Rough Update

The rough on #8 has been finished with the seeding and the rough on 7 is coming along with only just being 1 week from our initial seed date. As you can see in the photos things are progressing nicely and will be on there way in a couple of weeks. We will start next week on our intermediate areas around the fairways with seed and rough spots going #1 forward. 

Greens are recovering very nicely and speeds are slowly building. Things took a bit longer because we had to vacuum them but all in all most of them are 100%. Last Tuesday we performed a verti-cut on the greens and this will in turn maker them slower, and with a few more mowing's they will begin to roll better. Again verti-cutting is a process where we cut down into the plant to remove the laid over plant tissue as compared to a reel mower that is only cutting what sticks up.

Verti-cutting process

Look closely and you can see the clumps of grass that the vert-cutter has removed

7 rough near bathroom, seedlings in a line

7 intermediate in front of fairway

Ground level with seedlings popping up

Greens Update

Words can not describe how difficult the week has been because of the wet periods we have had prior to Monday. Typically it takes us about 2 days to completely finish with the greens coring process. But this go around will be much longer. The issue that we run into is that when we clear the cores from the green our first few holes are wet and damp causing the sand / organic matter to cake over the hole. It has been no secret with some of the issues that we have faced every time we aerify the greens. Usually we can blow the holes clean but this time that does not even work. So we have resorted to using shop vac.'s to literally suck out each hole. It sounds crazy and does a phenomenal job and with a few vacuums it does progress but still at a snails pace. You may ask your self why do we go through the trouble of vacuuming the greens and reason is we only aerify twice a year and it is extremely important to get fresh sand all the way down so we can continue to keep the greens healthy for the fall and next year. So as you play you will notice that greens 10-16 and 1 have been completed and we are working on 2-9, 17 and 18 as quickly as we can.

The program for poa control has also come to close as we applied our last application this morning. We will now progress into the restoring phase with seed next week. 

Picture is after the first few applications

This was taken today on our last application about two weeks from the previous picture, notice again the desirable grass has been unharmed.

#7 and #8 Rough Update

The program for removing poa is working out nicely with just being half way through approximately 13 days into it. It is very apparent how much contamination we have on these holes and with in a couple of weeks we will begin the seeding process. Just a quick reminder next week we will be pulling cores on the greens and tees and rounding up the bermuda grass in the fairway on #9 and #11 , we will back track to holes 1,2 and 3 for our annual spot round up for bermuda which is in no comparison to what we have done in the past to these holes. 

Please notice the dark green tall fescue on the right that has been unharmed by this program 

This is the right side of #8, tall fescue once again unharmed with just patches of unwanted grass here and there

It snowed in August!

Rough Update for #7 and #8:

At this point in time we are half way through the program of controlling annual bluegrass in the rough. Interestingly enough it is also turning the bermuda white as well which happens to be a good side effect. We will monitor this and see if we can slow the growth down. The best part about this program is that we do not harm the grasses that we would like to keep, such as the existing tall fescue/kentucky bluegrass in the rough and the rye grass in the intermediate. Our ultimate goal here is to produce a more uniform and consistent rough. We will keep you posted as we near the end of the program in about 10 days.

Bermuda turning white, note the rye grass is doing well

Poa starting to turn off color

Patches of bermuda that have turned white

Course Update

We are closing in on fall aerification in a week from this Monday which we will be closed August 13-15, the Range will open up on Tuesday  August 14th at 10am for normal hours of operation. There has been some activity going around other than storm clean up and bunker repair after a "light" rain. You may have noticed the trenching taking place at the front entrance and drive way. Our electrician is installing lights on every other tree on both sides which will have a great ambiance coming and going at night. There will also be lights installed at the back of the club house shining down on the 18th green and the surrounding trees. There are additional lights being installed as well and I will update you on there locations as we get closer. Most notably almost all of the lights will be L.E.D.'s with the exception of a few higher powered ones. Look for this to be completed in about 3 weeks! Next week our bermuda control will take place and anything in the intermediate we will have to round-up and seed back into, pictures to follow.

Lights for the back of the club house

Bermuda turning brown in rough