forward tees will fall into the category of Capital Improvement.
F. Support for Proposed New Community Center - Chilberto
After a small discussion, the Golf Committee voted to endorse the proposed new Lake Wildwood Community Center and the associated $75 assessment. (Vote)
G. Change in Projects Submitted to the Special Projects Subcommittee - Chilberto
1. Last month’s decision to submit four individual projects on holes #12, #13 and #14 to the Special Projects Subcommittee was rescinded. (Vote)
2. As an alternative the Golf Committee voted to recommend to the SPS the complete set of tasks for holes #13 and #14 as outlined in the Golf Master Plan with the exception of a new bridge on #14. (Vote)
H. Golf Statistics for March - Chilberto
Frank distributed as new copy of his summary of golf financial statistics through March of 2007.
VIII. Frank Chilberto announced that next month’s meeting will be held in the “Meeting Room” because the Board has preempted the Cedar Room. Doug Dorfmeier will chair the meeting in Frank’s absence.
This meeting was adjourned at 4:33 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Bob Martin
Items containing votes: III., VI.D., VI.E., VII.F., VII.G.1. and VII.G.2.
Attachment #1
April 26, 2007
To: Frank Chilberto, Golf Committee Chairperson
From: Public Safety Committee
The Public Safety Committee would like your help in assessing the needs of the golfing community for the following training programs: CPR(cardiopulmonary resuscitation), ABD (automated external defibrillator), and First Aid. The PSC understands that due to the sometimes isolated conditions of the golf course, in the event of an emergency it might be difficult to access emergency help right away, so by offering training in these 3 areas, procedures could be started that could eventually be of help to the individual involved.
The PSC will set up training here at Lake Wildwood and sessions will be conducted by certified trainers. Dates and times will be announced later and will be dependent on the numbers of residents interested.
Please feel free to call if you have any questions.
Diana Thompson
Public Safety Chairperson (432-8532)
Attachment #2
From: Bob Pleski [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 11:32 AM
To: Douglas Dorfmeier; Frank Chilberto
Subject: Irrigation piping Golf Course
2 May 2007
Lake Wildwood Golf Committee
Subject: Golf Course Irrigation System
The golf course architect, Gary Linn, made many recommendations for long-range changes and I agree with most of them. He also recommended that Lake Wildwood plan to replace the underground system at an estimated cost of approximately $1.5 million.
It is my belief that if we take proper corrective action, that hopefully this expenditure can be avoided.
The Golf Committee, at their last meeting, recommended that LWW hire a hydrological consultant to evaluate the condition of the irrigation system.
I want to point out that, in 1996, LWW hired Benbow Engineering to do an analysis of the irrigation system. This resulted in a report dated August 1, 1997, which was very comprehensive. I have a copy of this report; it is available if anyone wants to use it.
The Benbow Engineering report included many recommendations. I believe that all of the recommendations have been implemented except for installing a four-inch pipe from the end of the line at the 15th green and connecting it to the pipeline at the 16th tee. I think that if this tieline is installed it will reduce the severity of water hammer and pipe breaks on the 15th fairway.
In general, I do not believe that this type of PVC underground piping will ever wear out from usage. I do believe that breaks occur due to abuse – that is, from water hammer and pressure surges. These pressure surges occur when the sprinkler heads shut off and all of the nearby piping is subjected to high-pressure surges. When a break occurs, it is at the weakest area and all nearby piping is also stressed.
What can we do to avoid abuse of the piping?
1. Set the pressure out of the pump station to the lowest pressure that will provide the 60 or 70 psi required at the heads. Each sprinkler head has a pressure-reducing regulator that prevents excessive pressure being applied to the head. The Flowtronics pump station, when it was put in operation in 1999, was set to operate at 120 psi .
2. Install the four-inch tieline from the 15th green to the 16th tee.
3. If it is possible to coordinate the Rainbird software that controls the sprinkler heads and to also adjust the pressure from the Flowtronics pump station, so that lower pressure is generated when we are watering most of the course. Then increase the pressure when watering the high elevation, which are the 13th green, the 14th and 18th tees. The Benbow report shows that the highest elevation is 72 feet above the pump output elevation and therefore at 10 psi required for each 23 feet of elevation, this would require a maximum static pressure of 31 psi above the 60 or 70 psi required at the heads for a total static pressure of 91 to 101 psi.
This may require re-programming, so that when these three high elevations are being watered, (three heads at a time at about 81 gpm), no other heads are flowing water near these high elevations at the same time.
4. To reduce water hammer in general, we may need to install some underground water storage tanks with a bladder (diaphragm) with an air reservoir, to absorb and minimize water pressure surges.
5. Change out the present Rainbird 700 Series heads, which may have a faster shut-off than other available heads. Reference Benbow Report, page 3. This would be an approximate $100,000 expenditure, and if it helps preserve the $1.5 million underground piping, it may be worth considering. Before this is done, competitive heads should be evaluated for longer shut-off periods and possible better uniformity of water distribution to reduce the dry spot/wet spot patterns we had in August-September on our course (reference past golf course inspection reports).
It may be advisable to hire a hydrological engineer to do the necessary evaluation to implement these and other changes so that we can stop abusing our underground piping due to water hammer and high operating pressure.
For your information, I worked with Mark Bunte, the Golf Superintendent prior to Ken Worlford, and Mark and I created the specifications and did all of the drawings for the present pumping system. Because of this work, I am intimately acquainted with much of the present system.
Mark Hodkin, with Commercial Pump, at 637-9513, is the person who started up this system and is the local representative for Flowtronics. He is well qualified in many of the areas mentioned above and may well be worth hiring as a consultant if needed. He may also provide engineering work, possibly at no charge because we hire him for maintaining our pumps at Lake Wildwood.
If you have any questions, I will be glad to meet with the Golf Committee or other personnel to assist in this project. I cannot attend the next Golf Committee meeting on May 15th as I will be out of the area, but I do plan to attend the June 12th meeting.
Bob Pleski
432-3699
Cc: Bill Haushalter
Ken Wolford
Marty Domagala
Frank Chilberto
Doug Dorfmeier