March 31 2016
From the Grounds…….
MARCH 31, 2016 – HOLE 9
I am happy to report that Mother Nature was kind to us this past winter and the golf course wintered well and is in great early season shape. We had nowhere near the disease pressure we experienced last winter with only a few damaged spots on some greens. With this warm early spring, these spots should fill in quickly. We are also fortunate that this warm early spring has allowed us to aerate and top-dress all our greens before we open. This will ensure that ball roll will be smooth and consistent throughout the year and it is nice to get this labor intensive procedure out of the way before we open.
To further improve the health of our greens, we have purchased a brewer which will allow us to use compost tea on our greens. This is the most environmentally friendly way to manage greens and they should benefit immensely from this tea, helping reduce even further the little amounts of fertilizer and fungicides we must use to make good playable surfaces.
A different procedure last fall putting our fairways to bed for the winter has proven successful and our fairways look the best they have in years after the snowfall and we will be continuing this from now on.
In all our efforts to provide ongoing great conditions we have purchased two mowers to help our cause. We will be getting a newer greens mower and a newer rough mower which definitely will help improve the aesthetic look of the course, as well as making our mowing procedures more efficient.
Some work done to the golf course over the off season by our hard working crew includes:
· Tree and stump removal around greens 2, 3, 5, 7 & 8 to allow more sunlight to these greens making them much easier to manage.
Tree removal March 2016
· Drainage work on #4.
· New wider aprons around some greens.
· Irrigation work around #1 green automating some irrigation heads.
· The cleaning up of our junkyard.
If there are any questions or if anyone would like more information on what we do in the grounds department, please call us, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
Good Golfing!
Jeff Bennett
Golf Course Superintendent
250-838-0878