New mower

The fall season is approaching quickly.  The recent rain and seasonal temperatures have made for some good turf growing conditions. 

Fall is also a time for close out pricing on turf equipment. We have been in the market for a new small area rough mower for some time now. Last week we took delivery of a new Toro 360. This machine is more versatile and manuverable than our previous 13 year old machine. It will be a nice addition to our maintenance fleet. 

As typically happens this time of year our high school and college seasonal staff go back to school. This leaves us a lite short handed at times. We will do our best to keep up with maintenance items. One item that I have noticed lately is golfers not raking bunkers. With a shortened staff please help us out, and respect the golfers behind you, rake the bunker after hitting your shot. It is the golfer's responsibility. Thank you!

If you have any comments please feel free to contact me. We will see you on the course. 

Ross

It's a B & B kind of day!!!

B & B stands for branches and bunkers!!!

The storm last night was not good for the golf course, or for the maintenance staff. Sure the moisture was good, but when it rains that hard and the wind blows creates many hours of work for the maintenance staff. Currently have a crew of 5 on bunker repair. We have many washouts and just a general mess, some we will have to add new sand and others just shovel up the washed out area. I am hoping by 1 pm to have all the bunkers back in shape. 

There also a crew of 3 picking up sticks, branches and trees. This to we will hope to have complete by early afternoon. 

The rest of the crew is top dressing green's, mowing rough, spraying fairways, empty garbage, changing coolers, cleaning restrooms and numerous other small jobs. All in all just a fun day!! 

Below is a picture of the washouts on #18. That bunker is just a bad design as the water drains off the green into the bunker. 

It looks to be a great weekend. 

We will see you on the course!!

Ross

August Is Here!

Well it is that time of year when we some of the seasonal help starts their fall activities and schools. This time of year we always have to adjust some of the schedules and just do the best we can to keep the golf course in great shape. 

The moisture has been on the wet side lately; actually just over 5" for the month of July, to add to it another .5" last night. The turf is definitely going through a bit of a growth spurt, many man hours just trying to keep up with the growth right now.  I am hoping that rough growth starts to slow down some time soon!

If you have any thoughts or ideas to help improve your golf course please feel free to contact me. 

Come out and enjoy your golf course!

Ross

Pro Am

Here we are at Pro Am week.  Of course it is the hottest / most humid week of the year.  So far the course is holding up great, we will wait and see waht the rest of the week brings!!

Members are always asking me if we need to water more during the hot / humid times.  Most of the time when it is real humid we water less, due to the grass not drying out during the day time.  We try to keep the course on the dry side,  But on a Golf Course you are always running a fine line between running too dry or too wet.

Generally speaking you would much rather have hot / dry over hot / humid.  This is mainly as a result of the disease pressure that is a result of the hot humid conditions.  If you lose grass to fungus it does not recover, where if a grass is extremely dry it has the ability to go dormant alowing it to recover when it recieves some moisture.

Good Luck to all players this week.  Stay cool!!

If you look closely there is lots of activitey on the Practice area as the sun rises!!

See you on the course.

Ross

Rain!!!

Well the dry conditions have changed dramatically over the last few days. Since Wednesday we have received 2.61" of rain, 2.05" of that fell yesterday.  The timing of the rain was not the best as we were hosting the Wachs Classic, we still will take the good rain.  It always amazes me how quickly conditions can change. 

The Pro Am is just around the corner, please do your part to keep your golf course in great shape.  Driving carts properly, fixing ball marks, repairing or filling divots and raking bunkers are just a few items you can do to help keep your golf course in great playable condition. 

We wil see you on the course!! 

Ross

Golf Course Update

Dry is definitely the first word that comes to mind with June's weather. Just looking and we have only received about 1.35" of moisture for the month so far. That is just over 2" below normal for the month.  For now we just do the best we can watering and keeping the course green. The last week we have been getting a nice cool down at night, this is a big help when you are dealing with dry conditions. 

With the dry weather please remember carts play a major impact on turf issues and compaction. If you see a worn or thinning turf area please do not drive there. When going to and from the Club House stay on the cart path as much as possible, if you can not use the cart path please alter your route to reduce wear. As always stay on the Cart Path by all tee and green areas.  Thank You!!!

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend!!! 

We will see you on the course!!

Ross

June Golf Course Update

The golf course remains in great shape.  We have seen some of the summer heat but it has not lasted too long.  The golf course remains in great / playable shape.  The last two weeks have been busy catching up on all the detail work that falls behind in the spring of the year.  As stated in a previous blog we do our best to monitor the details of the golf course, at times we may miss an area that needs attention.  If you see an area that needs attention of the course please feel free to contact me.

Some of you have noticed a brownish color on a few of the fairways and tee areas.  This is a result of that particular type of grass trying to go to seed, this happens each spring.  When the grass is trying to seed it sends out stem shoots to produce a seed head.  These stem shoots are extremely tough and hard to cut, the not so clean cut produces a brownish color on the stem.  This should go away with time.

I hope to see you on the Course!!!!

Ross