Green Speeds

Over the last two weeks the poa plants have been going to seed. This seed production makes the greens bumpy and slows down green speeds. This is typical for this time of the season. The seed heads have begun to thin out and the greens will slowly return to normal.

To add to the slow green speeds we have increased our fertilizer applications to assist in the recovery from the winter. This will increase shoot growth during the day so depending on the time of day you are playing there may be considerable growth.

The greens heights have been kept at a higher height of cut this spring do to the recovering greens. As they have been filling in and getting stronger we have been slowly lowering the heights and within the next few weeks we will have them back to seasonal heights.  

Greens Update

The green on # 6 is now in play, there are some areas that are still recovering.

Also # 9 green is ready to play on.

Greens Update

The backnine greens are all in play now but 4, 6, 7 and 9 are still recovering. We are still seeing recovery but the rain events we had over the last week seem to have sealed up the surface and washed the nutrients down into the soil. This is good for the established plants with strong healthy roots but the new seedlings need the nutrients up closer to the surface where it will be more available.We will be spraying nutrients on the greens and the aeration on the greens next week will open  them up and let them breath again.





We have begun sprigging on the 9th green. The green was aerated and the cores from the healthier side of the green are being placed in the aerator holes on the recovering side. This will help these areas fill in but it does take time and patience.

At the beginning of next week we will be aerating the greens with small tines. The poa annua grass is weak at this time of the season due to the seed head production, so we will take advantage of this and overseed with bentgrass. The aeration will provide holes for the seed to establish and in time out compete the poa. By using the smaller tines we will have less disruption to the putting surface but still get the benefits of the aeration.



Greens Update

We have opened 10 and 18 green this week and 15 green is close behind.  The putting green is also recovering well and the 4 greens on the front nine have seen improvement. Hopefully we are done with the cold nights, if the temperatures drop again we will be re installing the covers on the greens that are recovering.

 4th Green May 4th

 7th Green May 4th

15 Green May 4th

Rough shape of new bunker

Bunker on 15

 

A new bunker is being installed on the right side of the 15 green as per the architects recommendations. To begin we had to move existing irrigation lines that ran through this area.

We have begun the rough grading of the bunker.