Happy Summer!

     And a good day to all of our fellow Briarwood members out there.  It's been a busy month since the last blog post and for that I apologize for not entering a new update. So what has happened since the last blog post?  We had a heat wave with multiple days in the 90's followed by early fall weather with highs in the 70's.  We have had upwards of 2'' of rain in the month of June and the trend seems to be continuing into July.
      It was sad to have the rain falling hard during the afternoon session of the JUF tournament.  At least the wave of ladies were able to finish so it wasn't a total wash.  The course was in excellent condition at the time (and still is).  The next major event was Men's Member/Guest which happened this last weekend (June 23rd-24th).  The same trend continued during this event as we received 1'' of rain in a matter of just over an hour.  Luckily the golf course was dry and the rain either ran-off or it was soaked up.  Either way the maintenance crew was able to provide splendid golfing conditions for both days of the event.  We would have loved to prep the course fully on Friday but had to play the with hand that was dealt to us.  Fortunately the golf course dried out enough to allow carts Friday afternoon and allowed maintenance to do what we do best and prep the course fully for the Saturday round.  We couldn't be happier with the way everything worked out for golf course preparations and especially for Men's Guest Day.
     With Guest day behind us, we are able to have a bit of a breather here at maintenance until Fourth of July weekend.  My best guess is that people will be taking off Friday-Tuesday for a fabulous mid-year break.  Hopefully you all spend your time here at Briarwood Country Club.  During this so called "break" we here at maintenance will be working on the important cultural practises that need to be implemented every so often, plus we need to take advantage of these mild temperatures.  Such practises that will be implemented will be a verticutting on greens, tees, fairways, and approaches.  For further information on verticutting and its importance please read this great article from the USGA (http://www.usga.org/course-care/2013/05/the-how-and-why-of-vertical-mowing-greens-21474855829.html).  Maintenance was also able to needle-tine greens to allow gas exchange to the roots as we really pushed the greens to prepare for Men's Guest Day.
     As always, if you have any questions whatsoever, please do not hesitate to contact Justin Vanlanduit or Justin Jurczyk as we are always happy to talk turf.  Again, please enjoy these holiday times with family and friends!  In conclusion, please be sure to fix your ballmarks plus one extra, replace divots and rake your bunkers. Thank you!