April Course Update

The course has really started to green up over the last week or so.  We finished up aeration last week on greens, tees, and approaches, we used 1/2" hollow tines to a depth of roughly 4.5", back-filled the holes with sand, brushed it in, and then fertilized.  The holes are slowly beginning to close, it takes much longer this time of year because the grass isn't fully actively growing yet.  Greens have been mowed twice since aeration which you can see in the pictures below.  I've applied pre-emerge to all tees, fairways, and greens, next we will begin spraying bunker banks as well as applying granular fert to the rough and all surrounds.  We will also begin filling all divots from winter play next week.

Course Update

The crew has been back for a little over a week now and we've been focusing on mainly course cleanup from the winter.  Quite a few branches and limbs came down as well as leaves from the oak the trees.  The guys have done a really good job and the course is starting to come together.  Today we've been working specifically on putting the bunkers back together, moving sand around and pushing it back up on the edges from the winter wash outs.  We've also edged a few bunkers and will continue to do so.  We will begin greens and approach aeration starting on Thursday, it's clearly no optimal having courses closed at this point but it does allow us to get a lot of work completed uninterrupted.  Once we're done with that we will move onto tees.  After aeration we will look to begin fertilizing the roughs along with applying our pre-emergent throughout the course except on the putting surfaces.  Below is a few pics I took of the bunker work.  Stay healthy and keep washing those hands!

Repairing the liner in the green side bunker on #9

Drill and Fill

We've recently begun a manual drill and fill process on poorly draining areas of greens, specifically on the PG, #2, and #8.  We're drilling to a depth of roughly 16" using a 1" drill bit.  We made the boards using 3/4" plywood with the holes on 3" centers.  The channels created are then back filled using dry sand.  Although very time consuming we think these areas will benefit greatly from the process.  It helps to alleviate compaction, improves water movement, increases oxygen levels and gas exchange while breaking up any layering that may have occurred and creating a good growing medium for roots.

5th and 6th Greens Update

     I met with the Greens committee on Friday afternoon to discuss the 5th and 6^th greens.  Unfortunately, both greens still aren't quite ready but they're very close.  We're erring on the side of caution; I'd rather wait a little longer and know they're ready rather than open them too early and have them struggle through the summer.  I’ve talked to a few superintendents who have gone through this same process and the one common takeaway point from them was to wait as long as possible before opening them.  A couple of them received pressure to open them early, which they did, only to see the greens suffer and they had to close the greens back down for a couple weeks for recovery.  This is obviously something we are trying to avoid at all costs.  The plan is to keep them closed for the coming week and then open them up the week of June 3rd, not sure on the exact day yet but it will obviously be before the Men's M/G. Both greens are being mowed and rolled on opposite days and we continue to lower the heights gradually.  The exposed seams are being seeded and topdressed as needed and we've definitely seen an improvement in overall quality.  We have moved the temporary pins a little farther back and mowed the turf a little tighter to try and simulate an actual green starting on Memorial Day.  I understand that this isn’t ideal but it is necessary. 

    

The renovation of both greens complexes was done to improve playability, turf and plant health, and overall aesthetics.  The project on the 5^th and 6^th holes was scheduled to begin at the beginning of October 2018 but we received some concerns regarding the greens being closed and members having to play to temporary greens for the Green and White tournament in the middle of October.  It was decided to push back the start of the project until after the tournament.  The project did not officially begin until the first week of November, delaying everything by over a month.  Both greens weren’t sodded until the first of December so they didn’t get a real chance to knit and begin the process of rooting as the ground was too cold by then.  This delay has pushed both greens back 1 month and is why they remain closed today.  The grow-in phase didn’t really begin until the middle of April as day time temps started to climb allowing for the sod to begin rooting.  This spring has been tough as it’s rained seemingly every other day and it hasn’t been ideal growing weather but we are making the best of it.  The cooler than normal spring temperatures have also played a major role in delaying the opening of both greens.   It’s tough to pin down the actual day when they’ll be open because everything is so weather dependent.   As I mentioned earlier both greens will be open in time for the men’s M/G on June 8^th.  If anyone has any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask me.  Thank you all for your patience.

Importance of drainage

Below are a few photos I took on my ride around the course this morning which illustrate the importance of drainage.  Pretty easy to see which is which.  The greens without drainage have standing water all over them while the greens with drainage are moving water from the surface.  Installing drainage in these greens is very important and will lead to better playability and increased turf health especially during the summer months, where thunderstorms and standing water are a detriment.

As you can see the putting green has standing water all over it, as our smallest and most trafficked you can see why this would be a problem.  

#1 green and approach

#5 green, no standing water as the drainage is doing exactly what it should

#6 green

This is the outlet on #5 green removing water from the surface.

Aeration and #5 green

The crew topdressing the sod seams on #5 green, this allows the roots a growing medium and the sod will knit more evenly.

Rolling the greens while also brushing the sand in. Great piece of equipment allowing for two practices to be done at once.

3 days post aerification, holes are closing up nicely.

Course Update

I hope everyone had a nice winter and is looking forward to getting the 2019 golf season underway.  The maintenance department is off and running, we spent the majority of last week clearing the course of any debris, branches, sticks, leaves, etc.  Compared to last year it was pretty minimal because if you remember we had three major ice storms in March that really set us back in terms of what we were able to accomplish.  We have begun to clean up the bunkers and this will be our primary focus this week.  We will be cleaning up the edges and redistributing sand for better playability.  We will also be getting a load of new sand that we will put in the bunkers most in need. Then we will be turning our attention to everyone's favorite word....AERATION!!! With the weather forecast looking quite nice over the next few weeks, I thought it would a good time to get it done.  We will be doing tees and approaches first and then doing greens.  Getting this done in the next few weeks then allows us to concentrate on other things as we get into the middle of April.  I hope everyone has a great year and I'll see you out on the course.