Indian Summer

Well, it is safe to say that the last 10 days have been absolutely delightful!  The weather has been a treat and much needed.  We were hoping that we'd be getting some warm weather after that rain and cooler temps, Mother Nature pulled through.  We couldn't have asked for a better stretch which has allowed us to accomplish a great deal of fall work.  Continued work takes place on the bunker and greens project but also our normal fall tasks like aerification needed done.
Over the last week and a half we have managed to get all tees verticut, deeptined, aerified, topdressed and fertilized!  Our staff put in a long day a few Monday's ago to accomplish all that in 1 day.  Along with tee aerification we began and have now wrapped up fairway aerification.  Aerifying fairways is a lengthy task as we have 30 acres to take care of.  We were able to get the last few fairways aerifying yesterday and will be topdressing them today, that will take care of fairway aerification.  Some suplimental aerification will be taking place if weather permits but the intitial action is the most important, anything extra is a bonus. 
As fall continues on the leaves continue to change and our task of leaf cleanup is becoming more and more.  I'll say that this year is probably the best fall color that I've seen in some time.  Not sure why things look so good this year but it is a treat to see the constant color change and the beauty it gives the course.  Here are a few photos of some of this glorious fall color:

Fall always brings on a peacefulness I think to a golf course.  The stress of summer is past and season preparation isn't pressing.  Even with the projects taking place and the full push for aerification, at least one of us found time to relax:

Fall work has progressed with some small projects to be done but also wrapping up the greens and bunkers.  Greens continue to get better each day, which is nice cause the end of the growing season is approaching quickly.  Roots are going deeper than we've seen with any of these greens which is very good to see!