On the Course August 31st

What a great day of golf yesterday.  Congratulations to the eight players moving on to the national PGA tournament in California which included our own Ben Meyers who shot a final round 71 to secure his spot.  Ben made a long birdie putt on 16 and a testy five footer for par on 18 to seal his spot, nice work Ben.  Today we will be single cutting greens, mowing tee boxes, and catching up on rough.  We will also be spraying greens this morning with fungicide and fertilizer.

JD sinking a 3 foot birdie putt on 17 that on the tee shot almost when in the hole.

We are mowing and rolling greens in the dark this morning. Fairways, collars and approaches are also being mowed. Second day of the MNPGA Championship today from 7:30am-1:15pm. Good luck to JD, Benny and Eric! 

We have cloudy conditions this morning and a slight chance of rain this afternoon. We will be doing some afternoon maintenance behind the PGA groups this afternoon. We are getting the equipment ready for greens aerification next Tuesday. The weather forecast is looking great going into the Holiday weekend.

On The Course August 29th

PGA Section Championship today starting with 7:30am tee times. We are mowing and rolling greens this morning. We had a great start in the dark this morning and should have all of our morning tasks done well in front of the first group. Good luck to JD and the rest of the staff playing in the event over the next two days. Fairways, collars and approaches are also being mowed. Sheldon is out on the 4700-D rough mower getting some turf mowed before the event. We will have some staff on the course later in the afternoon working on greens and tees.

On The Course August 28th

It is another nice morning at the course.  It was a cool 53 degrees once again which is a great night time temperature.  Today we will be single cutting greens.  We will also be out mowing fairways, triplexing approaches, and mowing rough to prepare for the PGA event going on Monday and Tuesday.  We will also be doing some other odds and ends up until about the noon hour to prepare.  There was a stuck head on Short Course fairway #3 this morning.  Please avoid the standing water in the fairway.

On The Course August 27th

The temperature on the course this morning was a balmy 53 degrees.  We are in for some very nice weather this weekend so come out and play some golf.  Greens are being single cut and rolled this morning and will be within there target speed.  We are also mowing collars and approaches, changing cups, and doing tee service.  We would like to reinforce again the clubs cart policy on the course.  Cart restrictions are 90 degrees, please obey the cart signs that are in each approach on the course.  Green and tee surrounds are cart path only as are all par 3's on the course.  We would greatly appreciate your cooperation on cart restrictions.  We would again like to take this opportunity to remind golfers to please fix there ball marks on the greens. There were again a large amount of unfixed ball marks on greens this morning.  Fixing your ball marks will only increase the quality of the putting surfaces, thank you.

On The Course August 26th

Guest Day yesterday went very well except for the ballmarks that were left on the greens. The Schamble format should not have increased the amount of ballmarks that were left. Please take the responsibility to find your ballmark and repair it correctly by moving the turf to the middle of the ballmark. Do not lift the turf up and expose dirt. I will work on a video to explain how the USGA recomends ballmarks to be repaired and the method I personally use to fix ballmarks. The other issue on the course I have seen and increase in the past couple of weeks is the complete disregard for our cart direction signs and our policy of keeping carts on the paths around all greens and tees. We are seeing more and more golfers drive up the middle of the approach to the green or right on the bunker banks next to the greens. We would like to minimize the traffic around the greens to help with turf stress. The more cart traffic around the bunker the more we have to water the turf which then affects the playability of the bunkers. Please take the extra time to follow the cart directional signs to the cart path and keep all four tires of the cart on the path.

Today we are rolling greens, mowing fairways and spraying tees with fertilizer. We are going to be working on some detail trimming today and getting ready for the PGA Sectional Championship. There is a slight chance of rain forecasted today. We had irriagation head that stuck on this morning on #1 Approach but it should drain off before the majority of the golf today. I would recommend playing #1 with a little extra club on the approach shot.

On The Course August 25th

We are mowing and rolling greens this morning. Fairways, collars and approaches are also being mowed. Busy day today with a couple groups utillizing the Championship Course as well as the Executive Course. Jason finished moving the irrigation head on #5 Blue Tee yesterday and we will be watering some areas of the course later this morning. We are going to continue to work on fairway spots and some trim work later this morning. It should be a great day for our Guest Day Shotgun this afternoon.

On The Course August 24th

Today we are mowing and spraying greens. We are spraying fertilizer and fungicide this morning to help with growth and plant health. Jason and Gabriel are working on moving an irrigation head on #5 Blue Tee. The irrigation head is currently in the middle of the tee which takes away some teeing area. The head will be moved towards the cart path into the rough area. We will have all of the tee markers moved up for the time we are working on the tee and should have it wrapped up early afternoon.

The acorns are falling throughout the back nine and we will work daily on cleaning them up. We will be starting other fall projects after the Labor Day weekend starting with Greens aerification and several small drainage projects.

On The Course August 23rd

Storms are rolling through this morning but should break late morning. Forecast is for a hot and muggy day with a high temp of 90 degrees. We are under a little lightning delay this morning but should have the crew out pretty soon mowing and rolling greens and setting the course for the day. Fairways, collars and approaches are going to be mowed this morning. We have recieved just over 0.1" of rain so far.

On The Course August 22nd

Don Cherrey: Culver Cup/ Senior Men's Champion

What a great Senior and Women's Club Championship this past weekend. Congratulations to all the winners! Greens are being rolled this morning. We are spraying fairways today and are planning on getting a lot of rough mowed. We are also mowing tees and will have the range tee set up on the mats for today's outside event.

Linda Darula: Women's Club Champion

The weather forecast for tomorrow is looking like a good chance of rain but the rest of the week looks good. We will be working on some fairway spots this week and a few areas on the greens that need some attention. Labor Day weekend is coming up quick and we will be starting some small fall projects after the Holiday weekend.

Don Cherrey's approach shot to 18!

On The Course August 21st

It is a very cool morning with a heavy dew on the turf. We are mowing and rolling greens today. We should see some good competitive golf today with the Championship having several players within one shot in both the Senior Men and Women's flights.

On The Course August 20th

Great morning for golf! We are mowing and rolling greens this morning and with over 200 rounds played yesterday the greens had a lot of ballmarks and spike marks. They have mowed up very nicely this morning and are rolling great. Collars and approaches are also being mowed this morning. We have been working on some fairway spots this past week and have made some good progress. Please avoid the roped areas and the areas marked with green and white stakes. We will be watering some areas this morning and throughout the day to aid in turf recovery and keep the seed that we have put out a little wet. We may be handwatering greens this afternoon if necessary but will be staying out of the way of the Championship flights this morning.

This area on #5 has been aerified, seeded and topdressed.

On The Course August 19th

Today we are mowing and rolling greens. The course is drying out from the big rain earlier this week and with the cool temperatures forecasted for this weekend we should have a great Senior and Women's Championship. Tees and Fairways are being mowed and cleaned off. We will continue to work on some of the fairway areas that were damaged during the heat of summer. Some of these areas will be sodded and some will be aerified and seeded. The higher traffic and larger spots are being sodded to ensure a quick recovery. We are having a Grounds Meeting on Tuesday and will be getting our fall projects and aerification schedule set. We are going to be aerifying greens and tees the day after Labor Day. We will be adding some drainage in some fairway areas this fall as well complete a couple of irrigation projects.

We were able to bring Lorelei home yesterday and she is doing great!

On The Course August 18th

It's another cool morning here at the course.  We have some storms showing up on the radar this morning out west and are expecting some type of precipitation later in the morning.  We are single cutting greens this morning, they are looking in nice shape after the topdressing from last week.  We are also mowing fairways and collars and approaches this morning and reseting the course.

#12 greens nursery was aerified on Tuesday, we will be topdressing it today weather permitting.

On The Course August 17th

Last nights forecasted rain was suposed to be a quick line of storms.  Well the quick line of storms turned into an hour and a half rain event that left us with 2.35 inches of rain and a lot of standing water on the golf course.  With the amount of standing water on the course we will be cart path only today.  The good thing about the rain event was that it came down hard which resulted in most of the water sheeting off the putting surfaces which has allowed us to mow and roll this morning for the Guest Day.  There are a few bunkers on the course with water in them but we will be pupming them out this morning.  The guys are also fixing bunker edges that washed out last night.  The course will be playing long with the wet conditions but we will be setting the course accordingly to make it a little more reasonable for morning play and the event.

The concrete work at the clubhouse is finsished and looks very nice.  Some of the areas finished yesterday will still be marked with yellow tape, please avoid these areas until the tape is removed, thank you.

On The Course August 16th

What another great morning on the golf course.  We are out walk mowing greens again this morning, the mowers are picking up minimal sand and the greens look good.  We are also rolling this morning, the topdressing has filled in the the ball marks and other areas nicely and should provide smoother surfaces.  Fairways, approaches, and collars are also being mowed this morning.

The roped areas in 1, 5, and 10 fairway have been topdressed and seeded.  Please try to avoid these areas as much as possible.  We will be working on some additional areas throughout the week and will have them roped off as well.

The concrete work at the clubhouse has begun.  The guys got a lot of work done yesterday and should be wrapping up some time today.  There will be wet concrete areas, please stay out of areas that are marked with yellow tape.

On The Course August 14th

Last nights full moon brought a lot of things, nice cool temps, a heavy dew on the course this morning, and a blanket of fog.  There are other things full moons bring as well like (babies)!!

Lorelei Adele McManus was born at 2:30 this morning, she was 7lbs and 19inches.  Congratualtions to the McManus family on there new addition.  Three girls, Erin is going be one busy dad.

We are rolling greens again this morning after the topdressing from Friday.  The sand will need another day to work in until we are able to mow without dulling the walking greens mowers.  The course is being reset this morning and greenside bunkers are being raked.  It is going to be a very nice day for golf.

On The Course August 13th

After not receiving rain yesterday like was forecasted we got a little shot in the early morning hours, just over .1 inches which is a nice amount.  There is some standing water in the fairways but it should drain nicely as the day goes on.  The nice thing about the rain is that it will help push yesterdays topdressing into the greens.  We are rolling greens this morning and will also be doing so tomorrow to keep our greens mowers good and sharp.  Collars and approaches are being mowed and bunkers are being raked. 

We hope everyone who has played this week has had the chance to notice the trim work on the left side of #6 fairway.  The trees were trimmed up to about 10 feet or so to allow for better recovery shots.

#1 green on the E9 was aerified, topdressed and seeded yesterday.  The green has been struggleing all year and was in need of some work.  It should recover nicely.

On The Course August 12th

Today we are mowing and topdressing greens. The sand we are putting down is very light and is intended to fill in some ballmark bumps and other irregularities on the greens. We did not water much on the course last night because we are going to water the sand in this morning. There is not very much dew on the turf this morning but rain is forecasted to move in later today. Fairways and tees are being mowed today. We are going to continue to work on a couple of thin areas in the fairways today.

On The Course August 11th

Played golf yesterday with another Superintendent and our John Deere sales representative. We played in the morning and I thought the course played extemely well. Today we are spraying greens with a fertilizer package and some fungicide to combat some Anthracnose that we are seeing on a couple of greens. The greens were rolled before we sprayed them and we are planning on mowing and rolling tomorrow. Fairways, collars and approaches are being mowed with several of our staff being moved into some new job assignments. It is getting to the middle of the season and we want to make sure the staff keeps a good, fresh eye on their daily job assignments. We have rotated the staff around a little bit so we might have some skips in some mowing and not very straight lines on a couple of the areas of the course but by the begining of next week we should have everybody comfortable in their new job.

Nick Walters spraying #1 green

We will be finishing aerifying a few of the fairways today and will start working on some patch work next week.

On The Course Agust 10th

What a difference the weather has been the last couple of days. Cooler temperatures and drier conditions are allowing us to complete some important maintenance tasks this week. The venting on Monday went really well but the greens were a little soft and bumpy yesterday. Today we are rolling greens and they are starting to firm up again. We are working on some fairways today with a solid tine aerification. This will help the damaged areas heal and help the healthy areas breath a little bit. We are spraying some fairways this morning with and insecticide to combat a problem with Black Turfgrass Ataenius and Cutworm. Insecticides typically need to be watered in so we will be running some irriation on a few fairways this morning.

We are having some mechanical issues with our greens sprayer and large topdresser which we hope to have resolved later today with some creative welding. We will be spraying greens and topdressing greens Thursday and Friday.

On The Course August 9th

Lena loved the Demo Carryall Turf 2 with the solar panel this past week.

Today is a going to be a beautiful cool day with high temps in the upper 70's. Not only do I like these temperatures the turf does too. We are starting to get some recovery in the areas in the fairways that have seen a mixture of turf diseases and heat stress. We are mowing and rolling greens today and the venting yesterday went really smooth. The areas that were in the most need for some fresh air really will rebound over the rest of the week.

On The Course August 8th

Venting of greens today!

 Today we are venting greens which is the coined phrase for using a very small solid aerification tine to help get air into the soil profile. With all the stress and play over the last month the greens are in need of some "fresh air". We perform this tast typically once a month throughout the growing season and this should get us in great shape for the rest of the month.

Nick Wlaters venting #9 green

Congratulations to Tony Ahl who won the 2011 MGCC Club Championship. The weather cooperated with us for the entire weekend and we were able to present a tough but fair tournament set up.

Al Hofstede won the First Flight

Dave Adams with great lag put on #18 to finish 2nd in the Championship Flight

Tony Ahl, 2011 Men's Club Champion

We are well on the way venting greens this morning and should have them completed and double rolled before lunch. We are also planning on topdressing greens this week with the cooler weather. Over the next couple of weeks we will be working on fixing areas of the fairways and seeding some areas in the rough. We are going to be roping off these areas and will have sign to determine how to play the area. All areas that are roped off are for turf stress related issues and please be cautious when driving your golf cart around the course. Over the past week we have seen a lot more carts driving up to and around greens and tees. Our policy for cart traffic is a 90 degree rule. This means you stay on the path until you are 90 degrees from your ball. Then you can drive out to your ball and return to the path. Please stay on the paths around all tees and greens and on ALL par 3 holes.