Course Preparations

The weather continues to bounce all over the place, making the process of spring prep challenging.  This past week we mowed all playing surfaces for the first time.  Once this is done course opening isn't too far away.  The somewhat mild winter created for longer turf requiring us the raise our normal starting mowing heights.   Things cleaned up really well but have some work to do.  Routine and heavier topdressings will help us bridge the gap between current greens heights to where we want to be.  Below we have Santiago and Alejandro mowing the 9th green for the first time in 2017. Cleanup work has been moving right along.  Debris from trees has been raked up, collected and placed in burn piles throughout the course.  This past week we were able to get 2 of the 3 piles completely burned; one is left behind #2 gold tee.  Prepping and sodding of tree stump areas progressed this past week too.  We recycled some sod from our putting green path project to get some stumps sodded.   Next week bunker cleanup and prep will begin.  This is a tedious process in spring as winter can take a toll on bunkers.  First we will get debris like leaves, sticks, and silt from washouts removed.  Once bunkers are clean from debris we will addressed sand washed down from faces.  As we are replacing sand on faces depths will be checking depths throughout the bunker to maintain consistency.  We will note bunkers that are shallow and when sand is available we will add where needed.  Depth goals are 2" around the faces and edges with 4" on bottoms.  The photo below shows how some bunkers look coming out of winter.  Good illustration also why bunkers fail over time; that dark material at bottom of bunker is silt.  Once that starts to get mixed with sand drainage efficiency significantly declines. Lastly we've been over the topic of how trees can be a negative to turf health.  As turf starts to recover this spring we see a lot of areas where no turf is visible.  These areas are consistent throughout the course; where multiple trees are placed creating dense shade.  Below are a few photos taken this week:  We will keep you posted regarding our course opening.  Getting a consistent stretch of weather would be ideal for turf activity and getting the pins in the greens.