Winter-Weary Golfers Need to be Patient

Winter-Weary Golfers Need to be Patient

COURSE UPDATE

           

            We are getting to that time of year where we are starting to prepare the golf course for Winter.  Nighttime temperatures are getting into the upper teens and lower twenty’s which cause the soil to freeze almost every night.  With those nighttime temperatures it takes a while for greens to thaw out during the day, which has resulted in many delayed starts in the last few weeks.  Sunday’s high is calling for Mid 20’s, which should cause the ground to freeze even more.  It has always been our policy that we will continue to open the course only if the greens are thawed completely.  Unfortunately, this time of year it is tough to determine whether the ground will thaw.  We have to keep monitoring the situation throughout the day to determine whether we will open the course.  It’s a tough call to make at 8:00 in the morning. 

            The Green Department has been out this week applying products to the golf course in preparation for the winter weather.  Snow Mold Sprays have been made on Greens, Tees, and Fairway.  Fertilizer has been applied to the Fairways.   We will be Winterizing the Irrigation System on Monday and Tuesday as well as applying fertilizer and sand to the greens.  We are monitoring the weather daily to determine when to install the covers.  We will keep you posted to when this will take place. 

Thank you,

Gregory Boring, GCS

Course Update

The recent weather has been a bonus for not only the members of The Country Club of Scranton but also to the Green Department.  Due to the exceptional weather we have decided to delay the cultivation of the Old Course greens.  The new schedule is listed below:

November 7&8:  Drill and Fill of Old Course Greens  (Very Large Holes)

November 11&12:  Core Aerification of Old Course Greens (Large Holes)

Holes may be closed periodically to complete this procedure in a timely manner.

Week of October 14:  Aggressive Verticutting of Old Course Fairways
                                 
                          This is a very lengthy process that must be completed during dry conditions.  This process will take several weeks to complete.  We will be topdressing fairways once the debris has been cleaned from the fairways.  We are currently installing drainage on #4 along the left side of the fairway.     This should take about two days to complete.  We will also be planting 300 plants this week along Country Club Road to help screen the property.  This screen will give the course some privacy as well as keep vehicle and from being able to access the property and help prevent vandalism.  The plan is to install these plants for the next three years to be able screen the entire roadway.

Course Update

A lot has been done over the past couple of weeks.  Many of you may have noticed the grooves cut into the rough. Over the past week we have cut 5000lbs of seed into the rough.  You may also notice the rough being a little damp.  This is a result of us trying to keep the seed moist so it has an opportunity to germinate.  We have also begun removing the poor conditioned turf around seventh green.  We will be sodding this area early next week.  This area has struggled for years due to the extreme slope around the green complex.  We have been solid tining approaches on the Old Course.  We are continuing to try and improve the new chipping areas around the green complexes.  This process is just one tool we use to accomplish this.  All the Fescue have been mowed and sprayed with herbicides to help with the weed population in these area.  These areas flourished until about mid-August when the weeds began to take over in a lot of these areas. The rough behind #15 Green has been aerified and seeded.  This area experienced some turf loss during a stressful period during the summer.  It is currently marked Ground Under Repair.

We are expanding the back right portion of #9 Green.  This area will take about a full season to get to the same texture and consistency as the rest of the putting surface.  Monday we will be verticutting, topdressing, and needle tining greens.  Our goal this time of year is to reduce organic material (thatch) and promote root development.

This area on #9 will be mown regularly, aerified and topdressed frequently to allow it to perform like the existing putting surface.

Important Dates:

October 8th:  Aerificaiton of Falls Greens.  Rotation becomes Old Course for all scheduled Tee Times.  Falls is available for play but will not be prepared daily.

October 14th:  Dethatching (aggressive verticutting) of Old Course Fairways. Fairways will be heavily topdressed after clean-up of the fairways has been completed.   This process will take several weeks.

October 23 & 24:  Drill and Fill Old Course Greens

Green's Recovery

Well we have been able to get a decent cut on the greens for the first time since aerification.  Yesterdays rain has helped with recovery.  We will be mowing and rolling greens over the weekend and hope to have things back to normal by the middle of next week.

Aerification complete

Today we completed the aerification process.  All greens were fertilized and will be mowed tomorrow afternoon.  375 ton of sand was applied this week to the fairways.  

Aerification Begins

On Sunday evening the Green Department will begin our aerification process.  We will begin greens on Sunday night and will finish them on Monday.  A contractor will be here to complete the fairways on Monday morning.  We will also be sand topdressing our fairways.  The entire process should take about three to four days to complete and there may be some temporary hole closures to allow us to complete the process as quickly as possible.  We have increased the amount of fertilizer on the greens and reduced the amount of growth regulator this week to aide in a quick recovery.  This will result in slower than normal green speeds this weekend.