Mid-Atlantic Amateur

This past weekend was the site of the 105th Middle Atlantic Amateur which happens to be the longest running event in the country. We got off to a rainy start with rain all day Thursday with play still able to continue. Friday was not as bad and by the weekend we were seeing better forecasts. Every one seem to be challenged by the course, the lowest recorded round for each day was a 69-70. My team was very enthused for preparations but we are glad that we can get into some of the normal things we do on the course and have normal hours. Greens 1-8 have been solid tined using a tine size of 3/8" and greens 9-18 have been needle tined using a size of .200" this past Monday as well as top dressed. It was necessary to "open them up" to allow them to breath and to promote the dry down process. Already the smaller needle tine is hard to see, so the 3/8" should be just a couple of days behind. The past two weeks it has been all rain and very little sun light. Our most pocketed greens showed there true colors and how weak they are in these micro climates. For more information on the event and scoring please visit http://www.middleatlanticga.org

Course Update after Heavy Storms

What happens when you have not mowed in a week? Well you have grass clippings every where. Normally we collect all of the clippings in the fairways but in a matter of time we just could not do this. So we took them off and bailed hay, of course we blew off after completed. The rough is being mowed with our walk behind mowers and we hope to get the big rough units out tomorrow to catch up. Bunkers are almost complete, I foresee us finishing them on Tuesday afternoon. Our rye grass in the intermediate has come up nicely but we have a few spots to re-seed as well as the rough.

Here is just a few things we need to take care of for the week, finish the fan project on #8, mow all of the rough including bunker faces, re-seed areas in rough and repair #17 where we lost the big oak and repair the wash out near #7 walk bridge. Basically give the course a face lift from the bad weather lately!

#3 Fairway Update

The sod was delivered yesterday morning and with some last minute preparations we were able to get it all down and watered as soon as possible. As sod sits on a pallet the heat produced inside will essentially cook the turf grass. This is why it is extremely important to lay it as fast as you can. We really did not have an idea on how much we needed because all of the spots were irregular shapes. So we took a round about guess and we guessed right needing just under 10,000 square feet which is what we ordered. Some of the extra pieces will not go unused but rather areas such as #8 approach. We save everything!