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.