Improvement Continues

APRIL 21, 2014

MAY 19, 2014

COURSE UPDATE

          The Green Department has been diligently working to expedite the recovery process of the greens.  We continue to see progress with the greens even with the recent colder nighttime temperatures.  The greens have been covered the last three nights due to these colder temperatures.  

          We have completed plugging the putting green and are allowing those plugs to root properly before opening up the putting green.  We anticipate having the putting green open for the weekend.  The sod on #10 and #14 has begun to root and we have started the mowing and toprdressing procedure on these greens to help smooth the sod and prepare it for putting quality.  Friday we will be changing the rotation to the Old Course but will keep four greens closed.  The rotation will consist of playing holes 1-8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 then 1, 2, 8, and 9 on the Falls.  We will keep you posted on when the final four greens will open.  Greens on holes 9, 10, 14, and 18 continue to lag behind the others.   

          Even with opening more greens we will continue to treat several greens a little different.  Several of the greens that have opened still have a few thin areas that need to be grown-in.  We are treating these greens a little different than the Falls Greens.  They are fertilized more and are mowed with a different mower at a different height of cut.  This results in the green being considerably slower than the Falls.  We have kept the heights up on the Falls greens to try and match the speed but the heavy amounts of fertilizer given to Old Course greens are causing them to grow at a much faster rate.  Mowing the Old Course greens lower and reducing the amount of fertilizer that is being applied to them will only slow down the recovery process.  Our goal is to get them healthy and 100% covered with grass.   We will continue to need warmer air temperatures to help increase our soil temperatures for this to happen.   

        I will be addressing the Membership tomorrow at the May Membership Meeting.  I hope to answer many of the question that you may have.  

Thank you, 

Gregory Boring

Very Wet Conditions

The standing water on #18 Green yesterday is in the exact
area where ice damage was sustained.   

The Golf Course received over 2.25" of rain yesterday.  We will be able to mow greens today but expect soft and very slow conditions.

Course Update

         The recent warm up has been a welcomed change for the Green Department.  We have continued to seed the damaged greens once a week and continue to see steady progress.  We are going to open up three more holes this Friday that will give us an18 hole rotation.  We will be opening #6, #7, and #12.  Terry will be sending out an email about the order in which the holes will be played.  There are still a few thin areas on these greens so please avoid these areas while you are walking on and off these greens.

         Most of the greens are making steady progress.  Greens on holes 9, 10, 14,18 and the putting green have continued to lag behind the others and will take some more time until they are ready to be opened.  We will continue to keep you updated with their status.  Due to the fact that #14 green was lagging behind we made a decision to sod the two severe areas on #14 and had some additional sod we used on #10.  This is very unique sod that is made of Poa Annua which is the same grass we have on our greens.  This sod was in very high demand this Spring due to the widespread damage and we were able to get 2000 square feet to use on our most damaged areas.  This was the last of the sod this farm had available.  This sod was laid last night and it will take time to smooth the sod and develop roots to allow foot traffic on the green.

        We continue to remove plugs from #4 Falls green and they are currently being used to repair damage on the putting green.  Once the putting green is completed we will be sodding the right side of #4 Falls with sod from #2 Falls fairway.  The driving range tee is finally beginning to grow and we will be opening up the grass part of the tee on Friday of this week.

       The Green Department and I would like to thank the membership for their patience during this difficult situation.  Things are moving in the right direction and more holes will be opening up soon.  One of my main goals was to have at least 18 holes open and we will accomplish this on Friday.  We continue to seed and nurse the remaining greens back to health and will only be a matter of time before we have all 27 holes open.

Thank you,

Gregory Boring

HAVE WE MADE ANY PROGRESS?

Todays Update

          The expected warm up coming over the next few days has allowed us to pull the covers and we plan on keeping them off due to the expected warmer nighttime temperatures.  The weather over the past three weeks has been anything but ideal to promote recovery.  Even with the below average temperatures we were able to utilize the covers to promote some new growth and seed germination.  Without the use of the covers we would not have recovered as much as we have.  The soil temperatures under the cover is approximately six degrees higher than an area that is uncovered.  Even though installing and removing covers are labor intensive it has helped us promote recovery of the greens.

          The removal of the covers this morning has allowed us to properly evaluate the greens.  Even though we have seen some progress we have decided at this time to continue utilizing the currently 15 hole course through the weekend and reevaluate early next week.  We were hoping to open a few more holes for the weekend but with multiple areas in the green still damaged and very tender delicate seedlings we feel it is best to keep the greens closed at this time.  Opening these greens too early would only delay the full recovery of these greens.

          The expected warmer temperatures in combination with our aggressive fertilization program should result in significant growth over the next 5-7 days.  The covers will remain off as long as nighttime temperatures stay mild.  This should allow the turf to respond from the air and sun exposure.  We will continue to monitor the progress over the weekend and update the membership of the progress early next week.

Thank you,

Gregory Boring

COURSE UPDATE

          The last couple of nights have been in the mid 30's which has forced us to keep the greens covered for most of this week.  We plan on pulling the covers tomorrow to allow us to make a more thorough evaluation of the progress this week.  We also may be leaving the covers off for a few days due to the more mild weather during the day as well as our nighttime temperatures.  We will be posting more pictures on Friday to better illustrate the progress that has been made.

          We have continued to remove plugs from #4 Falls green and utilize them on the Old Course Greens.  We will begin sodding the right side of #4 Falls early next week.  Once we have had a chance tomorrow to evaluate the greens we will be sending out a more detailed update of our progress and the potential of more holes opening.

Continue to visit www.ccscrantongreen.blogspot.com for updated pictures.


Thank you,

Gregory Boring

COURSE UPDATE

          We've received plenty of rain and wind the last couple of days which has kept us busy trying to keep the greens covered.  The good news is that we have seed germination this morning for the first time since we seeded exactly two weeks ago.  We are leaving the covers on today to help with the germination process.  The covers will be removed tomorrow to allow us to fertilize the greens and better evaluate.

          We have decided at this point to open more holes on the Pines.  Holes 1-5 and #8 will open for play Saturday morning.  Terry will be posting the order in which we will be playing the holes.  We also made the decision early this week to go ahead and pull small aerification plugs while we were closed so we don't have to inconvenience the membership again by aerifying the Old Course on June 2nd, when we were originally scheduled to do so.  We will go ahead and aerify only the Falls greens on June 2nd.

          The Green Committee has decided to move in the right side of #4 Falls green about 10 feet to help keep balls from rolling off the right side of the green.  Rather than just letting the grass grow up we have decided to utilize the section of the green to make repairs to the Old Course Greens and will be sodding the right side of #4 Falls with fairway sod from #2 Falls fairway.  Once we have utilized the sod we need from #2 Falls fairway we will move in the step cut and seed the rough that has been harvested to make repairs to other areas of the course.  This is a process we used during the renovation project.

          Please check the Green Department Blog tomorrow for updated pictures and further updates at:
www.ccscrantongreen.blogspot.com


Thank you,
Gregory Boring