Hawks Landing Golf Club Greens Department

Update

2012-01-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

50 degrees today almost unbelievable where is the winter this year. So far we have only a handful of days in the single digits this year, I haven't even taken out the my extreme cold weather gear this winter. I really do not see that happening this year. The 15 day forecast is looking fairly mild. I do not quite understand the lack of snow and warm temperatures this winter, what is the summer going to be like?? And the other extreme is that in Fairbanks, Alaska they are seeing extreme cold over the weekend the lows reach -50 two days straight. How do you even keep you house from freezing when it's that cold??

This month has been a very tough one for me with my father passing and over the past weekend we had to put my daughter's horse down from bladder and spleen complications that could not be resolved. My daughter and her horse grew up together and had a wonderful connection.

The warm weather ahead I should be able to see some of the golf course that has had snow cover for the last few weeks. The greens do have some ice on them right now. I do not feel that this is something we need to worry about right now but I will be watching the ice situation over the next few weeks. We continue to be extremely busy inside the shop. So far, Mike has completed all the walking mowers and has started to work on the maintenance transport vehicles. When I look at a time line we also seem to cut it fairly close before we head back out on the course. This year Mike has a great handle on the situation and everything is turning out great.

I have hired a new Assistant that will be starting Monday next week. His name is Jeffrey Muller, he was previously employed as the Second Assistant from Oconomowoc Golf Club. A very interesting note is that Jeffrey was the only candidate that passed my Assistant test that I have all applicants take during the interview process. Jeffrey was highly recommended by Dustin Riley the Superintendent at Oconomowoc Golf Club, I am looking forward to his first day here at Hawks Landing.

USGA Green Section Record, January 20, 2012

2012-01-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

USGA Green Section Record, January 20, 2012

2012-01-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

Even with the mild weather up to last week the golf course is in pretty good shape. I was able to walk most of the golf course before the snow and have not seen any snow mold disease and there is no ice on any part of the golf course. I feel that the snow mold protection products that we applied are holding for now but there is no doubt that the rain and warm weather will shorten the control, so I will continue to monitor the golf course. No standing water on the course means that we should not have any ice damage. Next week's the forecast shows mid 30's which could lead to some snow melt. I feel, if we make to February without ice and unless winter stay's until late March we should not have any ice damage to the golf course this year. So far so good.

2012-01-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

I have not been posting updates regularly lately because of my father's illness and this week he has lost his battle. Thank you all for your support and kind words over this tough time for me and my family

20,000 page views

2011-12-28T05:08:00.000-08:00

Wow, almost 20,000 page views of my blog. I never thought when I started this 3 years ago that the blog would be referenced so many times. The main reason for writing updates was for the members of Hawks Landing to be informed not only about what we are doing on the golf course but the why. At first there was not a great following but now there are so many members that go to the blog weekly, which I feel very good about. The other benefit to the blog is that there are so many Superintendents now writing blogs, Communication back and forth either through twitter, email, and now google + is so easy . When you really look back even two years ago it was by phone calls and sometimes email that we were able to talk. Now, all I have to do is turn on my phone and everyone is right there. I will say it makes the tough days a little easier. Blogs were a scary thing to take on 3 years ago there were not many of us ' biting the bullet' and embracing this open communication approach with the members of the clubs. I would like to thank all of our members of Hawks Landing that reference this blog and all the golf course guys that I have had the chance to meet over the last 3 years it is a great tool that I really enjoy doing. Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

2011-12-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas.

Hard to believe the weather that we are having sun is out and another fairly warm day. Looking at the extended forecast it looks like we will have continued warm weather for another 10 days. At this point there is some frost in the ground but some areas there is only about one inch and we can still dig into the soil. This is interesting since I do not recall any time in the past there was hardly frost in late December.

This extended warm period has been ideal growing conditions for the poa trivials in fairways, which is not a good thing since this is our main 'weed' problem in the fairways. I have noticed a considerable increase in the poa trivials population. This upcoming spring I would like to look at converting 13 fairway back to creeping bentgrass by killing the fairway with roundup and then reseeding with a new improved type of creeping bentgraass. What I would like to do is make at least 3 test plots of 3 different varieties of creeping bentgrass and test these grasses over the course of the year to determine which is the best selection for our golf course. I would be looking at 007 http://www.sroseed.com/Products/PDF/007_ts.pdf , Declaration http://www.lebanonturf.com/products/items/5866863/index.aspx and Memorial, http://www.scottsproseed.com/download.php?obj_id=293&browser=true and maybe another plot using the combination of the 3. What we will be able to do with these plots is get some real on course data of the performance of these grasses. From this data we will be able to select the best one to use if we were to decide to convert any more fairways in the future. We have not made any commitments to doing this at this time but it is something that we should look at in the very near future since the poa trivials can not handle the summer months and tends to go dormant but when the cool weather returns this grass grows at a much faster rate then the creeping bentgrass. This is what leads to it's dominance in the cool weather as well as all the problems that we have in the summer with this grass.

Always something to look at for improvements to our course we are making great progress with all of our projects over the last 3 seasons.

I hope that everyone has a great new year.

2011-12-21T07:37:00.000-08:00

Even with the mild temperatures we have to start working on equipment repair. Mike our equipment manager is currently working on the walking mowers. We have 15 total walking reel mowers that are completely taken apart; bearings and performance aspects are checked over to make sure everything is in prefect shape. Then the parts are cleaned, polished and repainted by Armando. Mike will then put everything back together check the machine to make sure it is square and then grind the reel. At this point the greens mower will be ready for spring time. Each greens mower takes a good day in a half to complete. Which equals about 22 days just working on the walkers.

change

2011-12-20T08:47:00.001-08:00

Next year the golf course will play back to the way it was intended. We are switching the nines

USGA-Green-Section-Record--December-16--2011

2011-12-16T06:42:00.000-08:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--December-16--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=P9DXvH9nuX8

Turf Disease Website

2011-12-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

I just added a link to some really good videos that have been archived on the Turf Disease website Live stream. this is where the Google + will come into play for me in the future. You can find this link on the right side bar.

update 12/12/11

2011-12-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

Just a short update since there has not been one for some time. I feel that this late fall has been ideal for the golf course. The best way for the course to go into winter is for the ground to be frozen and the turf harden off before snow cover but the next 2 days they are calling for rain and then pretty cold temperatures this is not the best combo to have before winter sets in. I have removed all the drainage covers to help get the water off the course and hopefully some of the approaches that were lowered will help get the excess water off the greens. As will all know that ice covered turf is a bad thing especially if we get an ice layer now. We certainly are having a strange late fall quite a bit of rain and fairly warm temperatures this fall. Actually, the weather has been so good that there are many of you still golfing which is quite unbelievable considering it's mid December. I think the one thing I am a little worried with the fact that we have had more rain then normal and this will surely effect snow mold disease this winter. The moderate temperatures and saturated ground is prefect weather for pink snow mold. We did apply a preventive snow mold control on all the bentgrass turf but the wet weather will definitely shorten the control measures of the products. Hopefully the measures that we used will give us good control.

The dredging project is moving along nicely with very little damage to the golf course. The island in the pond on 4 is now gone. Currently, they are working on the small pond on 18.

I will post weekly throughout the winter with some educational posts on golf course maintenance and give you some insight on some of the work that we do in the winter. I am working on expanding the blog and possibly incorporating with Google+ which is pretty interesting and just starting to work with it now.

USGA-Green-Section-Record--December-02--2011

2011-12-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--December-02--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=OSswdwz1zyY

12 bunker

2011-12-02T06:24:00.000-08:00

yesterday we finished shaping the bunker on 12. One of the main issues that I had with the bunker beside the sod was that there was a hump in the middle of the bunker that did not blend with the slope very well. I removed the hump and made a nice transition from the bottom of the bunker up the the sod. We will need to blend the edges in just like on number 2 this will most likely be done in the early spring.

after

before

update 12/1/11

2011-12-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

12 green bunker 11/30/11

12 green bunker sod removal

December first already hard to believe actually a pretty good day today to play golf. Just a quick update on the golf course.

The dredging company is here today and they will start work today.

This has been a very good fall for us;

As of yesterday, we completed leveling just about every irrigation head around the greens. Yesterday, I also started to work on removing the sod from the right green bunker on 12. I feel that we have 2 more nice days that we can work outside without frozen ground and finishing up this bunker will be a bonus. Just like the other bunkers we have completed, this one has a broken face and not very stable. I also found that there is about 8 inches of extra soil on top of some parts of the subgrade. I will remove this material and regrade back to the original design. You can see in the lower photo that the slope will be much smoother and there will be a nice transition to the green from the top of the bunker.

2 green bunker

2011-11-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

2 green bunker

I have talked about replacing the sod on some of the greens bunkers in few posts back. Yesterday,driving by #2 green, I noticed that someone must have walked up the steep face and broke the sod off. So since the day was pretty nice I decided to dive in and replace the sod and rebuild the bunker back to the way it was. Just like the chipping bunker there was so much extra sand/soil on the top of the bunker this time nearly 8 inches in some spots.

sand/soil on top of original grade

The sand/soil was removed and I took this opportunity to regrade the top slightly, now from the bottom of the bunker you can see the putting surface where you could not before. In the process of regrading the soil on the bunker face, I decided to bring the sod down like we did on 15 green bunker. There is a dramatic change in 8 hours. We only have the ends to tie in and we will finish next week or in the spring.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It has been a pleasure
taking care of the golf course this year I hope that you enjoyed the Hawks
as much as I did.

After

Why is Turf Improtant???

2011-11-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

USGA-Green-Section-Record--November-18--2011

2011-11-18T05:37:00.000-08:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--November-18--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=XIuDH23l474

Course Update 11/17/11

2011-11-17T06:20:00.000-08:00

The golf season is starting to wind down, I still have a few staff here trying to finish up some of the open ended jobs but the hard freeze in the mornings lately really slow down the process. With the rain last week the bunkers slightly washed out, we have since raked all the bunkers for the last time of the year. We have completed leveling the approaches on 4,14,2,11 and 8 this fall. The end result looks so much better. There is a smooth transition from the approach to the green now. This will also help the surface drainage especially any melting ice. We also added a irrigation heads to the front of 3,12,14 greens this fall. If time allows I would like to also add irrigation heads to 7 and 18 greens.

As far as the dredging, I really do not see the project starting until the week after Thanksgiving do to the fact that the contractor is on a 21 day work time line. I will keep you updated with some photos.

I would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and all of your support that you have given me and our staff here this year. We are fortunate to have such a great greens staff that truly enjoy each day they are here and work extremely hard to provide everyone with a great golf course everyday. I would also like to thank everyone for your kind words and prayers for my father it is greatly appreciated.

Dregding

2011-11-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

I just had a walk through with the city and the contractor that will be doing the pond dredging and have some details on the project. All ponds on the course are holding ponds for storm runoff from the streets and roads around the course. Over the course of the last 11 years, sediment has accumulated at the end of the storm drains that flow into the ponds. This sediment will over time slow the proper movement of water throughout the system and needs to be removed. The City hired a contractor to complete the work but they are working with Hawks Landing to make sure everything is done to limit any damage to the golf course. The plans are to start sometime next week and the project should only take about 3 weeks to complete. From my observation today, I feel that there should be only minor restoration work on the actual golf course. The city are mapped out access points to mostly fescue areas on the course. The end result will be that the islands we all see at the end of the storms drains will be gone and the ponds will look much better when we complete the work.

USGA-Green-Section-Record--November-4--2011

2011-11-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--November-4--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=ZyXpDtwGMMI

Golf Course Update 11/5/11

2011-11-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

and the push is on to finish up our projects in the remaining nice days. Yesterday, the irrigation system was winterized as well as all greens and tees sprayed for snow mold disease yes a very long day for me started at 6:30am and did not get home until 11pm. everything is in pretty good shape going into winter we still have a few fairways yet to spray for snow mold but almost done. We will complete most of the bunker edging next week. It will be nice to have this done for next spring. We continue to work on leveling a few approaches and rough around greens. By next week we will have completed 14,11,8,2,4 greens. I feel we have really made some nice improvements this fall.

We have a pond dredging project that is being done to removing sediment that has run off into the ponds from the streets. The city has put this out to bid. Monday I will attend a meeting downtown to get all the details and scope of the work involved. Start date is around the 15th of November as I get the exact details I will let you know what to expect. I will be leaving to visit my very sick father on Tuesday to spend some time with my mom and dad so I may not have any updates for you until I return the following Monday.

Course Restrooms/ Irrigation Blowout

2011-10-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow the the on course restrooms will be closed for the season. I will also be winterizing the irrigation system on Saturday the 5th.

Course Update

2011-10-28T05:36:00.000-07:00

Another very good week, We were able to complete spiking the fairways for the second time in the last 3 weeks. Armando has been working on many detail projects this week that you may never notice which is actually a good thing. He worked on many drains around greens leveling the sod and raising the drain to have a smooth transition. We had to stop since he ran out of supplies which are back ordered to finish the job. Hopefully, next week we will be able to finish at least the greens drains. In the mean time he has moved onto smoothing out the high spots in some approach areas. These high areas are slowing down the surface drainage. This is a major problem in the winter since the melt water gets backed up and turns into ice. 2,14, and 11 have been completed. We also continued to work on leveling irrigation heads around the greens. 14 has been completed as well as the addition of 2 new irrigation heads. The right side of the green rough was irrigated and with the new fescue I turned off the head along the cart path. the problem is that now the rough area is thin and with the addition of the new head there will be a big improvment in this area. I also added a new part cicrle head in front of the green to cover the gap or lack of coverage to the front approach. We also worked on 12 green. The heads have all been leveled and we started to dig in a new head in front of the green. We have finally completed mowing all the fescue on the course. You can really tell the progress that we have made now. We should have a great start to next year with everything mowed down fairly short, along with most areas having been sprayed we should be very clean next year. I have noticed some poa annua in a few areas of the newly seeded fescue and will have to address this. Today with the heavy frost we are starting to edge bunkers.

Course Update 10/21/11

2011-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today is really turning out to be a great day despite the heavy frost this morning. Which is good because it caps off a great week on the golf course. Today we mowed all the greens maybe for the last time of the year. I am not positive on this but considering the extended forecast and the fact that we barely got a palm full of grass on each green we may just roll the greens for the rest of the season. The greens are actually quite nice and still roll very well. We started to work on a few projects out on the course. I have a crew working on leveling irrigation heads around the greens. This is actually a lot of work since each head has to be completely dug up to adjust the height even a few inches. 14 green is just about done, you may notice a large hole in front of the green. I will be adding a part circle head there next week. My goal would be to move onto 12 and 3 green next to level as well as adding part circle heads to the front of the green as well. Over the last few years as we continue to reduce the irrigation run times, there are gaps in the system that are starting to show. The part circle heads around the greens just do not cover enough area for the run times that we are at and adding heads to the front of some of the greens will make up for that. I do have full circle heads around the greens that do cover these areas when used but I rarely use these heads very often since they also water the greens. I also have a crew working on raising and leveling the drains. We completed 9 green this week and moved onto 10. Weather permitting we will work our way around the course completing as many greens complex drains first. This is something I have tried to complete for 2 years.

I hope that you have a great weekend

USGA-Green-Section-Record--October-21--2011

2011-10-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--October-21--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=TXgHW7TXXVw

Course Update

2011-10-19T05:05:00.000-07:00

Finally we are sticking to a plan. As of yesterday all greens were needle tined, topdressed and an organic fertilizer applied. Today we are rolling greens and will finish spiking all the fairways. You may have also noticed that we have mowed quite a bit of the fescue and will most likely finish this week. This should give us a good start to next year. I also have a crew out working on raising and leveling some irrigation heads around the greens.

And it's only Wednesday

Golf COurse Update

2011-10-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

This week was good for the course a nice soaking rain just over 1 inch of rain on Wednesday was just what we needed. All the back nine fairways were spiked this week and really soaked it up. There is a big difference from the front nine and the back with the amount of wet areas proving that spiking really is quite beneficial. I have noticed a lot of members filling divots in the fairways over the last few days, big thanks now is a great time to go through as many bottles as you can during your round. With the rain we were not able to complete the spiking of the fairways and will have to work on this next week. We did manage to completed core aerating all the approaches this week, starting Monday we will move onto needle tining the greens.

Yesterday and today I have painted white dots and lines around the greens and in the fairways. I am basically putting everything back to my original seeding lines. I am widening some greens as I did last year too bring in some of the slopes and flat spots that were intended to be part of the green. there are some areas in the fairways that you will see are brought in quite a bit, and these may have to be reseeded back to rough.

It is amazing some of the little things that we do here make such a differance. I hope that you have seen the work on 2 around the oak tree.
I really did not feel that rough should have been around the tree in the first place

after

before

I feel there adding the fairway sod around the tree really looks great and you will now not be penalized for just missing the green to the left by having your ball in the thick rough.

Have a great weekend

om/USGA-Green-Section-Record--October-7--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=QxuKB_Vijms

2011-10-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--October-7--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=QxuKB_Vijms

Golf Course Update 10/6/2011

2011-10-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

What a great time of the year, This week is turning out to be great for golf and getting a lot of work done on the golf course. I hope that you have had the chance to play a few rounds, the golf course is still in very good shape. I feel over the last 6 weeks the course is in the finest shape that we have seen in years.

This week I did raise the greens height of cut to the final height that we will be taking them into winter. This year we were at the height of .095 of an inch and as of today the greens at at .125. I did topdress the greens fairly heavily on Monday, I feel it is critical this time of the year to apply sand to continue to dilute the organic matter accumulation. What does this mean? if we continue to apply sand there is a greatly reduced chance of buildup of thatch, in doing so we will not be a need to core aerate the greens. Topdressing also directly relates to the firmness and smoothness of the greens. Even with the change of height the greens are still very smooth and pretty fast. we have been backed up a little with the core aerating of the approaches and were not able to complete the final 4 holes this week as scheduled but starting Tuesday next week we will complete them and then the plan would be to needle tine the greens. Using the solid tines this time of the year will allow for proper air and water exchange throughout the soil profile and encourage rooting.

As of last night all the fairways, tees and rough have been fertilized. This year, I changed my plans favoring apply a fertilizer now in place of a dormant application. My thinking is that the weather is favoring good growth and the plant will be able to utilize the nutrients much more effectively now. I am also hoping for a benifit of good growth in that we will not have to spray for late season dollar spot, which is always a problem here every year. There is some good research showing nitrogen can help lessen the chance for a major outbreak of dollar spot. We also verticut all the fairways this week, I am sure that you have seen a major change in the quality of the fairways over the last few months. The turf has greatly reduced graininess and is really "standing up". Starting Monday next week all the fairways will be spiked. This will leave a channel in the soil. It is always amazing how quickly roots will find these channels.

We completed verticutting the tees also this week. We are using a slightly different type of verticutter on the tees, this removes a lot of material from the tees. I feel the tees are much firmer now. I will core aerate the tees in the early spring next year.

This week we also completed spraying most of fescue on the golf course. All the new fescue that was seeded last year was sprayed with a grass herbicide as well as a broadleaf weed herbicide. the product that I am using really does a number on the bull thistle. I am very confident that next year we will have most of the weeds and grasses under very good control and coupled with applying a growth regulator, the fescue will be quite beautiful and much more playable then in the any year before. It has been a lot of work but I am sure that you have also noticed the transition. we have a good plan and will stick with it in the upcoming years.

We finally completed the sod work around the tree on #2. I feel this is a major improvement then the rough that was around the tree, I will post a before and after photo soon.

I look forward to seeing you on the course in the next few just about prefect days ahead.

USGA Green Section Record, September 30, 2011

2011-09-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

USGA Green Section Record, September 30, 2011

2011-09-30T04:18:00.000-07:00

Well this was not the best week but it was a good week to recharge the system about 2.5 inches of rain. I was not able to complete the approach aerating since we spent 2 days getting all the bunkers back in shape and lost 1.5 days to the rain this week.. But I did managed to complete 1,2,8,7. With the cooler weather, I did raise the greens height. That being said the greens are still very good for the most part we are really not mowing any grass right now on the greens the l-93 that we have basically slows down with this cool weather. We have been rolling the greens, even after the rains the greens are still firm and pretty fast. I was able to find a break in the windy week and fertilize the back nine. I will finish the front nine next week. This should help the plant encourage rooting and build some reserves up for the winter. We will keep moving forward while maintaining a great golf course. It looks like the weather is going to be really decent this weekend and next week and I hope that you can get out and enjoy the golf course.

Course update 9/26/11

2011-09-26T04:44:00.000-07:00

Another great week behind us and very good course conditions. We managed to get everything very firm over the last 2 weeks and have been happy with the greens speed. I hope that you have had an opportunity to get out and play some golf.

This is the time of the year that I like to make a slow transition to working on projects and encouraging rooting of the turf. Starting tomorrow we will slightly raise the heights of cut on all greens and fairways. we will not mow the greens every day but favor rolling a little more to maintain good firmness and speed. The height of the greens right now is .095 of an inch and that is way too short for winter. I will slowly raise the greens height to .115 and that is were we will be for winter. You may have noticed that we started to work on removing the rough grass around the oak on 2 and have replaced about half to fairway. I already like the change. There are no 'big' projects planned for this fall, but I would like to work on leveling sprinkler heads around the greens, adding a few sprinklers to the front of a few greens to allow for better coverage. I would also like to work on leveling the drains in the fairways. especsially around the greens. Over the years with our topdressing program we are actually raising the surface but the irrigation heads and drains remain in the same spot the only way to fix this problem is physically digging and raising.

The rain we are getting today is really good timing. We are dry and this good soaking should be enough to charge the system back up.

Course Update 9/17/11

2011-09-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air with the first official frost on Wednesday. The golf course is really in great shape right now. I hope that you have had a chance to get in a few rounds. I have been hearing some very nice compliments about the course conditions.

This week we were able to complete the core aerating the approaches on 12-18. I am sure that you also noticed that we are also doing some of the weaker areas, mounds and cart traffic spots. the difference is night and day from the areas not done. recovery is already evident. The soil at Hawks is to say the least not ideal and our program of cultural control measures seems to be working. I feel the key is to continue on this program and even get a little more aggressive in the spring next year. Our plan will be to continue to core aerate our way around the golf course. working on a few holes a day until we have completed everything. Monday next week I plan on completing 11,10,9,1 and also topdress the greens and approaches. Tuesday we will work on holes 8,2,7 6, Wednesday holes 5,4..Then most likely the following week finish 3 and 14. Once we have completed the coring the greens will be needle tined and NOT CORED. I will then spike all fairways that week. If the weather stays warm as predicated all the tees will be verticut again next week. I am starting to see a difference in the firmness of the tees with this program and feel deep verticutting may be a little better then actually core aerating the tees. After next week I will start to slowly raise the height of the greens to prepare the turf for winter. The cool weather really slows the growth of our greens. Encouraging rooting, reducing stress and building a strong plant is important for winter survival.

this is also the time of the season that I like to work on a few projects before the end of the year. This year I plan on removing most of the rough around the oak at 2 green and replacing with fairway turf. There are a few bunkers that we will add sand and work on drainage.

Once again I hope that you are enjoying the course and look forward to seeing you soon

USGA-Green-Section-Record--September-16--2011

2011-09-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--September-16--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=XzTh03YVujY

update

2011-09-13T04:21:00.000-07:00

Another good week behind us and from the looks of it at least another solid week ahead. The golf course has really been in fine shape. The change in weather plays a large part in that but I also feel that the topdressing and verticutting are starting to pay off. Yesterday, we started to aerate the approaches on 15 and 16 also a few weak areas in 15 fairway. I would think this will be the norm over the next few weeks in that we will try to aerate one or two a day until they are done.

This is a great time of the year to apply some fertilizer. I plan on fertilizing the golf course using a granular next week. There has been some interesting data about the late fall fertilizer application in that this may not be as beneficial as we have thought in the past. This year, I plan on not making that late fall application and favoring a good solid fertilizer applied to the fairways and roughs right now. This should help the turf build and strong root system and fill in some weaker areas

Hopefully in conjunction with some of our cultural practices being done we should in theory build a better plant. I think that is the key, we need to look into the future do the right thing now to better the chances of survival down the road. If we want to favor a firmer faster golf course we really need to verticut and get some holes into the ground. Poa trivials is a a problem but we also have compacted areas that nothing can go into. Having a firm golf course doesn't mean less maintenance it may actually mean more since the ground needs to have proper air and water exchange for the turf to survive the drier conditions. I think that is what everyone gets a little confused about. I just can not shut off the irrigation without proper preparation of the soil for the plant to have a chance of survival.

2011-09-03T05:07:00.001-07:00

Do we need to apply plant protection for ? Here is your answer 5 tees was not sprayed for dollar spot 2 weeks ago the rest of the tee were and are almost disease free 5 tee is not. Dollar spot has been a big problem this year due to the humid warm days

USGA-Green-Section-Record--September-2--2011

2011-09-02T03:56:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--September-2--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=4WLXpg2ZoWE

course update

2011-08-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

This has been a crazy week, hopefully starting today things will get a little better. Lots of problems but we always seem to get it done and move forward. Anyway, with so many different things going on I guess we have to have a few things go wrong to keep me on my toes.

Monday we started to slit seed some of the stressed areas in the fairways. We will complete most of the areas today. Moving forward next spring we continue to add seed into more areas, hopefully the strong will survive. I also continue to lightly verticut the fairways to remove excess organic matter and encourage lateral growth. We have already completed all the fairways 2 times and planning on 1 more time this fall. I am sure that you have noticed a difference in the fairways already. The turf is standing up very nicely and many of the smaller weakened areas are starting to fill in. Each time that we have verticut the fairways I have lowered the cutters to penetrate into the canpoy a little more. Starting next week we will start to spike the fairways to help relieve compaction and allow for proper air and water movement.

This week we also started to verticut the tees. This year with the heat and humidity I have noticed a big increase in organic matter on the tees. You may have notice that some of the tees feel very soft and this is from excess organic matter or 'thatch' I have a machine that has wider spaced cutting heads that can remove a lot of thatch from the tees. In the photo right is the cutting head and the organic matter we are removing.Below left is the after cut appearance. It's a slow process because the amount of material being removed but there is a noticeable firmness after each tee is done.

Last week we double verticut all the greens and topdressed them. I feel the greens are much firmer now and over last weekend heard many great compliments on the greens. just as in last year the greens still seem to be holding some excess moisture in the top 2 inches. I have not used the irrigation system to water the greens going on 3 weeks just hand watering as needed. There are many reasons I feel as too this. One being we have not put nearly enough topdressing sand down this year becasue of the hot summer. The humid weather impacted the amount of organic matter on the greens as well not nearly to the extent as in the tees but still more then we want. I will continue to apply sand as well as lightly verticut the greens throughout the rest of the summer and into the early fall. this will help dilute this layer. I WILL NOT be core aerating the greens this fall and rely on sand and verticutting to firm up the greens. I do feel the greens are very good but being proactive will only help next year.

In the next few weeks we will start cutting down the fescue.

USGA Green Section Record, August 26, 2011

2011-08-26T03:09:00.000-07:00

USGA Green Section Record, August 26, 2011

update

2011-08-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

yesterday the back nine greens were verticut in two direction, mowed, and topdressed. today we made a good attempt to start on the front nine greens but had to stop because of the rain and lighting. I am very happy with the way the back nine greens turned out this morning after mowing them. It is amazing seeing the amount of grass we get from the verticutting process. This should encourage lateral growth since we are slicing the tillers of the plants. Next week we will be overseeding some of the poa trivails spots in the fairways with creeping bentgrasss. The timing is prefect for seeding right now and I would expect some pretty good results. I am using an improved type bentgrass called 'memorial' this grass is much more resistant to dollar spot. The following is a link that has a good description on this grass

http://www.scottsproseed.com/download.php?obj_id=293&browser=true

I was planning on starting to spike the fairways this week but today rains really puts us behind. I really would like to complete the verticutting and topdressing the front nine greens and then we will move on to spiking the fairways. The last 3 rains events were much needed but not very good timing. We will continue to push forward.

Last week I started to spray fescue on the back nine. I was concentrating on areas that still have undesirable grasses. In three weeks the plan would be to mow down the sprayed areas to further stress these grasses. In the upcoming weeks I will add some broadleaf herbicide to the application and work on spraying the front nine. between 5/6, the hill on 3/7 and along the creeks on 2/8 will be done first. Next year these areas should be just about pure fescue. Looking at the test plots on 12 and 15 that were sprayed with the growth regulator I am still encouraged by the thin stand of fescue. I feel that next spring all new seeded areas and some existing stands that are in play will be sprayed with this product. It seems we are getting growth control for the most part of the year so I would feel that this program should work and there will be a thinner stand and reduced height of the turf. Bottom line is that these areas should actually be playable if the results are the same as the test plots. pretty encouraging actually. This is exactly the reason we do these test plots before making jumping all in. There is a lot of science involved here and knowing the right information is very critial to making proper judgments.

day in a life of a golf course maintenance team

2011-08-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

USGA-Green-Section-Record--August-19--2011

2011-08-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--August-19--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=GI51Kuxqbcg

Update

2011-08-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy last 2 weeks. This time of the year brings cooler nights and i am trying to take advantage of this to encourage recovery on the golf course from the stressful summer. You can already see that many of the poa trivilas dormant areas in the fairways are coming back to life. There are some areas that will not and these will be overseeded in the next few weeks. All the fairways and tees were verticut last week. Verticutting encourages more lateral growth and my goal is to help the turf along in filling some of the voids left from the poa trivials. Yesterday we started to verticut the approaches on the front nine. With the hot humid weather this year the turf really needs to be thinned out since I am starting to see some scalping. I am topdressing all the greens and appoaches today to help dilute the organic matter even more. I will most likely verticut all the greens next week as well as topdress the greens and approaches again. We will also seed and aerate a lot of the other areas in hopes that next year the bentgrass will take over. The putting green was verticut yesterday and topdressed. I am sure that you have noticed a complete turn around with the putting green compared to 2 months ago, there is very little moss left and the green is very healthy. Last week, we core aerifed the range tee and overseeded with a low mow kentucky bluegrass blend. I am encouraged by our progress on the range tee this year. I am starting to see some kentucky bluegrass taking over . We will continue to overseeded the rest of the year. The range tee gets so much use that bentgrass just can not recover fast enough using the bluegrass the tee should be more stable do to the growth characteristics of the bluegrass over bentgrass.

In the upcoming weeks we will be verticutting the fariways and tees again. I would like to do this at least another 3 times before the end of the year. We have not spiked the fairways even close to enough this year and we will be spiking the fairways starting next week and make every attempt to get in 3 more before the end of the season.

Overall I feel the golf course is in fine shape and I hope that you will be able to enjoy the course this week the weather looks to be great

Neil

Ball Marks

2011-08-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days I have heard some comments on the fact that there are a lot of ball marks on the greens. I can honestly say that is true. I pin flagged each and every ball mark on 15 greens after the club championship weekend before we mowed the green. As you can see there is a lot of unrepaired ball marks 179 to be exact. not that all were unrepaired some were but not properly done. In the photo to the right you can see that someone tried to repair the ball mark but actually made it worse, it would have been better to leave it alone. There were many like this on the green this morning. The greens staff does make every attempt to repair ball marks before mowing, spending at least 5 to 10 minutes on each green. Do they miss a few yes but they do a pretty good job considering the fact that they have to work on ball marks, mow the green and repair all the bunkers before play. It just doesn't seem right that we have to fix all these each day. I believe it is every players responsibility to fix ball marks properly, rake bunkers cleanly, and replace or fill divots. When I learned the game from my Dad, he always told me to leave the course better then it was before. I can still remember that to this day. Our staff does such a good job preparing the golf course each day and maybe we could do a few extra touches if we did not have to spend so much time cleaning everything up.

Please help us out during your round to make our course a better place by taking proper golf maintenance seriously.

In this video you will see the proper way to repair ball marks on our greens

m/USGA-Green-Section-Record--August-5--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=z-gTSE0mM6U

2011-08-05T17:31:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--August-5--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=z-gTSE0mM6U

Course Update

2011-08-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

finally we have a few cooler nights the last two days, this will take the pressure off the big 3 turf diseases out there which will also help me sleep a little better at night. Dollar spot will continue to be a problem out there and now with the temperatures moderating the dollar spot pressure will actually be higher. The hot weather has also shortened the length of control for fungicides as well as growth regulators. We use growth regulators for the most part the entire golf season to reduce the top growth of the turf. The University of Wisconsin has done some ground breaking research of using temperatures by combing the high and the low for the day and then using this information to figure out how long growth regulators will work. bottom line this year I am only seeing about 10 days of regulations from these findings where more normal years I would expected to see about 17 days. This is important in that once the turf comes out of regulation there is a growth spurt. I am sure that you have seen more grass clipping on the fairways then in past years. This is the reason for that. This week I actually mowed the fairways everyday and also collected the clippings. Normal years the regulators keep the turf in check to the point of mowing only 3 days per week. Needless to say but the last few weeks have not been very easy. The rain last week helped some but we are still very dry only receiving about 2 inches of rain since June 14. With the hot humid weather being on the dry side is no doubt much better then being wet. Reading some blogs from around the Midwest many golf courses that had the rains have seen a lot of decline and the turfgrass is under considerable stress. For us the main problems are the poa trivalis in the fairways and I will start to work some bentgrass seed into these areas as well as start to spike and core the excessively hard areas to open up some channels for water to move into. What we really need is a good old soaking rain.

This week the greens staff has been working very hard to get the golf course into shape for the club championship. The cooler nights and low humidity have helped in in firming up the greens. We were able to needle tine all the greens and also have made 2 very light topdressing application which have help control some of the puffiness. Next week I plan on verticutting the tees, topdressing the greens and start to spike the fairways.

Have a great weekend and good luck to you in the club championship

/USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-29

2011-07-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

Looks like this year is turning out to be a very interesting year.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-29--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=v-n5rt_b3wM

Rain

2011-07-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days we have received about 1 inch of rain. More rain then in the last month in a half. There is nothing like rain to brings life back into the course. No matter how good the irrigation system, rain is complete coverage. I can already see some green coming back into the dry areas. Some of the poa trivials in the fairways has really taken it hard this year and we will be overseeding these spots as soon as we can. I would suspect that once the weather cools off most of the spots will recover but getting a little bentgrass into them will only help in the future. I was able to vent all the greens expect the putting green this week. This was the first time that we did this all year. It is important to allow the greens to breath and coupled with the rain over the last few days it was just about prefect timing. I could not topdress all the greens on Monday but was able to complete 9-18. I will need to finish the rest of the greens this week. Bentgrass gets very puffy and scalps in this humid hot weather and topdressing helps keeps this in check. During the extreme hot weather I was not able to apply sand to the greens and approaches and now we are behind a little. Why? well just like when you walk on a beach with bare feet, The turf can be burned the same way and this is just to dangerous to do. So over the next few weeks I will be topdressing when possible.

update

2011-07-24T03:48:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday morning and there is nothing worse then a lightening storm with the staff waiting around to head out.

Anyway, this week has been a tough one and I am glad it's behind me and looking forward to what is next. The rain over the last 3 days much needed. We were very lucky in only receiving .3 of an inch, some areas to the east really got hit hard. honestly, I will take hand watering to pushing sand in the bunkers any day. There are still some brown areas on the golf course and that will be the case until the temperatures moderate. We will continue to incorporate some creeping bentgrass into the poa trivials areas this fall. I would also like to deeply verticut the fairway to help remove some of the excess thatch. I am still very happy with the growth regulator plots that we sprayed this spring on the hill between 11/12 and along the creek on 15, 16. I am looking into the idea of spraying all the new in play fescue next spring to reduce the height and thin out the stand even more. The herbicide program is working great in the fescue, very little weeds and grasses. There is some that remains and we will continue to spray these areas until they are clean.

This week we will start to needle tine and topdress the greens. For whatever reason turfgrass gets very "puffy" in this hot humid weather and if you do not keep up with the topdressing you will increase the chances for some scalping of the turf. I did switch the front rollers on the greens mowers to a solid roller during the hot spell to reduce from stress while cutting and the grooved rollers will now go back on after the topdressing application. I will use this technique in stressful events instead of physical raising the height of the mowers. There is more surface area on a smooth roller which actually raises the height. The greens really preformed great last week the only areas on the golf course that are problems right now is the poa trivails in the fairways. I am starting to see some dollar spot which can be reality easy to control, but the hot/humid weather can bring out the nasty diseases that keep all superintendents up at night. I believe the key to prevent a major outbreak is to keep the golf course as dry as possible during this type of weather. I was very careful watering at night last week only spot watering during the early morning and did not put any water on the greens using the irrigation system only hand watering was done. Rain and hot humid weather do not mix very well and can be a powered keg waiting to happen Yes, we do have have dry spots out there but overall the golf course is in fine shape with very little disease.

USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-22--2011

2011-07-22T03:09:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-22--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=TJu-PVC5bYc

Dry spots

2011-07-19T07:19:00.001-07:00

This hot weather not the greatest for the poa trivialis grass in the fairways. Most of the dry looking areas in the fairways is poa trivials going dormant in this extended hot weather. Looking closely green grass can be found in these areas and after close examination creeping bentgrass can be found. We didn't plant this grass in the fairways, it has just filled in. This is not the same as poa annua in which we have very little. An interesting point is that poa trivialis is used in the south to overseed in the winter monthes which grows great in mild weather and is quite competitive. The cool springs are very ideal to the poa trivialis. But just like in the south in the hot weather it goes dorment. I have been hand watering to reduce stress but nature is taking over in some areas. When the weather breaks I will work on overseeding some creeping bentgrass into these areas. There has been some recent research on chemical controls but without much luck in a slow transition instead pretty much kills it. This really would not be a great option at this point and overseeding is looking like a better choice

In the meantime during this extreme weather we will be out in force spot watering by hand so please bear with us if we are in your way. I have to be very careful with irrigation right now and hand watering is really the best way

Try to stay cool and hydrated.

USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-15--2011

2011-07-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-15--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=WWm9Bntonv0

update

2011-07-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

The next 10 days will be a tester for us and the turf. This week I paid close attention to recovery of some of the very dry areas on the golf course. The hot weather is very stressful all all turf and very, very careful attention must be made to watering, mowing and making every attempt to reduce mechanical injury. If that is not enough there are numerous diseases that can take over in the extremely hot weather. I will water the golf course tonight using the irrigation system and then during the hot weather will limit the nightly watering and do more spot watering dry areas. The key will be to reduce stress and limit excess moisture, which can actually be much worse. I will apply some plant protection to the greens and some low areas in the fairways over the next few days. We will most likely not roll the greens for speed , but may skip a mowing during the week and roll the greens instead. I think the take home message here will be to not overdo it just like you would with yourself in extreme weather.

The progress on the putting green moss control is making some strides. I believe we are on the right track with the program and over the next few weeks we should continue to see improvement.

In the last few weeks we have went through a lot of divot mix for the fairways and tees. This is a great thing and your effort is much appreciated, but I also feel that there are many divots that are taken that can very easily is replaced instead of filling with divot mix. In the photos below, I took 3 shots into a green. The left and middle full shot and big divot the right side more or less just a scalp that no divot was taken. After one week the replaced divot is completely rooted down and the filled divot has just germinated. It would take most likely another 7 days for complete fill in. These findings show that if you can replace your divots do so and if there is not enough sod to fill the void then fill with the divot mix.

filled/ replaced 7/8

7/8

7/11, notice rooting from divot


7/15, divot rooted down and filled divot just germinated

The Stimpmeter

2011-07-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

I am posting this video today in regards to the measurement of the greens for both consistency and green speed. I use a tool, which is called a Stimpmeter to take these measurements. For me, the most important use of the tool is to make sure the greens are putting consistently throughout the golf course, in doing so the speed of the green is also determined. I have a process that I use when measuring the greens so that it is the same from day in and day out and I done it this way for as long as I can remember. There are so many environmental and mechanical factors that are in play on a daily basis thase all effect the speed of the greens. Humidity, soil moisture, lack of humidity and maintenance practices just to name a few have some factor on speed as well as consistency from one day to the next. We do our best to keep some of the factors in check, but a prefect example was last weekend The turf really started to grow which really slowed down the speed. I will continue to do my best to keep the greens consistent, smooth, and at or near a ball roll of 11 feet for daily play. Typically, the first part of the week the greens are slower then Friday through Sunday which all relates back to the maintenance part of the factors that effect the speed of the greens.

Golf Course Update 7/9/11

2011-07-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

We are going on 20 days of no real rain and from the forecast many more hot and dry days ahead. It is great for golf considering the spring but the hot dry weather has been quite challenging for me.

The golf course is in fine shape the greens have been rolling very well in the mid 11 to 12 feet range on most days. This week, I applied a wetting agent on the greens to help more water throughout the soil profile and help alleviate some of the dry areas on the greens. I water the greens heavily right after the application to move the wetting agent throughout the entire soil profile. Our greens are a bit interesting in that they dry out very fast and you really need to keep a close eye on them every day. Even after the heavy watering a few dry areas linger. The grey colored spot on the greens are not a disease but dry spots. You can see in the picture that the soil is very dry and needs to be watered. I check each green in the morning and then carefully watch them during the day. The last 6 days I have worked countless hours hand watering dry spots. The same is true for the rest of the golf course. You can start to see the limits of the irrigation system. There may be a dry spot in one area and a head right next to it. You may wonder as to why this can be but there are many answers to that question. One is that all the irrigation heads in the fairways and most rough areas areas run in pairs. Other reason may be excessive thatch, compacted soil, traffic, just to name a few. In the photo there are two heads running, there is a hill right next to a low area the other head is on a flat area. So the low area may be wetter then the hill and running the head to water the hill or dry spot the low spot will get to wet. The best way to water would be to have guys hand water the hill part and not run the head but that would but you would need resources that most clubs just do not have. I follow a gentleman on my twitter account that works for Oakmont and that is exactly what they do. There must be at least 8 guys hand watering all day. and night. I make every attempt to bridge the gap and water as efficiently as possible. Over the course of the next few weeks if this weather pattern continues the dry spots in the fairways and rough may go dormant and will come back when the weather breaks. In the meantime, I am applying wetting agents to these areas to help the water move into the soil and wet the turf as best as possible.

You may also have noticed the moss on the putting green is finally starting to transition out. In this photo you can see that there is a lot of bentgrass growing in the verticutting slits. I did plan on verticutting the green again this week but with the hot weather that will not be done until the weather breaks. I feel there is good progress and do not want to stress the bentgrass at this time. You may have also noticed that the putting green is slower now then the rest of the greens. I am mowing that greens higher then the rest to help encourage more lateral growth. The L-93 variety of bentgrass that we have on the greens does not grow sideways very well and a higher height of cut should help the turf fill in even more. In comparison the putting green is now mowed at .125 of an inch the rest of the greens are at the height of .100.

Many members have commented on the course setup this year. I hope that you are as happy as the majority of the members that I have spoken with. As you know I am the one that changes the cups daily. I do not have a sheet that I work off of and really don't go with the 6 hard, 6 easy, 6 medium. I do put a lot of thought into setup for you. I plan a few days ahead also in the setup, also, there is no bad days that would have me putting a pin in a tough spot either. What my goals are is that the course plays completely different from one day to the next and really think about the golf shot into the green and try to take in account of weather conditions. I really feel that the more shots you can play the more fun you can have throughout your round. It may even make you a better golfer thinking about how to attack the pin and use some of the banks to feed your ball on the green. but I always 'give' you a few holes after a few challenging pins.

I hope that you will be able to get in a few rounds this week. Neil

USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-8--2011

2011-07-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--July-8--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=48gDUDr5COE

update

2011-07-01T03:47:00.000-07:00

The golf course is in fine shape. This week we completed many different tasks. The bunker to the right of 16 green has for the last few years held water after major rain events and the sand in the low areas was not very good. We removed all the sand from the low areas, cleaned the drainage and installed new sand. I am hoping that just repairing the low area will be a good option to consider for the rest of the bunkers that hold water. I will continue to watch the performance of the bunker to see if this is a good option. We topdressed the greens and approaches this week. I decided to use a heavier rate then I would normally since the greens have not been done for at least 3 weeks. Everything went well and the greens are in fine shape.

The moss situation on the putting green is improving. I am starting to see a few more plants filling into the moss areas. Moss is not very easy to get rid of. The spots that you see on the surface, do no justice to the moss plant itself. As you can see in the photo there is a very thick matt that we need to get the bentgrass to try to the break go through. Once this hot weather breaks a little we will once again verticut the green to open up more channels for the bentgrass to fill into. Overall, there is good progress and it looks like we are on a good program.

In the next few weeks I will be doing some of our own research on the new fescue areas. I am very happy with the growth regulators that were applied this spring but what I would like to see if we apply growth regulators now will that help in keeping the stand that we have now thin. I will apply different rates and products in a few areas to help me evaluate the results.

USGA-Green-Section-Record--June-24--2011

2011-06-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Lots of great information in this USGA Record. A must read

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--June-24--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=HYFPNWa8cGY

update

2011-06-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

This weeks weather sure has been interesting. Very humid and wet but not very warm. So we really did not see much dry down the entire week and the course is fairly wet. The greens are in fine shape, we have managed to keep the speeds up, not near the 12.5 feet like last weekend, but we are still around 11 feet. I was not able to topdress the greens this week because of the weather. When it is wet, the sand will does not broom in and ends ups making a mess for a few days and really does not work into the canopy like it should. The greens and approaches both need to be topdressed and we will topdress on Monday. I will most likely go with a slightly heavier rate of sand then normally since the greens have not been done for 3 weeks. Hopefully we will be able to get back on track starting Monday the topdressing will really help.

6/19

6/24

We sprayed the greens again today to prepare them for the upcoming warm humid weather. I also added some Iron and the herbicide to help control the moss. I am treating the putting green separate from the rest since that green has the most moss. I am trying a few different rates and techniques on the putting green to evaluate the best control measures for moss and growth. On the far right side I have circled a moss spot to keep track of the progress. I have been taking pictures daily since that is the best way to watch the conversion. In the last 2 weeks we have made a big turn around favoring the creeping bentgrass and you can see the difference already. I am very satisfied with the progress and confident that we will see continued success. I will be able to take some of my findings from the putting green trial and use on the rest of the greens if needed in the future. The weather has been the main problem for use in the management of the moss.

The humid weather has also been prefect for dollar spot development
The tees usually get dollar spot before the rest of the bentgrass areas because the the tees were seeded to penn cross creeping bentgrass. Penn Cross is the oldest improved type bentgrass and is is not very resistant to dollar spot. We have been using a newer variety in the divot mix to help build up a little more resistant type strains. The rain showers this week prevented use from spraying the tees to protect them from getting this disease. We have since sprayed all the tees so we should see them fill in very quickly.

I hope that you have a great weekend, it looks like the weather should be great for some good rounds of golf

Open setup round 3

2011-06-18T15:36:00.001-07:00

neil radatz (@hawksnr) has shared a Tweet with you:

"GCSAAbrk: Third round set-up, conditioning notes: Here is the official USGA update on set-up and conditioning for the weat... http://bit.ly/kKZp7l"
--http://twitter.com/GCSAAbrk/status/82196930708520960

Update

2011-06-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Golf Course Update Week of 6/18

Overall the week is ending very well. This is one of my favorite weekends not just becasue of Fathers day but The Open is by far my favorite tournament of the year. I love watching the excitement unfold over the course of the week also this is probably the only event that shows what is involved in the golf course preparations before and during the Open, the USGA should be applauded for doing this. In the last few years, the golf course operation has really been in the press more. I can remember back when I was involved in the PGA Championship the only press we received was why the greens were too slow and then why were the greens too fast, even through it was in the mid 90's for 2 weeks straight. I have posted many articles this week about the Open both good and bad but it shows the struggles that is involved in attaining Open conditions. As you can see even with 150 grounds staff it's hard to do let alone the 15-18 most course have on a daily basis. It's not easy and if one step is missed everything can go downhill very quickly it doesn't take long to go from great to bad in a hurry.

Hawks is fine shape the rain was timely but the humid conditions this week has been prefect conditions for Dollar Spot development. The wet spring and constant cloudy damp weather has also been good for the moss on the putting green as well as a few greens on the golf course. I am sure you have seen the moss on the putting green, I agree it does look pretty bad. I am doing everything that I can to at least stop the spreading of the moss and to encourage recovery of the bentgrass. We sprayed all the greens last week with a herbicide that should help. I also verticut the greens this week to help get a little air into the canopy to dry it out. Next week we will topdress all the greens and spray them again. Over the next few weeks you should see a change for the better. Here is a article from the USGA for your review on Moss and you will be able to see the battle we are up against. http://www.usga.org/course_care/green_section_record/2007/jul_aug/Of-Moss-and-Men/#.TfuU_pimqO4;mailto

2011-06-18T06:31:00.001-07:00

neil radatz (@hawksnr) has shared a Tweet with you:

"GCSAAbrk: Water, new greens and the U.S. Open: If you've read our posts throughout the past week from the 2011 U.S. Open a... http://bit.ly/jAMBkn"
--http://twitter.com/GCSAAbrk/status/81875435151048706

Open Set up today

2011-06-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Up and at 'em for round two at Congressional

Let me start by saying this — 3:20 a.m. comes just as early as you might expect it would.
And after rising at that time today to join the maintenance staff at Congressional CC for their morning rounds prior to the second day of the 2011 U.S. Open, I have a new appreciation for what the 100-plus members of that staff — full-time Congressional employees and volunteers alike — have gone through this week. I did it one day and am half delirious. They've been doing it for six days running now, with two more early wake-up calls on the horizon, and as far as I can tell, remain dialed in and focused on the task at hand (at least after a few donuts and a cup of coffee).
The USGA's official set-up and conditioning notes for round two should be available soon, and I will post those in their entirety when I receive them. But a few things to note from my time on the course:

The course received between a quarter and a third of an inch of rain from the thunderstorms that began pushing through the area last night at around 10 p.m. How did that affect the Blue Course's greens? Green speeds were still on the money — can't reveal any state secrets, but the USGA update to come will have the official numbers — and moisture levels remain healthy, but the rain did soften the greens, so they'll be very receptive today to well-struck shots.
The Sub-Air systems at Congressional were up and running on all greens before first-round play began in an effort to pull some of that extra moisture through the green profile. That will have little or no impact on green speeds, at least for today, but could help firm the putting surfaces up a little bit.
Greens were double cut and single rolled this morning. A scattered few received a second roll following Stimpmeter readings. Greens on Nos. 3, 5, 6 and 11 were all rolled with the heavier Smithco units in an attempt to squeeze a little extra speed out of them.
I got a chance to walk almost every green on the front nine, as well as the practice putting green, and I'll reiterate what I said yesterday — there are definitely areas of wear and stress that were leftover from the high heat and humidty that hit the Mid-Atlantic area the previous two weeks. They're generally limited to the collars and step cuts more than the putting surfaces themselves, but I did see a few spots — the back right of No. 9 green, most notably, where players generally exit that green — that have encroached onto the putting surfae. Do I think these areas will limit some potential hole locations over the weekend? No, I really don't, but obviously the USGA will make the final call on that.

Sub Air System at the Open

2011-06-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

USGA-Green-Section-Record--June-17--2011

2011-06-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--June-17--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=dBK98tJNfPo

2011-06-14T19:53:00.001-07:00

Article: Tee to Green: Congressional's Blue Course

2011-06-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

Tee to Green: Congressional's Blue Course
http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/tee-to-green-congressionals-blue-course/?cid=twitter_gc_NOBILOTEETOGREEN_061311

Article: A Few Monday Views Of Congressional

2011-06-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

A Few Monday Views Of Congressional
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2011/6/13/a-few-monday-views-of-congressional.html

(Sent from Flipboard)

update

2011-06-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

The 1.75 inches of rain this week put a damper on moving forward. All the bunkers were for the most part washed out and had to be repaired. In doing so we took the time to make sure all the sand was in the right spot. I also changed the way we are raking the faces before the storm, this seemed to help a little in that we did not have massive washouts. So we will be just smoothing the faces using the back of the bunker rakes and not actually raking the sand. This really seems to help keep the surface firm and should also help reduce buried lies. We will try this technique and see if there is a improvement.

This week has also be challenging in keeping green speed at out normal pace. The wet, damp weather really makes things "sticky" and I have to fight that. With the Member Invitational next week. I will be pulling out all the ticks in the bag to keep things were they should be.

Overall, the golf course is in fine shape. Before the rain the course was very dry so in the long run the rain was timely and really did not slow down any golfing, I hope that everyone has a great week.

There are still some slots available for the Invitational. This is a great time to show off the golf course to a friend.

USGA-Green-Section-Record--June-9--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=dEJBn7gXTyA

2011-06-10T03:23:00.000-07:00

This entry a must read

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--June-9--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=dEJBn7gXTyA

update

2011-06-04T03:30:00.000-07:00

We had another great week for both golf and work. The winds just do not seem like they are letting up this year. We may have one day that is calm and the next few so windy. It is actually quite dry out the winds have been really drying the golf course out during the day and I am hand watering many areas. I really try not water the greens using the sprinklers. This year, I have only watered the greens at night 2 times. The rest of the time, I will hand water the dry areas. The wetting agent that was applied to the greens is working as planned. The greens, I feel are much firmer but still will allow water movement through the soil profile. Last year some of these dry areas were very difficult to rewet. Speaking of wetting agents, the fairways are also preforming very well, very firm and very little wet areas. This upcoming week we will be spraying the greens, tees, and fairways with another application.

We have completed the range irrigation project. A few years ago we had some major electrical issues out in the range which left only 8 of the 40 irrigation heads working. I had to water the range by turning on each of the heads, letting them run for awhile, then move on down the line. To make a long story short we rewired all the sprinklers and now every one works. whats that mean to you, well the range will look 100% better since it will have efficient watering at night. Over the last 2 days you can already see the difference.

This upcoming week we will be lightly veritcutting the fairways and also start to spike the fairways.

Enjoy the weekend, I hope to see you soon.

USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-27--2011

2011-06-03T03:26:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-27--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=wJsXR51FK1U

Sun Safety

2011-05-31T03:27:00.001-07:00

update 5/31

2011-05-31T03:24:00.000-07:00

We were able to make it through the weekend with only a little rain to slow us down. Yesterday was one of the busiest Memorial days that I can remember in a long time, It was great seeing everyone. Summer has started, the heat felt good but not sure if my body was quite ready for it. I feel that we had the golf course in fine shape over the weekend even with the high humidity.

The greens are around 11 feet now with the exception of Sunday. Sunday had all the elements against us, the fog, cloud cover, and high humidity. Yesterday, the greens had a thick cover of dew. We decided to broom the greens before mowing to remove the heavy dew. Then after mowing, all the greens were rolled. This plan seemed to work pretty well since the greens were back up to 11 feet in the morning.

Today we are topdressing the greens and approaches fairly lightly. We will also completed the application of the fertilizer on the fairways and rough areas. As of right now everything is on schedule and doing well. I do have plans to lightly verticut the fairways again next week as well as slicing the fairways. I will most lightly needle tine the greens the week of the 14th.

Thank you and hope to see you soon

USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-27

2011-05-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-27--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=BS0SOz6BA70

Nation's 'front yard' gets green grass makeover - USATODAY.com

2011-05-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

Nation's 'front yard' gets green grass makeover - USATODAY.com

Golf Course Industry : More than just a game

2011-05-26T02:56:00.000-07:00

Golf Course Industry : More than just a game

golf course update

2011-05-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

As I sit here we are currently getting a lot of rain. Just about 1.3 inches so far and much more on the way. Overall, I feel it very timely considering the fact that yesterday we fertilized all the fairways. I am very interested in seeing the condition of the golf course after this rain event. All the fairways and certain roughs areas have been sprayed with a wetting agent to help move water through the soil profile. In the past, I have injected the wetting agents into the irrigation system. I had to water the golf course to get the wetting agent out, overall this was not the prefect means of application. Spraying the wetting agents is prefect since we know exactly where the product is going. I feel that after this rain the golf course should be firm and not overly wet, I am very excited to see how everything turns out. .

Believe it or not the roughs were also fertilized using a 100% slow release fertilizer. The interesting thing about the rough is that just about all the roughs were done using a walking type fertilizer spreader. The spreader has been modified to either spread a "normal" throw or just to one side of the spreader. What makes this so nice is that no fertilizer is applied to any of the fescue areas. We are taking a lot of care to reduce any additional inputs into the fescue. Over the last few years we have been changing out the full circle irrigation heads to part circle heads to reduce the supplemental watering. We will continue to work on moving and changing out sprinklers.

We continue to spray for weeds on the golf course as of today all the fescue has been sprayed. The roughs are also being sprayed this year, we have completed all but 3 holes on the course. The bunkers are also being treated using a back pack sprayer this is slightly time consuming and and very weather and wind dependent. All but 2-6 have been completed and hopefully by this weekend the reminder holes will be done. There is some breakthrough weeds in the fescue that will be either spot sprayed or hand pulled out.

Overall, the golf course is in great shape and is everything is preforming well at this point. in the next few weeks we will slice the fairways to work with the wetting agents to move water. We will continue to top dress the greens bi-monthly until the heat of the summer then very light rates on the weekly basis will be done.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the golf course this year and look forward to seeing you very soon

Neil

US Open preparations

2011-05-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-20--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=ufdMSrdDetA

2011-05-20T03:19:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-20--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=ufdMSrdDetA

Space shuttle launch view from a plane.

2011-05-16T19:42:00.001-07:00

http://twitpic.com/4yg4ur

update

2011-05-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

What a difference, I knew the bunker looked bad but not this bad. We are in the final push to complete the bunker and will have a crew working on it all day. I am sure that you have noticed the green is about 12 inches too high and wondering what is going on there. Once again it is all sand from the bunker. Over the years the sand built up a little at a time to raise the profile. It is basically the same thing we are doing with topdressing greens. I am sure that you have seen a few irrigation sprinklers that seem lower then before. The sprinklers are fixed, for the most part, in the ground and with the application of sand to the greens the soil raises over time.

This week will be a big push to get many things done. With the warm weather last week and the mild weather this week the turf is finally starting to grow. I will be spraying a growth regulator to slow the upright growth, encourage more lateral growth, strengthen the turf, and control the poa annua grass. At the same time, I will also apply a wetting agent to help reduce the surface tension to allow for better water infiltration rates. My goal with this program is to keep the playing surface firm and remove the surface water quickly.

I hope that you are enjoying the golf course and I look forward to seeing you soon

USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-13--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=1QJk2H6_LWU

2011-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-13--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=1QJk2H6_LWU

update

2011-05-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, from 50 to mid 80's in no time. Overall most areas on the golf course are in fine shape and doing well. I am not too sure what to think about the trees. The red maples have very tiny orange looking leaves and for what ever reason do not appear to be very healthy. I am sure after yesterdays warm weather we will start to see the rest of the trees starting to bloom. I do see some buds on the oak on 2 but no leaves at this time.

We continue to press ahead on the chipping bunker. I have posted many pictures on twitter of the progress. Today we will finish installing the liner and start to haul in the sand. I would guess by next Wednesday we will be finished. Projects are challenging especially when we tackle most of them on our own. I always do my best to put the golf course ahead of the project and do realize that it takes longer this way. The main problem of the chipping bunker is the amount of work that honestly was not expected.

Yesterday, we completed spraying all but 1,2,8 fescue. We will complete these holes by the end of the week. This is the first time we have sprayed just about all of the fescue on the golf course. Additionally, We made a pre-emergent application in the early spring to hopefully control crabgrass and foxtail. Then we started on the areas of high concentration of the undesirable grasses, finishing up with a broad leaf herbicide. Some areas you are already seeing a difference.

We completed verticutting the tees yesterday, most areas have been completed with the exception of 1,2,3,8 fairways. I am sure that you see a difference and the stand of turf.

Monday next week I will be topdressing all the greens and wind permitting fertilizing the green with a organic fertilizer. This is really the only time that the greens will have a granular application of fertilizer. After, this application we will be spraying the greens every 2 weeks using very small doses of fertilizer to keep the plant healthy and not to over stimulate. We try to give the plant just what it needs to make it through the 2 weeks.

Now is the time you may want to think about aerating your home lawn. Yesterdays weather maybe a wake up call to have everything in order so that the turfgrass has plenty of air/water movement throughout the soil profile. If we have another hot wet summer like last year proper preparation will be the key to survival. Try not to over fertilize your yard this spring. Applying heavy amount of nitrogen basically encourages top growth and does not promote much root growth or stress tolerance. Try to give the lawn just enough fertilizer to have nice color and not the excessive growth. You will not have to mow as much and the turf will be healthier..

USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-6--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=e5WEPV7TgnE

2011-05-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--May-6--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=e5WEPV7TgnE

Course Update

2011-04-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Finally a great day for everyone to enjoy. This week we have been quite busy even with the bad weather. The golf course is actually in fine shape we are finally starting to get into a routine of mowing all the maintained turf. The cool/wet weather really has not been all that bad the turf is not growing too vigorously but the roots have been growing nicely. In this picture you can see a lot of roots, but what is very cool is that in the channels made by the aeration holes the roots have pretty much filled each channel. These channels are a great supply of oxygen and not overall saturated which in turn allows the roots to grow.

This week we have completed the back nine and all but 6 and 7 on the front nine using the herbicide that will control the undesirable grasses in the fescue. Today we also sprayed a new herbicide to control weeds on 4,5,6. This is the first time that we have sprayed basically all the fescue on the golf course. In mid-may we will finish the application of the weeds herbicide on the rest of the course. I am sure that you have noticed the new fescue overwintered great and looks good. We have enlarged some of the cart areas that enter and exit the course and will be reseeding these areas over the next few weeks. I feel this year the fescue should look really good and believe we are finally getting very close to having a beautiful stand of fescue grass. We are also going to spray a growth regulator in some of the areas to hopefully reduce the density of the stand. The test plots were encouraging last year.

Today, we also started to remove the sod from the chipping bunker. Over the last 10 years with the high use the bunker gets there is a considerable layer of sand on the face. I honestly did not think it was as deep as it is but the bunker looks terrible and needs to be repaired. Last years transformation of the bunker on 15 turned out great and I am confident that the chipping bunker will be as it was originally intended when completed.

I hope that you will be able to enjoy the golf course this weekend and I hope to see you soon.

Geat promotion for you to join our club

2011-04-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Spring-Membership-Promotion-Includes-a-new-R11-Driver-.html?soid=1102692376598&aid=Z6anFc_-vLY

USGA-Green-Section-Record--April-29--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=nxNn9L20fZU

2011-04-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--April-29--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=nxNn9L20fZU

golf etiquette

2011-04-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

#17 wall

2011-04-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we completed the soil work as well as the sodding in front of 17 green,

I had a small window before the rain that was predicated and thought that if the work was not done we would have to wait another 3 days. Our crew worked very hard to complete the project by 6:00 yesterday afternoon. I actually could not believe that we were able to finish the job in 6 hours. The collar will need to be removed, leveled and replaced and there is a few areas in the approach that will be replaced as well but the main work is done.

Here is a picture that was taken a few years back

What a difference

USGA-Green-Section-Record--April-22--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=gt4FEqAddG0

2011-04-22T04:31:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/USGA-Green-Section-Record--April-22--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=gt4FEqAddG0

Golf Courses Benefit People and Wildlife

2011-04-22T04:29:00.000-07:00

Golf Courses Benefit People and Wildlife

What Are the Principles?

Although many Americans enjoy working in their yards and maintaining an attractive landscape, they may not realize the tangible benefits of their efforts. These same benefits are available on the golf course where the combination of mowed turf, trees and natural areas provides a diverse environment for people and wildlife. Preserving these green spaces improves the environmental quality of the entire community.

As the game of golf has become more popular, people have become interested in how golf affects land resources and the environment. Many organizations in golf are actively answering these questions. In the past several years, the United States Golf Association (USGA) has supported more than 90 university studies and research projects to evaluate the relationship between golf and the environment.

This document highlights the benefits of turf, trees and natural areas as commonly found on golf courses. The information presented about these benefits is supported by factual, unbiased university research. Further information about any specific benefit - and the research from which it was drawn - can be provided by the USGA.

The golf course ecosystem:

Provides wildlife habitat
Protects topsoil from water and wind erosion
Improves community aesthetics
Absorbs and filters rain
Improves health and reduces stress for more than 24.5 million golfers
Improves air quality
Captures and cleanses runoff in urban areas
Discourages pests (e.g. ticks and mosquitoes)
Restores damaged land areas (e.g. former landfill or mining sites)
Makes substantial contributions to the community's economy

1) Golf Course Roughs and Trees Create Good Wildlife Habitat
More than 70 percent of most golf courses are rough and non-play areas including natural grasses, trees and shrubs. Combined with the open areas of fairways and greens, the golf course is an attractive wildlife habitat. The USGA and the Audubon Society of New York State have developed the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. This program enhances wildlife habitat on and around golf courses. From osprey to deer, an amazing number of species are making golf courses their home.

2) Turf Protects Topsoil from Water and Wind Erosion
Our nation's topsoil is not a renewable resource. Wind and water may erode the topsoil into rivers, lakes and oceans. Once gone, it cannot be replaced in our lifetimes. Turf controls erosion by capturing and slowing fast-flowing water from storms.

How does turf stop erosion? Turf has a dense system of roots and shoots. Its normal growth patterns create organic matter. Together, the dense shoot and root growth slow surface water runoff. For example, during most rainstorms, very little soil is lost from areas covered by well maintained turf. However, there is a considerable loss of soil from bare ground and cropland. Even during extremely intense rainstorms (three inches per hour), studies show that turf holds up to 20 times more soil than traditionally-farmed cropland.

3) Courses Improve Community Aesthetics
Turf not only keeps things cooler on a hot day; it also reduces noise pollution. Turf also reduces the glare of bright sunlight more than pavement or buildings. Plus, the community gains beauty and function when areas damaged by mining or landfills are reclaimed by professionally designed, constructed and maintained golf courses.

4) Turf Absorbs Rainwater
Rain is an important source of clean groundwater - which supplies much of our drinking water. Yet, during severe storms, water may run into streams and lakes, where it can't move through the soil to reach the groundwater.

Turf easily absorbs and filters runoff water during and after storms. Turf absorbs water because its growth habitat creates many tiny spaces that trap and hold moisture. In addition, well maintained turf encourages as many as 300 earthworms per square yard. The tiny tunnels the earthworms provide create even more places for the water to go. As water soaks into the grass and the soil below, it is filtered and cleansed. This process is so effective that many golf courses have become water recycling sites for their communities, using treated wastewater for irrigation.

5) Golf and Turf Reduce Stress, Improve Physical Health
Many types of turf were developed specifically for golf courses and other recreational uses. Golf provides over 24.5 million Americans the opportunity to exercise outdoors.

In research studies, participants lowered their cholesterol levels by walking the course when they played. An average 9-hole course covers about two miles and an 18-hole course about four miles.

In addition to benefits from exercise, research has shown that looking at a pleasant outdoor view can be healthy. In one study, hospital patients recovered faster when they had a view of turf, trees and open spaces. In another study, employees of businesses with well-designed landscaping and well-maintained turf had a more positive job attitude.

6) Turf Helps Beat the Heat and Improve the Air We Breathe
It's cooler in August in the park or in the country than on city streets. This cooler temperature is due to more than the shade. The grass itself can reduce the temperature. Synthetic turf can be twice as hot as green, growing turf - and asphalt is hotter still. Around urban areas, these green areas of grass and trees can actually reduce the energy needed for air conditioning.

Turf also improves the air we breathe. The turf growth process takes carbon dioxide from the air and releases the oxygen we need. A landscape of turf, trees, and shrubs about 2,000 square feet in size generates enough oxygen for one person for one year. Some studies have shown that certain types of turf can even absorb carbon monoxide. This is especially beneficial near roads where carbon monoxide is most concentrated.

7) Turf Captures and Cleans Dirty Runoff in Urban Areas
In urban areas, the water collecting in parking lots, streets and vacant lots can be full of pollutants. Turf areas provide a good growing environment for many microorganisms. These microorganisms, in turf, help cleanse water by digesting the pollutants in the trapped water and speeding up their normal breakdown.

8) Pests, Pollen and Disease
Dense, well-maintained turf helps reduce the weeds and pollen that aggravate allergy sufferers. When turf is mowed regularly, it seldom produces flowers that release pollen.

Closely mowed turf also discourages pests like mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers. Controlling ticks helps reduce the threat of Lyme Disease.

9) Turf Can Help Restore Lost and Damaged Land Areas
Turf is an excellent choice to restore areas damaged by landfills or mining operations. Turf has a very dense root system that holds the soil and rainwater, reducing erosion. As turf grows, it adds organic matter to the soil. This allows it to absorb even more water and hold it.

Many communities have found that a golf course is an excellent way to restore damaged areas. Beautiful golf courses exist today where abandoned quarries, strip mines and landfills once stood. Golf courses combine the benefits of turf with the beauty of landscaping. The result is a total reclamation of land for the community.

10) Golf Contributes To the Community's Economy
Golf has grown in popularity. It now appeals to a broader range of people than ever before. United States golf course facilities impact the economy at an estimated $18 billion each year. Today, more than 24.5 million men, women and youth spend 2.4 billion hours outside, playing one of the 14,500-plus golf courses. The USGA is working to make golf accessible everyone. Over 78 percent of the rounds played are on public golf courses.

Lawn & Landscape : Top 10 tree diseases

2011-04-20T19:35:00.001-07:00

http://www.lawnandlandscape.com/lawn-0411-tree-diseases-identify-control.aspx

Midwest horse fair.

2011-04-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

The Midwest Horse Fair is this weekend and is the largest Horse Fair in the Midwest, even with the bad weather there were many horse enthusiasts in attendance yesterday. many As you all know my daughter is a very accomplished rider and she was entered in the Wind Rider competition. In this event you had to demonstrate complete control and connection between horse and rider. The judges then judged each of the 30 riders on each discipline in the event. Ashley did not make the finals, the the competition was so close that only a few points separated first from third. Ashley placed third and had a excellent ride.

Soil Surfactants or Wetting Agents

2011-04-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a great video explaining the benefits to the use of wetting agents.

Golf Course Etiquette, Divot Repair

2011-04-15T04:24:00.000-07:00

USGA-Green-Section-Record--April-15--2011.html?soid=1103157499740&aid=fKq9r3VRY90

2011-04-15T04:19:00.000-07:00

Golf Course Update

2011-04-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

We are well underway with many different projects on the golf course, after this week we should have most of of the major work completed. I hope that everyone has had the chance to get out and play a round over the great weekend.

We have the bunkers on the golf course edged and all the sand has been moved to achieve the depth of at least 4 inches on the bottoms of the bunkers and no more then 2 inches on the faces. These numbers seem to work well in reducing the chances for the ball to bury in the faces. We do are best to maintain these depths throughout the course of the year, please help us out when raking the faces by smoothing the sand with the bunker rakes.

Last week we also started to add some red stone along the worn out edges of the cart paths. There are still a few areas left that I would like to add the stone. We will continue to work on these spots as time allows.

Today the Bruce Co. has started to backfill between the new wall and the green on 17. They should be finished by Wednesday and then the area will be sodded with kentucky bluegrass. This area will be mowed at rough height. I cant wait to see the completed project the hole will look so good.

Today we aerated and overseeded the range tee with low mow Kentucky Bluegrass. The transition from creeping bentgrass to the kentucky bluegrass will be slow and you may hardly notice the change. This low mow type bluegrass is not the same type that is in your home lawn. We will be able to mow the tee at the same height as before, but the main difference will be that with the growth characteristics of bluegrass the tee should provided a tighter playing surface to hit from with less huge divots being taken.

Tomorrow, we will be topdressing all the greens this should help smooth out the surface and firm them a little. Overall, I am very happy so far with the golf course, and we are off to a good start. I am looking forward to seeing you in the near future

USGA Green Section Report 4/8

2011-04-08T04:40:00.000-07:00

Ball Mark Repair

2011-04-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

After writing about the bunkers in the previous post, I thought that I should also repost a video that I made last year on the proper way to repair a ball mark. The golf course is in fine shape right now and we will work very hard to have the golf course great all year for you. Please help us by maintaining the course during your round and letting everyone know that is playing with you or even in front and behind you in proper golf course maintenance. Also, please remember not to drive in the fescue and always follow the cart signs and stakes.

Thank you your help is appreciated

Neil