Golf Course Update

The past month has been action packed for our staff and the golf course.  The course is starting to show some small signs of summer/busy season stress, but generally speaking it is in great shape.  Most all of the efforts we've put into the course since last September are designed to get us through the next three months.  If you recall, rains last fall kept us from getting some important jobs done that would have helped us this summer.  Fall greens aeration, disease prevention for take all patch, disease prevention for zoysia patch, and bermuda suppression in the rough were some of the key tasks that we couldn't perform as needed due to the persistent rain and soggy ground.  We worked hard this spring to make up for some of the fall hiccups, but timing is key and fall would have been much better for some of these things.  We are bracing for another battle with summer and will be scouting carefully for any signs of trouble.  As temperatures rise so do stress levels (mine as well as bentgrass).  Regular venting of greens with solid tines, rolling instead of mowing on occassion, careful watering with hoses as needed, and constant monitoring will help us to get through summer in one piece.  

Pictures from the past few weeks...

Our blender is a huge success.  We are so much more efficient and cost
effective.  Along with the large sprayer we got last year we are in a much better
place to get things done. 

Maybe we can make margaritas with this too

New bunker sand has gone out to holes 14-17 and 1.  More will
be going out over the next month

Regular light topdressing with sand every 2-3 weeks

My twin topdressing brushes

For our first venting of the summer we used what's called a bayonet tine.  This may help
more than the normal round tine.  We just decided to give it a try.  

Bean helps out when I'm not too tied down with hands on work. 
She's good at finding golf balls and laying around.  

We removed the roots from beneath this bump.
It isn't pretty, but it's much better.  

Trees and roots are bad for concrete. 
This one was almost a foot in diameter

This sign is helping, but there is still some work to do in
getting the message out.  In order to have grass for the rest of
the summer, it's critical to practice correctly. 

Junior Golf is booming this summer!