We have had anything but ideal conditions to work and play golf in the last two weeks and counting.  Fortunately we know better weather is coming and when it does let the party begin!  We have slugged through this cool wet period and feel lucky to have accomplished as much as we have.

Speaking of slugs this guy found our greens to be the best place to roam until our mowers arrived.

An unfortunate mishap that shouldn't last too long.  Hydraulic leaks are always a possibility and small ones are difficult to see.

Julio and Cayatano are creating some beautiful plantings.

The welcoming entry bed.  These flowers are called Alternathera and a member favorite.

Aerification of collars is taking place when its dry enough.

Once aerified the collars are rolled to smooth and tighten them up.

Why we aerify.  Check out the roots in the second green following the channel created by deep aeration  back in March.  Dick looks like a proud papa!

Here's a real success story.  The picture on the left is the first fairway this time last year.  The picture on the right was taken this week a year later.  We are not there yet but our annual bluegrass reduction program is working as planned.

No Quincy and look what happens.  Geese beware cause Jack is coming!

Our northern water snakes are in abundance this spring.  Please do not harm these beneficial reptiles.

When the sun comes out the course really shines!

Too dry and now too wet in one short week.  Such is the roller coaster world of weather in the mid-atlantic.  Aeration of greens, tees and fairways went great.  Timely rain afterwards has allowed all turf areas to recover rapidly.  But enough already!

Fairway and green aeration were performed by outside contractors to expedite the work.  Here six tractors with aerators and core collectors work on the tenth hole.  This work is completed in an eight hour day.

Dry Ject aeration in the early morning.  All the greens were completed in one day.

A finished green before our guys get to work on the sand.

Excess sand being blown off the green.

After we are done the greens look like this!!

During course maintenance we also had some tree work performed throughout the course.  Here a weak red oak near the 11th green is removed.

Making quick work of a dead flowering plum on hole seven.

When possible we leave the main lead standing for woodpeckers to work on.

It has been a very good spring for weeds and it has been extremely difficult applying herbicides because of too much wind and now too much rain.  The mild start to winter allowed winter annuals to really get a foothold early.  This is chickweed starting to fade out.  Dandelions and clover will persist and will be treated.

This is our pollinating garden about ready for some new plantings.

The tulips are gone and summer annuals are on the way.

Year two of Springfield honeybees has begun.  Let's hope for better success this year.

Finally a little rain to start the weekend.  We have a busy week ahead as all greens, tees, and fairways will be aerated.  Greens and fairways will be contracted out to expedite the process.  Play will be available on a limited basis so please check with the pro shop before venturing out.  The driving range will remain open.

It has been a difficult period with wind and tree pollen.  Here oak flowers litter the thirteenth bunker.  Oaks produce both male and female flowers.  The male flowers are called catkins and much larger and when they drop are a royal pain!

Oak catkins on the thirteenth green.  All fine turf areas must be blown before mowing.

Bunker sand was added to some shallow bunkers this week.

Covering sterilized greens sand for aeration.  This sand must be bone dry to spread properly in the DryJect equipment.

Spring Dead Spot disease on the driving range tee.  This disease affects bermudagrass and is difficult to control even with preventive fungicides.

The bermuda is just beginning to grow so it shouldn't be too long before we are able to hit off grass.  The light green turf is perennial ryegrass and the blue is the bermuda just starting to grow.

Cross cutting fairways for the first time this season.

Adding mulch around the old oak trees!

Dead annual bluegrass weevil adults and a successful insecticide application.

Beautiful tulips about to wrap up for the season.

The course continues to be in a very dry state.  This will pass as one of the driest springs in a long time. And what about the wind?  The wind continues to howl and makes one think we are on the coast.  Hopefully we will receive some rain soon as this will help the course heal from next weeks aerification.

All our new tees are now open and ready for play.  No more bending it around the trees on thirteen!

Annual bluegrass weevil monitoring using a soap flush on the fourteenth fairway. The soapy solution is applied to the turf and causes beetles to come out from hiding and are then counted.  The soap doesn't 

hurt the grass.

Annual bluegrass weevil.  All fine turf areas were treated with an insecticide this week.

All fairways are now being mowed with triplex cutting units.  We will be purchasing two mowers soon to allow us to efficiently mow fairways.

We have seen some minor disease on some of our greens.  This is called Waitea Patch and is an almost annual event on our greens.

Annual bluegrass seed head suppression on our greens was pretty successful as demonstrated by this photo.  The perimeters of the greens were not treated as the chemical can be harsh to bent collars.  Not bad control!

New sod installation at the clubs entrance.  The center area with turf was sprayed with Roundup and will be mulched soon.

We have had an excellent display of tulips this spring that is unfortunately about to end.

Tulipmania!

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.