Reel to Reel

Temperatures hovering in the mid 40's, and rain and wind gusts around 25 mph, have not made it a pleasant day to play golf. The golf course is in good shape, but soft due to the 1.25" of rain this week. Our attention this weekend will be focused on mowing, rolling and keeping the course clean, as the leaves have started to fall at a rapid pace. See you on the course-

Photos are unable to completely capture this in-depth process, so I've prepared a brief video for a closer look at deep-tine aerification.

Fairways aerification commenced yesterday with the aerification of #4, #6, and #8. Everything ran smoothly as we punched 10" deep holes. We will be aerifying fairways over the next two weeks as it is a slow process moving at a 1 mph pace. We will be moving around the course in a strategic manner to try and avoid play as much as possible. Thank you for your patience. Below are two photos of the soil reliever aerifying #6 fairway and the nice clean 3/4" holes left behind.

The pictures of #5 (behind the green) and #11 (fairway) tell the entire story. Standing water in the rough and on most of the fairways will prohibit the use of carts this morning. We will reassess conditions early this afternoon. We are working diligently to make the course as playable as possible. Stay dry- Andy

Over an inch of rain was not enough to hinder our productivity today. Although the course was too wet to cut in many areas, we were able to catch up on detail-oriented work like line trimming and edging sprinkler heads. Tomorrow's agenda will include: - Cutting & rolling greens - Cutting & blowing fairways - Cutting collars & approaches - Raking bunkers - Cutting cups

The tees were verticut, aerified, cleaned-up and mowed today. Everything ran smoothly as we created 1.9 million holes and removed over 15 cubic yards of material. Nearly 50 cubic yards of aerification plugs were harvested from the aerification of greens and tees. That's enough to fill one and a half garbage trucks. Instead of discarding the plugs, we decided to reuse them and expand our bentgrass/poa nursery. The 8500 square feet nursery will provide sod that will perfectly match our existing turf texture and color.

...what your golf course can do for you, ask what you can do for your golf course. Please continue to respect the golf course and your fellow members by remembering the following: - Repair Ball Marks - Replace Divots - Rake Bunkers - Obey Cart Protocol If we all do our part, the golf course will benefit. Have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day !

As we enter the fall and aerification season, I think this video is both appropriate and informative. In the video Dr. Larry Stowell describes the aerification of greens, but the principles apply to tees and fairways as well. THIS VIDEO IS WELL WORTH THE VIEWING TIME...enjoy!