It's been a great start to the 2015 golfing season, the golf course is in great shape and all the colors of spring are in full bloom. As seen above at the entrance drive of the clubhouse, flowering trees in full bloom show sharp contrast to very lush green grass on the course.
The maintenance crew is working hard at keeping up with the surge of grass over the past week. A perfect storm of warm weather with rain showers has accelerated the growth. Management of the course this time of year focuses many man hours to double and triple cut areas with a secondary crew in behind blowing and picking up grass clippings to keep a clean appearance. Players will notice the challenge of hitting shots out of the rough as balls nestle into the dense canopy.
On greens, fairways and tees we use a combination of PGR's (Plant growth regulators) to control growth as well as suppress seeding of Annual Blue Grass (POA). This grass makes up a large portion of our shorter mowed surfaces. The goal of slowing down the growth to manage greens for speed and to reduce clippings on fairways can be a challenge. Since different grass types as well as varieties within in a species react slightly different to the PGR's we can notice a separation in color and growth rates. These symptoms will balance out as the season progresses. Seed head suppression in the spring allows the greens to roll smoother with out the bumpiness (chatter) that the seeds create. Since we mow and roll our greens during the morning, through the day the chatter can become more apparent. This year we have noticed a significant amount of seed head around the golf course as well as on greens. This seeding cycle will be short lived through the month of May.
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| Close up seed head |
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| #9 Green with patches of seed |
Even though mature grass is growing, it is taking a little longer then expected for new plants to emerge in fairway areas damaged from the winter. We will be making efforts in reseeding these areas to encourage new growth over the next week. Some of these areas exist in wetter ground on the course that we will also be doing some drainage work to create a longer term solution.
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| #16 fairway April |
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| #16 fairway May 15th trying to fill in |
One of the great benefits of working on the golf course is enjoying the outdoors and nature everyday. A few photographs below to highlight some things you may have missed on the course over these weeks.
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| Remodeled #17 hole opened for play |
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| Green Green Grass!! |
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| Wild Turkeys |
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| Cooper's Hawk beside #7 Green |
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| Golf Boarding |
