11 Green Trials and Tribulations

 

We know the 11th green has never behaved like our poa greens since it was built in 2011.  It cannot be pushed to the extremes our other greens can without thinning out.  When we aerated greens in August, we decided to start incorporating poa plugs as our topdressing to begin to switch from bent to poa.  The cleanup of aeration cores this year took way longer than years past, having the crew finishing in the pitch dark.  We immediately saw extensive mechanical damage from continuously driving over the plugs numerous times and the sweeper having to enter and exit the same way due to hazards on all sides of the green.  While it was ugly for quite a few weeks, the green is almost back to normal and the poa is starting to fill in significantly throughout.  We will do another aeration in the end of October, this time going solid tines on 11 green and incorporating 1/4" aeration cores from our poa greens.  We will also do our 2 practice greens so they too perform like our poa greens.  While this was a difficult month to get 11 to recover, we now have a good plan in place moving forward.

Deja Vu All Over Again

 This will be the second time we are sodding the tent area located by the 10th tees this season.  While the pad has done everything it was intended to do, we are often sodding this area after the tents removal.  The pad serves as a perfect spot for a tent that can allow us to host large functions and when it is not up it serves as a tee area and sitting area for the members.  By the time we get the sod knitted and perfect, the tent will probably be going back up next spring.   Artificial turf or a more permanent pavilion structure could lessen the need for this.

Skyline View Recaptured

 

Back in 2011 we lost a bunch of trees in a storm behind 4 green.  When doing the cleanup we realized that if we removed the remaining poor trees we could open up dramatic views.  Over the past 8-9 years, a lot of weed trees have regrown behind our fence and the property owner allowed us to remove them all and we planted trees that would provide screening but not block this view.

Pulling Out All the Stops

 

The machine pictured is an aeravator that is used to loosen compacted turf areas by vibrating the tines that roll over the surface.  Here we tried it in our bunkers and it made a big impact already.  This will go out once a week in bunkers we can access, especially around greens.  Over time this will make a big difference and loosen the sub surface sand that does not get fluffed with rakes or the machine rake.  This will actually prolong the life of our bunkers until we are ready to renovate all of them.