It has been awhile since my last blog and as always a lot
has happened. The last two weeks we have
welcomed back four of our main staff and five students. Now that staff is back we are slowly getting
caught up with the grass.
Rough: We will start with the rough because it is most likely the one the golfers are most concerned about. With the record amount
of rainfall that we had in April it certainly set us up for the grass to
explode in the first two weeks of May. I
assure you the rough is being cut as much as possible. The mower runs Monday to Friday eight hours a
day. Then as well it runs on the
weekends till the grass starts to slow down.
Fairways: With that
first initial growth we had in the beginning of May, the fairways as well
became quite long and there were a lot of clippings left on them. Usually we will drag the fairways with a
homemade unit consisting of a pipe, rope and some chain. The chain collects the clippings and then
disperses them in the rough when you turn around. This unit is also used to knock of the dew in
the mornings that we do not cut the fairways.
This decreases the time that the turf is wet, reducing the chance of
fungus to develop in the turf. Last week we took the opportunity in the
afternoon to verti cut most of the fairways.
This has helped thin out the turf and reduce the clippings. As well the dry cut in the afternoon has
helped us get caught up to the speedy growth of the turf.
Tees: All four sets of tee blocks have been set out onto the
course. New decals have been ordered for
them, they will be put on as soon as they arrive. Last year when the summer
stress came the tees were the first to show signs of weak turf. We ended up losing about 20% of the tees,
mainly it was blue and red decks that suffered.
There are many reasons for this but mainly it is due to the way the
irrigation system was put in. When the tee complexes were built they dead ended
the pipe. So the red and blue decks
generally only have one irrigation head to water them. Where the rest of the decks have double
coverage, which means the sprinklers throw the water to the next head. This week we will be verti cutting the tees
and topdressing them to help control the thatch. The end goal is to make the tees healthier so
they have a better chance to survive the summer stress.
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| Top Dressing Collars |
Collars: I have heard
a lot of criticism over the collars since my arrival. I have heard them described by one member as ‘weird’
and another says they are like ‘velcro.’
Since last fall we have made an effort to give extra care to the
collars. It is very easy to skip
cultural practices (verti cut, top dress, vent, aerate) on the collars because
the greens take up so much time. For the
most part I have got the membership to realize that I need some time in the
mornings to get these practices done.
Now we are attempting to verti cut the collars and top dress them when
the greens are getting done. The overall
goal here is healthier turf.
Greens: Our first cut
of the year was on Sunday April 7th at a height of cut of .140 (9/64th). The greens were only cut 5 more times in
April because of the poor weather. We
lowered the height of cut to .130 on May 3rd. This is still our height of cut till later in
the week when we go to .125 (1/8th).
The lowest the height of cut has ever been on the greens is .115 last
year from late August on till bring your best.
The last three seasons we have managed to verti cut the
greens quite aggressively in the month of April. In previous updates I touched on how much
grass and thatch we were removing from the greens. This year April was basically a wash, with
only a hand full of days that were decent to get any work done. The first week of May we finally got out and
double verti cut the greens and a top dressed followed. Now it is two weeks later and we are getting
in another double verti cut and top dress in.
This will help the greens finish their healing from last year’s
aeration. This will also smooth them out,
allowing for better ball roll and hopefully better golfer satisfaction!  |
| Pump station had to be ajusted from some settling |
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| Pump House intake had to be installed |
As well the irrigation lines have been charged.
As always if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me
Cheers Kendall
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