Finally the weather is turning away from winter. I would like to give everyone a short update on the golf course conditions and what our crew is working on.
First off if you have braved the cool weather you might have noticed a few things missing on the course. One is the rope; I have put out all the stakes near the greens and tees, but have not put out the rope. I am evaluating the stakes without rope to see if it will work or not. I really like the look without the ropes on the course, I guess it is up to the membership to follow the rules and stay on the path where the stake are. This really helps the cart path edges stay in great shape, I hope that this will work. I have not put out the white OB stakes yet, Brian and I are waiting on a proper ruling from the WPGA before we install the OB stakes. And, I have not put out the red hazard signage in the native areas yet. I have not done this because we are in the process of making herbicide applications to control the undesirable grasses and weeds. We recently completed 10-17 and will continue as the weather permits. We will be spot mowing some areas that are "thick" to help thin out the turf stand.
Yesterday we completed our tree program for 2008. 50 new trees were planted on 1,3,8,11,16,18.
I have also taken advantage of the cool weather by completing many projects on the golf course. I am sure as you play you will see many improvements.
The golf course in general is in great shape as the weather continues to warm we will start to see fast recovery of any winter damage that is left.
Next week will be a big week for some cultural control on the golf course
Monday: We will be spiking all the greens using the small "needle" tine. I will also start to spike the fairways Monday this usually takes about 4 days to complete
Tuesday: We will start to topdress the approaches around the greens, I will be apply a fairly heavy rate of sand to help smooth out the approach.
I would like to core aerate the new tee on 12 next week and apply a heavy topdressing to smooth out the tee. I feel then we will be able to open the tee for the weekend.