Yesterday and today

Yesterday I was fortunate to go to TIGERS opening day.   The weather was fair and the baseball was great.  As a guy that grows grass for a living I was quite jealous of how amazing the field looked.

Today however concerns are when is our opening day!  The course is drying up nicely and things are greening up quickly.  Everything looks very promising for being open this weekend it really is just down to how much moisture we get over the next few days to determine if we are just open for walkers or for riders as well. 

Today we also got the greens rolled and cut.  Not long now!

So close!

It was amazing how close we were to opening this week.  Course clean up was going well we even began to roll.

Then this happened

So we will just have to dust ourselves off and try again next week

Cheers Kendall

Couple more Pictures

We had a chance to take the boards down at the clubhouse this morning.

I snapped a few pictures while we were up there

Everything is looking good.  We will see what this little cold snap brings.  My best guess is and I think I am pretty close we are 7-10 days ahead of last years melt and thaw.

Cheers Kendall

Spring Maybe?

Seven days ago it was impossible to move around the golf course.  It is truly amazing how much snow we have lost in the last week. 

We have been able to get around the golf course fairly easily sense Monday.  But, I still managed to get stuck with the cart a couple times.  I wouldn't say that we came through the winter unscathed from any damage.  But, by far we are in much better shape than last year.  It is still March and mother nature might not be done with us yet but, we will remain optimistic. 

On today's adventure to see how we wintered, I actually remembered to take some pictures.

A few spots on 3 green look damaged on top

Overall 3 green looks way better than last year

We certainly had our issues with this green last year.  But, so far so good this year. 

Lets all hope for mild sunny days ahead

Cheers Kendall

Winter 2015

I know it has been an extremely long time since I posted.  But, better late than ever right!  Finally the weather man has posted temperatures in the forecast that are above zero for next week.  This along with some bright sunshine has inspired me to go for a walk this morning.  The snow I believe is deeper and heavier than last year, but  the best part is there is no ice compared to last year.  We will have to see what next week will bring.  Lets remain optimistic that spring is right around the corner.

Below are pictures of the depth and the Green below on #2 Green.

The picture is a little far that is 8-9 inches of snow
 

Last year at this time there was about the same snow cover but, there was a thick layer of ice under the snow which was suffocating the grass. 

Anyways I thought that it would be a good time to update you all that I am still here and all looks well so far. Lets all hope for warmer weather.

Thanks Kendall

Finally getting caught up!

Finally the weather is co-operating and things seem to be moving in the right direction.  Grass has been mown and then mown again.  The heights of the greens and tees have been lowered.   We held off till everything was really growing good, giving the grass a chance to fill in a bit.  So the greens did slow down a bit in this process.  New pins and flags have been put out, just in time for the nice weather. 

We are nearly caught up on the golf course.  The only part that still needs work is our bunkers.  We have weeded them once and raked them a few times.  Starting this week we will be paying more attention to them.

This little one was spotted by Keegan this morning back on 15.  Not very old by the looks of it.

 

Thanks for reading Kendall

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain and wait for it........Rain!

 

 

The weather was not exactly what I had hoped for when planning for a maintenance day.  First off the reason for a maintenance day is to try and get very important cultural practices done on the course.  Here is a list of the things that we got done in the two days even with battling almost 2 inches of rain.  This would take our team several days if not weeks to get all of this work done in front of play.  Closing nine a day gives us a chance to get this work done.

Greens were: Mown vertically twice, blown off, top dressed, brushed, and then rolled

 

Derek on the Verti Cut

 

 

Keegan and Corey blowing off the greens

 

 

 

Tees were: Sliced, mown vertically twice and then cut

 

 

Mark Slicing the Tees

 

Fairways were: sliced, mown vertically once

 

Ruth Marking the fairway sprinkler heads and drain covers

 

Keith Slicing the fairways with the aerway

 

Don verti cutting the fairways

 

 

When it is this wet the plan had to change several times but, I am happy with the work we accomplished.  I am very proud of the Turf Team they never cease to amaze me. 

 

Thanks for reading 

 

Kendall