Update From the Greens Superintendent – Sam Murphy
With spring half way over and the first day of summer a little more than six weeks away we just wanted to give everyone a brief update on the status of the golf course conditions and projects/task we have been doing, along with future plans.
The greens have been coming along well as of late. There is shallow rooting but some pretty good cover on top. The organic layer is beyond the 1/4'” depth that is recommended to maintain healthy turf. Aerification after the member-member will help to alleviate some of the organic layer, and promote denser, deeper roots to carry these young greens through August and September. We will be core aerifying with ½” core tines on two borrowed “648 Toro Pro-Core” Aerifyiers. One of the units is from Great Waters and a second loaner from Augusta National Golf Club. These new type units will help us complete this process in half the time it normally takes with the Ryan/Jacobson units we own. The aerification will be taking place on May 2nd and 3rd, weather depending.
As most of you have noticed the collars have made tremendous progress on filling back in. Some of collars (right side #8, left side #2, and #16) will need new sod. This is a result of the shade issues and the injury suffered from this past winter. The collars in full sun (3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 15) are doing much better and will not have to be sodded. A light aerification around the collars and these will be back to normal. Most of the zoysia collars that were installed several years ago have been taken over by the Bermuda. We will begin to sod the collars the week after the member-member. Also, there a couple areas we will begin to sod this upcoming week; around the pedestrian bridge on 18, the approach around the putting green, and various other bare areas.
The tees and fairways are starting to fill in and green up nicely. They are still a little off color from the cooler night time temperatures and the chemical applications for weed control. Come May and in to June they should both be looking up to par.
The weeds that we saw early in the year have been sprayed on the entire course. A repeat spot application may be necessary to control the remaining weeds throughout the course and driving range. It has been a great spring for prolonged weed germination and growth. We will be aggressively spraying weeds with post emerge controls along with our additional pre-emerge applications of herbicide.
We have been and will continue to be going through the bunkers looking to loosen up the hard pan conditions that persist in some of them. We are on a regular grooming and rock picking program. We will add sand were we determined it is needed.
Some other tasked that we have performed this spring:
We mulched existing paths and added some additional ones on # 7, 13, PG, and # 15.
We have started a regular topdressing program on the practice tees.
We’ve repaired all lighting protection on key trees throughout the property.
We ground a total of 18 stumps on our first go round with a rented stump grinder.
We also started to mow all the Meadow areas to help eradicate noxious weed growth.
We are presently finishing up on an evaluation of projects and special needs list for the golf course. When completed, we will be communicating our findings and recommendations to you in future updates. This should include plans and schedules.
Thank you for your time and interest. We hope you all can come out and enjoy the golf course soon!
