More Rain!!!!

Just what the doctor did not order, another 1.5" of rain last night.

Finally back

I would like to apologize for not having any posts this summer. While we battled the weather and tight timelines for projects it was nearly impossible to find time for posting on the computer. Couple that with our PC handicap that we are still experiencing in the office and it was a formula for a hibernating blog.
We are back on track now and I will keep weekly posts fresh and current. Pleas see below for a few from today and stay tuned for more consistency.

Regards,

Lukus Harvey

Rain

Well it has been another wet September and especially wet last 2 weeks.
We collected 13.75" of rain for the month and just the last 2 weeks gas been over 7" of rain.

I know this causes firm bunkers that can be frustrating and long rounds with cart path only but trust me if we could go back to sunny dry days I would be the first in line to sign up.

Bunker with water it in from last nights rain.


We are hoping as we move into the first couple weeks of October the drier weather makes its way here and allows us to finish up all the detail work and get everyone off the cart paths. We have also been very limited in our mowing of fairways and rough so please be patient as we try and get caught up from the last 7-10 days.

Champ Regrassing

We feel that our regressing project on the Champ course was very successful this summer.

As you can see here and many of you have experienced the Celebration came in very nicely and is providing a very dense surface that allows your ball to sit up nicely and provides a very nice aesthetic value as well.
As we said before this will allow us to not have to overseed fairways and tees for the winter and while we need to stay on the cart paths now while the grass is young once the Honda is over we will be off the paths and running.

Curfew Application on Fazio Course

We are currently in our last closing of the summer season and our last piece of business today is a Curfew application.
Curfew is a soil fumigate that is sliced into the ground then the gas moves in a capillary manor spreading equally across the soil profile. The targeted pest are Nematodes which feed on roots of the turfgrass, but an extra bonus this time of the year is we will get a very good on Mole Crickets as well.

Curfew application in progress this morning.

We will see some small thin brown lines from where the Curfew was cut in for the next 10 days as well it may take a week or so for the tire marks to completely go away. Unfortunately with the rain this is something we have to deal with cosmetically in order to get the treatment completed.

Aerification season is in full swing

Here you can see our deep tine aerifier at work using 3/4" tines and having them punch holes 6" deep this promotes root growth to the highest level. This process was done on the Palmer, Squire and Champ greens. The Fazio just had standard tines as they are only 2 years old.

Here you can see 2 verticutters hard at work on the Champ greens going multiple directions to remove thatch and eliminate grain. This was done on the Palmer, Champ and Fazio greens. The Squire greens are not done because we have the Emerald dwarf that does not produce as much thatch as the ultra-dwarf grasses.

Here is an up close picture of the verticuttimg before we mow the green.

This pile of thatch is the amount removed from #1 green.

 

 

Here we are mowing a green after verticutting to scalp back any grain accumulated over the past season.

Champ Course Fairways and Tees after 1st Roundup/Fusilade application.

 

 

As you can see the contrast is becoming quite distinct as the targeted areas of turf are beginning to slowly transition in preparation for the conversion to Celebration Bermudagrass. Playing conditions right now are quite fun with the extensive ball roll you will receive on the fairways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see the collars are transitioning as well but the greens are in championship condition and rolling at tournament speeds.

 





Topdressing the Squire Course Greens

Day 1 of Aerification on the Palmer Greens

 

 

As you can see here we are using our deep tine machine with 3/4" tines that go 6" deep to give us a lot more compaction relief than the average aerifier.

 

 



 

 

Here is the deep tine aerifier in action pulling cores and bringing the soil with heavy organics up to the surface so we can remove and fill the holes with straight USGA spec sand to improve air and water flow in the soil profile.

 

 

 

 

 



First Roundup/Fusilade application on the Champ course

Here you can see Jeff Visser spraying our Roundup & Fusliade mix to the fairways.

Here the team is using a sprayhawk hand sprayer with barricades to ensure no Roundup/Fusilade gets on to the greens and damages that turf.

Here you can see the blue dye outline after the sprayhawk application of the roundup/fusillade mix.


Tuesday was the end of the overseeding era on the Champ course fairways, tees and approaches and also the beginning of our Celebration regressing project.
This step entailed a spray application to all the areas to be regressed with Celebration bermudagrass. The next step will be an application of 21-0-0 fertilizer late next week which will encourage growth of the plant. this accomplishes two things, as the plant grows it translocates the herbicide and metabolizes it and this also helps whatever plants that we did not get a good kill on green up and be ready for the next Roundup/Fusilade application.

Cart Path Only Today

All courses on property will be cart path only today.  We received .72" of rain at the Golf Maintenance Facility last night and rain values range from . 72" - 1.25" across all the courses.  

Practice run for the Roundup application on the Champ Course next week.

The team is doing a practice run with the barrier we created to keep Roundup off our greens next week when we do our first application to the Tees, Fairways and Greens Surrounds in preparation for our regressing to Celebration this summer.

Please note the course is closed in the late afternoon next Monday and all day Tuesday for the Roundup and Fusilade application. Both of these products are no-selective herbicides that will begin to kill the existing turf.

Spraying Growth Regulator on the Estates Fairways

Mike Knewitz is spraying Primo (growth regulator) on the Estates course fairways to promote lateral growth which will give a denser turf canopy and healthier turf as we head into the growing season.

Aloft application on the Estates

Here is Mike Knewitz spraying Aloft insecticide which gives us 3-6 month control of Mole Crickets which can do a lot of damage to turf by feeding on roots and burrowing tunnels.

Needle tine on the Squire greens

Needle Tine Aerification to Champ course greens

Here you can see the Aerifier going across a green on the Champ course.

Here you can see the spacing between the needle tine holes.

Lastly this shows the holes left behind by the needle tines. As you can see the holes are barely visible and once we run the speed roller over them they do not affect putting. The needle tines themselves are the same size as a #2 pencil. this process is critical Oct-May as we do not do any core aerification so this allows us to reduce compaction from all of the rolling and gives a small pocket into the soil profile for oxygen exchange which is critical for turf health.

4" main line irrigation break on Squire Course hole #13

As you can see we had a major irrigation line break on #13 of the Squire last night. An extremely large area of the fairway/approach to green was damaged and will take several days to repair.
This morning our crews are working hard to repair the pipe and get the area somewhat cleaned up.
it will though be roped off and marked ground under repair for the remainder of the weekend and we will have to do some excavating and bring in new sod starting Monday.

Light verticut and topdress on the Champ Greens this morning

Champ Course Superintendent Andrew Fike verticutting the main PG

As you can see a very light verticut this morning with very faint lines

After the verticut we applied a light topdressing to the greens as well.

As we all know as the growing season starts it is imperative to keep a routine schedule of light verticutting and topdressing of our Tif-Eagle greens to ensure they stay firm, roll true and keep the green speeds high.

Spraying Greens on the Squire Course this morning

This morning we are spraying our micro nutrient package on the Squire Greens with some growth regulator to help with turf health and increased greens speeds.

Tournament cleanup continues

Assistant Superintendent Jeff Visser hand watering new sod that we installed last week on #15 to repair areas damaged by this years tournament.
We will continue to repair the areas that need sod and agressivly fertilize other areas to ensure a timely recovery.