Poa Suppression

I've been asked a lot about the "brown patches" in the fairways.  This is a result of high rates of growth regulator that targets the Poa.  Also, the very cold night time temps we experienced a few weeks back definitely exacerbated the situation.  In doing this we give the more desirable bent a chance to run a little and hopefully fill in the areas.  While it's not the best to look at right now it won't even be noticeable in the next few weeks with warmer temps moving in.  On closer inspection of the turf there is a lot of healthy new shoots growing within the Poa.  Below are some pics showing the bronzing of the turf.

  

Just some pics I've taken over the past few days, the course is really starting to come together and that's a credit to my staff.  The crew works tirelessly to make MGC the best it can be each and every day and without them there'd be no course.  So, if you see them out there a quick thank you will go a long way.  We ask that you continue to replace divots when possible and also repair all ball marks.

Verticutting greens and approaches

We verticut greens and approaches yesterday followed by a hand mow.  Verticutting is important as it removes excess leaf blade, makes for a smoother playing surface, and promotes an upright growth.  We will continue to verticut up until around Memorial Day on an every other week basis while also lightly topdressing.  This process tends to be a little too aggressive for the summer months so we will pick it back up starting after Labor Day.  Below are some pics of the process as well as a video of the 4th approach being verticut.

Thank you

Just wanted to thank one of the great guys in this business, your favorite pro and mine, Craig Lindsey. Craig has been helping us out around the course cleaning grown over irrigation heads, tee plaques, junior markers, etc. This is a job that gets done roughly 4 times a year and it’s very time consuming and pretty much a pain in the butt but he’s killing it!  From my first day at MGC Craig has been nothing short of amazing in helping me learn the day to day operation and has always had my back. Sometimes I think MGC doesn’t realize how much he actually does to make this place run smoothly. So thank you Craig for everything you do!

Don’t be this guy

This is a photo from the middle of the 6th fairway about 40 yds from the green. Please don’t do stuff like this, now we have to take the time to repair your ignorance. If anyone sees someone out on the course playing or hitting shots please let me know immediately.

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