A Chill in the Air

Wow, the temperature today was wonderful.  Well, that's my point of view where as I'm sure those that were looking to play had a different opinion.  This morning we dropped the mercury to 45 degrees, and they are forecasting even lower tonight and possible frost.  This is my 5th season here at Briarwood and the earliest frost I've seen is October 3rd, to have a frost this early after one of the warmest summers has my mind confused.  No matter the weather though we always seem to find ways to accomplish as much in a day as possible and that's been the case lately. 

Fall work continues as we creep further into September.  Aerification has been an continuous process throughout the month with approaches and tees being completed.  Fairways were a goal of ours to begin this past Monday but due to our deeptine still in the shop for repairs we've been delayed.  I strongly feel we'll begin this upcoming Monday and try to tackle a large amount throughout next week.  Fairway aerification will roughly take a few weeks to complete as long as weather is cooperative. 

Refugio making the first pass on the 7th hole.  Good amount of surface area was removed through the tees.

9th tee topdressed.  Sand gets incorporated into the holes which in turn helps reduce thatch and compaction as well as increase drainage and turf density by propagation of new plants.

Along with our normal fall practices we've begun to work on some in-house projects.  Currently renovation of some native areas is at the top of the list.  Our "native" areas are basically unmowed rough grass.  Smaller areas have been selected on the course as "experimental", utilizing newer seed technology that can handle having weeds controlled with RoundUp.  RoundUp is a kill all herbicide but will not harm the desired fescue blend.  This type of seed was introduced to myself while doing the greens project and having numerous conversations with the agronomist from Tee2Green.  In all we'll have all areas hopefully seeded and set to grow by the end of tomorrow.  One area was seeded last Thursday and we're already seeing germination.  I look forward to watching these areas come in and see how maintaining them progresses with the use of RoundUp. 

Area between 3 and 5 fairways.  This is an in play area so we are going for a more thin stand of turf.  This will allow balls to be found and played.

Area behind 5 green, not necessary in play.  Here Jorge is aerifying the area to open areas for seed but also help bring soil to the surface to help create a seed bed.

Area between 2 fairway and 7 green, again another area in play so the turf shall be thin and playable.  Here the guys are doing final prep for seed by raking clippings and debris out.

Area behind 8 tee that has been seeded.  This area is similar to that of behind 5 green and not much in play.  A different blend of seed will be used here than that of the in play areas.

A great deal of work is left for us before we can hang it up for winter.  I'm sure there are plenty of golfing days left so our normal course prep for the day will continue.  We look forward to continuing our progress and making Briarwood better each day.  It's been a long season already but we still have a ways to go.