Course Update 4/30/20

The maintenance staff have been very busy completing the necessary cultural practices the past several weeks to have the courses ready for our eventual opening.  I mentioned in an earlier post about greens aerification being complete, which we followed up with core aerification of tees and fairways.  These are important practices that must be performed every year to ensure the long term health of the playing surfaces.  In addition to aerification, routine mowing of all areas are underway along with preliminary bunker maintenance.

Core aerifying tees.

Driving range tees were also aerified and a heavy layer of topdressing sand was applied to help divot recovery and level the hitting surface.

Greens were verticut 1/8" deep to remove excess leaf tissue and equally distribute topdressing sand across the putting surface.  Verticutting also helps stand the grass blades up for a cleaner cut which results in faster and smoother ball roll.

Here's what the putting surface looks like immediately after verticutting.  You can see all the individual rows of verticut blades.

Here's a putting surface after blowing the debris and brushing the sand in.

The staff is prepping bunkers by removing rocks and vegetation from the sand, then pushing sand back up the slopes that washed down during the winter.  We will also be adding sand as needed over the next few weeks.

Many thanks to the staff for their hard work and dedication during these uncertain times.  The golf courses are in great condition and we're excited for the players to return!

Course Update 4/11/20

The golf courses may be closed, but the maintenance staff has been busy with a long list of items that can't be postponed.  Greens, tees, fairways have all been mowed several times and the rough is being mowed daily.  Greens have been core aerified and topdressed, and are healing nicely given our erratic weather.  Tee and fairway aerification are also planned for this time while the courses are closed to minimize disruption once everything re-opens.

Irrigation systems have been started for the year and we've had to replace a few older heads that couldn't be fixed.  Also had to troubleshoot electrical wiring issues.

All 29 putting greens have been core aerified and topdressed.  We used a .25" diameter tine on a 1.5"x1.5" spacing resulting in 72 holes per square foot.  We typically use a smaller tine in the spring for faster healing of the putting surface given our erratic weather.

Here's a closeup of a green just after being aerified.

We've had to get creative in cleaning up the putting surfaces with a smaller staff and fortunately an older piece of equipment came through for us.

Here's a recent shot of a green several days after topdressing, brushing, and rolling.  A few more warm days and all the holes should be closed.

The maintenance staff aren't the only ones taking care of the golf courses during this time.  Joe Boros and Jimmy Brahm have been out filling tee divots to ensure the courses are in the best possible condition once we re-open.  Thank you Joe and Jimmy!!