Oh Sandy!

Sandy brought two days of high winds and continuous rain to the area.  For the most part there is just scattered debris from the trees.  In a few areas there are some larger branches but for the most part it seems we came through the storm with minimal damage. The golf course is just really saturated. 

Currently two out of the four bridges on the course are not passable.  When the water does subside we will have to go out and inspect the bridges to see if they are still safe to pass.  We have water up over them before, but not for three days straight.  As you all know water has a way of finding its way through things you don’t want it to get threw.

With the amount of water that is on the golf course, it will take a long time to dry, especially with the projected weather forecast.    

For those die hard golfers out there I am afraid you are looking at the end of the golf season 2012. 

It is that time of year!

Well fall is upon us folks.  September has been a blur and here we are on the eve of the Bring your best tournament. 

All efforts have been focused on the golf course and getting it ready for the tournament.  As you all know most of the efforts have been put into the greens.  How do we go about speeding them up? This is the first year that I have lowered the height for bring your best.  This was in an attempt to get the greens faster than they have ever been.  The greens were cut thursday morning at their regular height and then we lowered the height and cut them again in the afternoon.  Friday morning they were double cut in the morning and then cut again in the afternoon.  Saturday morning as long as there is not a frost they will be double cut again.  Normally there would be a roller in the mix but unfortunately it broke down last week and could not be repaired in time. That is seven cuts in three days.   As for the magic number the goal is to get them as close to 12 feet on the stimp metre as possible.  Late in the afternoon on friday we got a light shower, and then another one during the night.  This unfortunately gave the greens a little dampness that slowed them down.  The good or bad news is by the look of the forecast the greens will be quicker for Men’s closing day.

Greens mower reel

 The picture above is a reel and you can see how they need to be absoutely perfect to produce good greens.  The staff has done an extremely fantastic job this past month.  My hat goes off to them for their efforts.  

Next Tuesday and Wednesday the greens will be aerated.    The next blog will certainly cover the topic of aeration.

Cheers Kendall Lindsay