Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Jacobsen aerifier for fairways, tees, rough with blades on it. Dont want to get in its way!

Earl blowing off thatch after the verticutter

After sanded and dragged in

Holes and verticuts before sand
Aerification is complete and the greens have healed nicely. The weather cooperated and everything went smooth. The greens will be slow for awhile as they are growing and healing. We solid tined the greens and came behind with a deep verticut to remove thatch. We used less sand because of this and the greens are less bumpy also due to this.

The stretch of weather we are in is more like a late April-early May pattern and the bermuda is greening up rapidly. We have to avoid a late season freeze which would set things back. Overall, its looking like a great spring to get out and play golf. We just hope summer isnt in a hurry to get here and we get some more needed rainfall before the heat hits.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Front Sign Paint Job

Both signs entering the course have been repainted. Here is a picture of the before/after of the sign along Rupe. The job was very tedious to get the lettering and borders just right and Bill did a great job.

 Before paint

After paint

Spring

March is here, but the weather has felt like April and the bermudagrass is showing signs of life as it begins to get some green color. The course has been sprayed with preemergent herbicide and aerification is next Monday and Tuesday. We have been busy building, painting, grinding, trimming, etc. More than a dozen trees have been removed for various reasons. As always, there are numerous irrigation leaks showing up and being worked on.

We are looking forward to the golfing season and hoping for a mild summer and hope the course will continue to improve with the sprinkler heads all functional.

One thing that causes much detriment to the course that we want to address this year is cart traffic. Golf carts cause much compaction and lead to bare or thin areas with weed encroachment likely and hard playing surfaces. PLEASE keep carts on paths as much as possible and always around greens and tees! Use the 90 degree rule when coming onto the fairways. Watch where you drive and try not to drive in the same path as the rest of the cart traffic, this is the direct cause of the large bare areas on #4 and #10 near the cartpath by the green. Everyone can help by following these rules, including our maintenance staff. Thank you for you help!