Making hay into Thanksgiving!

 


The team has been grinding away on projects again this week as the weather has been absolutely perfect for mid-November. Another drain was cut in 6 fairway on the South up closer to the green. We will keep going on drainage so long as Mother Nature allows this winter. Consistently drier fairways mean we can get carts back off the path sooner after a rain, ball roll improves and we see less problems from earthworm castings through the off season, all good things!


The guys over on the North thinned a few more trees off of 6 this week and have been working behind the stump grinder contractor. All stumps from recent tree removals have been ground down and he was also able to knock out quite a few old stumps around the property like to the left of 9 North. Cleaning up stumps is probably the most arduous part of tree work but we do have a mini excavator on the way that should help out significantly.


Scott Morgan has our chipper trailer ready to rock and roll for next week. This trailer will make tree work more efficient by allowing us to chip up branches right on sight and not have to unhook the chipper from the dump truck to unload chips after every tree.

With bermudagrass growth finished for the year all we have to rely on is some ryegrass overseed on the range tee. Once that ryegrass gets chewed through about one time over we will be on the mats for the rest of winter. December through February will not yield much in the way of divot recovery with the rye given the cold temps.

The Driving Range renovation committee is in the middle of conducting initial golf course architect tours of our property. 7 different firms have agreed to participate in providing a proposal to redesign our practice area to better use the 14 acres that is consumed currently. More grass hitting space, a new practice building, a quality, usable short game area and more attractive range targets are some of the main priorities. The firms are also asked to take a overview of both courses and provide a philosophy for future improvements. The committee will begin to review proposals and field presentations in January.


This week 3 of us were able to travel over to Myrtle Beach for the Carolinas turfgrass conference. This local conference is one of the largest in the country and very well put together. If listening to 4 of the premier weed scientists on the east coast talk about herbicides for 4 hours straight doesn't get you excited about the growing season I don't know what will!


Mr. Downs and Boomer kept their eye on a stray coyote on Thursday while the Harriman family moved in to their new home in Fort Mill. The action never stops! Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday next week and we will see you in December!

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