LBLBC Greens Committee Reports
-------- July 2020 --------
June has been a busy month with continuing improvements to the club. Our new water fountain was installed at the entrance to the club providing the members cold and filtered water. Curt Bartsch, Bruce Wheeler, Bob Leach, Chris Quinn, Randy Hatfield worked together to paint the storage sheds. The broken cement pathway between the north and south greens was removed and new cement and a functional drain was installed.
Our new South Green is now 1 month old. We have a terrific rooting depth at 4"-6". The surface has come together nicely, and you cannot see the sod seams any longer. We have lowered the HOC (height of cut) to .200", which is about .100" away from our goal. We are getting close! The sod came in at .500", so we have come down quite a bit in a short period of time. We are starting to see some areas of scalping, particularly in the center of the green and some of the edges. This is totally natural and a part of the process of getting the greens down to lawn bowling heights. These areas will recover and get stronger now that the thatch mat has been taken out. You will also see periodic verticutting and sand topdressing coming up in the next few weeks. This process will help prepare the green surface, as it adapts to its new environment and lower height of cut.
This week, we put down our first application to control the Nematodes on the South Green. The South green backboards with new coverings and plinths are being installed. The ditches have been cleaned out, deepened, and will be filled in with new sand before we begin bowling on that green.
Finally, we would like to welcome Gil Sanchez as our new Greenskeeper. Gill has over 15 years of experience as a Greenskeeper coming from Mission Viejo Country Club. Gill works full time at Mission Viejo CC during the day, then will come and work at LBLBC in the afternoons. Gil has a high level of expectations and is very meticulous of his work on the greens. Please say hello and welcome Gil to LBLBC the next time you see him.
-------- May 2020 --------
We have really tried to bring our greens back to health. Unfortunately our greens are old and weary. We also have tested positive for nematodes which inhibits and destroys root structure.
The board has approved the resodding of both greens.
We will install a sod that has greater durability and wear tolerance, is tight and smooth for the bowls, can be mowed low which will improve speed, and is shade and salt tolerant.
We will also use this opportunity to laser level the greens and replace the plinths (on the south green). We will have level greens!
The work will begin on the south green next week and will take about 5 weeks until it is playable. We will do the north green shortly thereafter. There is no better time for us to complete the project since we are limited by the virus and the fact that all tournaments are cancelled for the rest of the year.
This is a huge upgrade for our club - once complete we will have some of the best greens anywhere and they will deliver a wonderful bowling experience for years to come.
The Rabbits
Remember last year when we were having green quality issues on the north green partly due to rabbits? Well, it looks like our solution was a good one. Encircle the greens with a rabbit fence. That seems to have done the trick. Well done board!
-------- April 2020 --------
The work performed this past week, commencing on Monday with core aeration down to 5”, is essential to the maintenance and rejuvenation of our greens. The process included removing the plugs followed by sand topdressing to fill up the aeration holes. This intensive aeration work and clean up was completed on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the greens were then aerified using DryJect technology, which utilizes pressurized water to inject more sand to a depth of 4". The DryJect compliments the work done earlier in the week with the core aerification.
The aerification and sand work this week were followed by applications of gypsum and soil amendments to improve the soil chemistry and structure of the greens. After the applications of fertilizers, special micro emitter sprinklers are utilized to leach the salts out of the rootzone, which in turn will help the vigor of the bermuda grass turf.
Our goal is to have the greens playable by the end of April when hopefully the self-distancing requirement as mandated by the governing authorities, is lifted.
Paul Cushing, our new greenskeeper along with Will Reardon from DryJect, combined their knowledge in directing this long-needed work. Club members are reminded that disruption of our greenskeeper and or other contracted persons is not encouraged. Our greens need their full undivided attention.
Your greens committee, on behalf of our club is so appreciative of their expertise and time.
Heather Stewart (chair)
Greg Mech
David Breedon
Curt Bartsch
Social Bowls, Pandemic Style
Imagine the picture above with everyone wearing masks and being even more spread out. Well, that's probably what our new Social Bowls will look like once it starts up on June 30th. (We'll take some photos and publish them to see if we're right.)
Starting June 30, 2020, we will be convening Social Bowls on Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings. Since there are now 7 rinks to use during play, the maximum number of participants for any social bowl is 28, 4 per rink, playing pairs.
To sign up for Social Bowls, you must type your name and Board Number into one of the numbered slots in the reservation system for the Social Bowl you'd like to join. (You can find your board number in the 2020 Contact List.) Rich (with Sandy as a backup) will set up the matches 30 minutes ahead of time and place the "board" near the entrance to the club on the day of the game. Deadline for entering your name into the system is 2 hours prior to the start of the Social Bowl. If your name isn't in the system by that time, You'll be unable to play (unless a person is needed to fill a team).
Remember social distancing is still in play, so do not stand around the board. Each person please take your turn by the board, see what rink you are on, if you are skip or lead, and move onto your rink.
All other new rules remain in place. Masks are recommended and required by the Governor if you cannot maintain social distance during the game, When on the same end, stand at least 6 feet away from your competitor and take a wide berth when changing ends. Designate one person to set the mat, roll the jack, and rake the bowls. Since one person is rolling the jack, the winning skip can position the jack wherever they want. Because you can't use scoreboards, just write the score on the sidewalk with chalk. Wipe off the chalk with a towel when finished.
Yes it's a different world. Nothing has really changed except that California is experiencing even more positive Covid cases. Plus, our demographic is not the greatest for this pandemic.
This thing is not going away anytime soon, so please be responsible and stay vigilant.
Thank You,
The LBLBC Board
Tuesday Mornings
Tuesday morning Social Bowls start at 9:30am and go for 12 ends or 12 o'clock noon, whichever comes first. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early as we will endeavor to start on time.
Thursday Evenings
Thursday evening Social Bowls start at 6:00pm and go for 10 ends or 1 hour past sunset, whichever comes first. It's even more imperative that you arrive at least 15 minutes early as we stand the risk of running out of daylight if we don't start on time.
Club & Greens Closed Until Further Notice
To Laguna Beach Lawn Bowling members
Following recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and other governing authorities, Laguna Beach Lawn Bowling club will be closed for all activities until March 31st. At that time we will review the situation.
The health, safety and physical well-being of our community of lawn bowlers is of great importance and current conditions deem this action necessary.
Take care, keep well and follow the guidelines given by the CDC.
Greg Mech on behalf of Board and Greens Committee
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