Course Update April 9th, 2015

It looks like the weather is finally turning the corner. The grass is starting to green up and we have started working on the course. The clean up process began this week by focusing on the playing surfaces. Fairways and tees have been cleared of debris and are ready for mowing. Now we need some dry weather to allow us to get on them with out doing damage. We have received .6" of rain so far this week with more on the way. My plan as of now is to open the course at the early part of next week. If the forecast holds true we will blow the greens off Monday and evaluate their  firmness at that point. I am hoping to have flags in the greens by Tuesday afternoon at the latest. Stay tuned!

I am happy to report we have escaped the winter free of any winter kill. Unlike last year we will start 2015 on a strong note and will not have to deal with temporary greens. I am happy to see all of our struggles and hard work from 2014 have paid huge dividends. We how have greens with improved surface drainage and exposed to more sunlight from the tree removals. Tragedy can make you stronger and in our case this statement rings true!

I also wanted to inform you of my upcoming plan for spring aeration. The plan is to aerate greens starting Monday April 20th and finish on the 21st, as long as the weather cooperates. We will be pulling a small core, verticutting and topdressing. It will be the same process we did in the fall of 2014 and the greens should be fully healed in 10 to 14 days. This process is vital in producing the greens you have been acustom to.

As soon as greens are done we are planning on aerating tees in a similar fashion. We will be pulling a core and cleaning them up. We are also going to continue our fairway aeration program this spring. Last fall we pulled cores for the first time in along time and the fairways responded beautifully. This spring we will be solid tining the fairways to allow more space for roots to grow. Inturn this will create a strong plant that will be able to better withstand stresses, like we saw last summer. This process is low impact and will heal very quickly. The goal is to have all the faiways and tees done by May 1st.  

As always I'm free to answer any questions you may have.  Look forward to seeing you on Saturday at the Clean-up Day and in the coming weeks on the course.