Starting to Address the Grass

 This past week was beneficial in that we finished verticutting 80% of our fairways and we started thatching all of our roughs.  This will help in waking up the grass a little bit that was under snow cover for quite a few weeks.  Some spots there is some snow mold that will grow up once warmer weather comes.  Next week we finish the fairways and start topdressing them and we should have all the roughs completed and then we can start spot seeding any thin areas from 2020.

Drainage #5

 

We are finally addressing the drainage on #5.  This upper portion of the fairway has needed drainage for some time and we are nearing completion installing subsurface drainage this week.  This ties into the entire 5th hole project that has addressed drainage, bunkers and grassing lines.  The hole should be complete by the end of March with good weather.

Messy Cleanup Ahead

 

We are seeing now that the snow is melting that all the high spots that were exposed first were decimated by geese.   They literally ate the grass right to the dirt in spots and while the grass will recover, we will be pushing these areas along this spring to help them to start growing.  Unfortunately, they also left droppings everywhere that will be another headache to clean.  With the heavy snow, the dogs were trying all winter to chase them but they would return as soon as evening came.

Beneficial Tree Removals

 

With the frozen ground we were able to get 4 poor trees removed along the road to the pump house.  All 4 trees were adjacent to the power wires that feed our pump house.  As you can see these were no brainers to remove, especially what we encountered this past August with Tropical Storm Isaias.

Tree Trimming

 

This was money well spent.  We are renting this lift for a month for the cost of a tree company to come in for 1 day to do pruning around the course.  Assistant Steve Gauli has been operating the lift and doing the majority of the pruning and already the trees look much cleaner.  By February he will have addressed most of our key in play trees and come spring the course will look much cleaner.

5 Green Complex Progress

 We continue to make some progress on #5 despite the weather.  We have the left green side bunker left to shape and tie it into the alternate 6th tee.  Fairway drainage on the upper portion of the hole will begin this coming week.  Despite the amount of work involved in this project we can so far call it a success.  A lot of shaping occurred to divert water and drain the lower section of fairway properly.  Bunkers tie into features much better.  Fescue has been removed from all bunkers.  Despite over an inch of rain this week, and numerous heavy rain events since Thanksgiving, no water has entered any of the new bunkers which means they will require little maintenance moving forward and the bunkers will look and play better longer.  We are hoping to have the bunker shaped before the freeze that is coming.

Building Progress

 

The building in nearing completion.  Insulation will be blown into the attic area this week, then masons will begin to prepare the floor.  Garage doors to be installed and electric to go in last.  We are hoping the building will be done by mid February.