Reel to Reel

We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather last week and put the final push on leaf clean-up.  A big thanks to the staff for a few long days.  I am extremely pleased with how clean we have the golf course heading into winter. #17 green Yesterday, we aerified greens with the soil reliever.  We had to wait for a little snow to melt, but were able to get out mid-morning and aerify to a 9" depth.  The holes will help remove any excess surface water this winter and upcoming spring. #14 green this morning soil reliever on #1 green

It has been a great few days.  Our final fungicide applications for the year have been applied, the irrigation system was winterized yesterday, and we continue to make significant progress on the fall clean-up. 

Over the last two weeks, the leaves have really started to fall.  Leaf clean-up has occupied over 75% of our time.  This will continue into November, as only 25% of the leaves have fallen.  We have won the daily leaf battle most days, but with over 850 trees on property, there will certainly be days when the leaves fall faster than we can clean them up.  We will continue to do our best to make the course as playable as possible. #5  #13 #12 blowing off fairways mulching leaves Below is a video of the Wiedenmann cleaning up leaves on #7.

Monday and Tuesday were productive days, as we regraded and sodded in front of the cart paths on #12 green and #14 tee.  Both areas had grade issues that did not allow for proper traffic flow onto and off of the paths.  We removed a significant amount of soil and leveled both of these areas before sodding. removal of soil on #12 regrading #12 finish grade on #12  sodding #12 #12 completed finish grading on #14 sodding #14 #14 completed

Tee aerification was completed this past Monday.  The crew did an amazing job in cold and wet conditions to complete this task. aerification clean-up on #11 tee We also finished verticutting fairways this week with our new Wiedenmann Super 600.  The Super 600 is a heavy duty verticutter and sweeper.  The primary use for this piece of equipment is to verticut fairways and sweep up the debris all at the same time. Verticutting is an extremely important cultural practice because it removes thatch.  Thatch is a layer of living and dead organic matter that occurs between the turf and soil surface.  The primary component of thatch is grass stems and roots.  It accumulates as these plant parts buildup faster than they can decompose.  Excessive thatch creates a favorable environment for pests and disease and an unfavorable growing environment for grass roots.  But most importantly, thatch interferes with water infiltration into the soil.  Verticuttin...

We accumulated 5.9" of rain in August over 6 days: 8/2 accumulated 1.8" 8/4 accumulated .11" 8/16 accumulated .93" 8/26 accumulated .60" 8/28 accumulated 2.1" 8/29 accumulated .40" September is off to an interesting start as we accumulated an inch of rain last night during a thunderstorm.  We are pumping and repairing bunkers today. #18 bunker

We picked up another .25" of rain last night bringing our rain total to over 3" over the last five days.  Today's agenda included pumping down the largest areas of standing water in #3 fairway, #5 fairway and in front of #8 tee.  We pumped over 140,000 gallons of water from these areas. #8 tee #3 fairway #5 fairway We were able to repair the washouts on all 55 bunkers on the course.  A big thanks to the staff for a great job on this tedious task. early start on #9 #18 completed bunker on #17

The golf course remains extremely saturated after heavy thunderstorms passed through our area.  The storms began about 3:00 AM this morning and have continued throughout the day.  We continue to pump as much surface water off as possible.  However, it has been difficult to keep up as the rain has not stopped.  We have accumulated over 2" of rain so far. #1 fairway and rough #8 #9 rough between #9 and #18  #11 #13 #18  We will continue to pump off excess surface water and repair the bunkers tomorrow.

Greens were aerified Monday and Tuesday of this week.  Although the weather was warmer than we would have wished for, it did help dry out the sand and we were able to fill the 3.6 million holes we created.  With the warm night time temperatures, the greens are healing beautifully.  We will continue to roll them to smooth them out.  I would anticipate mowing greens early next week when there is less of a chance to pick up the sand with the mowers. #8 green #8 green The other project we have been working on is edging and adding cart path material to our existing paths.  Paths around #3 green, #5 green, #7 tee, #8 tee, #7 tee and #17 green have all been refreshed with new material.

Despite the hectic spring, we are finding a better rhythm as we move into summer.  I have been pleased with the consistency and playability of the course.  We continue to tweak our maintenance practices to provide the best golf course we can, given the environmental conditions that day. It has been a productive last couple of weeks, as numerous projects have been completed.  This week's projects included: verticutting and topdressing greens. verticutting #4 green topdressing #6 green brushing in sand #2 green We also rerouted and added new cart path material to the cart path on #6 tee. new cart path on #6 tee The landscape beds on #2 tee, #4 tee, and #12 tee were renovated last week. #2 tee bed #4 tee bed #12 tee bed

The moderate temperatures this week melted the majority of snow on the course.  I was able to walk around and was pleased with how the turf has endured the winter.  Everything looks to be in good shape as we head into spring.  Ground conditions still remain soft.  #14 green is the only green still snow covered. #14 green

The majority of our tree maintenance is addressed throughout the winter months.  However, the warmer weather and significant rain over the last couple months has provided some challenges.  Although we have had periods of snow this winter, ground conditions did not completely freeze.  We have had to be selective on what areas of the course we could work on without causing damage to the turf. Despite these challenges, we have completed most of the pruning and tree removals we were targeting.  The majority of our work has been focused on elevating the Norway spruce that border #9, #10, #18, #14, and 16 fairways. elevating Norway spruce between  #14 and #16 removing pruned branches hauling branches one load at a time hazardous cherry tree removed on #3