Fall is really upon us now.  We have had several killing frosts over the last two weekends and the cold temperatures with some strong winds have really brought the leaves down.  Much of our work is keeping leaves off the new turf while trying to limit equipment traffic on the baby grass.  The turf is not yet ready for too much equipment and some mechanical damage has been observed.  We will be fertilizing the fairways and the rough this week for the last time this year.  This application will help  increase root mass and overall density.

 

Blowing the first fairway before mowing.

 

 

Fall color was late getting started but was spectacular once it did.

 

 

The seventh hole.  The specimen tree with yellow leaves is a Ginkgo.

 

 

One of the nice attributes of this tree is the leaves fall all at once which makes easy cleanup.

 

 

Three fairway continues to fill in despite the cool weather.  Here new seedlings are seen in the rows ten days after seeding.

 

 

Adequate moisture is a must as we push this fairway to fill in.

 

 

Nothing is perfect.  This is an area near a green that didn't fill in completely with bent and is unfortunately being invaded by annual bluegrass.  The annual blue is the taller clumpy turf on the right.

 

 

Here is a success story.  This is the front of the fifth green about six weeks after overseeding with Crystal BlueLinks bent.  The bluish turf is the bent competing quite well with the existing Poa.

 

 

Nature helping us out.  Here fountain grass has seeded itself in the seventh creek to provide a natural aesthetic look.  We are promoting this throughout the course.

 

 

 While the course has not had golfers it has experienced more wildlife in some unusual places.  This Great Blue Heron was observed in the creek left of the tenth hole.

The turf has slowed down dramatically in the last few days.  We didn't even mow the fairways this week.  We have begun work on the fairway bunkers and have completed two so far.  This entails removing the old sand and spreading it throughout the deep rough, adding a new drainage system, and then adding new sand.  Each bunker requires between thirty and forty tons of sand!  Detail work continues on the fairways and rough.  The disturbed area of the third hole was reseeded on Monday and a pelletized mulch was dispersed over the bare areas.  Hopefully this will enhance seedling development in this area.

 

The third hole after reseeding. This area has a southern exposure that will help the seed get started as the weather cools down.

 

Pelletized mulch.  This product expands with water and naturally degrades.

 

 

New drainage in the ninth fairway bunker.

 

 

The completed bunker.

 

 

Installing a new exit drain and connecting to the fairway drainage system on the first hole.

 

 

New landscaping at the bathroom on the third hole.

 

 

Sod work to improve the definition from fairway to rough.

 

 

Similar work on the eighth hole.

 

 

The second fairway.  Turf density continues to improve but the seed rows are still present in many areas.

 

 

The newly seeded rough is getting dense!

 

 

The third hole.

 

 

The eighteenth. Wow!

The turf has started to slow down with the cooler temperatures and shorter days.  This is a very important time for cool season turf as the plants begin to store carbohydrates for next season.  The plants must be fed regularly and the new turf will require more fertility than established plants.  Expect to see the spreaders spinning frequently!

 

Erik fertilizing the 10th hole.  Orange and green look good together!

 

The 3rd fairway looks much better after some repair work by our staff.  This fairway was seeded initially on September 25th and spot seeded on October 16th after the deluge.  We will continue to work on this fairway over the next few weeks.

 

 

Fairway roots are about two inches long so far.  This sample is from the 5th fairway.  Notice the white roots growing in the sand channel.

 

 

We are starting to see some nice lateral growth in the fairways. 

 

 

Francisco mowing the fifth tee for the first time.

 

 

Foxes continue to be pests.  This is the fifth tee one lovely morning.

 

 

He did such a good job on the championship tee he continued his work on the blue tee as well as the white.

 

 

The fifth hole as seen from the gold tee.

 

 

The view from the blue tee.

 

 

The fifth as seen from the red/white tee.

 

 

Lastly the fifth as viewed from the green tee.

 

 

We have begun work on the remaining fairway bunkers.  We have twelve bunkers to rebuild by the end of the year.

 

 

We repaired a poorly draining area near the red tee on #15 this week.

 

 

Quincy is on the mend.  He can run again after successful ACL surgery.  RG111 is envious! 

 

 

Just a brief update on the condition of the course after all the rain.  Since Wednesday we have received 5.25" and for the week 6.5".  Expecting the worse this morning the course surprised and performed marvelously and will require only minor repairs.  Now the rain needs to stop!

 

Too much rain but the course handled it.

 

 

Minor washout 5th tee complex.

 

 

A second washout.  These can be repaired easily once it dries out.

 

 

Three fairway will need some tender loving care but it will heal.  We removed the Curlex on Wednesday after the initial rain on Monday.  The weatherman never predicted the deluge later in the week.

 

 

Additional wash on the 3rd hole.

We finally received some much needed rain on Monday and there is more on the way.  More importantly the temperature and humidity have dropped.  We had some severe Pythium disease in the new fairways that required plenty of fungicides.  This is not unusual with new bentgrass seedlings but seeing this disease persist into October is very frustrating.  The construction of the 5th tee complex is almost complete.  The results of this work are stunning!

 

Adding drainage in the base of the 5th tee.

 

 

Laser grading the tee.

 

 

We had to relocate some soil from the tee complex in order to have proper visibility of the fairway from each tee.  We decided to build a feature at the rear of the 6th green to use up the excess soil.

 

 

The renovated area of the 3rd hole is growing in beautifully.  We will be removing the Curlex matting soon.

 

 

Nothing is perfect.  The striping seen in this photo is misses with the seeder with annual bluegrass filling in (the lighter grass).  These areas have been reseeded and will eventually match up.

 

 

We are amazed at how fast the bent has filled in.  Here the 15th hole is seen with new bent on the tee.  This continues to be one of the most difficult areas to grow turf.

 

The 16th hole.  We are not in Kansas anymore Toto!

 

 

Fairway density gets better every day.  We will begin lowering the height of cut next week.

 

 

The 4th green.  Wow!

 

 

We have begun replacing our summer annuals with pansies.  The remaining summer annual beds will be planted with tulips in early November.  We have ordered thousands for an incredible spring display.

 

 

We are seeing a lot of these furry creatures in the mornings.  A harbinger of a cold winter?