Bunker Sand Added to All Bunkers

 

The staff installed about 200 tons of bunker sand to all the bunkers on the course.  By checking sand depths and making sure we have the proper amount of sand will lead to improved playability this season.  With the extremely dry season so far, we have not seen many fried eggs, meaning depths are good on faces and our irrigation during the evening hours is enough to keep them firm.  One heavy rain can change the entire complexion of our bunkers, but right now the staff has done a great job getting them ready for 2023.

Great View Today

 

We have seen some increased bald eagle activity at the club near the 13th hole this winter and spring.  Today we saw this juvenile bald eagle hanging with its parent eating fish out of our irrigation pond.  A great sign that we may continue to see eagle activity for years to come.  

Addressing Drain Lines

 

We all know when it gets really dry, the drain lines on the fairways are the first to dry down due to the sand backfill that helps them drain water quickly.  This becomes a maintenance nightmare to have to send men out to hand water throughout the summer, especially after a year like 2022.  We are aerating and then applying a granular Profile product that helps retain some moisture, yet let moisture through.  We are hoping by doing this each season it will alleviate some of the wilting issues, yet keep the drainage performing at its best.

Crew Crushed It

 

On Monday, this tee was just dirt.  The guys killed it this week, shelled and drained the tee, prepped the entire area for sod, irrigated the entire area including the old black tee and corrected a lot of ills.  The new irrigation will be put to the test with how dry it has been.  Hoping to have this open in the next 10-14 days.  Once again our staff delivers.

6 Tee Moving Along

 

With the blue tee now the hybrid tee, we were able to more than double its size and make the access to it safer by lowering it by 2 feet.  The entire area will get new irrigation, new bluegrass and fescue sod and an irrigated walkpath from the blue to the black tee.  We also softened the slopes around the black tee to allow better machine and golfer access and we will replace all the irrigation on this tee as well.   Hoping to have everything buttoned up by Thursday afternoon or Friday morning of this week.

Busy Aeration Day

 

The day kicked off with 28 degrees and some drill and fill.

All the greens were then aerated with 5/8" hollow tines and spread the soil and sand from drill and fill in with the plugs.  Plugs were then picked up and will be topdressed on our putting course tomorrow.

Starling then deep tined with 3/4" solid tines 8" deep after all greens were cleaned of plugs.  All remaining sand will be brushed into holes on Tuesday.

Tilito was able to verticut 9 holes today and tomorrow we will begin topdressing fairways.  A busy day and we will be done with all major aeration by Wednesday.  We will then apply necessary nutrients for recovery and hardening turf for the season ahead.

The crew and Double D Turf did an awesome job today.

6 Blue Tee Construction

 

Above is the blue tee on 6.  The old tee was no more than 300 square feet.  The new tee will be a minimum of 800 sq ft and you can see we lowered the front down.  Once we square off the new tee and add mix and drainage, we will sod it pretty quick.

Above is the view from the current black tee.  You can see we created nicer access to it from the blue tee and now the banks are much softer to allow easy access with walkers and equipment.  Being this tee is used a lot for tournaments, caddies and players can now stand on the newly created banks instead of down below in the fescue.  The irrigation will be redone in this area as well.