First Hole in One on #11

Tony Ludwig is the first official person to ace the new 11th hole and it almost went unrecognized.  He mentioned to me in passing that he aced it the week before and I wanted to mention it on my blog since he is the first person to accomplish this feat.  He aced the hole on July 13th and used a 9 iron from 142 yards.  Congratulations!

Big Improvement in 2 Years

This is a picture of the 15th fairway.  When I arrived in 2010, this fairway was 70% poa, 20% rye and 10% bentgrass.  The white/light green patches are bentgrass and it shows how far we have come in a little more than 2 years.  This fairway receives little sunlight and air movement and the carts are all funneled onto the fairway which is ideal for poa.  My first 2 summers, this fairway has struggled and we have had to spray it more than all the other fairways.  Now that our bentgrass populations on this hole are near 60%, we have been able to keep it healthier than in the past with less sprays.  It will take a few more years for this fairway to reach our goal due to the lack of sunlight but we will get it there, but it shows that our programs are paying off.

Arcola Cup 2012

What a summer.  We have encountered numerous heat waves already this summer, no rain for almost a month and then the day of the Arcola Cup, Mother Nature finally cooperates and gives us much needed rainfall.  2 days before the event, temperatures were 103 degrees and the day of the Arcola Cup, the temps never made it past 72 degrees.  The crew has worked extremely hard keeping grass alive with no rain, a limited water allocation and extreme heat and when we could showcase the course it rained the entire day.  Here, the crew is getting water off the 18th green so the last group on the course can finish their 18th hole to make the tournament offical and the rain shortened event finished with one person breaking par.

Bentgrass Conversion Process on Fairways

The yellow poa you see on the fairways is a thing of beauty in my eyes, even though right now the fairways look a little mottled.  There is a method to our madness and it has been paying dividends for almost 2 years now as we are trying to slowly let the bentgrass out compete the poa and become the dominant grass.  Poa is an annual grass plant that requires a lot of TLC during the summer months.  Bentgrass is much more drought and heat tolerant and provides a nice playing surface to hit from.  With our growth regulator sprays on fairways, it actually stops the poa from growing (it does not kill it) and with the proper use of fertilizers and verticutting, the bentgrass can then outcompete the poa over time.  As you see in this picture from our 9th fairway, the bent is already in the middle of the poa patch and creeping in from the outside.  In little time, the bent will take over this area.  Since 2010, we have raised our bentgrass populations almost 25% on fairways with growth regulators, water management, topdressing, drainage, solid rollers on mowers and tree removals.  (You can click on the picture to enlarge it)

Invitational

With an extended field this year, the Invitational went off without a hitch.  The ProShop staff did a great job planning out tee times and keeping play moving and it allowed the maintenance staff to get work done in the morning and evening around the tournament.  Luckily, Mother Nature cooperated and allowed the course to finally dry out after the soaking rains earlier in the week.

Please Fix Ball Marks

One thing we can pride ourselves on is the greens are getting better each year.  I have noticed them firming up more and more and that means less ball marks which keeps them smoother and faster.  Over the last 2 weeks, I have noticed a huge increase of unrepaired ball marks.  This is due to the constant rain and higher humidity we have had so the greens do not get a chance to dry out much.  After busy days (weekends), when I change cups, I notice anywhere from 5-15 unrepaired ball marks per green.  The 10th green is by far the worst of all on a regular basis.  The picture above (you can click on it to make it bigger) shows how many ball marks are on the 9th green this morning.  Yesterday morning I changed cups following the outing and I fixed anywhere from 10-30 ball marks per green due to the wet conditions.  This morning, while mowing the 9th green, I noticed another 15-20 ball marks from Tuesday play.  We put irrigation flags in each ball mark that was not repaired and was significant.  We only had 68 rounds of golf yesterday and a decent amount of ball marks on every green.  It is important to note, a properly fixed ball mark will heal within 48 hours, but an unrepaired ball mark will take 4 weeks to heal once it is scalped by a mower or left alone.  We try to fix ball marks on a daily basis, but there are certain days where when we do not change cups we do not have enough manpower to address ball marks, so the marks from the day before are there again for members playing the following day.  We will do our best to stay on top of them but if possible please try to repair your marks so they do not effect your fellow member.

Wildflowers Starting to Bloom

The experimental wildflower area we created last year behind the 2nd green is starting to bloom with perennials and will continue to do so the rest of the summer.  While wildflowers are very attractive and beneficial to the environment, they do require reseeding every 2 years to keep colors throughout the season.  The first year of seeding you usually get all the annuals to bloom and every year after the perennials bloom.  Next season we will try to incorporate more annuals back in.