Reel to Reel

Most of our time this December has been spent pruning trees.  It has been extremely productive as we have taken full advantage of the lack of snow cover and relatively mild temperatures.  Our pruning is always done with a purpose. Pruning for Health:  Thinning live branches is often necessary to increase the health of the trees by increasing light penetration and improving air circulation to the tree canopy. Pruning for Structure:  Proper pruning helps the trees develop a strong structure and a desirable form. Pruning for Safety:  Removing weak, broken, diseased, or dead limbs reduces the chances of falling limbs. Mike pruning on the right side of #18 branches thinned out between #5 and #7 hollow branch identified on #10

A warm spell last week melted what snow we had on the ground.  This gave us an opportunity to clean up the last of the leaves on the course.  Turf conditions still look really strong as we head into December. #5 green looking strong heading into winter   Our efforts over the last couple of weeks have also been focused on power washing the equipment and organizing the shop in anticipation of our winter maintenance program. Jose power washing a rough mower  

With 3" of fresh snow on the ground, Old Man Winter has arrived.  The greens have been roped off and are closed for the season.  If we have warm weather, please feel free to come out and play, but please play to the temporary greens (the red stake in front of the green). Traffic on the greens during this time of year and throughout the winter months can cause turf damage in the spring.  Please avoid walking on them until the frost is out of the ground in the spring.  Thank you for your cooperation. #2 green

With temperatures predicted in the low to mid 30s for the next ten days, we made our final push in completing our winter preparations. Today's mission was to finish blowing and mulching the remaining leaves, as well as making our final topdress application on the greens.  The sand will act as an insulating and protecting layer to the plants. #5 green all cleaned off and leaf free Mike topdressing #11 green  

Mother Nature gave us a small window of good weather today and we took full advantage of it.  We made our final fungicide applications of the year on greens, tees and fairways.  Myles and I sprayed over 1,500,000 ft² of turf today.  The 9 tank loads (2,700 gallons of spray solution) were the most we have ever sprayed in a single day.  With frigid temperatures and potential snow predicted next week, we thought it was in the best interest of the golf course to spray everything today. Myles spraying #3 green today 

Winterization of the irrigation system was completed today.  A big thanks to my staff for a couple of long days blowing out all 1,500 irrigation heads. irrigation heads on #16 green being winterized   Winterization of the irrigation system is a huge item crossed off of our to do list.  Below is a list of what we will be working on over the next couple of weeks: leaf clean-up ornamental bed clean-up final fungicide applications on greens, tees and fairways final topdress application on greens

It was a busy and productive month.  Here are some of my favorite shots.

The leaves are falling this week as fast as we can blow and mulch them.  We pride ourselves on keeping the course clean and playable during the fall.  We do not win the leaf battle every day, but we give it our all on a daily basis. Rich mulching in #7 rough Victor muching in #10 rough Mike blowing in #4 rough Reminder: We will blowing out the irrigation system next Monday and Tuesday.  The bathrooms on the golf course will be winterized as well, and closed for the season.

Over the last four days soil conditions on the driving range have dried out significantly.  By staying late yesterday we were able to complete the finish grade and seed the new fairway. finish grade almost complete This morning we were able to sod around 3 of the new bunker banks before the heavy rains occurred.   sodding around one of the new bunkers We still have one more bunker to build and several areas to clean up, but it will have to wait until conditions dry out.   

Our winter preparations continued today with our late fall deep-tine aerification of the greens.  The greens were aerified with 1/2" solid tines at a depth of 10".  Over the years we have had good success with this practice in improving infiltration of excess water after snowmelt. Mike deep-tining #2 green In addition to the deep-tine aerification today, we also worked on improving the surface drainage on #5 green.  Much of our winter damage this year was caused by snowmelt refreezing and not having enough time to get off the green.  By regrading the bank, excess water should move off the green at a quicker rate and hopefully minimize any refreezing.  green bank on #5 regraded to help move off surface water sodded and ready to go

Rain showers mid-week created soft conditions and halted our work on the driving range landing area.  On Thursday and Friday we shifted our efforts towards two small drainage projects on holes #8 and #9.  On #8, we added a drainage line in front of the green.  On #9, we added a line on the east side of the fairway.  Both of the new drainage lines will rectify these wet areas. digging trench for the new line on #8 new line being installed on #8 fairway new line installed on east side of #9 fairway a few more pieces of sod to go

The greens have responded nicely to the fertility and maintenance regimen they've received this fall.  I've seen a nice increase in bentgrass plants, as well as improved greens color, density, and rooting.  All of these factors will help the plants store more carbohydrate reserves. These reserves are very important in helping the plants winter hardiness. 12" roots coming out the bottom of the cup cutter Certainly, there are no guarantees how the plants will endure the winter weather, but I feel good about where the greens are now and heading into winter.  Mother Nature did a good job this winter of selecting out the weak poa plants.  Although it was tough to see that much dead grass, in the end we came out stronger because of the amount of new bentgrass that we now have.  These plants are significantly more winter hardy than the poa plants that died this past winter. Below are a few photos of greens 5, 10 and 17, whic...

We installed over 250 feet of new drainage this week on the driving range landing area.  Our focus was in front of the tee, where we ran a new drainage line from east to west.  We targeted this area first as it is one of the softest spots on the landing area.  The new line has not stopped running since we installed it Thursday afternoon.  This should help dry out the area significantly. Myles digging out the drainage trench in front of the tee Jr. cleaning out the trench Brendan spreading out pea stone new drainage line is installed and back filled with pea stone Yesterday we started removing the dead sod from the new fairway.  Next week we will begin shaping and smoothing out the area. removing dead sod from the new fairway a good day's work

It has been one week since seeding and the driving range tee is progressing nicely.  The new seedlings started to emerge 4 days after seeding, and the tee has a pretty nice tinge of green. new seedlings on driving range tee starting to look like a tee On the landing area this week, we focused our attention on shaping the new bunkers and lowering existing catch basins to improve drainage. Myles lowering a catch basin new bunker on the northwest corner of the range - 215 yards from the tee

With the driving range tee seeded, we are shifting our attention to the landing area.  Over the next few weeks we will be doing extensive work to improve the drainage and aesthetics.  I'm confident we will be able to make significant improvements.  However, we are limited to what we can do because the driving range is built on peat, which is very unstable. A fairway that runs through the middle of the range will be created to serve as a more appealing target.  The existing fairway bunkers will be removed and five new ones will be created in more strategic areas.  We have started the process by killing off the area that will become the new fairway.  Once this grass is completely dead, it will be easier for us to start shaping and moving soil around. new fairway is starting to die  

Yesterday we laid over 8,400 ft² of sod on the driving range tee bank and seeded the tee.  All we need now is favorable weather for germination.  A big thanks to my staff for all of their efforts this week. They did an amazing job! laying sod early Thursday morning   tee bank sodded   west end of driving range tee Friday morning   ryegrass seed we used is coated to help protect seedlings   panoramic view  

Today we worked on the finish grade and leveled irrigation heads on the driving range tee.  Tomorrow we will put the finishing touches on the tee before the seed and sod work begins Thursday. getting closer to the finish grade   irrigation head being installed On the course, fairways 6 & 7 and the short range were aerified today, bringing fairway core aerification to a close.  this is what 2.4 million cores looks like on #7 fairway

We had an extremely productive day and made a lot of progress on the renovation of the driving range tee.  Today's activities included: removing the existing sod and rough grading the new tee.  Below are a few pictures from the project. removal of existing sod tee in progress leveling the soil soil moved from the east to west side of the tee