Golf Course Winter Project Update

With the decided shift in the weather, golf course maintenance activities have shifted from cutting fairways to blowing leaves and cleaning up storm debris. The biggest impediment to this process is wet weather.  Since fairways do not dry as fast this time of year, it is difficult to keep up with leaf removal. Everyone knows tractors on the fairways are not a good thing, so we appreciate your patience. Feel free to use the “leaf rule” to speed up play.

The greens continue to grow over the winter and we are monitoring places on the greens that have had damage prior to the project.  Some of these areas are being allowed to grow in and other areas have been plugged.  This healing process will continue into the spring.  You might notice different mowing patterns on the greens.  Normally the operator mows in a straight line and goes off the green to turn the mower.  Because all the areas off the greens had new Bermuda grass sod that required a lot of water, the operators have mowed the greens in a circle (to stay on the green) rather than back and forth. 

This mowing pattern has resulted in some scalping, which will heal.  At this point the Bermuda grass has become dormant and the green irrigation system has been turned off.  As the surrounds dry out the operators will return to normal mowing patterns.  

On #4 you may notice some scalping which is due to the new surface not being perfectly smooth.  The USGA recommends beginning mowing as soon as the turf is well rooted.  Quoting the USGA, “Since it is almost impossible to keep the green surface perfectly smooth (due to the frequent irrigation necessary during establishment) some scalping is inevitable.  However, it is better to scalp the new turfgrass plants early (and have time to recover) than wait to lower the cut just prior to opening.”   

The final phase of the green renovation project was to inspect and replace the defective subsurface green drains.  Fortunately the drain problems we identified were in the main drain lines off the putting surfaces, so we only had to dig up fairways and roughs. Since the last update, the drainage work on holes 7, 9, 12, and 18 has been completed.  On the 7^th hole, we added a “smile drain” which is an arc – like a smile – that wraps the low side of the green which will improve the bent grass on that part of the green.

# 4 Drain 

# 13 Drain

Finally the excess dirt we removed from around the greens has been placed in bare spots around the golf course.  It is being tilled and seeded for the winter.  As stated in a previous update, play these areas as ground under repair.