Rain, Rain and More Rain/Snow April 29th, 2014

Outflow pipe on #2 in the ravine heading towards CR116

 We are still in a rainy/snowy pattern today and this will continue for a couple more days. There are some flooded areas of the course but overnight it has drained well but with more rain expected we will remain very saturated. The course is very soft and we will be evaluating the course this afternoon to determine the status for tomorrow. We will get the course open as soon as the weather will allow. Thursday, Friday and Saturday look promising for golf. We have recorded almost 5 inches of rain since late last week.

Intake Pipe that flows across #2 approach

Low area between #6 and #7 fairways slowly draining

On The Course April 26th

Corey took this picture of a Bald Eagle that just picked up a squirrel for lunch

The Crew is starting to check sand depths and work on edging bunkers

 We have had a rainy week but we were still able to get a lot accomplished on the golf course. There is a little frost this morning but it should burn off fairly quickly. We are going to mow greens, rake bunkers and set the course up for play. We are still pretty wet on the golf course and will be cart path only. The rough has started to grow pretty well and carts will be allowed off the path once the course dries out. We have almost no evapotranspiration rate this time of year so it does take a little longer for the ground to dry.

The crew has started to work on checking sand depths in the bunkers as well as putting a fresh edge on them. This is a very time consuming task and we will continue the process next week. The weather hasn't been very good for us to get out on the golf course and we are looking at some cooler temperatures this next week. It doesn't make for good golfing weather but it will give us a chance to get these bunkers set for the season. The irrigation system has not been charged yet but we will get into that project next week and see how the system made it through the winter.

Freshly edged bunker on #1

We have a couple new employees we are training on mowers

 

 

 

Green Tee on #3 is growing in very well



On The Course April 12, 2014

Close up of the putting surfaces.

There is a little rain in the area this morning but it should clear off quickly and some sun will appear later in the day. We have a cold front setting in for later in the weekend and some colder temperatures for the first part of the week.

The front nine of the Championship Course will be open this morning at 10am. We will be allowing carts to use the paths only. The ground is still soft in certain areas and the turf has just started to come out of winter dormancy. We want to make sure we have the turf growing before we allow cart traffic. The peat based soils on a couple of holes are still holding some frost and any vehicle traffic will cause some significant damage. The crew was able to get the front nine greens mowed yesterday and will be working on the back nine today. Corey Heasley and Jenna Wolff will be cutting pin locations this morning. Fernando and Gabriel will be working on replacing the sod drainage cut outs.

Snow Mold check plot shows that our snow mold treatments worked very well.

On The Course April 11th, 2014

The Crew rolling Excelsior covers off of the greens.

 We have had a good stretch of weather this week and the crew has been working hard to get the course cleaned up and ready for the golf season. We were able to get all of the covers off of the putting surfaces on Wednesday. The crew worked on hauling the mats to the storage trailers on Thursday and we will be finishing that process this morning. The front nine on the Championship Course is pretty close to being ready and we will be allowing golfers to start at 10am on Saturday. The back nine still has some wet areas and frost with all of the shade from the trees. We will look at opening the back nine later next week. We will be setting up the Range Tee and Executive Course this morning for  a 12pm opening. There will not be carts allowed on the Executive Course until it has had some more time to dry out.

We were able to get the front nine greens cleaned off and rolled yesterday afternoon. We will be mowing them later this morning and working on replacing drainage plugs and sod. The back nine greens will be blown of and rolled this afternoon depending on the weather. We are looking at some spotty showers moving through the area this morning and a better chance of showers later tonight and into tomorrow. We are having a Grounds Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 15th at 3pm.

Blowing the chaf off of the greens getting ready for a roll.

Gabriel stacking the mats in the 53 foot trailers that will be stored off site for the summer.

Practice Green #10 checking the height of cut on the walk mowers.

First Assistant Corey Heasley hauling excelsior mats to the parking lot.

On The Course April 7th-- Front 9

Sneak Peak of #1 Green under the covers.

The crew has been getting a lot of odds and ends straightened up this past week getting ready to uncover the greens and get the course open for the season. We had almost 9 inches of snow fall Friday of last week but with the warm temperatures we had over the weekend most of the snow has melted. We still have some pockets of snow here and their on the front nine but overall it is clearing very nicely.

The front nine is looking to be in pretty good shape overall. Most of the fairways are clear with the exception of part of 5 and 6. The typical low "bird bath" spots look pretty good and we are not seeing any significant turf damage. The voles have done a good bit of feeding on some of the rough areas but not nearly as bad as we have seen in the past couple of years. A few bunkers banks and a few fairway spots. Mainly areas where the early snow might have drifted before the really cold weather started.

We are seeing a little vole damage on a couple fairways.

 I have been able to check under the covers on all of the greens on the front nine and everything looks to be in very good health. The greens are starting to push a little growth and we are looking at pulling covers later this week. The surfaces of the covers are mostly dry but there is still some moisture on the turf surface. With a forecast high temperature of 70 on Wednesday and some breezy days the mats will be dry enough to pull off later this week.

We will be working through the back nine tomorrow and I will make another post with the details.

Overall the fairways are looking pretty good

We still have some snow on #7 green

Some bunkers still have some snow in them

On The Course April 2nd, 2014

Hen Duck nests have been refreshed for the season

We have had a very long winter and we are looking at a winter weather advisory for the remainder of this week. The course has been melting slowly over the past couple of weeks and the course looks to be in great shape. There are some areas that are snow covered but the ice layers have been minimal. Most of the greens are clear of snow and look healthy. I took the picture below a couple days ago and we will be showing more pictures at the Grounds Committee meeting next week. The drainage system is open and we are checking grates and making sure the surface water drains and gets off of the turf areas. 

16 Green on March 31st, 2014

I will be starting to make more consistent updates on this blog over the next couple off weeks as we get closer to the golf season. We have a lot of projects going on on the golf this spring and we will be keeping everyone up to date on the progress of the Grounds Department. 

Putting Green 1 still has a little bit of snow coverage.

The Front of 10 green looks very good and our drainage channels have worked well