Fescue Seeding

We began seeding the left of #5 Pines today with Hard Fescues.  This area will take some time to establish but should only add to the beauty of the property once it is mature.

USGA to lose $10M on U.S. Open | Golf Inc. Magazine

USGA to lose $10M on U.S. Open | Golf Inc. Magazine

A Saturday Morning Surprise

Unfortunately we came in this morning to a big surprise waiting for us on #3 Pines Green.  It appears an ATV was used to drive through the green-side bunkers and proceeded to drive across the green.  We are currently working on repairing the damage enough to open the hole for play but it will take some time before the hole is free of any blemishes.  We are still trying to decide the extent of the structural damage to the bunker but we should be able to repair the cosmetic damage quickly.

 The police department has been here twice this morning and are looking into the situation.  We will keep you posted to new events and we appreciate your patience while we start the repair process of the damage.

Course Update

As many of you know that have played recently, the rough is very challenging.  I have been asked several times a day, "When are you going to cut the rough?"  The answer is we have been cutting the rough 10+ hours a day for well over a week.  The problem is our three rough mower can't mow fast enough for the way it's growing currently.  Areas were cut on 9,10,18 and 1 yesterday that were cut on Thursday.    They looked as if we hadn't cut them for a week.  Every Spring we see a 2-3 week period where the rough grows out of control and we see an abundance of seed heads.  We are currently experiencing that.  Our rough mowers are currently set at 2.5" which is our normal height of cut.  Our rough is very thick this year, which is a good problem to have but it will begin to thin out as we continue to heat up and dry out.  I am sure many of you are having to mow your home lawn at least twice a week during this period.  The only difference is we have a 250+ acre lawn here.  We realize this is a very frustrating time but please be assured we are mowing as fast as we can.

Several question were also asked about green speeds this weekend.  The heat last week forced us to take a more conservative approach to preparing the greens for the weekend.  When temperatures are pushing 90 degrees our Poa Annua greens go under a significant amount of stress.  If we add to that stress by double and triple cutting it could lead to a substantial amount of turf injury.  We were also trying to encourage the greens to grow because of the aerification that is taking place today.  This should allow the greens to recover quicker.  The heat has broken and aerification is taking place as I write this.  The greens will slow down significantly temporarily following aerification.  Once we are able to get back to a normal mowing schedule things should return to normal.

Thank you,

Greg Boring, GCS

Course Update

The heat is forcing us to be conservative with the preparation of our greens.  The greens were mowed once this morning but were not rolled.  We plan on single cutting tomorrow followed by a single roll.  This should give us a little more green speed but nothing like our normal speed.  We have also cut back on growth regulators this week so the greens will recover quickly from Monday's scheduled aerification.

Just a reminder will will be aerifying all 27 greens on Monday with very small tines.  The greens are starting to grow more aggressively so they should recover quickly.

A Very Wet Memorial Day Weekend

The past two days has seen its share of cold and wet weather.  The golf course has received approximately 1.6" of rain in the past 36 hours.  This rain has been a slow soaking rain.  Due to the excessive rain we have not been able to mow and roll like normal.  As a result the greens are significantly slower than normal.  It has also kept us from mowing rough as frequent as we would like.  As soon as things begin to dry up we should be able to return to our normal mowing schedule.

A "Rough" May

Every Spring we have a 2-3 weeks span where the rough seems to grow faster than we can cut it.  We are currently experiencing this at this time.  We currently have three rough mowers working 8-10 hours a day just to try and keep up with the rough.  With the amount of rain we received last night we currently are unable to cut the rough today.  It is going to get very difficult until it dries up enough to allow us to get the mowers out there.  We are doing the best we can and we will keep you posted with any updates.