We are beginning to button down the course for winter.  Before we do there are several important tasks to be done. Temp greens and tees are being readied for winter play.  We anticipate moving to them by the first of the year.  We are almost finished with the shock wave aeration of fairways and will begin deep tine aeration of greens next week. In addition we will fertilize all the fairways as well as applying fungicides to greens and tees for winter disease prevention.  We have put down quite a bit of sod this month and will do another truck load this week before Thanksgiving.  This is the best time to sod as minimal water is required and the sod roots in well when the soil is prepared properly.

 

The shock wave in action.  This machine helps break down the layering in our soil and promotes water infiltration as well as oxygenating the soil. 

 

 

 It takes us about two weeks to complete the fairways but the benefits are worth it.

 

 

If necessary we roll the fairway afterwards.

 

 

All summer annuals have been removed and tulips have been planted throughout the course.  This November Julio and Armando planted over twelve thousand!

 

 

Removing the old turf around ten approach.  The prep work is the hard part and when done properly the sod flourishes.

 

 

The rough around ten approach just about finished.

 

 

Preparing for sod around the fairway bunker on the 12th hole.

 

 

These red flags represent annual bluegrass plants to be removed on the practice green. This is an ongoing process to keep this green as pure bent.

 

 

We have put out alternate rakes by the practice bunkers and the 18th green to try.  These seem to do a better job than our current ones.  The only difference is the width of the rake head. The wider rake is shown below on the left and our current rake is on the right.  Quite a difference!

It is hard to believe we are three weeks from Thanksgiving.  We are focusing our efforts on keeping the course as leaf free as possible. It is frustrating looking for balls amongst the leaves so leaf work is priority number one right now.  There are still some nice days for golf so we hope to see you on the course.  

 

Before trees lose their leaves we have the good fortune to enjoy their magnificent fall color.  This is a Ginko tree.

 

 

A pin oak on the second hole.

 

 

A nice orange-yellow hickory.

 

 

Red maple in nice contrast with the turf.

 

 

A spectacular willow oak on the fourteenth hole.

 

 

Fall fruit on a southern magnolia.  Its not all about the leaves!

 

 

Burning bush in all its glory.

 

 

This is a bald cypress.  Often mistaken as an evergreen in decline at this time of year.

 

 

Before the leaves fall it is an excellent time to mark trees for removal.  This red oak near the thirteenth green is in decline and is a candidate for removal.  Trees with the red dot will be removed this winter.

 

 

We had a lot of fun with Lentz's Revenge this year and hope you were able to play.

 

 

 

This tractor was strategically placed and got some revenge!

 

 

A crafty pin placement on the fourteenth green.  At least it is a six inch hole!

 

 

We had some skillful ghouls on Halloween mowing greens.

 

 

Stephen the clown mowing straight lines.

 

 

Thanks to my staff for a great year!

 

 

Sunrise special!

 

 

We are enjoying nice fall weather.  The golf course has dried out and is playing firmer than it has in a while.  Growth in all turf areas is slowing down and is allowing us time to work on leaves and other small projects before the season ends.

 

There have been many days where carts have been restricted to the path this fall but we have finally dried out!

 

 

The fifth hole barely sees the sun this time of year and stays very wet.

 

 

There has been lots of positive comments on the condition of the greens. Here Julio double cuts the eighth green in preparation for closing breakfast on Friday.  We only mow greens three times a week but roll more often.

 

 

His second pass is in the opposite direction.  The greens are mowed at the same height throughout the season.  Green speed was measured on the practice green at 13 feet!

 

 

We are trying to create a small layer of mat in our fairways but have not had much success so far.  This is a plug from the third fairway where we did not do any earth work.  The soil profile is nice and uniform and has little thatch below the turf line.  A little thatch is beneficial but too much is problematic.

 

 

This plug is also from the third fairway but is from the area where earth work was performed.  Notice the mottled soil from the compost that was incorporated at construction as well as the small area of thatch just below the turf line.  Our thinking is that our old soils have plenty of soil microbes that are very efficient in breaking down organic matter (thatch) while the newly constructed area lacks beneficial microbes.  We are in search of a happy medium.

 

 

The driving range tee has performed admirably this season but is ready to be shut down.  Mats only coming soon till spring.

 

 

We will begin sodding several weak areas later this month.  This is the fifth hole and the light green turf in the rough is called Poa trivialis or roughstalk bluegrass and is undesirable.  The dark turf is fescue/blue sod that was sodded last fall.  Our hope is to have this type turf around all the fairways.

 

 

This is the first hole where we sodded a small section of fescue.  The lighter green turf to the left is annual bluegrass invading our newly seeded rough.  The sodded turf seems to choke out the annual bluegrass seed found in the soil.

 

 

We are beginning to see wooly bear caterpillars as they search for overwintering sites.  The caterpillar has a band of red in the center and the narrower the band the harsher the winter.  This critter doesn't have any red.  Here comes the winter from *^%*$#!!!

The rain has arrived.  After a dry September the course has received more than its share of late.    Fortunately drier weather is in the future.  Lets hope the course can dry out and give us a little roll and better playing conditions.

 

Four green Wednesday afternoon.

 

 

The practice green at nearly the same time.  New greens are built to drain.

 

 

The last Pylex application was harsh on the bent.  This lasted approximately one week.

 

Six approach with Pylex applied two weeks ago.  The yellow flashing is almost gone but the bermudagrass is white.  New bent seedlings are emerging.

 

 

We saw some unusual things in our treatments.  Crop circles?

 

 

This has been a year of highs and lows.  This picture illustrates two varieties of turf found in our fairways.  The blue pen is pointing at the bent while the pencil is aimed at Poa annua.  It is going to be a real challenge reducing the amount of Poa in the fairways and rough.

 

 

Here is a solid stand of bent filling in over some fading crabgrass is the fifth fairway.

 

 

As suspected Quincy tore his other ACL and had surgery on Tuesday.  Eight weeks of rehab before he will be running again.

 

 

The golf course continues to fill in but would benefit greatly from a soaking rain. We recently applied probably our last application of Pylex herbicide to approximately three acres of fairways contaminated with bermudagrass.  These areas are quite obvious now as the bent has a yellow flashing common with this herbicide.  This yellowing should mow out over the next week and is not harmful to the bent.  These areas were seeded the same day so the bent will transition into the bermudagrass areas as the bermudarass declines.  The true test will be how much bermudagrass is present next season.

 

Its not hard to tell where the Pylex was applied.  The yellowing of the bent is unsightly but temporary.  This application should really whiten the bermudagrass.

 

 

More yellowing.

 

 

Temporary pain for future benefits to our fairways.

 

 

The fairway areas with bermudagrass encroachment were seeded the same day(last Wednesday).

If you look close some seedlings are beginning to emerge in the slit.

 

 

We have added some additional irrigation to improve some rough areas on the course.  This is the new area behind the sixth green and the rough on five.

 

 

The old turf nursery at fifteen tee has been moved and the fescue has grown in beautifully.

 

Additional greens nursery planted with Crystal BlueLinks bent behind the fourteenth green.

 

Quincy is going to the vet on Wednesday to have his right leg checked out.