Beautiful weather for golf!

 

80 degrees and low humidity is ideal for golf but we sure could use a little rain for the turf out there. A big focus over the past few weeks has been identifying irrigation issues and making sure the zoysia on the south stays healthy going into dormancy. This head for example on 18, was stuck in the same position and needed to be replaced. A stuck head quickly leads to a section of the approach area to be wet and then the rest of the turf it was responsible for watering to be dry. In addition to the water quality issues we discussed last week, we are working to come up with a plan to solve how to best deliver water to the turf all across the property.

The cooler nights allowed us to put the verticutter out on the bentgrass greens this week. The vertical blades were set to just tickle the top of the turf, slicing any longer leaf blades and helping tighten up the bent.

A light dusting of sand topdressing followed the verticutter. 

The more aggressive greens groomer brush followed behind the sand and help stand up even more bentgrass and knock the sand down into the canopy a bit. An application of gypsum followed and was all washed in to start the week.

Also on Tuesday while the South was closed, we chose a few areas where the zoysia collar tie ins to the green were unlevel and pulled some cores out of them. This is an easy example here on #1 where rain water gets trapped on the green by a higher collar area and then bakes and kills the bentgrass in the summer. We will continue working on all these areas in the spring when the zoysia gets moving again.

After a brush the greens mower is able to follow behind the process the next day and get a solid cut. Green speeds continue to be satisfactory after just a single cut and when the roller comes out putting quality has been excellent. We have started using the triplex mower more and more on the South greens. The triplex tires inflict much less wear than a walking greens mower on the zoysia collars and some will argue that the triplex provides a better cut with less room for human error than a walking mower. Not to mention this only uses one person as opposed to 4 people walk mowing.

The Pure Eclipse bentgrass seed has germinated on the North nursery! If you see the deer walking that way, please tell them to keep off.

Over on the North this week the guys have been putting a full rake on the bunker faces. Hand raking instead of rolling these smaller faces on the North gives a more consistent look and takes less time day after day than trying to keep a smooth rolled face. The faces remain firm and the crew can move a little more quickly through morning setup.

The North fescue areas have been aerated and seeded with tall fescue. A little shot of rain would do wonders across the whole property!

Our winter annuals are on site! 

Our Landscape Manager James Radcliff has his crew working quickly this week getting the pansies, dusty miller's and rosemary in the ground. With the summer annuals removed, some maintenance done on the gas lamps and the irrigation checked, the guys worked to incorporate compost and fertilizer with a rototiller before gently putting the winter plants in place. Now the plants undergo the tough task of surviving varying weather, deer browsing and curb hopping delivery trucks!

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