Reel to Reel

Cold, wet weather has created challenging working conditions as we conduct our winter preparations on the golf course.  Despite the poor weather, we have been able to make our final fungicide applications of the season on greens, tees, and fairways.  Tee markers, bunker rakes, and coolers have been removed from the course.  We have winterized the bathrooms and irrigation system. winterizing the irrigation system We were also able to mulch a significant amount of leaves this past week. mulching leaves on #14 This morning, we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground.  It looks like this week's tasks will have their own set of new challenges. much mulching remains to be completed

It was another productive week; we improved a few of our existing cart paths.  The paths on #3 green/#4 tee, #6 green/#7 tee, and #17 green/#18 tee were all resurfaced with cart path material.  The paths were shortened to better suit the flow of traffic.  In addition, unnecessary sections of the paths were eliminated. #3 green / #4 tee #6 green / #7 tee Additionally, a company was in this week preparing specific paths for new asphalt.  Weather permitting, #12 green, #14 tee and #14 green will be getting fresh asphalt over the next 7-10 days.

Because the leaves fell at a slower rate this week, we focused much of our attention on a few drainage projects. On #4, we added additional drainage to the approach and south rough. On #6, we added additional drainage just west of the right green side bunker. On #7, we added additional drainage south of the creek between #7 and #10. #4 before drainage #4 after drainage 

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been working on fairway aerification.  It is a slow process as we are aerifying at 1 mph to achieve the proper hole spacing and 10" depth.  We completed the last of the fairways this week.

It is not uncommon for soils to drain slower in the fall.  A half inch of rain in the fall acts and feels like much more than it does in season.  There are several factors that play a role in this phenomenon: shorter days lower sun angle less evapotranspiration declining soil temperatures The excessive amount of rain that we have received over the last 11 days has certainly provided some challenges. Below are the rain fall amounts over the last 11 days, which has brought our total to over 4": 9/20 - 1.6" of rain 9/25 - .6" of rain 9/30 - .3" of rain 10/1 - 1.75" of rain The following pictures are from this morning. #1 fairway and rough #14 green #18 green #9 green If conditions allow, we are going to slice and/or needle tine the greens tomorrow to help facilitate some drying and water movement through the soil profile. It is unlikely that carts will be available tomorrow.