Greens Update

The greens crew has been working extremely hard to recover the greens areas that were lost from the past winter.  There are a few thin areas on edges of greens, but we have been very successful in growing a lot of grass on the turf surface.  All of the greens have been but in play, but still require significant attention and, many grooming practices to improve how they play.

This week we started that journey.  The greens were verti-cut on Wednesday, to eliminate some lateral growth as well as thinning out some of the dense POA areas.  Many seed heads from new POA that re-established itself was removed during this process.

Cleaning up the debris after verti-cutting

On Thursday we top dressed the greens as well as brushed the sand into the canopy.  The drag brush stood up an abundance of unwanted growth, and we were able to mow quite a bit of this grass off the greens.

Long runners standing up after brushing

POA plant that was stood up from brushing in foreground.   #3 Green in the back ground with tons of grass standing up waiting to be cut.

Mower has arrived

These processes removed some of the puffiness feel out of the greens, and created a better surface.  The greens this weekend have shown a little injury from our maintenance but will continue to improve.   You will see similar processes as above being preformed over the next few weeks as we slowly restore the greens into form. 

Divot Repair

Just a quick reminder that you can help improve the course while enjoying your golf round.

- Repair your Ball Marks and 1 other

- Repair your Divots with Divot first, using sand as a second option

- Keep your Carts on Cart Paths where possible and provided

Improper Divot Repair using sand with divots available

Proper Divot Repair using the divots left beside the hitting location

Greens update

June has arrived and the golf calender is full of events.  We have made tremendous progress on the golf course with the main focus on opening up all 18 greens.  June 14/15 all 18 greens were opened up for play for the member/member, followed by the greens being open for the Lady's Invite.  We are hoping to keep these greens open on a daily basis, as long as their health keeps moving in a positive direction.  If needed we will use provisional greens under certain situations.  There are still some thin spots on some greens, mostly isolated on the edges, which are improving daily.  We are working on increasing plant density in these areas.   Through the month of June we will be doing many things to promote recovery, and are forecasting being able to focus on greens speed in the near future.  As we have found through this recovery process, comparing pictures of progression was helpful in recognizing successes and failures.  Below are a few pictures of #12 green.
 

April 7, 2014

May 23, 2014

June 14, 2014

 The pictures above show a story of the of POA that survived the winter, or has rebounded with warmer soil temperatures.  On June 14th you can clearly see distinct color differences between the POA that survived and the Bent grass grown from seed that has filled in the putting surface.  We have also noticed a lot of seed head being produced through the month of June.  This can cause chattering of putts, which is more noticeable during afternoon rounds

POA seed on #13 green

A couple of photos taken over the last couple weeks;

Morning of June 19th, looking East from 11 green

1 of 4 Snapping Turtles hanging out on the Driving range during high water

Coopers Hawk by #14 green who just caught a Sparrow

Golf course update

It's an exciting day for Ladies and Men's league at Forest Lake.  As we turn the corner in the recovery of our playing surfaces we have introduced 6 greens into play.  Although not perfect, these greens have recovered significantly to handle routine play.  As June moves along we will start introducing others once ready, and will look forward to move away from the provisional pins in the near future.  The mowing heights for the greens will be mowed higher then traditional years.  As the canopy becomes denser and the greens remain in good health, we will slowly lower our mowing heights to improve greens speed.

2 Green April 3st

2 Green open for play June 5th

We have been updating weekly on the situation of our greens, but the greens crew has been quite busy everywhere on the golf course.  Flowers have been planted all around the club, and the crew is starting to move through the mulch gardens through out the property. Grass has been jumping out of the ground and rough areas have been very difficult to keep under control.  Also we would like to share some photos of a few tree and planting projects that are close to being complete.  Thank you for supporting the greens crew's hard efforts .

15 Green

15 Green Cedars removed

Locust Trees #7

Locust Trees #7 removed

16 Tee

16 Tee New Arborvitaes planted