Rainy day - bunker work

For most of the morning the 'feels like' temperature was 37 degrees with a light breeze and rain.  With weather like that there wasn't a ton of productive options, so we spent all day working on our bunkers, the only place that was somewhat dry and not muddy. 

Austin is raking out the edge of this bunker. 

We pulled out all the weeds, pushed up sand into all the washouts from this winter and raked in a 2" lip around the edge of each bunker.  Tomorrow we will spin the bottoms of the bunkers in preparation for Opening Day.  Thanks to the crew for their hard work today in the not so pleasant weather. 

10 approach

We continued the renovation of the tenth hole yesterday with the widening of the approach.  We grabbed sod from the beginning of the fairway and laid it on the right side of the approach coming into the green.  The strategic entry to the green is from the right side.  If you can carry the moguls and onto the approach, you set yourself up for a birdie opportunity.  If you miss, you may find yourself with a tough bunker shot or an awkward lie in the rough.  There is also the option to lay up short of the approach and have a 50 yard pitch over the bunker and onto the green. 

Removing sod from the front of the fairway.

Widening the approach to the north.

Clippings and weeds

One of the details we focus on this time of year is the removal of clippings.  We always see a big mess when we mow this time of year due to the fast growth rate of the turf and the wet conditions (rain and dew).  Also this time of year, we get wet weather that slows our mowing down and when we do get a chance to knock the grass down it is much longer than usual.  To remove the clippings, we go out with blowers and disperse the clippings or vacuum them up when needed.  This time of year it is almost a 40 hour/week job to clean up behind mowers.

You will see us out there with blowers and vacuums more frequently than normal due to the large mess the mowers are making.

Another detail we have been focusing on is the weeds.  We saw a good die off last fall due to our spray, but weeds continue to germinate and show themselves.  We have been out a few times hitting our high traffic areas to knock down the weeds.

Spring update

The tulips were in full bloom this week, we hope everyone enjoyed the burst of spring color.

Every fall, we plant over a thousand tulip bulbs.

With the onset of spring temperatures, we are starting our typical maintenance routines of mowing and daily course preparation.  Beyond that, we have been busy with the many projects that have to get done - edging and weeding bunkers, filling in holes from the tree removals, starting up the irrigation system, spraying weeds, fertilizer applications and aiding in the pool project.

This week, we fired up our irrigation system only find a leak in our metal 8" main line coming from the pumps.  Luckily we were able to get at it relatively easy and weld the pipe.  A big thanks to Evan and Jim for saving the club a major repair bill and getting this fixed in-house, it's not easy to weld upside down in a small hole!

Open to carts

Today is the first day in a while that we are open to carts, the range is also open.  We ask that drivers stay near or on the fairways as the rough is very wet in certain areas.

 

One benefit of this weather is our increase in donut consumption - one of our rules is that if you get stuck with your machine, you have to buy donuts for the crew.

Needless to say - a few guys have gotten stuck!

Wet conditions

Due to the wet conditions now and over the next few days, the course will be open to walkers only.  Also, the range will not open until we dry out.  Unfortunately, any balls that would be hit on the range would plug and above that, we are not able to get the range picker out there to pick them up without getting stuck.  Thanks for your patience as we get through the weather pattern.