Golf Course Maintenance Update

#11

It's been almost four weeks since we conducted aerification on the golf course and things have healed up nicely. We still have some areas in the fairways with a light coat of sand, but this should continue to get better as we get more good growing weather. We also have the front nine rough to aerify as well. I had hoped to get some of the approaches verticut and sanded by now, but weather and other factors have delayed this process. We are looking at the schedule to see how we can fit this in without too much disruption to play. We also are about to apply our post aerification fertilizer to the entire golf course.

Much of our time lately has been working on the irrigation system. Typically after the winter months there are issues with valves and damaged sprinkler heads that have to be repaired. When repairing valves, this involves digging down to a lateral line which is connected to the main line. Many times this can be quite deep and digging can be difficult. Based on how deep and how it's configured to the main line, repairs to valves can be very time consuming.  Sometimes the entire plumbing has to be redone. Frank Pablo Jr. and Jeff Ellison, our two irrigation techs, do a great job of identifying the problems and make the repairs as quickly as possible.

Members have commented recently that the grass in some fairways are thin. I agree, and we are working on a more aggressive plan to try and stimulate more growth in these areas.  Part of the problem, as we all know, is due to shade and some of it may be due to a lack of increased inputs in past years to help with winter recovery and addressing soil issues . Our goal this year is to target some of these areas with increased agronomic inputs to try and address the root cause of the deficient turfgrass. Hopefully over time this will improve to give us a much thicker stand of turfgrass. 


The pictures where taken on Wednesday the 8th on a beautiful sunny afternoon.  I never get tired of taking pictures! 

 #10 

#12