Wildflowers Adding Some Benefit

 

The area left of the driveway has been a natural area for many years.  We decided this past winter to add some interest and benefit to it.  I seeded in wildflowers after removing the vegetation.  The picture below does not do it justice but the colors are striking.  This year annuals will dominate the area and perennials will follow.  We will have to add more annual seed next year to keep the interest up most of the season.  The only non wildflower plants in the meadow are milkweed, which are beneficial to monarch butterflies and produce a flower as well.  In order to remove the milkweed either by picking or spraying, we would have to walk through the area, damaging or killing flowers.  Better to leave it be.

Fairway Expansions

 

Under the guidance of Andy Staples, we began adding our fairway expansions in now, a year before the renovation of the golf course begins.  Originally, we were going to move fairway sod around or purchase new sod, but by doing this now, we have a good 18 months to get the new fairway expansions to match up to our original fairway lines.  Above you will see how we scalped the rough down, verticut and topdressed, sprayed out the rough grasses and in only 2.5 months, we are already looking pretty good.  Doing it this way also saved us almost $100,000 vs buying or moving sod.

Aeration Done Early and With Little Disruption

 Nobody likes aeration, the necessary evil in fine turf management.  However it is vital in providing optimum playing conditions, which we strive for on a daily basis and the members expect on a daily basis.  Drill and fill is disruptive but key in drainage.  We were fortunate that Double D was able to move up our date due to inclement weather in the future and my staff once again killed it.  Lugging sand to the machines for 10 hours straight so we can get it done in one day and the members can get on the course the next day.

Starting under the lights at 6am.

A deep tine on top of the drill and fill to improve drainage even more.

24 hours later....Like nothing happened.  Members will have great greens to putt on Easter weekend.  

7 Tees Making Progress

 

The 7th tees have been under construction for about a week and a half.  The mission is to enlarge all the tees to improve turf quality and to address drainage issues around the tee.  By the end of next week, we should have the majority of the work done and are on schedule to have the tees ready for play by late April or early May.  We have doubled the sizes of the white and blue tees and this will pay dividends in the future.  All of this is being done in house under the guidance of Andy Staples.

Native Area Facelift

 

The natural area left of the driveway as you come up is getting a much needed facelift.  We do little maintenance to this area as a native area and it is unsightly.  We are going to take a section and rototill, remove the fescue and other grasses and plant wildflowers.  This meadow will be attractive and also act as a pollinator area.  If this is successful we may look to expand it next year.  Remember, the first year annuals in the seed mix will bloom and then perennials will take over each year after.

Mole Damage 12 Green

 Over the past 3 weeks we have noticed a mole actively burrowing across 12 green.  We rolled out the damage and had not seen any until yesterday.  Despite traps, he managed to get across the green twice in the past day.  The war is on!

Get The Buck Out of Here!

 

Our new Leyland Cypress screening hedge by 13 tees has been under attack by bucks trying to rub their antlers on them.  Several have broken branches and are starting to look sparse.  We installed 200 feet of wire fencing around the hedge to deter them from doing any further damage.  Lets hope it works!