Thursday, September 22, 2011

State of the Union Address

It's been a while since I posted any information on here this year. I apologize for the delay. We have had a really busy year on the golf course, the season is by no means over but it is on the decline. We have had many things going on with the course this season, both good and bad. We also have some changes that are still in progress.


The new bunkers that we built last winter were finally opened this spring. It is so nice to hit out of some actual sand when you get in a bunker. We have had nothing but compliments on them. We are getting ready to start working on some more of the problem bunkers on the course by either removing them or rebuilding them. I hope to redo 3-4 bunkers this winter and remove about 5 more. Hopefully one day we will finally finfsh the bunker project.


Irrigation has been a large headache this season. If you have ever spoken to me concerning our system, I probably said," It's our system and it is what it is". This is not a negative statement, we have a 25+ year old irrigation system, and that's what we have. It is not going to work like a brand new one, but it will get the job done for now. I spent the majority of the first part of the summer chasing heads around the course trying to get them to shut down or come on. I ended up replacing about 22 old sprinkler heads this season with new ones. We still have a few to go (850 heads on the course, replaced about 115 = about 15%).


The ponds on #11 and 12 have been an issue again. The fountains have been turned off. They are too small to operate in water that dirty. I wish they were the answer but they are not. There is a question to ask, why does #12 look so bad and #13 look so good? The answer is pond construction. The ponds are attached and #13 is filled with water from #12. #12 Pond is about 4 feet deep and #13 pond is at least 10 feet deep. In the deeper a pond it is less likely that sunlight will reach the bottom floor of the pond, and create breeding grounds for algae. I do not know if we will be able to fix the problem with #11 and 12 without starting over with new ponds.


We are in the middle of creating new natural areas. We have about 6 acres of new natural areas in the initial growth stage on #'s 8,9,10,11,12,13 and 18. The seedlings are just emerging from the seed, and we are getting ready to fertilize these areas. Most of the areas are irrigated. We are running programs with our irrigation system to make sure that these areas are watered thoroughly and have plenty of moisture for grow in. The bulk of these areas are on #11-13. When these areas have matured this area of the course will not play much differently, but will be more vsually appealing from the tee. Please keep all traffic out of these areas, and play them as ground under repair for the time being untill we establish a hazard ruling on these areas.


We have just finished aerifying the greens for the fall. I am really happy about the sand application that we made. I believe that it was the perfect amount. I played 9 holes the day after we finished, and truthfully thay are not bad to play on. Putts were not jumping around and breaks are minimal. Remember that aerified greens make your short game much better. We are already mowing the greens for the first time since punching them. I think we will get a great heal out of them.


I know this was a lot of information for one post, and there weren't a bunch of happy pictures to look at. I will do my best to get some pictures next time. And I will do my best to get more information back out to you the golfer.

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