Natural Areas

The recent cool down has slowed the spring green up.  It also has allowed us to clean/burn some of the natural areas within the dike system. We are not finished, if Mother Nature allows we will burn some more this week. 

This week we were also able to clean up the stump grindings on the golf course. All the grindings are picked up and the holes have been filled with dirt. We will seed these areas when the soil temperatures warm up. 

Looks like the temperatures will warm by the weekend, come out and enjoy your golf course!!

Driving range divots

Check out the pictures for proper divot management!!!

Driving Range Ropes

We have installed ropes on the driving range tee.  We are trying to manage the wear on the driving range tee better this year.  So please hit all range balls from between the two ropes.

Hand watering greens

It's April and predicted hight of 79, winds 22-25 mph and low humidity. To much frost to get the irrigation system filled so we are out hand watering greens. We will continue to hand water as needed to the irrigation system is up and running. 

Spring snow

It's a beautiful Sunday morning. I hope you get a chance to check out the course today. The forecast is not good for the rest of the week. We will just have to wait and see how much snow we get. With the chance of measurable snow I decided to apply another application of fungicide for snow mold. This time of year we are treating for pink snow mold.  Pink snow mold can develope just from freezing and thawing temperatures. With the fungicide application we should be protected till the spring. 

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. 

See you on the course!!

Ross

Brushes on mower head

We just installed a set of solid brushes on one of our tee and collar mowers. This is the first we are using this type of brush. The brush will slightly stand the grass up up providing us with a better quality of cut. I will let you know how the brushes are doing once we start using the mower this season. 

Yes front nine greens are open today!! 

Walkers only. 

Golf Course Condition

A couple of tools in the maintenance cart this time of year are a 6" knife and a long screw driver. The knife is for checking moisture content of the upper layer of the greens root zone and the screw driver is to check the depth of the frost.

The picture below is showing the screwdriver being used to check frost level on 17 green. Note the black tape is at 7", that is the depth needed to cut new cup locations.  This area is thawed to 4.5".

As of Wednesday evening the greens were thawed to an average depth of 3-5".  Also noticed last evening that the mounds on 5 green are getting dry, the mounds had very little snow on them this winter.  Tomorrow we will get out the water tank to take care of any dry areas as needed.
    

Each day we are getting close we will see you on the course soon !!