Verticutting fairways

You may have noticed that the fairways have a "grain", or that the grass is laid over and not very upright.  You probably noticed it driving through the fairway and your cart is moving from side to side with the grain of the grass.  This was caused by years of mowing the fairways in the same direction.  The grass is now permanently laid over in the direction it was cut.  This past week the Grounds crew verticut all of the fairways to 1. Chop off some off the long runners in the grass and 2. Stand up the grass and mow it off the produce a tighter cut.  We will do this from time to time as weather allows ( I wouldn't do this above 80 degrees).  Over the years, I hope to eliminate this grain, if it is possible, and produce a tighter fairway that won't pull at your club if your going against the grain.

Triplex with the verticut reels on the fairway, standing up the grass to be mowed off.

The fairways look good from a distance.

But when you get closer and take a look, the grass is laid over and very long.  This is how long the fairways actually are, about rough height, they are just laid over.



Edging bunkers

The current project that the Grounds crew has been working on is the edging of bunkers.  We are about half way done with all the bunkers.  Our goal is to maintain around a 2 inch edge around all the bunkers throughout the year.  This really makes the bunkers stand out and gives an overall clean appearance.

Range tee

The driving range is one of the most utilized amenities that we have here at FCC.  The range tee is constantly being battered and used.  With the amount of use that we get on the range, it doesn't take long before the usable tee space is used up. 

I have attached a great article by the USGA on the proper way to take divots off of the range tee.  If most of our range users were to follow these steps, the range tee would be in much better condition for the next user.  Every little bit helps.

http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/mcclellan-practice-6-8-12.pdf

Sand depths

The Grounds staff has been going around the course and checking the sand depths in each of the bunkers.  I want at least 3" of sand in the bottom of the bunker to eliminate the risk of a player hitting into soil.

18 Rough

The rough on 18 along both sides of the creek was sprayed with Round-up about 3 weeks ago.  This area was seeded back in October, but most of the seed washed away in the floods over the late fall and winter.  We have reseeded this area and will maintain it as intermediate height grass during dry conditions.  At certain times of the year when it is wet and/or flooded this area will not be mowable and have to be maintained at rough height.  After about two months, the grass should be filled in.