Bunker Work

The bunker edges are not frozen enough to prevent us from doing some needed edging.  We are cutting back some of the fescue eyebrows that have grown over the bunker edges.  We are hoping this will lessen the chances of balls nestling down in the eyebrow creating lost ball or unfair conditions.

Thanks to the Staff This Weekend

We went from a couple of weeks of below freezing temps and some snow cover to a 55 degree day with 1.1" of rain.  The snow all melted and water that sat on the greens had to immediately be squeegeed off once the rain stopped so the sitting water did not refreeze and damage the turf.    The temps dropped 30 degrees in 1 day following the rain so it is best that we acted quickly.

Why Sand is Important

This picture shows why putting a lot of sand on the greens is important during the off season months.  When we keep the greens open during the winter months, the grass does not grow.  Soft spikes, while an improvement from the old metal spikes are beginning to wreak havoc on the quality of putting surfaces due to their aggressive nature, especially in the afternoon after a good amount of play has gone through.  The dimples you see in the sand above would be into the grass and crown of the plants had we not topdressed them, possibly injuring the plants.  Constant foot traffic all winter could effect the putting surfaces come spring and next summer, which is why we always put a good amount of sand on them to protect them from traffic and weather conditions.  The sand also helps dilute thatch and firm up the greens.

Great Life Lessons

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiVj4fa64nYAhURPN8KHf2jB2wQtwIILjAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0wMmcoPTmAs&usg=AOvVaw2bxGT3kISVYdE2drsqpsXq

Great speech by Lou Holtz that pertains to everyday life.
"you are either growing or you're dying" 

Get Ready for Winter

Looks like winter will be coming a bit early.  Snow forecast for tomorrow, temperatures in the upper 20s for highs next week.  We put another 40 tons of sand on the greens today to protect the plants from desiccation.  That makes a total of 100 tons of sand that we have put on the greens in the past 10 days. 

Prepping Greens For Winter

A busy day on Monday.  The greens received their last fungicide spray followed by a heavy topdressing, a deep tine aerification using 3/4" tines then a 5/8" solid tine aerification on top.  This will help with any winter drainage and help alleviate compaction from all the rolling done since August.  We are also applying our dormant fertilizers today, followed by another topdressing next week.

Clean Up of 3 Green Area

We have removed the planter that was situated behind the 3rd green, which will allow us to improve the playability of the hole.  While the planter served its purpose for many years, it does not fit into our style of golf course now that is more natural in nature.  Also, the flowers on the rhododendrons and azaleas only flowered for the late spring and offered no color in the summer.  The plants were over grown and becoming unsightly.  Now, rough will be added to the hillside and an expanded collar that will allow approach shots that normally would be in the rough leaving an impossible chip to now roll back onto the green.  We were able to reuse many of the plants along property lines and buildings for screening.