Open House

We may be behind the scenes, we like that in providing you with an enjoyable round of golf with the least amount of distraction. There is a lot that goes on on a daily basis to provide you with the conditions we are known for here at Hawks. I have a wonderful crew and support staff that allow me to function this way. I would like to open our shop up to you on Friday from 1:00 to 4:30 so that you can see what it takes to maintain your golf course daily. There is no need to set up a time just stop in and I will be able to show you the inner workings and the most advance technology of what it takes to operate your golf course.

Seeding

Last week we completed the seeding of the new fescue on 15,14,11, and 8. We formulated a great plan and concept for future conversion areas. The seed that we used was a blend of 70% hard fescue and 30% creeping red fescue. The seeding rate was 80 lbs of seed per Acre. This rate should provide a nice thin stand of fescue. Another really great benefit of using this type of seed is that we will be able to spray roundup over the top once established to control weeds and unwanted grasses. I am very hopeful that these areas will provide us with the look and playability that we want. The plan will be to continue seeding the rest of the areas on the course next year once we have determined if our plan is ideal and also positive feedback from the membership. There is an obvious "green" benefit with this project. Reduced mowing on the golf course saves fuel and equipment wear and thousandths of gallons of water throughout the course of the year. If the results work out as plan a thin playable stand of fescue will be the result and there will be a dramatic aesthetic look to the golf course.


We have also found a way to remove some unwanted grasses and weeds from the existing fescue on the golf course. You may have noticed that there are some areas in the fescue that we have mowed. These areas were all sprayed with fusilade that controls unwanted grasses. The problem that I have had in the past is that there is a heavy mat of grass clippings left over from the mowing process. I decided to rake out these areas after mowing to remove this grass and also thin out some of the existing stand. #2, #8 and #3 have all been raked and clippings hauled away. The end result is a pure stand of fescue that is remarkably thinner . I am seeing some unwanted grasses coming back, and have plans to respray these areas to control these grasses. I feel that we will be able to get very good control the second go around because there is no clippings on impede the chemical control.