9th Hole Signal Light

In preparation for the construction of the 9th hole fairway bunkers and tree removal operation the signal light has been moved. The fairway button has been relocated to the right-side of the fairway under the maroon colored Maple tree. The white pines located in the construction area will be removed this Monday followed by the start of construction on August 4th. The 9th hole will be played as a par-3 during the week while the construction company is working but will be played as normal on the weekends during the project. The opening date of the project area is slated for the Men's Stag event on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend.

Weekend Update

After over 3 inches of rain fell on the golf course earlier this week the hummidty is gone and it feels like Septemeber, can you see me smiling? These high 50 degree nighttime temperatures are the best fertilizer anyone can ask for especially in July. This week is traditionally the hottest week of the year in our area and boy is it a change from this week last year when we had 7 days over 95 coupled with night time temperatures in the low 80's. Taking advantage of this short weather break we lightly groomed the greens and approaches cleaning up some of the long leaf blades and put out a dry mow in the afternoon. The greens are still soft from the rain but they will improve as we go through the weekend. The 8 inch kids cup has been installed on the practice green so bring up the kids for a little putting competition, a great family activity after dinner on a Friday or Saturday evening. I really hope everyone can come out and enjoy the golf course this weekend but if you show up early in the morning you might need a light jacket, again do you see me smiling. See you on the course.

8 inch putting cup at the Practice Green

Weekend Update

The humidity has broke and the temperatures are running fairly normal for this time of year and most importantly the night time temperatures are below 70 degrees. We have missed most of the late afternoon thunderstorms which is great news for the short turf playing surfaces as high moisture combined with high temperatures is a death sentence. The trade off of missing these storms are the areas of the rough where we lack irrigation are drying up and browning out. We have less of these areas this season thanks to the project on 1 and 9 green complexes those bunkers and surrounding rough areas look great. We are applying some granular wetting agent to the dry rough areas in anticipation of some rain early next week which will help speed recovery. Rough areas and bunker banks were also treated for crabgrass and yellow nutsedge that has broken through this week. Saturday is the men's one day member guest so in preparation the greens are being dry mowed in the late morning for a second time on Thursday and Friday as well, the greens and approaches were brushed before our morning mow on Friday. Brushing is a much less aggressive then verticutting and grooming allowing us to remove some longer blades of turf keeping the greens running true without stressing the greens. Weekend weather looks great and I hope to see you on the course.

Tough Forecast for the Fourth

We dodged most of the rain from last night's storm but there is a high percentage of more wet weather for this afternoon through the morning of July 4th. The rain by itself is a welcome sight especially for the rough areas that don't have irrigation but too much rain with high heat and high humidity is a turf managers nightmare. The cultural practices of aerations, topdressing, and dry-jecting while inconvenient at the time are very beneficial right now. The ability to keep the surface of the greens dry is very important during the months of July and August. Wet soil can actually become hotter then the air temperature which is extremely detrimental to the turf's root system. We have vented the practice green and the 6th green as they tend to stay wet and we are watching the moisture levels very closely providing only the amount of moisture needed by the plant between rain events. So far so good as you can see by the picture below the roots are still happy and enjoying all of those deep aeration holes. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend as Saturday and Sunday look to be beautiful.

Please do not use divot mix in the rough

Native Area between 8 and 9

Roots growing down deep aeration holes over 9 inches