New Addition @ #9 Green

     Once again the maintenance staff has added a new cable and post section along the parking area @ #9 green. As you will see in the pictures below we used to use rope and stakes to keep carts from parking off of the cart path. We were tired of looking at stakes that were always leaning and just didn't have that clean look that the cable and posts provide.  I think it turned out great and also has helped us eliminate some stakes that our mowers used to have to move.



The old look



Driving towards #9 green



Close up of new post/cable





A Little Check-Up

     A couple weeks ago our pump station between #10 & #18 was checked out before the summer irrigation season really starts. Andre from APS Pump Service came up and performed some preventative maintenance on the pumps, filter, VFD and control system. This is one of the most important things we do during the spring season as our irrigation of the course is beginning to ramp up. This time he found a couple of items that were starting to fail and could have cost us some potential failures of the station. We will have Andre up again in July and once more in October as the irrigation season winds down.


Smile Andre





Is That A Mole In #9 Fairway?



     No, that's not a mole or a gopher or any varmint making a trench down #9 fairway. The "dirt" you see in the middle of #9 fairway is actually a mix of a fine mulch, sand and seed. We have begun to try to fill in the French drain that was installed before the opening of the course to help with drainage. For some reason the architect did not think that drainage was necessary in the original design. But as we observed the golf course before the grand opening, we determined that there was going to be a need for some drainage down the entire hole. The soil in #9 is some of the worst in the entire golf course and the water does not infiltrate as rapidly as the architect believed.



New Sprinkler (#17 left rough)

     This last week our team worked hard to get a new sprinkler added in the rough between holes #16 & #17. We determined that the spacing between the existing sprinklers was just too far and wasn't providing enough coverage. This new head should help us with the turf in the rough as well as the fairway.



We will be finishing up with some final touches this week by putting down some seed and mulch on the trench and hooking up the wires to the irrigation clock.

Black Liner Around The Greens

     One of the areas of the course that was starting to show it's ugly head was the black liner that surrounds the green. The liner is in place to hold the 10" of sand that is underneath the greens in place and to also protect the sand from any contamination of the surrounding soils. For whatever reason the liners have continued to move upward and cause a little irritation to some of our golfers when they are putting or chipping from the collar. A couple weeks ago we had a couple guys on our staff go out with razor blades and trim the liner so that nothing was showing on the surface. We will make an better effort to stay on top of this situation so that the liner doesn't impact any one's putts or chips.

Black liner after removal

Black liner up close

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.