Weekly Schedule for April 29-May 5, 2013

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Granular fertilizer application to fairways on Monday

-Repair of top portion of stack sod bunkers on holes #11 and #18
-Aerification and topdressing of new tees on holes #3, #6, #13 and #16
-Complete irrigation installation at #4 tees

Tee Alignment and #4 Pro Tee

In our overall effort to improve tees this year we are using a simple but effective method to keep tee markers aligned properly. We've formed a T with 1 1/2" inch PVC pipe. The long end is pointed towards the middle of the fairway then the tee markers are aligned with the top portion of the tee. It looks like this.

This week we were able to install irrigation and new turf on #4 Pro tee.

Weekly Schedule for April 22-28, 2013

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Verticut and topdress greens on Monday. We have developed a system to minimize disruption to ball roll and for the greens to heal quicker.
-Sodding of select fairway and rough areas throughout the golf course.
-Sodding of #4 Pro tee.
-Pre and postemergent herbicide applications to bunker surrounds.
-Aerification of newly constructed tees.
-Installation of irrigation at #4 white and blue tees.

Spring Prep

Currently we are prepping some areas for a sod delivery on Monday. They include parts of #3 fairway.

Next to the right hand side fairway bunker on hole #11.

Plus other selected spots throughout the golf course.

Thanks to Assistant Superintendent Carey Bailey, our preemergent herbicide application is complete in the native areas.  He has also completed the first preemergent application to roughs and will do bunker faces on Monday. Next up for our preemergent schedule is fairways after the bunker faces have been completed.

Work on the new irrigation around #4 tees is progressing nicely. We have stripped and prepped the Black tee on top of the hill in preparation for sodding on Monday. Irrigation is also being added to that tee.

The carry from this tee is only about 190 yards to the rough just in front of the fairway. However the elevation is similar to the fairway elevation making this somewhat of an easier shot for some.

Several of the Skip Laurels next to #2 tee have been removed and will be replaced soon. They received severe winter damage from the winds. Next winter we will set-up temporary protection to prevent this from happening. Once the roots are strong enough in a few years the winter protection will not be needed.

Weekly Schedule for April 15-21, 2013

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Tee fertilization
-Irrigation installation at #4 tees
-Pre-emergent herbicide application to roughs and bunker surrounds
-Prep areas for sod

Tees and Some Other Notes

This year we are putting an emphasis on the turf coverage of tees. One important part of our program is tee set-up. We have divided each tee into one, two, three or four sections depending on the width of the tee. In order to spread wear out evenly throughout the tees our set-up staff will rotate the location of the tees amongst these sections.

In order to give the tees a head start coming out of Winter we applied compost. This material is dark and attracts heat. This helped warm the soil temps up on the tees making them greener then the rest of the course. In addition the nutrients in the compost kick started tee growth into high gear.

On #10 green we noticed that the irrigation heads off the front right portion of the green are fairly far away from the green.

We probed the soil around the green and discovered that the original rootzone used for the greens construction extends outward towards these irrigation heads. In order to recapture this lost portion of the green we will be slowly lowering the height of cut in this area.

In addition we will be topdressing more frequently to help smooth it out with the goal of having it puttable within about 8 weeks.

Finally, the warmth we experienced the past few days has given a few annual weeds the opportunity to spurt up in our roughs. These particular weeds due not do well when mowed and will quickly disappear once our rough mowing program begins.

Weekly Schedule for April 8-14, 2013

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-As turf growth increases we will continue to mow
-Topdress new tees on #6/#13/#16
-Leaf clean-up on right side of hole #1
-Soil amendment application to tees
-Fertilize bunker surrounds

Weekly Schedule for April 1-7, 2013

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Aerification of tees
-Initial mowing of fairways, tees, collars and approaches
-Fertilization of green surrounds

Note: Soil temps remain in the 30's. Good turf growth occurs when soil temps are consistently in the 50's. The mowing we are doing this week is really to just "clean-up" the in-play areas since the turf is not actually growing.