by Vince Dodge | Dec 6, 2024 | Uncategorized
Fall is finally here for the golf season that will seemingly never end with the truly wonderful conditions that we have been experiencing for this time of the year. A little on the dry side but so what-it sure beats the alternative of wet conditions. Dry conditions...
by Vince Dodge | Aug 31, 2024 | Uncategorized
As I write this newsletter, it is August 20 and we are past what is, in my opinion, the toughest time of the year for golf course maintenance in the midwest United States-that time period between July 15 and August 15. Everything is tired. Turf is stressed due to...
by Vince Dodge | Jul 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
One of the wetter Junes in recent memory, which followed a wet May, has resulted in a golf course that, while green, does not offer optimal playability for the golfer. This is particularly true for Nemadji where drainage is less than optimal. Even so, we do what we...
by Vince Dodge | May 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
As some of you who are reading this may already know, Nemadji came through the winter months as unscathed as I have ever seen working in this area. Pretty much no lasting damage of any kind to golf course turf. We would gladly take dry and warm over cold and wet for...
by Vince Dodge | Apr 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
First and foremost, I would like to wish a very happy new year to everybody. We look forward to continued improvement at Nemadji in 2024 and in that spirit would like to show to you some of the improvements that we worked on in the latter part of 2023. Renovation 15W...
by Vince Dodge | Oct 11, 2023 | Uncategorized
Heavy rains throughout the month of September ended the drought conditions for the moment at Nemadji and while we welcome the relief, we would prefer that the rain events would not be so heavy. For the month of September we received well over 9 inches of rain...
by Vince Dodge | Sep 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
Project work continues on the golf course with the completion of an improved back tee on 9 East. For those who are unfamiliar, Enbridge has several pipelines routed underneath Nemadji and on occasion they need to come out to the golf course to perform remedial digs on...
by Vince Dodge | Aug 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
As we work our way through yet another dry year at Nemadji, I feel as though a more thorough discussion on things irrigation might be timely. We have already clearly established that the piping at Nemadji is undersized garbage requiring constant digging and repairing....
by Vince Dodge | Jul 14, 2023 | Uncategorized
The beat goes on at Nemadji with never a dull moment on the golf course. Despite the non-existent spring this year we were able to get a pretty good seed catch on the new tee on 9N. The pictures below were taken less than a month after the seeding date of 5-26-2023:...
by Vince Dodge | Jun 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
The story for the month of May has been the unseasonably dry conditions that we, for the most part, welcome at Nemadji as it allows the golf course to present better playing conditions for our players and gives us a certain amount of control over things. Too much rain...
by Vince Dodge | May 1, 2023 | Uncategorized
This winter and subsequent spring, if you want to call it that, has been an interesting one. Snow on the golf course throughout the winter is almost always a good thing-as long as winter disease control applications are done beforehand, and the snow does not cover a...
by Vince Dodge | Apr 5, 2023 | Uncategorized
As write this I am watching blizzard conditions outside my office window. Normally I am okay with this but with us being in April now I am not gonna lie-this winter is getting to be very annoying. The forecast is showing a dramatic warm up for next week which is good...
by Vince Dodge | Oct 6, 2022 | Uncategorized
October is finally here and with it comes the planning for preparing the golf course for the coming winter months. Just yesterday we took shipment of plant protectants to protect greens and tees at Nemadji for winter diseases-an essential preventative step to allow...
by Vince Dodge | Sep 10, 2022 | Uncategorized
Golf course work progresses with an emphasis on fairways where severe compaction from decades of cart and equipment traffic has resulted in fairways that are unable to support the growth of strong turf. We have been working on this with our Wiedenmann Deep tine...
by Vince Dodge | Aug 10, 2022 | Uncategorized
August is upon us and with it the overall tiredness of golf course maintenance staff. It never seems to fail that every year around this time I observe-and experience myself-the fatigue that goes with being at work every day at 5 am or earlier-and in some cases coming...
by Vince Dodge | Jul 1, 2022 | Uncategorized
Thankfully the excessively wet conditions of May gave way to a little more seasonal June precipitation and temperatures. What we did experience were stretches of dry conditions punctuated by heavy rain events that resulted in situations like the picture below: Clogged...
by Vince Dodge | Jun 3, 2022 | Uncategorized
Wet and cold conditions were the big story in May with all of the challenges that go with it. While we do regret having to go with cart path only rulings for players, we also have to consider the long-term conditioning of the golf course when making this decision. It...
by Vince Dodge | May 3, 2022 | Uncategorized
One thing that I can say is that the last two long, dry seasons, while good for golf, have been very stressful on both golf courses with horrible watering systems and the environment in general in the Northwoods. One can see it driving towards the Iron Range and...
by Vince Dodge | Mar 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
Certainly is a great feeling knowing that winter is almost over and that we can now move into the growing season here at Nemadji. I was able, over the past few weeks, to get onto the golf course and get an idea as to how the golf course over-wintered. An often...
by Vince Dodge | Feb 16, 2022 | Uncategorized
One of the most common questions asked of golf course maintenance in northern climates is, “What do you do in the winter?” An apt question to be sure as the snow and bitter cold make effective work outside difficult to perform. There is, however, an abundance of work...
by Vince Dodge | Jan 7, 2022 | Uncategorized
My experience has been that winter injury is the most challenging aspect of managing golf courses in the Northland. I have, over the course of my career, experimented with a variety of techniques with mixed results. I have used permeable covers in the past and found...
by Vince Dodge | Dec 8, 2021 | Uncategorized
After what has been one of the longer golfing seasons I have been around in the Northland, we finally closed the E/W golf course on November 9th. The crew and I would like to thank all of you for your patronage at Nemadji and hope that you were able to enjoy the...
by Vince Dodge | Oct 21, 2021 | Uncategorized
The long summer continues and as of October 15 we have not had a substantial frost to slow down turf growth going into the winter. This is good and bad from the point of view of golf course maintenance. Good in the fact that the longer season means more players to...
by Vince Dodge | Sep 16, 2021 | Uncategorized
With the final arrival of fall, we now move into aerification season-in my opinion the best time of the year. We can move away from worrying about where the next irrigation failure is going to be and can do the rewarding “dirty work” that helps to improve levels of...
by Vince Dodge | Aug 24, 2021 | Uncategorized
Probably the biggest story this past month or so has been the continuation of drought conditions on the golf course. Normally, given an average or better irrigation system and water source, I would welcome these sorts of dry spells as dry conditions give us the...
by Vince Dodge | Jul 13, 2021 | Uncategorized
Summer is officially here, and it has, across the United States, been a very warm one to be sure. Combined with lower-than-average rainfall over the past several months, we have been hard-pressed to get enough water on the ground with an irrigation system that is...
by Vince Dodge | Jun 15, 2021 | Uncategorized
Weather extremes continue to be an interesting issue on the golf course and for the whole planet for that matter-as, we went from a low of 25 degrees on May 29 to a high of 95 degrees on June 4. As I think about my time spent in this business, one thing that I have...
by Vince Dodge | May 19, 2021 | Uncategorized
My sincere hope is that this May is finding everyone in good health and enjoying their time visiting us here at Nemadji. The story this month has been, up until the last few days, the cool temperatures that have made driving turf growth a little slower this spring...
by Vince Dodge | Apr 25, 2021 | Uncategorized
Welcome everyone to Spring of 2021 at Nemadji Golf Course. The big question every year is how the golf course fared over the winter months which is indeed an apt question considering that the site here at Nemadji is quite vulnerable to damage from the winter. This...
by Vince Dodge | Mar 16, 2021 | Uncategorized
One thing that I have always looked forward to in the spring is the initial inspection of the golf course to see how well the golf course came through the winter months. As we all know, this can vary a great deal from year to year with some years resulting in dead...
by Vince Dodge | Feb 11, 2021 | Uncategorized
February 11, 2021 Winter work progresses at the golf course maintenance building with an emphasis in the next few weeks on inspection, rebuilding, and spin grinding of mower reels to prepare for the 2021 season. This process includes: Removing and cleaning cutting...
by Vince Dodge | Jan 12, 2021 | Uncategorized
My sincere hope is that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready to leave 2020 behind and move on to 2021. Upon reflection after this first season, I would like to thank the folks at Nemadji for allowing me the opportunity to apply my trade at the golf...
by Vince Dodge | Nov 17, 2020 | Uncategorized
Happy Armistice Day to everyone. As a reminder, this was the day to mark the signing of the armistice ending World War 1 on November 11, 1918. While this might not seem like a big deal to many, for me there is a special meaning since my great grandfather-an...
by Vince Dodge | Sep 8, 2020 | Uncategorized
The summer is behind us and I for one am ready to move into Autumn and what is to me the best time of the year. Golf course work begins to change focus a bit away from summertime chores such as dealing with drought and disease stress and more into cultivation...
by kemper | Aug 7, 2020 | Uncategorized
Front row left to right: Jarod Meyer, Alex Hughes, Vincent Dodge, Boomer, Chopper, Brian Wallin, Brad Little, Bruce Carignan Back row left to right: George Bibeau, Gabe Anderson, John Wallin, Scott Johnson, Paul Reder, Ethan Christopherson, John Hack, Daylyn...
by kemper | Jul 24, 2020 | Uncategorized
Dodge’s Dirt From Our Superintendent Vince Dodge The weather has made a turn towards the wetter side and while we do appreciate getting a break from relying on supplemental water provided by the irrigation system, for the most part myself and most...
by kemper | May 27, 2020 | Uncategorized
From the Superintendent May 17, 2020 As of this writing it is, a gloomy day with a cold wind blowing from Lake Superior. The golf course has, for the most part, recovered from the thankfully mostly cosmetic damage and only awaits warmer temperatures to begin to...
by kemper | May 27, 2020 | Uncategorized
As we move slowly into spring this year, my hope is that everyone is enduring the changes to their lives imposed by the Coronavirus contagion. Lots of changes this year at Nemadji Golf Course as well, one of the most important of which has been our acquisition of much...
by kemper | May 27, 2020 | Uncategorized
Newsletter February 25, 2020 This is the first newsletter that I have done since starting the new position at Nemadji and so an introduction seems to be appropriate. My name is Vincent Dodge and I have been a superintendent at four different facilities over the past...
