We finally got a nice rain and this rain event with just over 3/4's of an inch was very timely. We have not received any rain since September 15th. Some areas around the golf course that are not irrigated or were irrigation heads do not reach were extremely compacted to the point that I could not even get a stake in the ground to move cart traffic around. Friday and Saturday just before the predicted rain I reinstalled a few full circle irrigation sprinklers heads in some of these very dry areas and let the sprinklers run for an extended time to prewet the ground. I did this to somewhat soften the soil so that when it did rain the water would go into the ground and not wash off. It seemed to work in many of these hard packed areas in that I was able to get a few stakes into the ground this morning.
We raked all the bunkers on the golf course last week and over the next few days just about 75% of the bunkers were basically ruined along with most rakes either on the outside of the bunker or on the steep faces. Even with all the rakes thrown all over it was hard to find a bunker that was raked properly. i just do not understand as to why this is happening. If you can help please remind others to replace the rakes in the bunker and rake the bunkers.
Last week we continued to work on adding some tall true native grasses to the hill behind 13 green. A rough guess we added another 200 grass plants. The backside of the hill and the small hill near 14 tees is now complete. The height of the taller grasses really adds a nice look to the hill.
This upcoming week we will continue to core aerate around the greens and also now that the ground is softer start to aerate the approaches. We will most liekly work our way around the golf course starting on hole 14.
The irrigation blowout will be November 3rd this year. This is a set date that for the most part can not be changed. It is a very time consuming process and very important that we do a very good job remove all the water from the pipes. This can cause some issues if there are a lot of golfers on the golf course that day. I am sorry in advance if this causes any issues with your round. We need to maintain a certain amount of sprinkler running at all times and can not simply turn off heads if they are in your way. We will do our best to work around the golfers but there may be times throughout the day that this is just not possible.
Over the next 3 weeks we will be applying plant protections for snow mold disease to all greens, tees, and fairways. This year there was a stoppage to the chemical that we usually use and now I have to apply 3 different chemistry to the turf. In order to accomplish this properly we will need to make multiple applications to the turf.
The late fall is also a great time too work some seed into the weak areas in your lawn. I have been overseeding some of these areas around the golf course this fall. I will continue to do this as we core aerate this week. This year may be the year that you may want to think about coring your yard also. Late fall is also a great time to apply a dormant fertilizer to your yard. This helps the turfgrass plant build up carbohydrates and develop roots without the excess top growth. The key in doing this right is all about proper timing. i feel that the dormant application should be made when the ground temperature is around 50 degrees in the afternoon at around a 2 inch depth for a few days in a row. It would be safe to say that in the next 2 weeks we will be at or near the prefect timing to make the application. The reason for this is if you make the application too soon the plant will continue to grow and this will sacrifice the root development.
We will also start to remove some of the weak sod around the greens in the next 2 weeks. I will replace the sod with the sod we are currently removing from the beginning of 12 fairway. When complete, we will reseed 12 back to rough.
It looks like next week will be another great week to get in a few more rounds of golf. I hope to see you on the golf course and if you have any questions please flag me down and I will be happy to spend to time with you and hope to answer all your concerns or questions.
thank you
Neil