Summer has officially arrived.  After a challenging start weather proved to be our ally and the course provided a great test for our members and their guests.  Next up is the club championship and if the weather stays as currently forecasted it should be quite a competition!

Tournament mode.  Mowing fairways at dusk during Member Guest.  The quality of cut in our fairways is much improved using lighter mowers.

Rooting in cool season turf is outstanding to date.  Here some deep roots are observed in the ninth fairway.

Wildlife continues to prosper throughout the course but how dare the deer that ran across the sixth green during the opening round of Member Guest.

Practice round of Ladies Member Guest and this doe is wanting to play the green tees!

Right after she moved off the tee Mr. Buck followed.

Remember the diseased sycamores?

Three weeks later and look how nice they look now.

We have two baby red tail hawks! They can be seen regularly near the ninth hole.

Springfield honeybees pollinating winter berry hollies at the fifteenth tee.

Bees on milkweed on the fourth hole.  This is one of our most beneficial flowering plants and is native to our area.

Time to say good bye to one of our best employees and a good friend.  Doug has moved to Myrtle Beach and is completely retired this time!

Jack has arrived!

Selfie with my new buddy.

It has been a beautiful week on the course.  For the first time this season we did not miss a mow which is truly amazing and speaks for how wet the course has been.  Regular applications of growth regulators have been instrumental in keeping growth manageable.   With the hot and dry conditions we experienced this weekend we started to irrigate quite a bit.  Amazing how fast conditions can change!

New fairway mowers have arrived.  These lightweight mowers will benefit our fairways tremendously.

Four new greens mowers were also purchased and used this weekend for the first time.

A circulation fan was recently added to the thirteenth green complex.

Growth regulators are really pushing the bentgrass to overtake the annual bluegrass in the fairways.  This area was predominately annual bluegrass last year.  Not anymore!

All that rain helped undercut this bridge on the seventh hole.  Here Jose begins the repair.

The next day the other side of the pipe was worked on.

Completed flowerbed at the second tee.

Lots of deer are seen on the course almost daily. 

There is a really little fawn with its mother in this picture.

Foxes are seen regularly too.  This little guy is quite curious and paused long enough to have his picture taken.

Finally some decent weather.  We are trying to get caught up on just about everything as the rain has put been our foe the last three weeks.  In some respects we feel fortunate to have accomplished as much as we have.

Warm temps and sunshine have allowed us to finally open the grass tee.  The bermudagrass tee is open Wednesday through Sunday weather permitting.

All the rain has been hard on many of our sycamore trees.  Here a diseased sycamore by the third tee is almost defoliated. 

The disease is called anthracnose and leaves a mess.

Fortunately sycamores have the ability to produce new leaves and can recover.  This is called adventitious growth.

Just a reminder that when we restrict carts to the paths there is a reason.  This is damage behind the third green that occurred months ago and still hasn't recovered.

Josh spreading compost to weak fairways.  This work was scheduled right after fairway aeration but then it started to rain…..

Plant material is finally being installed in the pollinating garden behind fifteen green.

Bluebird activity has begun to finally pick up after a slow start.  Here five babies are just about to fledge.

Assuming we can mow fairways this Friday it will mark the first time this season we have mowed fairways our standard three times per week.  Thank goodness for growth regulators!

We have had anything but ideal conditions to work and play golf in the last two weeks and counting.  Fortunately we know better weather is coming and when it does let the party begin!  We have slugged through this cool wet period and feel lucky to have accomplished as much as we have.

Speaking of slugs this guy found our greens to be the best place to roam until our mowers arrived.

An unfortunate mishap that shouldn't last too long.  Hydraulic leaks are always a possibility and small ones are difficult to see.

Julio and Cayatano are creating some beautiful plantings.

The welcoming entry bed.  These flowers are called Alternathera and a member favorite.

Aerification of collars is taking place when its dry enough.

Once aerified the collars are rolled to smooth and tighten them up.

Why we aerify.  Check out the roots in the second green following the channel created by deep aeration  back in March.  Dick looks like a proud papa!

Here's a real success story.  The picture on the left is the first fairway this time last year.  The picture on the right was taken this week a year later.  We are not there yet but our annual bluegrass reduction program is working as planned.

No Quincy and look what happens.  Geese beware cause Jack is coming!

Our northern water snakes are in abundance this spring.  Please do not harm these beneficial reptiles.

When the sun comes out the course really shines!

Too dry and now too wet in one short week.  Such is the roller coaster world of weather in the mid-atlantic.  Aeration of greens, tees and fairways went great.  Timely rain afterwards has allowed all turf areas to recover rapidly.  But enough already!

Fairway and green aeration were performed by outside contractors to expedite the work.  Here six tractors with aerators and core collectors work on the tenth hole.  This work is completed in an eight hour day.

Dry Ject aeration in the early morning.  All the greens were completed in one day.

A finished green before our guys get to work on the sand.

Excess sand being blown off the green.

After we are done the greens look like this!!

During course maintenance we also had some tree work performed throughout the course.  Here a weak red oak near the 11th green is removed.

Making quick work of a dead flowering plum on hole seven.

When possible we leave the main lead standing for woodpeckers to work on.

It has been a very good spring for weeds and it has been extremely difficult applying herbicides because of too much wind and now too much rain.  The mild start to winter allowed winter annuals to really get a foothold early.  This is chickweed starting to fade out.  Dandelions and clover will persist and will be treated.

This is our pollinating garden about ready for some new plantings.

The tulips are gone and summer annuals are on the way.

Year two of Springfield honeybees has begun.  Let's hope for better success this year.