Project Coming to a End

COURSE UPDATE

Many of you have asked the question, “What did we do to the greens?  And why did we do it now.”  The process we performed is called DryJect.  This process involves punching a hole with high pressure water and filling that hole with sand.  This process incorporates a large amount of sand into the root zone of our soil based greens.  The reason we decide to perform this now is due to the quick recovery time while the turf is actively growing.  We decided years ago to change our aerification schedule.  Most golfers are very anxious to get out in the Spring and enjoy a round of golf.  The last thing they want to encounter is aerified greens.  Aerificaiton recovery times can be very lengthy in the Spring due to the cold nighttime temperatures that we encounter in Northeast PA.  For these reasons we have altered our typical aerification schedule.  We have utilized the following schedule the past few years as our aerificaiton schedule for our putting surfaces.

Early June:   Small Hole Aerificaiton
Late July : Large Hole Aerification
Late October: Large Hole Aerification
Mid November: Small Hole Aerificaiton

We realize that the aerificaiton process is not popular one.  We probably dislike it more than anyone.  It is extremely labor intensive and takes many hours to complete.  However, it is a necessary process to allow us to provide quality putting surfaces.  We resumed mowing the greens yesterday and will continue to do so through the weekend.  The sand on the surfaces if very difficult on our mowers and we will struggle to get a quality cut on the greens over the next few days.  The greens should be back to normal speed by the middle of next week and the holes should be a distant memory.

The construction project is progressing well.  We painted out the last hole yesterday and Hawk Shaw should begin working on #2 sometime late next week.  We expect #1 to be completed early next week and #16 and #17 will follow quickly behind #1.  Most of the new sod has been roped off.  Please continue to pay attention to cart signs and cart restriction and take care of the bunkers by raking them once you have played out of them.   The new bunkers and sod will be open for play beginning this weekend.  We will open #18 in approximately a week or two.

As always it is a pleasure to be your Golf Course Superintendent.  We are extremely excited as the project begins to come to a close.  We are continuing to tend to scaring that has taken place during the process by seeding and fertilize these areas.  They will continue to improve over time.

Hope to see you out on the golf course.

Gregory Boring,
Golf Course Superintendent