Latest

I apologize for the lack of posts in the recent weeks, we have been quite busy around here.  Not with projects per-say but with day to day routine maintenance.  The reason we are so busy with this now is that half of our crew just went back to school.  Most of our seasonal help is now gone for the year, a few have come in to help for a few months, but for the most part - we are doing all our work with a crew of 8 vs. 17 during the summer.  The months of August and September are always hard for us because expectations are still high, course conditions must remain top notch, but our crew size has been cut in half.  

So what are we doing to get things done.  Well, we are not doing many "extras" or projects.  We have curtailed our work down to the "must be done" such as mowing and focusing on the details.  As we get further into fall, we will begin to curtail some of our regular maintenance and began to focus on a few projects.

We do have a busy fall planned with 3 decent projects on the books:
Mid September - all the cart paths around the clubhouse and the 1st area will be repaved
September/October - the 15th hole snack shack will get a face lift
September/October - 6 new gold tees will be built on holes 1, 4, 11, 15, 16 and 18

Greens and ball marks

It has been 9 days since aerification and the greens have filled in nicely.  To aid in getting the greens back in shape as soon as possible we added extra fertilizer and raised the mowing height.  Now that the greens have filled in, we will begin lowering the mowing heights to get speeds back to normal.  The goal is to have pristine greens for the Championship next weekend.  While speeds may be slow during the recovery, they are recovering quicker and will allow for better greens sooner.

Below is a picture of the proper way to fix a ball mark (assuming you fix yours, please do).

That last paragraph is key, the sooner you fix a ball mark the better. 

 

Some great pictures of this past weekend

 

 

 

 

 

Last nights rain

Last night we again got hammered with rain - 1.3" coming in a 1/2 hours time.  It seems this summer when they call for .25" with a chance of thunderstorms, we get hit with the heavy stuff.  This morning the course is a little soggy, but carts are still out.

Range tee last night

Chipping fairway

15 fairway

13 fairway

Most of our bunkers washed out with the heavy downpour

Luck would have it - we are currently demoing a new bunker rake for a potential future purchase.  This machine has a plow on the front that made it very effecient placing the sand back in place - cutting our labor on bunker repair to 1/3 for this morning.

 

Aerification update

The weather the past few days has hampered our progress on getting the greens back to normal.  All of the sand has been applied to the greens, but we have not been able to mow them yet because the sand has not had a chance to dry properly.  Yesterday we had rain and today we had a slight mist all morning.  When the sand is wet, we can't drag, roll or mow the greens - the sand sticks to everything and makes a mess.  We are waiting patiently for the sun to come out so that we can work on the greens, once that happens we will be rolling them smooth and start mowing them down.

Greens aerification

Today was aerification day - all the greens have been aerified and we have begun the process of filling the holes with sand.  We will be applying more sand tomorrow and Thursday until all the holes are completely filled.

Aerification will help grow longer roots, decrease compaction, increase oxygen levels in the soil and allow for better drainage.  Ultimately producing smoother, faster and healthier greens in the long run.

We also spent the day verticutting the fairways.  With the cooler temps lately, we took the opportunity to thin out the fairways.  Holes 13-18 will be finished tomorrow.

 

The grass to the left is after a pass with the verticutting unit, it stands up the turf allowing us to cut off the long runners, producing a tighter cut.

 

 

Emergency tree removal

Last week a member of my staff was picking up sticks between 1 and 18.  He noticed a large Walnut tree that had a crack running up the tree and it was making loud creaking noises with every wind gust.  We determined that the tree was hollow inside and posed a threat of coming down at any time.  This morning we took the tree down and what we saw confirmed our suspicions.

A large crack ran 20' up the tree.

After the wedge was cut, we saw there was only 5" of decent wood around the perimeter of the tree.

Falling right where we wanted it to.

Hollow core of the tree.

 

I have seen trees like this make it through a large wind storm then come down the next week on a calm sunny day.  It's unfortunate to lose a beautiful large tree, but safety comes first.

 

 

Member participation

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we held the Marathon - United Way outing.  We had 500 golfers come through in a short time frame.  In anticipation of this, last week, Dick Hall asked if we could set up a Member Repair Night on Wednesday evening.  We set it up, and last night a few members came to help the grounds staff fix ball marks and fill divots. 

Dr. Nielsen and Dick Hall repairing ball marks.

 

 

Steve Rackley and Dr. Spragg filling divots in the fairway.

 

I want to thank Tom Drake, Richard Lis and Rod Fannin for also helping us out.  We were able to fix all the ball marks and fill all the divots in 2 hours.  Thanks to all those that also came but were unable to make it outside due to the rain.  I also heard from a number of you that would have liked to help but had prior commitments. We really appreciate all the help.

What's great is that this idea came from the membership, it's nice to see pride from the members in the golf course they call home - enough so that they want to get out and help any way they can.