April Recap

Things greening up (#9)

We have been playing the waiting game most of April. We are finally getting some more consistent weather and the course is drying up. We have been around most of the course cleaning up any debris from the winter and any tree work we had done. First cuts on all areas have been done and we are looking forward to the grass really starting to grow soon. This will promote recovery and increase the quality of the playing surfaces. We will begin cutting and rolling the greens on a consistent basis and lowering mowing heights.

We have made the larger sod repairs on all of the greens and now its time to start working on a few smaller areas. The putting green will take a few more weeks to recover with some good weather.

 Greens Repair on#7

Our irrigation system is charged up and ready for the season with only a few miner problems that we have corrected. The system draws its water out of the Black River which we have a permit for that will be renewed at the end of this season. We have begun the renewal process and we don't foresee any major issues moving forward.

 Intake repair in the river (foot valve)

The 17 green had a rough winter but has come around really well over the last few weeks. We have repaired the damaged areas with sod from our nursery and hope to have it back in play soon.

 #17 Green as of April 28th

The nursery has shown its value again this season. Having our own sod on site has helped us speed up our recovery time. This season we will be constructing another nursery to give us easier access to sod on the front nine. The new location will be beside the 7th Tee, construction will begin soon.

Nursery

     

  April's Accomplishments

• Prepare equipment for beginning of the season
• Organize maintenance area
• Remove tarps from greens
• Course clean-up
• Safety training with staff
• First Aid/CPR training
• Aerated greens
• Irrigation start up
• Repairs to greens
• First cuts
• "Divot March"
• Hardware and fountain installation
• Clean up bunkers
• Fertilize and chemical applications on Greens/Tees
• Clean up gardens
• Drainage work on #4 tee

April Course Update

April always seems to do this. Just when you think the nice weather is here, we see some more snow. The weather this week has slowed down our course preparation. We have put the first cuts on most of the grass but the wet and cold weather has made getting around the course difficult. The soil temperatures have dropped so the grass is not growing and recovering. Therefore we have left tarps on select greens to keep as much warmth in as possible and we may leave some on into next week until the temperatures improve. Looking at the long range into next week the temperatures are getting back to seasonal and the course will change quickly. 

#18 Green (April 21st - After a hail storm)

 #3 Green (April 23 - yes that is snow on the surface)

In preparation for the season we have completed our First Aid/CPR training for the season. All the managers and some select employees completed this training over the last two days.

First Aid/CPR training

Divot March

A special thanks to all the participants in our 'Divot March' on Saturday. There was 40+ members out to help and in under 2hrs we filled divots on the majority of the tees and all of the fairways. We need some warmer temperatures to get this seed to start to grow, hopefully we see that over the next few weeks. 

 Working our way up the 9th Fairway

Pizza for lunch in front of the Clubhouse

Spring Update April 14

With the weather getting better it was time to start taking our perforated tarps off. This is the first real look at the remaining greens and what we did see was promising. We removed 10 tarps yesterday, 8 greens looked really good. The 10th green is going to need a little extra time to recover from the winter and the putting green is the weakest green we have right now. With the long cold winter and poor surface drainage the putting green took a beating. We will be putting the perforated tarp back on now that we have aerated and overseeded it to help in its recovery.

 Putting Green

 Removing the tarp on #1

 #3 Green

Over the next few days we will aerate, seed and fertilize all the greens. This will be the beginning of our preparation for the course to be open for play. Now that we have had some rain what the course really needs is warmer temperatures. Sunny with +10 degrees will help the grass begin to grow and recover where needed.

 Beginning our spring Aeration

Snow Mould Protection

In the late fall we apply a winter protection chemical to help control snow mould over the winter months. Over the years we have tried new products to insure we are getting the best control at a reasonable price. With the long duration of winter it puts the chemical controls to the test. All and all we have seen minimal damage on the greens/tees/fairways but the rough has been hit in select locations. The majority of these areas will just take some extra time to fill in this spring.

#3 tee - you can see some mould spots on the tee itself - very distinct line between the sprayed tee and the rough 

This is a test plot on #8 fairway that had no chemical applied - shows there was disease pressure over the winter and thankfully we had our protection applied

Spring Update April

It is nice to see the snow going and hopefully the majority of it will be gone over the next few days. There is still a fair amount of frost in the ground and the soil temperatures vary depending on the amount of sunlight the areas are receiving.

 #4 Green

We have removed all the solid tarps now and are seeing minor scaring from ice build-up over the winter. We have covered these areas with perforated tarps to keep the heat in and aid in recovery. 

#9 Green

Hopefully next week we will get a good look at the remaining greens that are covered with perforated tarps. Then we can make plans for any recovery that is needed and get a jump-start on preparing for the season.

 #16 Green - far left side has some ice damage