Its Masters week but it feels like winter.  Hopefully this cold spell will be short-lived and we can get back to warmer temperatures.  It would help if the wind would calm down too!  It has also been particularly dry so some beneficial rain would be nice.  Looks like Thursday is the day.

Root pruning of invasive tree roots was recently performed throughout the course.  This helps reduce trees pulling valuable moisture from fairway turf.

Removing growth from around fifteen lake.

Relocating azaleas in the bed by the sixth green to a shadier spot.  Plants more tolerant of a hot southern exposure will be added later.

Replacing weak turf with fresh sod on the fourteenth hole.

Its been snowing flower petals with all the wind we have experienced.

Growth regulators are really pushing the bent through the Poa in our fairways.  This should get even better when the weather warms up.

Whoops!  After planting tulips for over 25 years without a mixup it finally happened. 

Here is the pine with the red tail hawk nest correctly identified by Bob McNamara.

Spring has arrived early and there is plenty going on the golf course.  Anytime we can get a jump working on the course is a bonus in our book and everyone wins!  After the last two winters what a marvelous March.  Heck we were just starting to open the course at this time last year.

All the greens and most of the tees have been deep tine aerated.

These holes are over nine inches deep creating voids for roots to grow.

Soil temperatures are almost three weeks ahead of this time last year.  This was taken on March 8th and current soil readings are now in the low fifties.  Look at the difference in the turf color in one week in the previous photo.

The early warmth has started the migration of annual bluegrass weevils from their overwintering sites to   our fine mowed turf.  This is the adult stage and very difficult to see.   We begin insecticide applications soon to control this damaging pest.

Weak rough areas have been core aerated and seeded with tall fescue.  These areas are filling in rapidly.

Roots are looking superb so far.  Here is a plug from a fairway with nice white roots.  Cool season grasses grow their most extensive roots in the spring.

Thirteen tee has six inch roots!  All the new tees will open sooner than expected if the nice weather keeps up.

Here is a long over due piece of equipment recently purchased and a very happy Richard Purple.  No more manual push and pull rolling again!

Fungicides and growth regulators were applied to fairways and greens this week.

Fairway growth regulators must be watered in.  We did not receive the expected rain last night so fairways were irrigated this morning. 

  

Purple martin houses were put out this week in anticipation of their spring arrival.  We have the good fortune of having red tail hawks nesting on the course in a new nesting site.  Be the first to discover where and respond to this blog or to me in person and receive a dozen Pro V's!

BEST DOG EVER!

Winter's last gasp has occurred and spring has arrived!  The course is so much further along than last winter when we didn't open till March 21st.  This week all of the bunkers were intensely cultivated and the faces compacted and are ready for play.  Next week we begin aeration and seeding of weak rough areas.  The following week we will deep tine aerate the greens and tees.  With the excellent weather we expect lots of golf this week!

The tarps are off and the greens look very healthy.  Once they are acclimated to the  environment

they will open.

Using a tine harrow to lift up matted rough from the snow.  New shoots are rapidly emerging in these areas.  We will begin aeration and seeding this week.

The first mow of the fairways.

Winterberry hollies still showing plenty of fruit in late winter.  These should be gone soon as new seasons growth occurs.

The last snow of winter? 

Friday found us back in the shop wrapping up some final course accessory work.  Here Luis measures and cuts Vinyl Guard for hazard stakes.

Using a heat gun he shrink wraps the vinyl over the pvc.

Voila! The stake is complete.  No more painting and a polished professional look.

Sure signs of spring…

Bee colony #2 survived the winter!  The warm weather last week brought them out of the hive and we started feeding with sugar water.

What a bad storm we experienced this week.  The golf course didn't lose any trees but it sure did lose plenty of mulch.  I don't believe I can remember such a "spring" storm in February.  Anyway we spent two days cleaning up and are ready to open the entire course the first week of March.  We are about three weeks ahead of last season and the long range weather looks good for golf.  Maybe Mr. Groundhog was right about an early spring!

Every bunker was in this condition or worse on Thursday morning.  Rainfall rates around 2 inches per hour were experienced.

Storm damage #5.

Mud and mulch at the 6th green.

More mess by the 3rd green.

Plenty of silt was deposited in all of our ponds.  

More cleanup Saturday morning.

We made temporary greens that were nice to look at but never used this winter!  Turf covers come off on Sunday and mowers and rollers will be on the course next week.

There is still plenty of firewood available for the taking.

We were able to open the back nine for play on Saturday.  We are evaluating the front nine and hope to begin removing the tarps next week.  Currently many of the fairways are much too soft to permit play.  With rain in the forecast for much of this week it is unlikely the front nine will open this weekend.  We are anxious as you are to get on the course but must wait until conditions permit.

After looking closer at the damaged turf in our rough I feel confident it will bounce back.  Several turf plugs were taken inside and are already producing new shoots.  This is most likely gray snow mold and something rarely seen in our growing area.  Regular brushing will help the turf recover and will begin as soon as the course dries out.   Pink snow mold is more common and has been prevalent in our fairways the past two years.  Preventive fungicides appear to have done the job as the fairways are clean.

The first tint of spring green was observed on Saturday with the warm temperatures.

Repairing damage from snow plows at our entrance.

Fifteen fairway looking beautiful Saturday morning.  The early bird gets the view!  We are ready to get the mowers on the course just as soon as it dries up and the change will be dramatic.

Removing some ornamental grasses on the seventh hole and relocating to the spillway on the fifth hole.

Red tail hawks pairing up and hopefully nesting on the course.

This is less than two months away!

The snow is about gone and we are evaluating the course daily for when to open.  Nice weather is forecast for this weekend and we will do our best to open if possible.  Currently the course is plain mush!  Colder temperatures are forecast until Saturday so we will see.

Once the snow melted some weak turf was observed in some of the rough.  We anticipate aggressively aerating and seeding these areas once the course dries up.

Another view.  We suspect the mild weather and excessive rain in December predisposed the turf to decline.  Most of the turf is annual bluegrass.

Melting snow is rapidly leaving the course.  Too bad we can't store this water for summer.

I recently attended the Golf Industry Show in San Diego where everything imaginable in golf course maintenance was on display.  It took eight hours to walk the trade show floor.

Check out this rig.  Toro recently redesigned their utility vehicle but didn't raise the price!

Yours truly posing with a great horned owl at the Audubon booth.  Audubon will be visiting our course in June hopefully for final certification.