Greens Aeration
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| Greens immediately after aerating and topdressing |
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| One week later |
Greens aeration went off without a hitch last week. We
started at 5:00pm on Victoria Day and were finished all 20 greens by 1:00pm the
following day. The rain held off enough to prevent a postponement and the
process went very smoothly. Credit goes to the members of the maintenance staff
who sacrificed their time to come in on the holiday Monday and get a head start.
This allowed us to complete the aeration without altering tee times or closing
parts of the golf course on Tuesday. The sand brushed and watered in well and the holes
are already starting to disappear. Another thank you goes out to the membership
for their patience and allowing this important cultural practice to be
completed. While the speed of the greens has been down, I am excited at the
health of the turfgrass. We will begin lowering the height of cut starting tomorrow (June 3rd)
and will continue to do so progressively in the coming weeks, speeding up the greens as a result.
15 Tee
We have progressed nicely with the orange tee on 15. The sod
on the teeing area itself has been laid and the surround is just about finished. Upon completion of the sodding, the tee will need rolling, topdressing, and watering before it is open to play. The rolling and topdressing
will help level the surface and blend the seams of the sod. The tee
will need frequent watering until the root system redevelops after being
sheared off when it was cut. After a couple of weeks and after the turf has
begun growing and the roots have knitted into the soil and the tee will be open to play and join number
3 and 4 as holes that we have constructed orange tees for. We will look to
break ground on another tee in the coming weeks. All of the materials used in
these projects (soil, sand, sod) were already in our possession and the
construction was done in house by our maintenance team. This saves the club a
lot of money and the finished product has not suffered.
6 Washroom
There have been numerous positive complements regarding the new washroom on the 6th hole. It is certainly an upgrade from what we had on 5. The comment we have commonly received is the need for a path from the red tee deck up to the washroom. As you may have noticed, we have begun this process and will begin laying stone and crusher dust leading up to the washroom. We have seeded the area with fescue to blend in with the tall grass surrounding the washroom. The section right of the red tee and in front of the white and gold tees has been a persistent problem in terms of drainage capabilities. We will be renovating the drainage at the same time we construct the path in an effort to efficiently remove water from this area.
Some of you may have seen the picture of the Mother fox and her pups I posted recently on my twitter account (@Kevinmoores). They are living close to the maintenance facility. Our mechanic Bill set up a camera close to their den and got some great footage that he was happy to share with the blog. Check it out below. Notice how quickly Mom picks up on the scent of the camera!
The golf course is in great shape and the maintenance staff is working tirelessly keeping up with the mowing. The weather is warming up (despite today's frost!) and the grass is taking off. We have started aerating the tees; topdressing and seeding will follow next week.
Enjoy your round!
Kevin Moores
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