Annual Tree Trimming

Thursday we started pruning trees. Over the last few years we have made our way through the entire golf course pruning. This year we are revisiting areas we trimmed the first year. We pruned trees down the right hand side of #6 fairway. We trimmed along the cart path on # 7 and to the left of the fairway. Some other holes we will be going to next week will be numbers 9, 10, 11, and 12.

I would like to clear that we are currently not removing any trees. We are only lifting up canopies for two reasons. The first to help promote better air flow for healthier turf. This is something I know many of you have heard from me before. The second reason for some of our pruning cuts is to help with playability and shot making. A good example of this you can check out this weekend is the tree by the bunkers in # 7 fairway. Hopefully the pruning there will allow for a bail out shot underneath that tree.

Rain Has Come Again!

We have received 4 1/2" in the last 24 hours here at the course.  This is a very welcomed event!  Hopefully this rain will find its way to our rivers and lakes for the coming summer.  I know that this is not a drought buster rainfall, but a few more like this one before the summer we will be in a lot better shape.  This is our first truly measurable rain fall since September.  In the last week we have gotten around 5" at the course.

Monday's Projects

Today we spent the morning finishing the sod transplanting on the berm at the front of the clubhouse entrance. We took this sod from our newly constructed vegetable garden space. This area of the berm was contaminated with bermuda that should be buffalo.

We spent time on our greens today completing several processes. We deep tined all putting surfaces today. We core aerified with 3/8" tines in low areas that hold surface water and sodded areas from this past fall. The core aerification in the low areas will help reduce the impact of the surface drainage. The recently sodded areas will benefit as an aid to survival through next summer's stress.

Pictured below is # 17 green and an example of one of these low areas.

Cimarron Hills Vegetable Garden

We have begun work prepping an area adjacent to the kitchen to start a vegetable garden.  We should have the majority of the prep work done today.  We will have our first young plants going in in the middle of March.  Our horticulturalist, Shannon, has made the seed selections and will be starting the seeds indoors here at the Turf Care Facility.  This will truly be home grown vegetables from our property!  Chef Ryan will be able to utilize these high quality vegetables in his creations.  This is a new feature for the club and we have high expectations, in the Turf Care Team, this will be very successful and beneficial for our club.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday and shared time with your families. I have posted a picture out onto my parents back deck at their home in Ohio. My family and I came up here for Christmas. I know it is cold in Texas right now but just remember it could always be worse. We are expecting around a foot of snow here today! So stay warm and enjoy time with those you love. I will be posting about golf course events on my return.

# 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.