The Hard Work Continues

Since the last post we have not stopped to take a breath, keeping the pace up to continue setting the course up for another successful season.The project on number 7 is moving along quickly and laying the sod is scheduled for Tuesday April 21st. Both the fairways and the tees have been successfully aerated, and we have even put our first cut on the rough grass. As some have noticed we have put covers on portions of the 2nd, 8th, and 15th greens to promote growth and give the turf more favorable conditions through the slow spring.

Because of the extended winter some of our greens are taking longer than usual to recover and green up for the spring. In order to help move the grass along we are laying covers over the affected areas. The covers help to keep warm moist air closer to the soil surface during cold nights, similar to a blanket. These covers are put out in the early evening before temperatures drop and removed in the morning as the temperatures begin to rise.

 Laying one of the covers on the eighth green.

Laying one of the covers on the eighth green. 

Fairway and tee aeration are as important and integral to our management strategy as aerating the greens. Aeration promotes a firmer playing surface by removing organic matter from the soil profile. It also encourages a stronger root system for healthy plant growth and development.

Aerating the sixth fairway.

Using our Sisis to break up the cores pulled from aerating.

After the cores are pulled from the fairway, we break them up to reincorporate some of the soil back into the ground. What remains on the surface is dry organic matter which is blown off into piles and subsequently cleaned up. 

The rough has began to grow, more so in some of the higher elevation areas on the course than others. This past week was our first time cutting the rough fully including greens/tees surrounds.

Mowing the rough for the first time of the season.

The Season Has Officially Begun

April 10th and the golf course is beginning to shape up. Our crew has been working hard to clean all the debris left over from the fall and winter, as well as get our playing surfaces up to snuff. The past couple weeks have been extremely busy for us, however we have made tremendous strides in the past 5 days alone.

The course was officially open for its first weekend and while the weather was not stellar, there were plenty of golfers.  We moved the tee markers out on to the course as well as moved the flags from the temporary greens to the regulation greens. Ball washers, benches, garbage cans and other course accessories have been placed out on the course.

Cutting the first hole of the season on number 9

We kicked off this week with greens aeration. While this generally receives moans from the golfing community, aeration is one of the most important practices we use on the course. By removing organic matter and less desirable soil from the putting greens we help to alleviate compaction and improve the root zone mix. This does slightly disrupt the putting surface, but it is only temporary and if we were to skip aerification we could run into more severe problems with our greens.

Aerating on the 17th green

There has also been a lot of progress made on number 7. The right bunker has been shaped out completely with just minor adjustments before its ready for sand. The left hand bunker has had a drain added to the furthest section and the faces are shaped nicely. Grading the floor of the bunker remains to be done. In the new section of fairway we have begun to lay down topsoil and grade the area for proper surface drainage.

Installing filter fabric for the drain in the left hand bunker

Left hand bunker with drain visible in the back

Left hand bunker with projected sand line painted on bunker face