Bunker Maintenance Complete

We finished our spring bunker maintenance on Monday. We are now on to other spring projects. We have begun to sod cart path ends that tend to become very week during the dormant months. We are also changing the grass type under the infamous tree on #2 fairway. This is the same zoysia cultivar that has done so well for us under the trees in #16 and 18 fairways.

Weeds are still being addressed and sprayed at this time. You can easily discern weeds that have been sprayed with the blue tracker dye we use. This dye is solely for the purpose of aiding the person spraying as to the targets they have already hit.

Spring Bunker Maintenance

The Turf Care Staff has been working on bunkers this past week. These hazards on the golf course always seem to be a hot button for many members and it is our goal to make them as playable and consistent as possible. We move sand around to the appropriate places within the bunkers. We have spent time repairing matting and tacking it back down where needed. Finally the staff adds a light coating of new sand to the bunkers.

You can see in the pictures below the steps of the process from beginning to the finished product. We have gotten through hole number 10 this week and should have this work completed by this coming Monday.

Greens Aerification Complete

Monday we aerified greens with half inch tines. These are the exact same size we used last March and May aerifications. The forecast looks fantastic over the next couple of weeks to really be some great growing weather to aid in a speedy recovery.

Please don't be discouraged about coming out and enjoying the course while we are healing from this very important cultural event. We used the right amount sand to ensure a smooth playable surface. In addition, the sand gives the turf a growing medium to aid in a faster recovery.

The course received 1" of rain with the storm that moved through Sunday night. A welcomed sight to another dry year so far.

Spring Fertilizer Application

We mowed all playing surfaces last week In an attempt to remove dormant winter growth. This will help get us ready for this the season's growth. We applied fertilizer to the golf course to help with spring green up. It is an organic fertilizer that will offer a long duration of availability to the turf as it breaks dormancy.

One of our main concerns this year was breaking dormancy too early. This year we had a spring green up in late January when the plants used a lot of store carbohydrates that the plant has been storing in the root system from this past fall. The recent cold-weather has definitely set the Bermuda back a few more weeks from where it was in January therefore these carbohydrates were lost and wasted essentially wasted. This fertilizer application should provide a good nutrient source for the turf as it begins to break its winter dormancy period.