The Pins are in!

First cup cut for 2013

 

The golf course is officially open for the 2013 golf season.    The golf course will be open this week for walking golf play only.   We will reevaluate golf cart restriction when weather and firmer conditions permit.  This week we will focus our efforts on clearing greens, tees, fairways and roughs of any debris such as limbs and sweet gum balls.  As the week progresses we will switch our efforts from golf course clean up to golf course detail.  First on the list will be bunker raking followed by rolling greens and possibly the first mowings of the year.

#10 Bridge work

New concrete supports

 

 

Laying new planks

Rail construction

 

Final product

 

 

The Green Department crew have been hard at work with the new construction of number ten cart bridge.  We have taken a much needed break from the monotony of limb and debris clean up and welcomed a new project.  Number ten bridge has gone through a full restoration with new concrete supports, ramps, wing walls and rip rap rock for erosion control.  We have replaced the old planks and railings with new hardware and pressure treated lumber.  Landscape and sod will be added as soon as weather permits.  Number one and number eighteen bridges are scheduled for restoration next year, which will complete the restoration bridge projects.  

Bunker Maintenance

 Before bunker edging
 

Jason Herbert locating bunker edges

 

 After bunker edging

 

Fox damage

 

 

During the warmer days of winter the Green Department staff have stayed busy with golf course work such as limbing trees, cleaning up leaves and debris and troubleshooting irrigation problems.  We have also been monitoring sand depths, drain lines and bunker edges.  Bunkers can quickly lose their original design and aesthetic look, even after only a few years.  The Kentucky Bluegrass bunker edges have the ability to grow horizontal through stoloniferous growth, as the sand provides an ideal growth medium.  To reclaim the original bunker edge we must find the soil edges with probing tools and shovels, dig out the sand and re-attach the sod to the soil edge.

Several factors play a role in sand distribution, sand can be lost or displaced with daily raking, wind, sand contamination and bunker shots where the sand is blasted out of the bunker and into the grass.  We will be adding sand to these locations throughout the winter and early spring months so the bunkers have a consistent depth.  Local fox have also played a factor in bunker maintenance.  The fox seem to prefer bunker banks for their den locations, the bunker banks provide protection from the harsh winter elements and an ideal place for them to raise a family.  As they dig out the den the sand becomes contaminated with soil and drainage gravel and in some cases drain lines become damaged.  In the fox damaged bunkers we will decontaminate the sand and repair lines as needed.

 

Leaf Clean Up

A Leaf Covered #14 Fairway

New Cart path on Hole #11



Late October is, as always, the heart of the war between the green staff and the leaves.  The main thrust of our efforts will certainly be on leaf cleanup during the next month or so.  Our fall fertilizer applications will begin this week and continue until mid-November.  Mid to late autumn is the best time to apply fertilizer, in the proper amounts, to turfgrass as the nutrients are directed to root growth and energy storage for next year.  The same fertilizer applications, if applied from mid spring through the summer, would result in the nutrients being directed to undesirably rapid grass growth at the expense of the roots and energy storage.

Verti-Cutting Fairways

Verti-cutting Process

Clean Up Process

After The First Mowing

This week is the beginning of our fall fairway aerification process.  In an effort to achieve our goals of consistently providing championship playing conditions, we will be doing things a little differently this year.  Instead of our traditional core aerification, we will be deep verti-cutting the fairways now and then solid aerifying at a later date.  This type of verti-cutting will not only reduce thatch up to three times greater than our traditional core aerification, but will also encourage vertical growth.  I am also anticipating a much cleaner and less disruptive final product for golf play.  Once the fairways have healed we will begin to solid tine, relieving compaction allowing for water and air movement through the root zone.  Implementing a more aggressive thatch reduction and soil decompaction program should allow for firmer playing conditions and healthier turf.  Golfers will notice vertical grooves and some discoloration in the fairways for the next few weeks.

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Seed is Up and Growing

 Newly Germinated Seed After Five Days

Driving Range Tee Slit Seeded Two Directions

You may notice some unusual patterns of grass growth in our primary roughs.  This is the successful result of our slit seeding process about two weeks ago.  We were able to slit seed about 3000lbs of Kentucky Bluegrass and Turf Type Tall Fescue seed in weak and thin areas in the rough.  We also had success on the driving range tee with Kentucky Bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass mix.