New Black Tee Box Constructed on #14

When the black tees where officially added to the scorecard a couple of years ago, #14 left us in a bit of a tricky spot. The current red tee box did not offer enough variety to shorten the hole enough and the fairway is far enough away from the tee, that the hole would then be too short from the black tees. As result the tees unfortunately ended up in the rough, which is certainly not a great place to tee off from. As promised, we have constructed a new tee box at the yardage designated for the black tees on #14. This new tee should also help improve the condition of the red tee box, by removing some of the traffic stress that the already shaded, weak tee has to endure. It may take a little time before our maintenance practices cause the tee to actually look like a tee, but we do hope to have the tee open for play sometime this summer.

After painting out the tee and orienting it in the proper direction, sod was removed in house and place in a previously prepped winter kill area on the same hole

Contractor came in to properly level the tee with a laser grade

The sod was laid in house. The tee has rooted and is ready for mowing and topdressing!

Addressing Winter Kill/ Cart Exits

Despite a particularly cold winter, we are happy to report that we suffered a relatively small amount of turf injury out on the course. Bermudagrass can become susceptible to injury once temperatures begin to drop into the teens, and major problems can occur if the temperatures reach the single digits. Areas that go into the winter weak, or that are exposed to other stresses like cart traffic for instance, are the areas that are likely to die first. While we did see winter injury to #14 as we normally do, we believe that the off season Cart Path Only restrictions put in place, kept the damage to

 a manageable square footage.

Cart exit signs are designed to be a limit of where carts can use the 90 degree rule on a given hole, not as a designated exit point. Once hitting an approach shot to the green, golfers should drive their cart on the most direct route back to the cart path perpendicularly. The more golfers drive as far as they can up to the cart exit signs, the sooner we will have to move the signs further away from green to avoid excessive wear to the given area. Please keep in mind that cart paths are put in place to protect our course. By being aware, exiting before that last possible point, and training ourselves to utilize the cart path as much as possible, we can improve the condition of the course, and the golfing experience as a whole.

Deep Tine Aeration Complete

On Tuesday we were able to complete deep tine aeration to our greens. As part of our aeration regiment, we have been deep tine aerating in the spring and aerating to a normal three to four inch depth in the fall. Varying the depths of our aeration allows us to incorporate sand at multiple levels in the root zone, ensuring that roots are not inhibited by a plow pan layer caused by aerating only at one depth. The result is deeper, stronger root systems, making the greens easier maintain, and most importantly, improving playing conditions for members throughout the golf season.

The front right of #11 is one of the more wet pockets on our greens, and therefore will benefit greatly from this process. This picture shows very clearly the layer that we hope to penetrate with deep tine aeration
Recovery from aeration at this time of year is highly dependent upon the weather. While the next few days will be warm, consistently warm weather is what we are hoping for to help bring our soil temperatures out the cold March weather we have experienced. Warmer weather should expedite the recovery process and allow golfers to get back in the swing of things, with no more greens aeration interruptions until September.

Drainage Repair By #14 Green

The area to the right of #14 Green had a drainage problem that got progressively worse over the past couple of years. I am happy to report that we have resolved the issue, and the ground is already starting to dry out.We will cover the affected areas of the project with dormant sod in April. Next stop is #9 Tee Complex.

The completed drainage line will take water seeping out the side of the hill and move it to the sump right of the cart path

A tie line to encapsulate  a wet spot on the edge of the cart path