Golf Course Maintenance Update

As many of you know by now, we have removed some trees throughout the golf course. Our goal was completed and the improvements are already helping improve turf conditions and playability.

Area behind #14 green around restroom

View from #9 tee

Recently you will have noticed we aerated the greens using what we call needle tines. This process helps "vent" the greens. The holes are generally only visible for a day or two. This process helps get the water and  air down into the root zone. The holes will assist us in some of the localized dry spots you see on the greens as well. We plan to do this at least once a month during the growing season. The process takes about two full days to complete. Thanks for your patience during this time.

Aeration machine

Needle tine holes

On Monday of this week we started aerating the roughs. This process takes about four days to complete. It leaves a pretty good size plug on the ground. We will be dragging and mowing these up and most should disappear in about another week or so. Again thanks for your patience and please check in with the pro shop regarding current rules during this time.

Around the pro shop you will be noticing some new turf that will take the place of the ivy that was overgrown in this area. We plan to have this completed by Friday.

Project updates

I'm happy to report we are finally removing some trees around the golf course. The delay has been centered around the weather. The golf course needed to be dry enough to get heavy equipment in and around so we don't cause any turf damage. We started with the removal of some trees today (Monday) near #1 green and #2 tee. This will help during the winter months when we get frost. From there we removed some trees next to the #5 tee box to let in more light. Tomorrow ( Tuesday) we will be removing trees on #9 tee and down by the lake to open up the hole for enhanced playability.  After that is completed we have targeted some shade trees on #10 in the right rough on the other side of the lake. We have also planned a number of trees to be removed at the #14 restroom area. This is being planned for next Monday June 14th.  Be sure to check in with the pro shop before your round as we will be letting the pro shop know of our progress and detours, if any, while the work is being completed.

#5 tee box looking down towards #4 green

Sanding of the fairways took place today (Monday) with all fairways receiving about 3/16" of sand. This will really help in the long run by providing a smoother playing surface, improved drainage and help to reduce thatch.

Fairway sanding #14

Fairway Aerification update

We will be starting to aerify fairways today on holes # 1,9, and 18. We will be using a solid tine this go around. The solid tines will not leave a plug and will recover much faster. Sanding the fairways will commence tomorrow and into Friday.  A sanding contractor will be here on Monday to finish off the rest of the fairway sanding. This should be finished by Tuesday sometime. We'll do our best to allow play through and we are sorry for any inconvenience. We were unable to sand the fairways on our first aerification for a variety of reasons, most of which were weather related.

Fairway aerification and sanding update

Once again the weather has thrown us a curve ball.We also recently had one of our tractors go down with a steering problem. We will attempt to aerify and sand when we get a break in the weather and our tractor gets back up and running. Looking at the weather for the rest of this week it may not happen until after the holiday the week of May 29. We will keep you posted as we proceed.

Fairway aerification Update

We have rescheduled the fairway aerification and sanding to the week of May 21.

Golf Course Maint. Update

Our plan to dethatch the approaches failed to materialize as we had equipment problems. Once fixed we intend to continue to dethatch all of the approaches and then topdress with sand as well. We were however, able to verticut the greens on Tuesday and sanded 1 - 9 in the afternoon. We intend to finish the back nine today ( Wednesday). This practice will continue throughout the spring to try and reduce the organic matter and help smooth out the greens.

Aerification and sanding the fairways is still planned for next week starting on Monday. This could change if the weather changes.

Next weeks maintenance projects

We are going to start dethatching and sanding the approaches on Monday. We will of course take the necessary steps to minimize disruption to play during this process.  This agronomic process will help get the approaches to firm up and make for better playing conditions. We will move to the side when play approaches and make every attempt to keep the area playable during the process. The weather is predicted to be quite nice and we need to take advantage of this while we can. 

We will be verticutting and mowing the greens ahead of play on Tuesday. We will then sand in the afternoon. Verticutting and mowing the greens will help smooth things out more and the sanding in the afternoon will also make the conditions better. The sanding will not be heavy, but may take a day or two to work its way into the putting surface. This is needed as we are still fighting to catch up with getting enough sand down to get the greens back into good putting condition. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, but it's absolutely necessary we get this process done while we have a window of good weather predicted for this time frame.

If you have any questions regarding the process and timing please contact me directly and I can explain our plan more fully.  John Hicks   805-433-4643