superintendent's report
7/8/2011 Well, things have certainly changed around since the early part of the season. In May it seemed it would never stop raining and now it seems it may never rain again. We have been using our irrigation system more than the past few years and after a few small issues and repairs the system is running great. Warm dry weather will put a strain on the turf in the next few weeks especially after having had such a wet spring. When things are wet like it was this spring the grass has no reason to grow a strong root system and this will show up as the dry weather continues. Artificial irrigation can keep things alive but it is really no substitute for a good rain.
The project on # 7 is moving along and we are now into phase 2 which involves the finishing touches that make things look nice. Phase 1 was more involved in the rough work that really looks like we are making a mess more than an improvement. We will be finishing the cart path and the final grading and seeding soon.
4/5/2011 We have had a few nice days that have allowed us to get a start on spring cleanup of the golf course. The local school golf teams have helped us by piling branches and debris which gives a real head start on the cleanup. We have been spoiled over the last few years by being able to get open earlier than normal. Last year we were open and ready for play on March 28th. Our "goal" is to be open by April 1st but that is hardly ever possible given the weather we usually have in late March and early April. A more realistic goal is to be open by Master's weekend, which is this coming weekend. Right now our plans are to give the greens and tees a first cut on Thursday and get some flags in the greens so we can get the season going. Of course this is all weather dependent so check the website often for updates, I will post as soon as the greens are open for play. Over the winter we were able to obtain a few nice pieces of equipment at very good prices. We found a "new" used rough mower and expect to take delivery on it next week. We also found a nice used fairway mower that we purchased for some of the parts that were on it. It turns out that this mower was in great shape and we plan to use it as a daily mower for fairways. Work on the # 7 project has been delayed by weather and other factors but we are in hopes that we will have this project completed in the next few weeks. All the materials have been delivered and we plan to start digging this week. Please be patient with this project as it will likely make a muddy mess along the side of # 7. This will be seeded and mulched and should recover fairly quickly as the weather warms up. if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call me at 315-483-4482.