Top dressing greens

Today is the first light top dressing of year. We are applying a light coat of sand to the greens with a spinner type top dresser. The sand will help smooth the putting surface and also help assist in thatch management. Once the sand dries we will roll it into the canopy with a vibratory roller.  When complete there will be no effect on course playability. 

We will see you on the course. 

Course Update

Golf course is starting to shape up nicely. We are finally getting some good heat, this is helping germinate all the grass seed that we have planted. Some of the fairways and collars are still in need of time to recover. 

Below is an interesting photo. This is on #6 fairway, the carts have been isolated to drive down the left side of the fairway. We have roped the fairway off to give it the best chance possible to recover from the winter injuries. The interesting part is look at the cart wear after just a few weeks!!  Please remember carts do cause damage!!  

We will see you on the course. 

Fairways

Above is a picture of #6 fairway.  Why is there a nice green strip in the middle of this photo?  An why is the rest of the area brown and patchy?

Each year we wait and hope that our fairways come through the winter in great shape.  More often than not we have some issues of some sort.  This year is no different, we have some fairways that look good and others that are struggling to green up.  This year #5 and #6 fairways are the worst hit, I think it is due to the north winds this winter that blew the area clean of snow cover.  This allowed the area to be open and dry most of the winter.

This continues to happen to us for several reasons.  First we have old cultivars of grass in our fairways, most of which are not designed to be mowed under 1.5".  Next we have no drainage in our fairways, this allows water to puddle and freeze during the winter months.  If that ice stays there too long it will suffocate the grass.  And finally we live in an area that is subject to booth open dry winters and heavy snow, which can create snow mold.

So back to the photo above.  The green strip through the middle is an old trench that we raised and reseeded two years ago.  This strip has new cultivars of grass, which in this years conditions the new cultivars were able to survive the winter.  The old cultivars around it were not so successful.  The new cultivars are designed to be mowed as low as 1/2"

As I showed in a previous blog we have reseeded #5 and #6 fairways this spring.  We are hoping the new seed will take and get a good stand of the newer grass cultivars.  We are also in the process of seeding some of the other bad spots through out the golf course. Thus getting some of the new cultivars of grass in all the current struggling areas.

Why don't we just go out and reseed all fairways right now?  Studies have shown that over seeding into an existing stand of grass is not real successful.  There also has been some limited success to killing and fairway off and reseeding.  Our plan for now is to continue to reseed the struggling areas.  The process we used is to aerate and over seed.  We also have the new cultivars in the sand n seed mix, I think that is why we are seeing some patchy areas on the fairways.

I hope this explains the fairways somewhat.  No real right or wrong.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Thank You
Ross

Over seeding

Monday we started to reseed 5&6 fairways. These two were in the most need for a little help in recovering from the open dry winter. 

The first step we used was the solid tine arevate, to help assist with seed to soil contact. 

The second step was over seed the area in two different directions. 

With some good conditions we should have some seed growing soon. 

Irrigation update

It sure has been one of those springs.  The wind, dry and the deep frost level have been a challenge getting the golf course up and fully functional.  The rain this week was a huge help!!

WE are gaining ground each day on the irrigation.  There is still 6 heads not working that are froze!!  Hard to believe still dealing with frost in May.  This week we fixed one main line leak and one lateral line leak.  The system seems to be holding pressure really well right now.  I am hoping by the weekend we will have all the heads working.

Today we will be fertilizing tees, aprons, collars and fairways.  I am hoping with the recent rain and a little push of nitrogen we will help green some of the thin areas up.  If needed we will be going out next week and start over seeding any bad a areas that are not greening up.

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

Ross Santjer