Between Now and April 1st We Must All Do Our Part

This has been one winter that has forced many of us to leave for warmer climates or dream of warmer climate if you haven't been able to leave the city. We've not been able to open the course on warmer days because of frozen conditions within our greens. We finally opened today for the first time in many weeks. We could have some additional course closed weather days before we begin to mow a great deal but they should be for much shorter intervals than what was experienced over the last month or so.There are a few things that our golfing members could assist us during the next few weeks until the turf begins to firm up and grow and we are fully staffed in April

Middle of 6 White tee concentrated divot wear. Please use the edges when possible.

• Greens will be very soft and repairing ball marks would be helpful.
• Divots on tees and fairways could be large due to the soft, wet conditions. Place your divots back in place, even if it breaks apart. Also, step down your depression which will reduce the exposure of roots to cold and or windy conditions. Your competitors would appreciate it as well in case a ball would roll into your smaller stepped down divot. Of course this is helpful during the growing season as well.
• Tee markers will be placed back on the tees in a few weeks but in the mean time use areas of the tee that appear more full of grass, especially the sides. Please don't place your ball in the middle of a heavily divot spot to make one more divot. Place your tee in an area of less damage.
• Carts will probably remain on the paths for the near future and I would encourage that you leave all wheels on the path instead of pulling partially off the path. I know if you are in a group with 2 carts, you have to go around a parked cart. If you do pass, it is always best to go on the side of the path away from the fairway so you do not potentially damage rough in the close rough/fairway area. Certain areas of the course are wetter than other areas, especially bottoms of fairways. It might be wise to wait for the group to move instead of burying your cart in a wet spot at the bottom of #12 cart path.
• Driving ranges are on mats through at least mid-April or later. Please refrain from hitting off the grass tee. If you must hit off grass, please go to another range until we can get our grass growing and open. I don't like to hit off mats as well but its what we have to do since our grass is not actively growing until late April. The less damage we do to our grass now, the quicker we can open in the spring.

Olympic Flame troubleshooting

There is a great deal of work for our staff to complete before we reach the month of April as well. Not a complete listing but some of the main work.

• Finish all the equipment repairs for tees, driving ranges etc.
• Clean up of all equipment and checking carts for the season
• Continued tree removal and tree trimming.
• Rake and clean up gum balls and other debris
• Blowing remaining leaves that have dropped and finishing fence leaf removal.
• Monitoring seed head production on greens and spraying.
• Dry-ject(aerate) greens March 18-19 45 tons of sand.
• Aerate rough and root prune trees
• Finish applying weed grass post and pre-emergent to fairways. tees. Walk spread pre-emergent around greens and apply by fertilizer hauler pre-emergent into rough areas.
• Repair greens surrounds with sod and other areas of course with sod and seed.
• Clean up tree stump grindings/sod
• Repair driving range netting by installing new telephone pole.
• Changing holes, moving tees a couple times a week as needed.
• Repairs to outside areas around the clubhouse including walkway lights, patio lighting, pool clean up and lawn areas.
• Asphalt repairs as needed.
• Growing all of the plants for this season and Becky will be busy cleaning up beds and planting spring pots around the clubhouse.
• Clean up in and around field bar]
• Rebuilding 2 tee
• Rebuilding the greens nursery
• Grass part of dam on #9.
• Divot filling

Repairing and painting driving range bag stands. These were all home made by the staff a couple of years ago.

As you can see, we all have responsibilities that are important for the overall well being of our grand old golf course. We of course first rely upon you to come out and visit us, first and foremost but while you are here, some player etiquette in regards to the course is always appreciated.

Nursery Green Seeded

Finally got the nursery green near 18 tee ready for seed.  Amendments, compost and some additional sand were placed on the green over the last few days.  Seeding and fertilization were put on the green today.  A short video shows you the final process to the operation which is making sure we get good soil to seed contact which improves and quickens germination.  We will be running the overhead irrigation on the green every 2-4 hours based on need over the next few days to insure a quick germination.

Nursery construction

A couple of seasons ago, we seeded our greens nursery near the 18th tee and the collar nursery near the 16th tee.  We were able to utilize some of the sod off of the collar nursery but the greens nursery has been a disappointment.  We attempted to use the sand that was already in place but we have found out that it is just too coarse to make a tightly knitted turf which can survive transplanting out on the course.  Even though the collar nursery was a little better, the sand in its make up was not able to hold enough moisture and ultimately succumbed to last seasons severe heat.  With the bunker construction last fall, we were not able to get the area worked up and reseeded.

Time to get our emergency turf back in service.  I just sprayed non-selective herbicide(Generic RoundUp) and some selective products for broad leaf plants and bermuda grass.  You will notice the area turning off color over the next 7-10 days as the plants begin to die.  I might make one more application before we strip off the dead material, add some finer sand and organic/inorganic materials to the mix to improve moisture retention.  The area will be seeded in September and we should be able to begin mowing it in early October.  It takes at least a full year for the material to be strong enough to be used for transplanting.

We hope we never need these nurseries but it is almost impossible not to lose a part of a collar every season, have a plug scalped from changing holes or heaven forbid a hydraulic leak which will require turf replacement.

Green nursery looking from 18 tee with #2 tee in the background by the trees..

Nursery Green Seed Germination

The nursery green was seeded last week and has already germinated as of this morning.  The weather has been great for growing in turf as long as you have supplemental irrigation since it has been so dry.

I would expect more visible signs of life by this weekend.  We will continue to water on a regular basis with possibly more frequent cycles with less water to keep the seedlings from drying out.  Fertilization and fungicide applications will be made weekly to keep the growth moving and assist with any plant health issues.  Rolling and mowing will begin as soon as the turf has filled in enough to do so.  This can usually be done within the first couple of weeks of emergence.

Here are a couple pictures of the new seedling emerging.

Wide angled view of the new seedlings emerging on the nursery green.

A close up of the new seedlings.

Renovating the nursery green next to the 18th green

Over the next couple of days, we will be leveling the nursery green next to the 18th tee with sand and will be reseeding the green.  A majority of the turf was used to repair and or replace collar turf with some plugs being used to fill in greens as needed.  Assistant Mike and Arian moved a 20 ton load of sand onto the green on Friday.  More pictures to follow this week and we prepare the green for seeding.

Arian unloading a workman load of sand onto the nursery.