# 7 Fan Relocation

For those of you who have played this chilly morning week, you may have noticed the disappearance of the fan on number seven green.  We have taken the fan and posts down for a couple reasons.  First, we needed to do a yearly preventative maintenance on the the mechanics of the equipment.  We are also moving the fan to a better spot which should help the health of that green.  The fan is being moved directly behind the green.  You can see in the bottom two pictures a view looking back at the green where it will be placed.  This spot should get the much needed airflow on the areas which are under the most amount of environmental stresses.  Those stresses include high traffic, to much shade, and tree root competition.  The fan is also being positioned in a due south direction.  This is likely where it should have been placed originally, since our prevailing winds through the summer come out of the southerly directions. The idea behind having a fan is to place it in the same direction the wind blows to help accentuate the flow.  You can also see the drilling out of the hole with the auger-rock bit in the pictures below.  The support for the fan must be placed 31/2' below the surface. We will trench the conduit line next week and have the infrastructure completed by the beginning of next week.

#16 Tree Trimmed

One our newest team members and certified arborist, Shannon Slivinske, climbed into the tree to properly prune some of the new growth at the top of the tree in front of #16 green.  She reduced the canopy by 5 to 10 feet at the top to help allow your approach shots a little more accessibility to the green complex.  As you can see from the picture below Shannon actually had to climb into the tree, with proper safety harnesses, to make the appropriate cuts.  Next time you see Shannon please thank her for her hard work.

Verticutting and Deep Tining on Greens

Yesterday we spent the day deep tining and verticutting greens. Vertcutting is a process that in years past we were not able to complete at this time of the year due to the health of the green. Because the overall health of the Greens, in respect to the density, has improved dramatically over the last several years this is a process we are now able to complete earlier in the year. This is a process that just as in the condition of the Fairways it will also help dramatically improve the condition of the Greens.

Dead tree removal

This week we will begin removing the dead trees from last year's drought. We left trees that showed signs of stress after the drought last year to see if some of them might come back this year. Unfortunately many of the trees did not. Many of you notice the orange tape we've used to mark these trees over the last couple months. We did this to help us locate them after the leaves have started to drop.

We also have an abundance of firewood from the last two years at our shop. Any member is in need or want of some firewood for the winter season please contact me I'll be happy to help.

November Native Mowing

Our second mowing of the native areas on the course is currently underway.  We started on the course last Thursday.  The mowers are on #11 this morning and I anticipate with the lot mowing already complete in the new Fairway Homes section we can have the remaining holes completed by the end of today.  This process is a long arduous one and will be great to have this task behind us until next May!!
 

Biennial Inter-seeding

Last Monday we spent some time inter-seeding the greens.  It was a several step process.  The first step began with a light verticutting.  Then we mowed and cleaned up the debris from the verticutting.  After the debris was cleaned through mowing and blowing we poked holes with our bayonet tines for the seed to drop into.  We used drop spreaders to disperse the seed onto the greens.  These spreaders are a more accurate way to disperse seed than rotary spreaders.  The greens were then rolled to initiate seed soil contact.  Topdressing was applied at this point as well to aid further in creating good seed soil contact, which is crucial to seed germination.  We also applied a fall granular fertilizer, as we typically do, to provide a constant food source as the temperatures fluctuate so much at this time of year.  We want there to be a food source available when the temperatures are conducive to growth on our greens.

We began this inter-seeding program two years ago.  The idea is to introduce potential for new growth into our greens.  We are using the same grass type as what is currently in the greens.  You may have heard of some people trying to change grass types through this process.  However, we feel the cultivar we have is well adapted to our environment here and see no reason to change.

From bottom to top these pictures show the greens after being verticut, the holes being poked, and our own Brad Sladek putting the seed out.

Please Remember to Vary your Traffic Patterns

As a reminder to our members who question where they should drive or whether the "90 degree rule is in effect" just vary your drive patterns. The design of our course with the native grasses intermittently placed between the fairway and cart path does not lend itself to a true 90 degree rule.  Therefore it is extremely important that we vary where we drive.  It is evident at several locations on every hole that this action is not always practiced. Cart traffic can be very detrimental to turf.  We need to be even more aware of this potential issue now as the weather changes.  The Bermuda's growth pattern is transitioning from root to shoot.  This means instead of putting energy into leaf and recuperative development; the plants are storing carbohydrates in the roots for reemerging next Spring.  Driving a few feet either side of where the visible traffic pattern makes all the difference.  Varying cart traffic will help in maintaining our courses integrity and play ability.