Cleaning up around the edges....

Since there are so many large trees in such a tight area, establishing playable turf in certain areas is impossible.  To clean up the area, we have cut in an outer edge, applied 'round-up' to the area and covered with mulch.  This is an instant improvement and gives the area a fresh and clean look.  This is the first area we have converted, but we will be doing more in the future months.  The area you see in the below picture is #3 (south of Woolworth) along the cart path.

Before

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

     

After

#18 Tree Work

The last of the planned tree work (until November) was completed on Friday.  As you can tell from the pictures below, right of #18 fairway was overgrown and in desperate need of a heavy prune.  In total, we removed three trees along the right edge and all the remaining trees were pruned up.  This fall, we will remove two more trees that are tucked in there and once done, we will add a irrigation head and seed the bare spots and establish turf in those bare areas.  The fairway mow pattern was shifted over to the right as well.  This will help give a clear shot to the green if you hit along the right edge.  Huge Improvement!

Before

After

Earthworms in Fairways

Over the past month, most of  the comments are being directed towards the earthworm issue that is on the fairways.  I am aware of them and we are working on addressing the issue.  This is a very delicate issue as there are very few (two) products that will help eradicate the problem.  Both of the products require immediate water (preferably rain) to activate the active ingredient and push it through the soil to reach the target (in this case-earthworms).  For long term control, we will be making a test plot with three different options (Early Bird Organic Fertilizer, Sevin, Topdressing Sand) to determine which is most effective.

Just wanted to touch on this topic as people are asking, so know that we're aware and working on fixing it.      

Greens Overseeding with T-1 Bentgrass

In effort to promote more bentgrass in the greens, we have begun our greens inter-seeding program.  We seeded greens at 3.5 lb/M with T-1 seed.  This variety of bentgrass was picked due to it's ability to out compete the Poa over time.  We have constructed an aggressive plan and will seed greens 2x/year for the foreseeable future in order to see the results we're looking for.  

Once we got the seed in the ground, we followed with a light topdress and brushed in.  That will help get the seed down in the seed bed made by the spikes on the seeder.  Once brushed, we watered it all in and you can't even tell we did it.     

Seeder mounted on 4-wheel cushman

Project and Course Update

#18 Fairway Before

#18 Fairway After

Three trees were removed along the right side of #18 fairway to help improve playability.  This will give you an open shot at the green when you are in the 150-175 yardage range.  Before, the trees hung over the edge which eliminated a shot to the green from this distance.  Next week, we will prune up the remaining trees along the right side which will be more appealing aesthetically and give us an opportunity to get some turf in the bare areas.  This fall, we will install new irrigation pipe and heads so we can establish the turf in the area (like we did on #14 rough two years ago).  

#14 Tree Removal in Action

#14 Green After

Over the last 12 months, no area on the course has had the amount of attention like this one.  Trees were removed behind the fence as well as on the golf course to increase airflow and sunlight to the green.  We removed a total of 18 trees which allowed us to achieve our goals.  This green used to be under shade by 3 pm, but now it's been under full sun at 7 pm.  The overall plant health is noticeably improved as well as the playability.

On Thursday (26th), we mowed #14 green with our primary greens mower for the first time.  To this point, we have been walk mowing the green and stepping down the height weekly to get it to this point.  We will still proceed with caution on this green and give it a 'day off' when necessary to avoid any set backs moving forward.  

On top of the golf course duties, the crew completed a great landscape renovation at the clubhouse over the past few weeks.  With the new siding and painting on the building, the landscape looked 'tired' and was in major need of attention.  Great job!

*Click on the pictures to enlarge*

Greens Aerification: 'DryJect'

This spring, we changed up the aerification practice and went with a process called DryJect.  We went with this so we could create sand channels below our normal 3" depth.  With DryJect, we got down 4.5"-6" in depth and used approx 25 tons of sand.  This will help increase our infiltration rates in the profiles and allow them to stay firm after rain events.  Below is a descriptive picture (click to enlarge) that summarizes the process.

#14 Tree Removal

Before

Final Look from Fairway

Friday, we removed a total of 14 trees along the fence line/walking trail.  They were removed to allow more sunlight and airflow to the green.  At 4 pm on Friday, the green was still in full sun for the first time it it's life!  In a few weeks, we will plant five new trees to help fill in that open void.  We will select a smaller tree that will not affect the airflow/sunlight issue.  To view each picture in larger format, you can click each one and that will blow it up so you can see it better.