Course Update 4/16/21

 The beautiful weather in March jump-started turf growth early this year and we've already begun our routine maintenance tasks.  Greens, tees, fairways, approaches and intermediate rough are being mowed regularly, and we started mowing the primary rough this week.  Bunker maintenance has also begun and consists of moving sand back onto sloped areas that washed down over the winter, adding new sand in areas that don't have enough, and cleaning up the edges to give better definition.  Broadleaf weeds such as Dandelion and White Clover have also appeared early this year and we've started spot-spraying the rough with a selective herbicide that only kills the weeds.  Over the next couple weeks we'll also be applying a fertilizer to the entire property that contains a pre-emergent herbicide for preventing Crabgrass along with an insecticide that prevents the development of White Grubs.

Please note that fairway aerification is scheduled for next week.  Nine holes will be closed each day for the process while keeping 18 holes open for play.  Check with the Golf Shop for more information regarding course rotation.

Keeping up with rough mowing is always the biggest challenge this time of year due to how fast the grass is growing.

Blowing clippings in the rough is a priority for us in the spring for both playability and aesthetics.

This load of organic debris was removed from the edge of two greenside bunkers.

The staff is removing a few sections of guard rail and posts on Lakes 6 that rotted away due to age and weather exposure.

Not much left of this guard rail.

Focusing on detail work such as edging overgrown yardage stones adds a nice touch to the golfing experience.  Here's before...

...and after.  This process is done numerous times throughout the season.

The slit-seeder has been out as much as possible this spring addressing thin areas in the rough.  Here the seeder is working on Lakes 4 near the rain shelter.

We started using a landscape contractor last year that has a specialized spreader to apply fertilizer to green and bunker surrounds.  Their spreader is more consistent than our equipment and they can complete the application in half the time.  Here the contractor is spreading fertilizer plus pre-emergent herbicide and insecticide products around the fairway bunkers on Orchard 5.