Ugh.  Its Ground Hog Day over and over.  Last year it was rain and more rain.  Do you know that we were closed for a week last year at this time cause we were saturated?  Too much rain is the worst.  This year its just the opposite.  There is something about this area that wards off rain though we know this mini drought is area wide now.

 

Its hard to establish new seedlings with this amount of rain.

 

 

Our pump intake is alarmingly low. 

 

 

With the lake so far down we thought it was a good time to service the intake.  Divers cleaned silt accumulated underneath as well as debris on the intake screen.

 

 

New bent seedlings trying.  A soaking rain would do wonders.

 

 

Bent coming up in some of the rows.  The thin areas in the fairways will need to be reseeded.

 

 

We have had outings the past two Mondays so it has been difficult knocking out projects.  The crew worked on the bunkers throughout the work week.  Marvelous!

 

 

All turf around the clubhouse has been seeded.

 

 

Remnants of days past.  Too much rain and an abundance of silt creating islands in 11 pond.

 

 

Monarchs in the Rough!

 

 

Gill has the view!

 

 

 

 

A little rain has helped our cause this week.  We are hoping for more but some is better than none!  Course maintenance went well.  The greens have recovered nicely and are in great shape for early September.  The rest of the course is improving every day and should be in great condition for fall.

 

The level of the lake on four has risen some but we need more rain.

 

 

Our greens just one week after opening from fall aerification.

 

 

The first mow on Wednesday.

 

 

Fifteen tee seeded with perennial ryegrass.

 

 

Our new seeder is money!  Plenty of new seedlings throughout the rough in a drought.

 

 

The new wildflower beds have been seeded. 

 

 

The member's favorite tree after pruning.

 

 

We now have camouflaged carts.

 

 

Asters growing in the wildflower bed on the third hole.

 

Course maintenance has concluded for 2019.  Thanks to minimal rainfall we were very conservative in our approach.  The course has received a paltry 1.65 inches since August 1st and we have purchased nearly two million gallons.  More heat is coming this week so expect more city water to be required.

 

Deep tine aeration of the greens.  This is the first time we have done this in September and may not be the last!

 

 

After the deep tine we core aerified using very small tines.

 

 

Once cleaned and rolled the putting surfaces looked like this.

 

 

Our next step was to core aerify the collars with a tighter spacing.  After these were cleaned up the green was ready for a light topdressing.  Once topdressed the greens were brushed lightly and then watered.  The next day all were seeded and ready for a Friday opening.

 

 

Our water situation is not improving.

 

 

 

This week we are concentrating on the collars and tees.  Here Richard seeds weak areas with a drop seeder. 

 



 Max follows with a dimple seeder to push the seed into the ground.

 

Once completed it looks like this.  Time to water!

 

 

We had two tree contractors on site while we were closed-one for fine pruning and another for take downs.  Here a large red oak near the ninth green is hazard pruned.

 

 

Custom Touch Tree Service is our company of choice for removals.  In three days they removed eleven oaks and hauled off all the wood not chipped.

 

 

Eighteen fairway before....

 

 

And after!!!!