It's Member Guest week.  It is always fun prepping the course for a big competition.  We continue to be in catch up mode but finally have enough labor to get caught up.  Some of our labor is pretty green so there will be some growing pains. 

It's Monday of Member Guest week.  Double cutting greens and edging bunkers.

Putting a nice edge on the greenside bunkers followed by tamping the entire perimeter.

Spraying the fairways prior to the big event.  Fairways are sprayed preventively every two weeks.

A light dusting of sand topdressing to help true up the putting surfaces.

Erosion controls being applied at our garden.

Some great practice technique at the chipping fairway.  Thank you!

Cicada remnants.  The dieback is from the female cicada laying her eggs in numerous slits along the outer branches of various trees.  Each female lays up to 400 eggs!

It's the first day of summer and the lake is full.

Juvenile red tail hawk recently fledged from the pine on the ninth hole.

Monarch butterfly on Pow Wow Coneflower.

 

 Well the nice fast golf course is gone for a while.  Over four inches of rain fell on Friday.  Nearly all the bunkers were washed out and today we are fixing the mess.  The weather does look promising as we enter the new week and looks down right spectacular for Ladies Member Guest.

Yeah we received a lot of rain.

Eleven pond went over the dam and into Sixteen green bunkers.  These poor fish were washed out.

Nearly every bunker suffered serious erosion.  This is the 3rd hole.

Several hours later after our heroes arrived we have this!

Excellent results from Trimmit growth regulator on the practice green.  The brown grass is the annual bluegrass severely suppressed and bentgrass growing into it.

New sand added to the practice bunkers.  Several bunkers on the course have received sand as well.

Pylex herbicide @ .10 oz/acre yellowing up common bermudagrass on fairways and tees.  I said that right- One tenth of an ounce per acre!

Finally weed free.  Thank you Julio and Pedro!

 Bit by bit we are catching up.  One more week and our summer help arrives.  For the first time not one college student on our labor staff.  Truly strange.

Hot off the press here is Francisco mowing our new and popular intermediate cut.  Thanks to our new Assistant Shawn Gill who labored getting the first cut done.

Here it is after it's second mowing.  The scalped look will gradually disappear.

It was a very Poa like spring but we have nipped it in the bud!  Here is some of the yellow Poa being crowded out by creeping bent.  Multiple applications of Trimmit Growth Regulator helped knock it out.

We are back to weekly light topdressing of greens.  Here Patrick pushes a spreader across six green.  Routine light sanding improves ball roll and turf health.

Look close and you will see the sand.  A light watering followed by rolling the next day knocks the sand down.

We have great workers.  This is Patrick trimming around the entire 11th pond before pushing the spreader.  Patrick's family use to be members.

More of our crew playing mulch catch up.

A new bee hive was added in the wildflowers below the third tee.  

 

  

It's a cool and wet Memorial Day weekend.  This is not the weather we would choose but it is good for the course and that's a positive.  Last week was very productive. We also received nearly two inches of beneficial rain.  Most of the heavy time sensitive applications are complete and we can now concentrate on growing turf.

The course is closed Saturday morning but that doesn't stop us from working.  Here some of our summer crew fill divots on the fifth fairway.  We are about two weeks out from having a full staff.

Our greens are performing well and this is an example of why.  Here is a cup plug from the first green showing some excellent rooting and aeration channels filled with sand.  Good turf starts at the roots.

Our second application of Dimension herbicide was spread in the rough this week.  Fairways were fertilized as well which will improve their density.

It has taken months to receive bunker sand due to some Covid issues.  Truckers are in demand and bunker sand is not on the top of the list for deliveries.  Here Francisco prepares to add new sand to the practice bunkers.  

We are looking at adding an intermediate rough cut around some of the fairways.  Here is an example of this on the 12th hole.  The primary rough is mowed at 2 1/2" and the intermediate rough is set at 2".

  

Here's a better picture illustrating the benefit to the player.  The turf does't like it as much so we will monitor it as we get into hotter weather.

The wildflower bed between eleven and twelve was seeded on Friday before the rain.  Can you say perfect timing or what!  Here the seed is mixed with sand to allow it to be spread more easily.  There is only six pounds of seed spread over about a half acre.  This mix is called Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Mix and there are 31 species of plants in it!

Jose Nunez raking and tamping the seed bed after seeding.

This is a bed planted last spring featuring Lanceleaf Coreopsis.  The white flower is Tall White Beardtongue.

"A Touch of Class" hybrid tea rose.

Hidcote Hypericum just starting to bloom.

Say hello to a great American.  Our head equipment manager Oscar Garcia received his US citizenship on Wednesday.  It took him 21 years to achieve this!

  

 We have another couple of weeks of extremely hectic work and then we get into the heart of the golf season.  I know everyone is enjoying the fast and firm golf course that nature has provided us this spring.  We are starting to irrigate regularly due too the lack of rain and would like to see some soon.  I know be careful what you ask for!  There is plenty to talk about so let's go.

We moved to grass this morning on the range.  The bermudagrass is still sluggish so we will only use it on weekends until it really starts growing.

Fairway aeration was finally completed after several rain outs.  Perfect conditions for a change!

The crew has been busy adding lots of new plant material to our property.  Here crepe myrtles are planted in the parking lot medians.

Spring tulips have been dug up.  Did you pick up your tulips?  There are still some in the upper parking lot but will be trashed after this weekend.

True yellow Alternathera with Persian Shield in the center at 18 tee.

The vegetable garden is about ready to plant.

There has been plenty of tree work this spring.  Three loads of logs were hauled off site with one more to go. 

The cicada's have arrived in mass.

There are plenty of great things going on but this might be the best.  Please meet Shawn Gill our new Assistant Superintendent.  Shawn comes to us from Lake Presidential where he was Golf Course Superintendent. 

  

 It is a busy time on the course, probably the busiest time of the year.  We had some breaks with the weather and greens aeration was a success.  Fairway aeration was again cancelled do to rain and we will try again on Monday to finish the remaining holes.  More tree work was completed while the course was closed. 

Oh no-just when the greens were perfect!  This important cultural practice is one reason why the greens are so good.

After the green is aerated we blow the cores to the outer perimeter and then pick them up.  This is a labor intensive operation.  When complete the green is ready for sanding.  This is done the following day.

This is Wednesday morning after the greens have been sanded, brushed, blown intensely and then seeded.  Most of the holes have been filled and there is minimal sand on the surface.  Timely rain helped move the sand into the profile.

Large tree removal is best accomplished when the course is closed.  Here is some work on the 5th hole that we have been trying for months to complete.

The same hole but a different tree.

When completed one nicely pruned white oak remains.  Beautiful!

Annual bluegrass has been prolific this spring.  It is not surprising considering the weather and extensive renovation we did last fall repairing the course from the harsh summer.  Growth regulators are used to suppress this weed while the bent fills in.  Huge changes will occur by the end of the month.

We avoid raking the faces of our bunkers and regularly compact them.  This reduces the chances of balls plugging and hopefully improves the players chances for recovery.

Here is a situation we want to avoid.  The player either entered or exited the bunker on the high side loosening the sand and eliminating the compaction.  The next ball to land there will surely get stuck in the soft sand and leave a very difficult shot.  Always enter and exit the bunker in the most level areas.

Here is a new problem due to Covid.  Four carts per foursome and twice the wear on the turf.  Please be cognizant of how and where you drive your cart with this in mind.  Carts do hurt the turf.

As the weather begins to warm expect to see more snakes on the course.  This is a northern water snake and is the most prevalent type on the course.  He is not poisonous.  Snakes are an important part of our ecosystem and should not be disturbed.