Moving Trees

Over the past few days the staff has moved close to 20 spruces and hollies that were next to the 17th green.  Now is the ideal time to move them.  We completed the screening along the 11th tees with some spruces and we screened left of 7 green with the hollies.  Today we are planting more spruces left of 5 along the fence but the ground is so soft we are making a mess.  We will have to finish once conditions allow. 

Funky Poa

This is a plug from #7 green.   The top photo was the plug 2 days ago.  The poa was discolored for the past few weeks and as a precaution we took the plug into warm weather to see if it would start to grow.  Lucky we see some recovery in a short period of time and it shows that the weather extremes this winter has taken its toll on the grass.  Cold weather, followed by heavy rain followed by a rapid freeze has not allowed grass to get a break from a difficult 2018 season.    Best case scenario now is to let the turf dry out and firm up and with some warmer weather we can allow foot traffic back on greens.

Sink Hole #8 Rough

A sink hole showed up last fall to the right of the 8th fairway.  Upon digging up the area we found 5 buried trees about 10 feet in length each along with stumps and other waste.  This will hopefully solve the problem in this area and we will sod the disturbed area come spring.

Machine Up and Running

Our winter staff led by lead mechanic Joe Pannuto were able to replace the collar on our mini excavator.  The machine is getting old and has done a lot of work for us and needed about $9000 in repairs.  Joe and the guys were able to get it back together for about $3000.  Now we can get back to improving the golf course this winter.  Great work guys!

Tree Cleanup on 15

Tree company cleaning up some unsightly trees along 15 hillside and the bathroom.  This area is unsightly and once we remove the non essential trees it will allow the good ones to thrive.

Bunker Repair

We all know how this season went, so now is the time to fix bunker edges where surface water feeds into them.  Here on #8, we will fix the bunker edge, remove the contaminated sand and install a catch basin in the fairway to intercept the surface water before it reaches the bunker.  Crew getting some prep work done before the ground freezes.  This will be ready for play in March.

It Must Be December

Getting ready to put the greens to bed for 2018.  Our final spray was made last week, our dormant feed of fertilizer and gypsum was done 2 weeks ago and now a nice topdressing and aerification with 5/8" solid tines and 1/2" deep tines to help with winter drainage. The sand will help protect the crowns of the plant from foot traffic, ball marks and cold winds during winter play.