Course Update 2/28/22

 We had another productive month of winter projects and we're trying to finish up in the next two weeks.  It feels like the weather is starting to improve, so that means course maintenance activities aren't too far off.

This view is from Lakes #8 white tee and you can see where trees were removed near the front of the tee and right of the cart path.  The trees had become too large and were limiting the amount of usable hitting area.

Another group of trees on Lakes #8 just past the ones near the white tee were in decline and removed for safety reasons.  They were along the right side of the cart path short of the dogleg and had no impact on playability.

Here's the damaged base of one tree removed on Lakes #8.  Anytime an old wound is visible with bark missing is a sign that the tree is dying and should be removed ASAP.

Pruning on Lakes #5 on the hill along the right side of the fairway.  Several smaller trees were removed in this area to let the larger trees flourish while still protecting the right side of the hole.

Further down the right side on Lakes #5 near the last house, several trees were removed for safety reasons.  This double-trunk Maple was separating at the base and the left trunk with the orange dot would have fallen across the cart path.

The staff spent a full week on Lakes #2 removing vegetation along the right side of the tees to allow for more sunlight and air circulation.  Turf health and quality were diminished compared to other tees throughout the course, but we expect to see a noticeable improvement with a more favorable growing environment.

Here's a closeup view on Lakes #2 right of the tees with the snow gone.

Staying on Lakes #2, we removed the Oak tree on the hill left of the green for safety reasons.  Last season we noticed a significant number of dead branches in the upper portion of the canopy that signaled the tree was dying.

The White Pine trees behind Grove #5 green were damaged during the recent ice storms but we were able to prune back the broken branches and save all the trees except one.

The staff is cleaning up a large tree near the mirror as you come up the path to Grove #4 tees.

In December we started investigating the sunken area in the middle of Orchard #9 green.  The depression had become so bad the mowers were scalping the turf and we couldn't set a cup there anymore.  We dug down over 2' but didn't find anything unusual.

We proceeded to fill in the hole and added sand to level the area.

The 2"x4" seen here and in the previous photo were used as a screed to evenly spread the sand while filling in the low areas.  The pencil was used as a reference to illustrate the 1" gap in the center of the depression where we added sand.

Unfortunately, the weather changed quickly at the end of December and didn't allow us to finish the project.  Just last week we were able to resume work once the snow melted and the ground thawed.  We finished spreading the sand and leveling the area, then began laying sod.

Working with greens sod is always a delicate process. We needed to work off plywood to prevent leaving footprints in the sand or depressions in the sod from our knees.

All the sod has been laid and we're tamping or hand rolling the pieces to eliminate uneven areas.

A light topdressing of green sand was applied using a drop spreader to help fill in the seams and hide any imperfections.  The sod should heal quickly once the weather improves and the turf starts growing, but we'll also give the area some extra attention with frequent, light topdressings.

Course Update 1/31/22

 Happy New Year!!

January has been a busy month for us even with all the snow.  Tree pruning and stump grinding were the primary focus early on, then we began tree removal in areas that could be accessed in the snow.

Tree pruning behind Orchard #3 green.  Late fall and winter is the ideal time to prune Oak trees to minimize the spread of Oak Wilt fungal disease.

Grinding a large stump behind Lakes #9 gold tee.

Stump grinding behind Lakes #8 green.  Our goal was to have all the stumps ground before the snow fell, but a couple had to be completed in the snow.

The creek behind Orchard #3 green is notorious for backing up and flooding the low area in front of Orchard #2 fairway after heavy rains. The excess water first had to be pumped down to expose the drainage pipes that run under the cart path. Then several cart-loads of debris including a few logs were removed from the pipes and the remaining water drained away.

Removing dead trees on the right side of Lakes #5 near the beginning of the fairway.

A hollow Oak tree removed for safety reasons near Lakes #8 white tee. We knew this tree was in poor health, but we didn't realize how much decay had occurred until it was cut down.

Tree removal on Lakes #8 near the white tee.

Course Update 12/31/21

 Earlier this month we took advantage of the above-average temperatures to perform a late-season deep-tine aerification and topdress of all 29 greens.  We originally planned to complete this process in November, but the nice weather allowed for an extended golf season so we delayed as long as we could.  In addition to aerifying greens this month, we completed the arduous task of leaf cleanup throughout the property and applied snow mold fungicides to prevent disease on all 53 acres of greens, tees, and fairways.  With some extra time around the holidays, the staff started cutting back overgrown vegetation along pond banks on Lakes and Orchard.  We plan to resume this work after the New Year along with starting tree removal in some key areas.

Greens were aerified with a 1/2" diameter solid tine 10" deep to relieve compaction and allow for better drainage of surface water during the winter.

The aerifier was setup at 2" lateral x 3" forward spacing to maximize the number of holes while not causing damage to the putting surfaces.

A heavy layer of sand was then applied to the greens following aerification which will be incorporated into the thatch layer over the winter.  Topdressing sand is crucial to having firm greens that drain well.

Standing behind the gold tee on Orchard #9 you can see how the overgrown vegetation along the pond prevented golfers from seeing the green and using the right half of the tee.

Orchard #9 with the vegetation removed.  It will be easier to maintain the pond edge now that the woody brush and thick weeds are gone.

Here's a similar scenario on Lakes #6 where the overgrown vegetation along the pond prevented golfers from using all the available tee surface.

A significant amount of vegetation had to be removed on Lakes #6.

Golfers now have an unobstructed view of Lakes #6.

November Precipitation

 We only received 1.16" of liquid precipitation in November from 8 rain and/or snow events and had 10 days of Cart Path Only restrictions.  The first 10 days of the month were relatively dry from only receiving .06" of rain.  Then the temperature turned colder and we experienced several small snow events over the remaining 20 days. Our historical average rainfall in November is 3.24" and we are currently 6.12" above our year-to-date average precipitation since January 1st.

Course Update 11/30/21

 We recently took delivery of a new piece of equipment that will make it easier to maintain our pond and creek banks.  Normally, the staff has to use string trimmers, brush cutters, and sometimes chainsaws to keep the weeds and brush knocked down around the ponds and creeks.  The new sickle-bar mower will do the same job as several staff members in half the time or less.

Cutting vegetation along the pond edge of Orchard #8 lower fairway

The 48" long sickle-bar mower slices through grass, brush & small trees up to 2" in diameter

The hydraulically controlled unit attaches to the front of an articulating tractor we use to mow rough around greens, tees & bunkers

Even though it's cold & snowy, we resumed mowing the outer rough this week along with cleaning up dead apple trees

October Precipitation

 We average 2.67" of rain in October, but received 4.25" this year from 13 rain events with 9 Cart Path Only days.  The first 3 weeks of the month started out relatively dry while only receiving 1.44" and we were hoping that weather trend would continue.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and ended up being very wet the remainder of the month.  We are currently 8.2" above our year-to-date average precipitation since January 1st.

Course Update 10/22/21

 We took advantage of the beautiful weather this week to aerify and topdress tees on all three courses.  The frost delay on Tuesday slowed our productivity, but the staff worked late and got us back on schedule.

Topdressing sand is applied first.  We used 80 tons (4 truck loads) to do all 3 courses.

After topdressing, the tees were aerified on a 2" x 2" square spacing using a 3/4" diameter solid tine.  Our goal was to create a lot of large holes for the sand to fill up.

The final step was brushing the sand to fill all the holes and level out any imperfections on the surface.  You can see the tight hole spacing in this picture.

This is the gold tee on Grove #1 after brushing the sand yesterday afternoon.

Here's the same tee after .52" of rain last night that helped wash in the topdressing sand.

Frost Delays

Frosted turf around Lakes 1 tees

 We experienced our first frost delay of the fall season this morning after the temperature dropped to 34 degrees last night.  Frost delays are very common this time of year and can still occur when the air temperature is above freezing.  Frost will usually be evident at sunrise, as the air at ground level is warmed it becomes lighter and rises.  Colder, denser air takes the place of the warm air and can be 5-10 degrees cooler, thus creating frozen turf.  Frost usually "burns off" quickly in direct sunlight, but certain areas of the property are heavily shaded and take longer to thaw, such as Orchard 1, Lakes 2, and Grove 2 & 3.  Our winter tree removal program has focused on these specific holes to allow for increased sunlight penetration, but we still have more work to do.  On cold mornings, the maintenance staff monitors these specific holes to determine whether frost is present.  The decision to allow play is then based on when those areas will be frost-free and the courses can be prepared for play.  Once the frost lifts, the maintenance staff requires a 30-60 minute head start to stay ahead of play depending on the maintenance activities that day.  Looking at weather records from last fall, our first frost delay occurred on September 19, so a full month earlier than this year.

Click Here To Watch A Short Video From The USGA On Frost

September Precipitation

 We received 3.7" of rain this month from 7 rain events and had 4 days of Cart Path Only restrictions.  2.59" of rain fell in the first 9 days of the month followed by 12 days of no precipitation.  Our historical average rainfall in September is 3.28" and we are currently 6.62" above our year-to-date average precipitation since January 1st.  Let's hope the dry weather continues thru October!

Course Update 9/30/21

 Greens have healed from the DryJect aeration 3 weeks ago and fairways are slowly improving after being aerified 1 week ago.  The cool, dry weather and shorter days has slowed turf growth and allowed the maintenance staff to address some projects in addition to regular mowing tasks.  We try to have all our projects completed in October so we can focus on leaf cleanup and other late fall tasks in November.

Lakes #9 green this morning

Fairways one week post aerification

Grove #6 fairway this morning

The staff started sodding a few bare areas in fairways this week.  This is Grove #7 looking back at the tees.