While September was the wettest since, oh..... probably ever, the golf course stood up to Mother Nature pretty well. We have seen however, the development of some new soggy areas in and around some greens. For example, #7 green has some areas to the right and back of the green in the surround areas and we also have an area next to the cart path at the #15 green and a small area to the rear of #17 green. Our plan is to cut the sod out in these areas, place in some drainage and re-sod. This has worked well in some other areas around the golf course. In addition to some of the green surrounds, we developed a drainage problem on #4 rough to the left of the 150 yard marker. You may remember we did some drainage work in this area last year. Our main goal was to replace the mainline pipe that was catching water by the green and from a bog on #5. This provided a clear path to the lake, which eliminated the water in the swale. Unfortunately the area towards the lake, a popular area if you slightly pull or hook your tee shot, had a lot of thatch and was in a low point along the line. In order to correct this area, we are pulling the sod and adding additional drainage and will re-sod.
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| Area behind #7 Green |
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| Area between #7 Green and cart path |
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| #4 Rough looking back towards the tee |
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| Another angle looking towards #7 tee |
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We are also considering some tree removal on # 7 and #3 tee. There is a patch of trees that during the winter months is blocking any kind of direct sunlight we may get in the afternoon hours. Because the sun is at such a low angle in the sky these trees are in affect acting as a light blocker and as you know living plants especially turfgrass need light to survive in a healthy state. #7 has been a very poor performer during the winter months due to the affects of this diminished sunlight.We've already seen the benefits of removing select trees around greens. One example is on #3 green where trees were removed towards the back of the green. #7 is virtually blocked by sun the entire day during the winter months. Removing some of these trees will help in this effort and will benefit the tees on #3 as well.
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| #7 Green looking towards the #3 black tee |
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In addition to these trees, the large trees directly behind the green are creating some shade issues too. Our plan here is to limb up the trees a ways to help eliminate the problem.
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| #7 Trees behind the green that can be trimmed |
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