New Natural Areas

Our new natural areas are taking off great. I hope you have noticed the areas under construction over the past month in preparation for planting. They are on holes 3, 4, 15, 16 and 17. In total the area covered is about 5 acres. That will bring our total of naturalized areas up to about 13 acres. I know that some of you out there hate these areas I am doing my best to make sure that we are not interfering with "in-play" areas. Yes, we did put a large area in front of #3 Blue tee box, but I'm hoping that If your hitting off the Blue tees that you have no problem hitting over a native grass area. The same can be said for #17 Tee Area.  The Blue tees are the only teeing locations that will have to hit over a natural area. You will notice that the White tees on #17 have a clear path of Bermuda to hit over in front of the tee box. Please keep in mind that these areas are not to be driven through. I have already seen some tire tracks through the new area on #17 Tee. Just a reminder when we put ropes up somewhere it means that we don’t want you driving in that area. All of the pictures are from one week ago.  They are since 100% germinated.  We have to keep getting them water throughout the early stages of the grow in period.   

 Above is a view from #3 Blue Tees.  The whole areas from the tee to the spillway has been converted to Tall Fescue.  We have had a lot of problems with sinkholes in this area, and a natural area is a good solution to keep people out of the area and keeping ankles from getting broken.  To the right is a Picture looking back at the Tees from the Fairway.  These pictures were taken at 2 weeks after planting.

 

 This is a Picture of #4 on the fairway side of the cart path.  We have had Natural Areas on the right and left of #4 Tee for 2 years now.  After looking at that hole for a while I determined that the Fescue needed to be extended down the fairway side of the cart path to help draw your eye back to the hole.  There is not a lot of area covered here but, I think It will help you if you are a new golfer to the course setting up on this blind hole.

 This Picture to the right is another view of the area on the inside of the cart path on #4.  You may have noticed how wet it has been around the area lately.  After Seeding and fertilizing I applied 40 minutes of water per day to this area.  I don't want to risk the soil drying out during the grow in process.  I just turned the timers down to 10 minutes per day yesterday to help remove the standing water conditions on the cart path.

 Above is a view of the back of #15 Tee.  We have had the Fescue to the right side of #15 for 2 years also.  I am hoping with this area on the left side of the Tee that we can create a buffer area from Highway 231. 

On the Left is another view of the area at #15 Tee.  This picture gives you a better idea of how far it extends.

 Above is a picture of our brush pile behind #15 Green.  When we tilled this area up I was so surprised to find some of the best soil that I have ever seen in the state of TN.  This area floods easily.  The years of flooding have lead to a beautiful silty riverbed soil that is a perfect growing medium for the Tall Fescue.

To the right is a picture of #16 Tee box that is an extension of the natural area above that will completely enclose #16 Tee.

To the left is a picture of an 2 year old Tall Fescue area that is doing quite well at #17 Tee area.  Behind the trees you can see the front of the Blue Tee and the newly seeded natural area.  I think that this area is going to be the most dramatic area that we have done so far.  It will completely change the way the hole looks (not plays) from the Tee. 

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.