Not Until June!

     GREENS AERIFICATION IS NOT UNTIL JUNE!!

June 13-15 to be exact.

     This time of the year when most of the other courses in our area are aerifying their greens I seem to get a lot of questions about the timing of our aerification. Due to the type of grass we have on our greens (T-1 Bentgrass), aerifying this time of the year in our area would be detrimental to our battle with Poa annua. If we were to open up the greens we would just be inviting the Poa to come in and invade our putting surfaces.
     So then why June you ask? After some consulting with some local superintendents that are in the same battle against Poa, I chose June because it should be warming up a bit which means that Poa seed head production should be slowing down.

Range Open and Carts Available On Monday

     After checking out the course this morning we have determined that we are going to let carts out tomorrow (Monday) and also open the range. Please abide by the cart signs and some of the roped off areas that don't drain as well. Should be a busy week with nice weather ahead so make sure you call and make a tee time before coming out to play.

Rain Report (March 2011)

     Well, it looks as we made it through another wave of storms and the forecast for the next week looks pretty clear with some highs even reaching into the low 70's. Here at the course we received rain 10 out the last 11 days with a storm total of 4.5". The course has handled the rain pretty well with only a couple of the smaller trees and a few branches on the more mature trees falling down. We should have the course cleaned up for play today and possible have the course ready for carts on Monday or Tuesday. Please check with the pro shop for an update on cart availability @ 831-656-1087.
     As a side note to the rains this year, we typically start our rainy season at the beginning of October and go through April or May. Last year during the so called "El Nino" we received 15.32" from Oct. '09 through March '10. This year through the same time period we have received 18.67" which amounts to 3.35" more than last year. Hopefully this means that the aquifers in the ground are filling up so that our wells will produce more water throughout the year.

Driving Range Changes

    Most of you probably would have never noticed but we are currently in the process of removing some of the turf in the outer lying areas of the driving range. Our main reason for this is so that we can install part-circle sprinklers around the driving range so that we are only watering the turf and not the fence down the right side or the net in the back. I don't believe that this will have any negative impact to the way the range looks or performs. Hopefully this will save a little water that can be used for more in-play areas out on the course. Here's a few pictures that show where we sprayed round-up to create a new turf line up the right side.





Irrigation Project: #10 Lake Bank (Update)

    We were able to finish this project about a 10 days ago and I forgot to update and show the finished product. We are really pleased with the way everything turned out and can't wait to see how it handles the heat of the summer. My staff really did a top notch job throughout the entire project. Here's the pictures of the finished product.

#10 Green looking back

Hung and Enrique putting sod back

Flushing out the new lines

Checking heads for any issues

The final product. Isn't it beautiful!!!

Irigation Project: #10 Lake Bank

    On Monday of this week we started on an irrigation project that will encompass the entire lake bank on #10 from the pump house to the back side of the green. We have been fighting dry areas along this bank since day one. The irrigation system is pretty good in this area but due to the severity of the slope and the fact that it faces south has caused us many headaches with trying to keep the turf healthy and supplied with good moisture.
     About a month ago, my assistant Tom mapped out the area and did a little research on the best solution for this area. What he came up with was to divide the area into three valves (sections) and place a special Rainbird nozzle on 4" pop-up type sprinklers that provided a larger droplet of water to help with drift. The entire length of the project is 500ft and includes 34 sprinklers. Last week our irrigation tech Hung and Tom installed the three valves and prepped for trenching.
     We hope that this project provides a better a better visual appeal to the course as well as better conditions in this area. Maybe we can get the turf to become healthier and keep some balls from rolling into the lake? It will definitely help Hung in his irrigation duties as he was constantly having to drag hoses and emitters in this area throughout our growing season.



Prepping for the valves




Valves after installation









Tom, Scott & Hung Trenching



Everybody Hold On!

That's 500 ft of trenching and nobody fell in the lake!

Cleaning up the cracks

As we go throughout the year we occasionally will get some weeds and grass growing in the cracks of the cart paths. So in an attempt to keep the visual appeal of the cart paths up we will go through and clean out these cracks about 4 to 5 times per year. We do this by using a special wheel with metal braids attached to one of our older weed eaters. As the wheel spins the operator inserts the weed eater into the crack and pulls the weed eater along to remove any dirt and plant material. This is followed up by a blower to move the material off the path. I can't take complete credit for this idea as I got the idea from Doug Ayers over at Corral De Tierra C.C. Great idea Doug!! He has a great blog too. Check it out at http://corralmaintenance.blogspot.com/

Enrique's the man on a mission

Another one bites the dust!

     Yesterday we continued on with our scheduled tree removal and knocked down the dead pine that guarded the left side of #18 fairway. We have been trying to take down about one tree per week if the weather permits. With the removal of this tree it is really going to open up the left side and make this hole play a bit easier.  

   

Tom and Hung cutting out the pie on the front side

   

Ready for the fall

Ready to clean up!

Less rope-lines, more split-rail

     The last couple of mornings we have had a little frost so we were able to continue on some more split-rail fencing at #12 green. We are trying to continue to remove as much of the permanent rope-lines and put in either the split-rail and posts or the round posts with cable. In the areas that get less traffic we are using the split-rail and the higher traffic areas are receiving the round posts and 1/4" plastic coated cable. This particular area on #12 was really driving us nuts as this is one of the first and last areas you see when you drive in and out of the course. When the rope-lines would get knocked down or stepped on it would leave a messy look to the area. Take a look at the handy work of Jose, Enrique and Scott in the pictures below.