Due to operator error my newsletter article didn't make Club Life (must have been the heat).  Anyway here it is:

 

 

GOLF COURSE REPORT

 

 

August has arrived and we are prepping the course for late summer renovation.  Hopefully July's heat will not carry over into August.  This has been a successful summer for the course and we hope it will continue.  Currently we have ordered seed for the rough (along with bentgrass for fine turf areas).  We use a combination 90% tall fescue/10% Kentucky bluegrass.  This month we purchased a Redexim seeder that will help us better establish cool season turf in the rough.  This seeder is heavy and uses its weight to cut a vertical slice into the soil.  The seed is then distributed into this channel.  It is a very clean operation and requires no additional work.  The Redexim is a great machine to use in the common bermudagrass areas of the rough and fairways.  Wish us success!

 

The Green Committee and Board met with Elliott Dowling (our USGA agronomist) on July 31st.  The results of his visit will be available later this month.  This is always a fun day interacting with the Green Committee and a great opportunity to learn some agronomy.  Ask any member of the Committee and they will tell you growing grass is hard!  See you on the course.

 

                                                                       

                                                                          Lentz Wheeler

                                                                          Golf Course Superintendent

 

This last week has been another tough one and the course couldn't quite keep the positive momentum going after the brief cool spell.  Collars have really been dinged up as well as some tees that routinely fade in poor weather.  We will begin some early repairs in the collars and these will be marked as mandatory ground under repair.  Please avoid walking through these areas..  We are in our first real dry spell of the season and are hoping for some rain to provide some relief.  We were so close this morning and had a brief lightning delay but no rain yet.

 

Mondays continue to be the bomb.  All the greens were lightly topdressed and the driving range tee received a heavy dose.

 

 

After the sand is applied the greens are lightly watered to knock the sand down into the canopy.  All mowing is delayed for a day and the greens are only rolled to minimize mower pickup and damage to the blades.

 

 

It has been a rough three week period and the golf course is vulnerable to damage that will take a while to recover from.  This is from a junior golf event.  I'll say it again-who is teaching kids to play this way?

 

 

Excessive divots right next to the practice green......

 

 

and a gazillion unrepaired ball marks!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

A divot on the 17th green-Really????

 

 

Divots in the collar at 17 green. 

 

 

We had a beautiful dew formation Thursday morning-the first nice one in a while.  The course is ready for some beneficial rain.

 

 

Here is some exceptional crabgrass control with Drive herbicide in the rough around the 5th tee and not hurting the cool season turf.

 

 

This is our collar and tee nursery behind the 14th green.  Sometimes the growing environment is just too difficult.  We are abandoning this site and trying somewhere else.

 

 

The guys are doing some beautiful mulching throughout the course.