Back from the Woodshed!

      Irma has kept us busy and I promised myself I would not write a blog post with frustration clouding my sensibilities.  Today, we topdressed greens.  A small victory for our staff as we look to get back to taking care of the golf course on a full time basis.  Granted, the afternoon duties included tree trimming, debris removal and stump grinding but we are making progress.  Going forward, more and more time will be shifted towards preparing the course for the "Tournament" season.  

    As you might recall, even before Irma, we were in the midst of a record breaking summer.  Our rainfall totals from June 1st through September 30th were close to 100 inches.  This is usually the time that we do a majority of our preparation and agronomic cultural practices that enhance the conditions for the coming season.  The most effected programs are the herbicide and fertilizer applications.  To compensate for the loss of efficacy during the summer, we took advantage of the fair conditions of October to aggressively treat the weeds, that led to some off color areas throughout the course that will soon recover.  The recovery will be enhanced by the fact that we have had the opportunity to apply our scheduled October Fertility coated with a Pre-Emergent herbicide to prevent winter annuals and two liquid fertilizer applications.  We have an aggressive schedule set forth over the next 4 to 6 weeks that should produce excellent playing conditions. 

    I am looking forward to next week.  Due to the storm we had to push back the installation of our pine straw and the planting of our winter annuals.  This process will begin on Monday the 13th.  We have a few more flowers to install and a lot more pine straw to spread than previous years.  I thank you in advance for your patience and I promise you that I will do everything I can to expedite the process. 

There is so much to look forward to, we have always striven to make this season better than last season, today better than yesterday!  We will keep pushing the envelope to find the right combination to make Stonebridge the best that it can be.