Tree in #11 fairway

The bluegrass that was growing under the tree in #11 fairway looked great most of the time but really needed to be grown taller and made it hard to find and/or play your ball from.  We took the opportunity to use a newer bermuda variety named “Celebration” which is more shade tolerant as well as drought tolerant.  It should do great so we’ll judge at the end of the summer to see how it holds up.  We have some other areas that we could possibly plant with this turf as well.

In 2007 we renovated the area to a heat tolerant bluegrass.



The summer of 2011 really took its toil on this area.




Tilling the area before sodding.




After tilling, hand raking, and adding pre-plant fertilizer.




Laying Celebration bermuda sod on the prepped area.  We plan to mow this at the same height as the other rough on the course.






Sod complete

 

Tennis banks

The tennis banks have been a major drain on the Tennis maintenance staff for many years.  These steep banks cost a heap of labor time and chemicals to keep maintained and still never look as nice as the surrounding areas of the club.  We were able to address that this week.

The process of removing the juniper with a track skid steer begins.



Finished with the side closer to the pro shop.





It's very steep on this side and there is an 8' tall retaining wall at the bottom of it.  This operator was the best we had ever seen and made it all look easy.





Now the hand digging for the plants begins.  Most of the 1200 holes were dug by hand.





Some of the remaining holes were done with the auger attachment.




Installing the plants


We'll have to finish up next week.  The rain put a stop to our plans because after 2+ inches of rain it was impossible to stand on the muddy slope.  I'll add a finished photo next week sometime.

Hey Owen. Let me ask you a question real quick

I get tons of questions every day/week about things we are doing.  I think if one person is asking the question there must be at least one more member that has pondered the same question.  For that reason, I’ll start adding a “Hey Owen.  Let me ask you a question real quick” section.

Did we use the big tines or little tines during this aerification?

we used what would be considered a larger tine. It is about 5/8" in diameter. This is the same tine we have used each Spring and Fall for the last several years. We have had great success in getting the holes filled back in quickly and the larger size provides a greater benefit to the subsurface of the green.

Can we do something to dress up the area on #18 cart path near the green where the golfers all enter and exit the green from the cart path?
Yes we can. We will be adding flat stone here similar to many other areas on the golf course.

The new sand looks great but how long will it take to become compacted?

With a few heavy rains and our crew continuing to compact the sand mechanically they will soon be compacted pretty well.

The Future?!?!?!

Several years ago when these "person-less" mowers started showing up in magazines, the advertisements were met with roaring laughter.  Then after they kind of stuck around for a little while, that hilarity simmered down to just a good laugh.  Now though, after seeing these machines perform at actual golf courses as well as the added difficulties of finding the right people for the job, that once roaring laughter has now turned

180°.  Now there seems to be more of a chuckle which dies into thoughts of how it could work for our operation.  For now the price of the units will make it a hard pill to swallow but over the next 10 years (or less) this may become a very common sight on courses throughout the country.

Short Game Construction

Here is a short time lapse of most of the construction of the short game area a few years ago.  Neat to watch the transformation. 

Other course blogs

I try to keep up with some blogs from other courses around the country and throughout the world to pick up any ideas or practices that they may do differently than we do.  I came across this one today from TPC Sawgrass where I know the head superintendent. 

I know we hate seeing our lake when it fluctuates up and down during droughts but at least we don't have to deal with this:

Some great photos of VCC

#14

Upper practice putting green

Waterfall on #6

Aerifying greens

We will be aerifying greens for the spring this coming Monday.  I will add photos of all the steps after we complete the long, labor intensive process.  I received a lot of great feedback the last time I sent out picutres of this process so I'll give it another go with some updated photos.

to be continued...

GREENING UP!!

Everything has really started greening up around the Club over the last week or so.  With that we went out and mowed for the first time in 2012.  The fairways and short cuts around the green have had their first cuttings and we may get to the rough next week (weather permitting).  Here's a few pictures in case you haven't been out in the last week or so and most of these were before the mower made it to the area pictured.

#2 Green on the Par 3 course has greened

#8 Rough and approach on Par 3 course

Looking down #16 fairway from #15 green

#15 Fairway back towards tee