Hey Owen, can I ask you a question?

I noticed some weird white spots near a tee and some more in a fairway on the Par 3 course.  They are white/yellow and have a green area in the center.  What are those?  I spotted some of those areas too.  You will usually see these more during the spring and summer than you do in the winter.  Are these what you are talking about:

 

This may shed some light on it

And this one

These spots are where someone stood while they applied sunscreen and/or bug spray to their legs. These areas should fill back in quickly enough but it it would be better to apply on the cart path or in the parking lot.


All of the equipment looks new.  Did we just buy all new equipment?  The majority of the golf course equipment is leased rather than purchased.  We have all of the leased equipment on a 3-year lease because of the wear and tear we put on the equipment by using basically EVERY day of the year.  After the third year the repairs become very costly and more importantly cause the equipment to be under repair and unusable most of the time.  We turned in all of the Toro equipment last week and we are now mowing with John Deere equipment.

The 3 rough mowers out mowing for the first time.

  

Old Aerial Photos of Vestavia CC

 This past winter, while we were organizing rolls and rolls of plans, drawings, ideas, and other stuff we came across a few old items that were cool to see.  A lot of you that have been here for decades proably remember this but to newer members it may be a first glance to what the club and golf course looked like decades ago.


You can see left of the entrance road that the Par 3 course has not yet been built. 
This picture was taken somewhere between 1948 and 1951 I believe.







This one was taken years later after the range and Par 3 course were built.





Notice the two bunkers in the middle of #9 fairway and look at all those bunkers surrounding #18 green.



Verticutting and Aerification

Last week we were able to get out and verticut and aerify the tees and on Monday we undertook the large task of verticutting the fairways.  We were able to get most of the front nine fairways verticut and cleaned up today and we will finish up the back nine later this week and next Monday.  Verticutting promotes lateral growth and results in a tighter growth habit.  Below are some pictures of both processes.

First we aerify the tees

Aerification complete



Then we verticut the tee tops



Next we blow the debris off of the tee



Sand topdressing with the old bunker sand we pulled out of the bunkers this past winter (we then spent most of the day picking up rocks by hand out of the old bunker sand but it was a great re-use of the old material--AND IT WAS FREE)




Verticutting the fairways then mowing with fairway mower to clean up (fairway mower in background)




Half of #2 fairway verticut




 

The nwe came back and mowed for a second time and went side to side.  Then started blowing remaining material




Mowing back and forth across fairway





Large pile of debris blown off of fairway