Invitational Practice Round Going To Be Wet

3/4" of rain fell this morning on top of almost 3/4" from Tuesday evening and the golf course was soaked.  By the time the rain stopped at 10:30 we had standing water everywhere and had to have the course ready for the first groups off 1 and 10 at noon.  We were able to get all bunkers done, greens rolled twice and mowed once.  We are hoping to have green speeds back in line for Friday and Saturdays rounds.

Fescue Starting to Mature

During our renovation the past 12 months, we have been adding fescue to tee banks, bunker banks and bunker edges.  The benefit of doing this is a huge savings in labor, water, pesticides, fertilizers, equipment and also adds a more natural classical look to the golf course.  The drawback is balls will find an area occasionally and fescue sod the first few months will be very thick until the heat will thin it out.  The only thing I ask is that we be patient for this season so we can go in and start thinning it out this fall and next spring.  The benefits far outweigh the negative of slow play and eventually once the cool damp weather comes to an end, they will brown up and thin out.

It Must Be Time For the Invitational

After yesterdays nice rain to take care of our dry areas, looks like we are going to get hit again tonight right before the practice round for the Invitational.  The good news is the weather looks great for Friday and Saturday and lets hope we get spared tonight so we can have greens firm and fast.

Water Injection on Newly Sodded Areas

Here we are using the hydroject to help level the sod in the new swale and green expansion on our first hole and  to also help with rooting.  We will be using this machine throughout the summer on our greens for venting and stress reduction.

Over Seeding Fairway Expansion on 12th Hole

Now that the 12th hole is renovated, we expanded the fairway to the left up near the green and we are now incorporating bentgrass seed to the turf that was scalped down last fall.  Many of our roughs already have significant amounts of bent and poa in them so this expansion will match the existing fairway in a short period of time.

Addressing Drain Lines on Fairways

Over the past 4 years we have put in a lot of drainage on fairways.  The good news is the fairways are drier than ever but the bad news is with all the sand we used as the back fill, they dry up during warmer weather, which then leads to a lot of  hand watering.  Today we are aerifying the trench lines and adding Profile, which will help hold a little more water in the sand so they do not dry up so quickly.  We will do this a few times this year and we should see positive results.

Fertilizing Greens Today

The greens are getting a much needed fertilizer application today.  The greens have been very much on the lean side this entire spring and now that our first Member Guest is over we are going to give them a little feeding to get them growing.  Today we did not mow the greens so we can allow the fertilizer to be applied properly.