Late Fall Tasks

November 20th, we winterized the irrigation system and shut down all the irrigation satellites for the season.  This is a full day worth or work, but very important as we head into the winter months.  The process went off without a hitch and we should be in good shape with the irrigation system as we head in the the spring of 2018.  

We spent several days working on the bunker depths throughout the course.  All bunkers were getting pretty low on sand, so we got the depths back in the 3-4" range.  Due to the amount of sand that was needed to get the where we want them, the bunkers will be very soft but should compact and firm up as winter goes on.  To help speed up the process, we rented a plate compactor and compacted them ourselves.  This really helped firm them up, but until we get some good moisture the sand will play really soft.

#2 & #11 Landscape Bed Renovation

Below are images of what was recently planted in the landscape bed between #2 & #11 tee boxes.  We tore out the hostas and wild strawberry's (mainly weeds) and put down a weed liner, panted new materials and used rock to finish it off.  Come spring, it will start to take off and give us nice color all year long.  This will be be a huge improvement in such a highly visible area. 

Astilbe Rheinland

Veronica Eveline

Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass

Hydrangea Pinky Winky

  

Venting Greens

With the 3" of rain over the past 5 days, the greens needed some fresh air!  Monday, we used needle tines and went about 3" deep to vent the top layer of the greens.  Besides being a little softer, this process does not affect ball roll what so ever.  The greens perked up nicely and really look healthy as we approach the winter months.  Weather pending, we will do this process one more time prior to covering greens for the season.   

               

Fairway Overseeding

Last month, we completed the fairway overseeding process which I started doing five years ago.  This process has made a huge improvement on the density and condition of our fairways.  During tee aerification, we overseed the tees as well.  In this process, we use a total of 4500 lbs of seed which breaks down to a 5lb/m application rate.  It is a long process, but well worth it when completed! 

                  

Fall Aerification

Last week, we completed aerification on greens & tees.  Both processes went smoothly are are back to their 'normal' playing conditions.  On greens we went with a process called 'DryJect' which does not remove any material from the greens.  It creates a channel in the green (5"-6" deep) and it is immediately filled with kiln dried sand.  We pump right around 25 tons of sand directly into the green profile during this process.  We also used this time to overseed greens with T-1 creeping bentgrass.  I'm seeing germination already (especially in the aerification holes) as this is our attempt to establish more bentgrass in the greens and slowly push out the poa.  It's a long process and time will tell if we make any ground in this area.  

On tees we pulled a 1/2" core, pulverized them (dusty mess) and then overseeded with Perennial Rye.  As of today, we have great germination and the tees are healing nicely from the summer stress.

Both processes were long  and tiring, but these practices are what allow us to have great surfaces throughout the year.  Great work by my crew on completing these tasks!

Custom Made Railings

A few weeks back, we put the finishing touches on the new stairs with custom made railings.  Bender Ornamental created the railings and installed them with great precision.  They really turned out great and finish off the look and functionality of the stairs.

Here is a before/after picture of #9.  Oh how quickly you forget what it used to look like!

Before

After

New Sprayer & Sod Cutter

Huge thank you to the Board & Chris for moving quickly to replace our sprayer that was on it's last breath.  The middle of summer is NOT the ideal time to have sprayer issues, nor is anytime for that matter.  We purchased a new John Deere 300 gallon sprayer.  Having the lager tank (old sprayer was 200 gallons) allows us to make applications (especially fairways) more efficiently saving us several hours each application.

We also upgraded our sod cutter as it saved us money to purchase at the same time.  Our old sod cutter was a 1966, so needless to say, it was time!

Thank you again for all your support!