When it rains, it...?

Not only does "pour" come to many minds I'm sure, however today I would finish the statement by saying "grows like mad!". With the consecutive days of rain and high humidity all the grass is growing uncontrollably but the rough takes first prize for rate of growth. The primary rough is maintained with a 5 deck rotary mower called the "Toro Groundsmaster 4500-D". The operator of this mower is one of the clubs longest residing employees. He has been here so long even he doesn't remember the exact number of years but to put it simply his employee number is 45. Notice the unique stamp he is able to put on the golf course through his mowing patterns. Pete Verbeek is not only our master rough cutter but one of the ice techs as well . The other mower that you may be familiar with is the "Toro Groundsmaster 3500-D" a 3 deck rotary unit. We use this to maintain the rough surrounding the greens, tees and sand traps. It also is known as the "Sidewinder" because of its unique feature that allows the operator to slide the cutting units from side to side to help get those tricky little areas that wouldn't be within reach without it. Rest assured we will have all three of our mowers running daily to help keep the rough height at a consistent 2".

                  4500-D                                                                           Sidewinder





On to the greens. Today was a good day in the fact that number one green is ready for play so the decision was made to do so. I'm not going to lie, its great to be down to only one temporary green but all this rain doesn't make me feel incredibly comfortable about how the sod will handle the foot traffic. My main concern is the potential of foot printing due to the firmness of the surface since we've received almost 40mm of rain in the last 24 hours. I know it's almost impossible to ask but if possible please do your best to limit traffic on the sodded area whenever possible. Today the decision was also made to sod a damaged area at the back left of twelve green. This will help to increase pinning area and I would anticipate having this green in play for the weekend. With respect to the condition of the greens, I hope everyone is starting to feel pretty good about where were at. Yes we still have a long way to go, but I think it is now confirmed we are definitely on the right path. I have before and after pictures that I will post shortly.

 

Plans for the immediate future out on the course are to complete the face lift of the putting green area by installing drainage and sod. We do need things to firm up so completion of this is somewhat weather dependent. Also installing the plant material into the decorative stone planters will be the final touch. By Thursday I would anticipate that we will have begun the expansion of the forward tee on hole 14 and this will in no way impact your round of golf. The process of edging/weeding the sand traps will also be on going over the next few days and week. Don't forget to keep an eye on the blog calendar as next Tuesday the bi-weekly top dressing of the greens will be starting. Were looking forward to better weather and seeing everyone out on the golf course.

 

I just wanted to mention after doing this now for a few weeks, it seems as though I'm finding Sunday night to be a good time for me to post. Moving forward look for an update on Monday's.

 

Jay Sisko

Golf Course Superintendent