Reel to Reel

The golf course has been blanketed by the 4" of snow that fell last night.  The snow cover is a welcomed addition, as it insulates the turf from the single digit nighttime temperatures. #5 #6 #11

Cold weather in the foreseeable future has prompted us to close the greens for the season.  They are roped off and the flags have been moved to the approaches.  We will play to the temporary flags until the greens are ready to be opened in the spring. Please remain off of the greens to ensure we have the best playing conditions possible this spring.

It was a very productive week. We were able to winterize the irrigation system, aerify greens with the deep tines, apply our final fungicide application on greens, and blow and mulch leaves. winterizing irrigation heads on #5  10" deep holes on #7 green blowing leaves off of #18 fairway

Temperatures hovering below freezing and frost on the turf reminds us that winter is not very far away.  Much of our focus this week was spent making our winter preparations. This week our tasks included: closing the bathrooms removing the ball washers applying final fungicide applications to tees and fairways cleaning out ornamental beds blowing and mulching leaves Next week's tasks include: winterizing the irrigation system (on 11/13 and 11/14) aerifying the greens with the deep tines applying final fungicide application to greens continuing golf course clean-up 

This week we sodded around #6, #7, #12 and #17 greens.  Over the years a significant amount of poa and bentgrass had crept out from the collars and contaminated the bluegrass that surrounds the green.  The candy apple colored poa and bentgrass (indicated by the red arrows) was not only unsightly, but was inconsistent for play. This project entailed: removing the old turf removing any excess topdressing sand that had built up over the years leveling irrigation heads  laying new bluegrass around the green  removing excess topdressing sand on #17 leveling a irrigation head on #6 laying sod on #6 work on #6 is complete and it is ready for sod #6 completed #7 completed  #12 completed #17 completed The new bluegrass will provide more consistent playability and better definition around the greens.

Here are some of my favorite photos from this month.

It has been a great week, as we finished the final seven bunkers.  I want to thank my staff for a tremendous effort throughout the project.  This was no small task.  It was extremely tedious and labor intensive, oftentimes in less than ideal weather conditions.  They did an amazing job, adding over 850 tons of new sand to all 54 bunkers.  The new sand is not only going to be aesthetically more pleasing, but the playability of the bunkers is going to be much better. Our goal was to finish this project this fall so that the new sand would have all winter to settle and firm up.  I'm very pleased with our progress and excited to have new bunkers that will be ready for spring! #13 bunker before #13 bunker after addition of new sand

It was another productive week, as we were able to rebuild and fill the greenside bunkers on #4, and the fairway bunkers on #1, #5, #7.  Seven bunkers are left to finish: three on #6, one on #7, and three on #13. removing old sod from #4 bunker bank removing old sand from #4 bunker final clean up and shaping of #4 bunker laying new sod on #4 bunker bank  adding new sand to #4 bunker completed bunker on #4

Despite 2.6" of rain, we had another productive week repairing and filling bunkers.  We have completed 42 of the 54 bunkers on property.  This week, the two greenside bunkers on #8 were repaired and filled. We also completed the fairway bunker on #10, the greenside bunker on #3, and the greenside bunkers on #1. the old sod on  #8 east greenside bunker has been removed rebuilding #8 greenside bunker cleaning up old sand in #8 bunker #8 bunker bank sodded and ready for new sand completed bunker on #8

We completed six bunkers this week.  We rebuilt and filled both greenside bunkers on #10.  We were also able to fill two fairway bunkers on #8 and two fairway bunkers on #3. Next week, we will be rebuilding and filling the greenside bunkers on #8, the fairway bunker on #10, and the greenside bunker on #3. rebuilding face on #10 west greenside bunker cleaning out old sand on #10 east greenside bunker #10 east greenside bunker sodded and ready for new sand new sand ready to be spread completed #10 east greenside bunker filling #8 fairway bunker completed #8 fairway bunker other completed #8 fairway bunker completed #3 fairway bunkers

We were able to finish the remaining 3 bunkers on #11 this week.  Next week we will be working on holes #10 and #8. cleaning out the east greenside bunker on #11 sodding east greenside bunker on #11 completed east greenside bunker completed east fairway bunker on #11 adding sand to the west fairway bunker on #11 completed west fairway bunker on #11