It's December 19th and its sixty degrees!  Beautiful weather is allowing everyone to enjoy the course just a little longer before winter hits which looks like next week.  The last budgeted sod is being laid on the 18th hole and when finished we will do a rain dance.  We've only received two and a half inches since November 1st which is not much.  Plants need moisture heading into winter before the ground freezes.  The course was irrigated in December right before we winterized the system which is pretty unusual.  If you haven't watered foundation plantings at your home it wouldn't be a bad idea before turning off the water.

Need firewood?  The guys split quite a bit during the brief cold spell.

Internal drainage was added to the gold tee on hole 15. This should help give the turf half a chance in this difficult growing environment.

The completed tee with new rough surrounds.

New fescue sod on the 18th hole.

This is the type of definition between fairway and rough new sod brings!

Mulching new plantings before winter arrives.

Warm days bring out the bees!

Nice weather is allowing us to move right along with sod establishment and leaf removal.  Unfortunately it looks like old man winter is about to make his presence known.  After today we will have installed over one acre of fescue with another half acre planned for next week to complete all budgeted work for the season.  All winter fungicides were applied this week and the irrigation system has been shut down.  We have prepared a winter course when and if we close the greens down.  The course will be back nine only played in reverse.  Greens will be specific tees and tees will be located in the rough.  Sounds like fun!

Tis the season for frost delays!

Nice weather allowed us to sneak in one final deep tine aeration on the greens.  Aerating late in the season improves rooting and drainage to prevent winter damage.   After rolling the greens putt pretty well too.

Final fungicide applications to prevent disease were applied to greens, tees, and fairway approaches.

Several small bentgrass areas were sodded using sod from our nursery.

Replacing rough grass around 16 fairway.  Francisco is aerating the soil prior to installation in the background.  Proper soil preparation is the key to success.

Here's a before and .....

After picture!

A beautiful red oak in all its glory on the 12th hole after a nice prune.

Jack and Gill are quite a pair!

Rain has finally returned and made all the nice roll we experienced a distant memory.  The course has received over three inches this month.  Our greens continue to perform exceptionally and with the recent frosts top growth has all but stopped.  Fast greens are easy now!  Leaves and sod continue to be priorities.  Another half acre of sod is planned for the 16th hole the last week of November.  We will also be slicing fairways followed by deep tine aeration of the greens.  This aeration will not affect putting but is important as we prepare the course for winter.

A true sign that winter is coming.  Hooded Mergansers have returned!

Removing summer annuals and preparing to plant spring bulbs.  Do you remember where your bulbs are?  It's time to plant.

Fall color has been late and mediocre.  This is a Black Gum and normally one of the earliest trees to exhibit color-usually in early September but struggling in early November to perform.

Even our Ginkgo's have been disappointing.  This is the only one that showed much color but Saturday's freeze put a stop to that.

This young red maple can't decide what to do!

Daily headaches.

Edgar blowing leaves on the 1st hole.

The cool moist weather has been ideal for new sod.

The men working hard on the 7th hole.

Nice white roots pegging down rapidly.

A monarch butterfly enjoying our wildflowers.  Awesome!!

We have identified three flowering species in this bed so far.  This is Spurred Snapdragon.

This is Wallflower.

Lastly is this unidentified flower-anyone have an idea?

October is wrapping up with an amazing string of nice weather.  Our first frost occurred this morning which is pretty late and probably our last for a while as warmer temperatures are in the forecast.  It continues to be very dry but a drought buster is possible come Sunday.  We have only had 1.6" of rain so far this month following a dry September.

Our greens are about as close to perfect as they can be.  The practice green has never been better.

As good as the greens are this problem should never happen.  This is a prime example how not to repair a ball mark.

Fall fertilization is ongoing as we prepare our turf for next season.

The wildflower bed by the 3rd tee is taking off!  

Here's a new flower yet to be identified.

Fall presents it's share of problems.  Here acorns litter the 13th greenside bunker.  These must be removed before raking each day.

Have you noticed the torn up turf in the rough?  This is from fox and skunks foraging for white grubs.  Next year we will treat the entire rough for grubs.

Foxes are natural diggers and sometimes prefer our greens.

Our first frost occurred this morning.  All maintenance must be delayed till it burns off.  Bruising of the turf will occur in the short term if traffic is allowed and continued traffic will eventually cause permanent damage.  Did I mention we hate frost delays as much as you?

Did you know that Oscar our genius equipment tech is also a surgeon?

Take a close look at the stitch work on this grass catcher!

Trees are finally exhibiting some fall color.  Here is a nice Hickory.

Please welcome Gill to the club!  We figured she might be just what Jack needs.  Gill is part border collie and lab and is here to help with the geese (and Jack).

Perfect golf weather is here and the course is great shape.  We are in our second dry period this year and are in need of some rain but who cares!  Give us this weather and then some and we will cope!  As days get shorter and cooler nights prevail irrigation requirements are much less than in the summer.  Fortunately we are not trying to push too much newly seeded turf cause we'd be singing a different tune.

Uh oh, here we go again.

Bermudagrass reduction in process.  We are having a difficult time getting bent to grow in several spots on 16 and 18 fairways.  We have seeded 18 three times!

Removing begonias and getting ready for fall pansies.

...and the pansies are in!

During recent pruning we identified this oak as a blackjack oak.  Blackjack oaks are small oaks that grow up to fifty feet in height.  This particular tree is on the 12th hole and is only seven feet short of the state champion found at Army Navy CC Arlington.

So you ask how is our Audubon Certification going?  We are nearly ready to submit paperwork to conclude this project.  I must say it is difficult to work on during the heart of the golf season.

Here is one of the first blooming flowers in the wildflower garden on hole three.  Now I need to learn what it is!

Our bees our flourishing this season.  Here beekeeper Larry Marling inspects our hives.  We hope to have Larry come speak at the club in the near future.

Native species throughout the course are doing well.  I believe this is called jewel weed and supposedly a good treatment for poison ivy.

This is fox grape or porcelain berry.

Butterfly bush with a monarch butterfly visiting.

Meet Hubert.  Hubert is a juvenile double crested cormorant who has taken a liking to the club.

Certain things drive us crazy and this is one of them.  I guess those flies were just too much to take.

This is called an unplayable lie.  Would love to hear the story how it got there.

Nice start to the day.

This day had a special start as well.