Golf Course Report

May/June 2018

What a difference a year makes.  The first thing I always do when I write these reports is too re-read the ones from the previous year.  Last year our drought persisted until the last week of May, this year we have had the wettest May on record.  Last year it was dry every day until our closure, then it rain 11 inches in 11 days.  This year it rained 25 out of 31 days in May and was dry for all but one day of our closure.  In stark contrast to last year, I am quite happy with the work completed on the golf course.

Unfortunately I do not have any fancy pictures this year of the high tech machinery used to accomplish our goals, as I found myself on a tractor more often than behind a camera.  I am very excited about the new Fairway aerification process.  The rented machine will pull more material than our previous unit and is a lot more efficient.  We are also scheduled to topdress our fairways 3 times this summer. In previous years that number was always limited to one.  This new summer fairway program will enhance the playability and resiliency of our fairways throughout the entire year.  Close to 20 Dump Truck loads of sand were applied to the fairways during this closure.

The greens were Dryjected on the first day of the closure followed by a core aerification and heavy topdressing.  The ultimate goal with these combined practices is to remove Organic Matter and dilute the profile to create optimum pore space.  This was all followed by multiple application of Calcium based fertility to mediate the soil pH.  This allows the proper exchange of nutrients from soil to root to shoot to leaf.  

The tees underwent a similar battle, aerification, and topdressing and specialty fertility.  As we always try to perfect our putting surfaces sometimes we overlook how we get there.  Last year we added some new grass, this year we will be leveling and expanding some teeing areas.  I am not a status quo type of person, if you are not moving forward, you are getting passed by.  In this regard, I welcome and encourage Member input.  This is your course and I want nothing more than to provide you with the best possible test of your skills.  As a matter of fact, we made a slight change to #1 during this closure specifically because of member input.  I took the suggestion and analyzed the end result, a slight alteration to the original suggestion provided improved playability, traffic dispersion and hopefully member satisfaction.  I am sure we will all hear the good and the bad.

One more agronomic topic to touch on that will persist throughout the summer.  The lowering of the height of cut is a practice that helps reduce grain, improves the effectiveness of verticutting, improves the topressing program and dictates growth habits in the short grass.  The roughs were lowered this week from 1.5” to 1.25” we will hold steady there until we host the PGA Section Tournament on July 6.  Following the tournament we will incrementally lower the height until we reach .6”.  This should take us right into our last closure. From there we will slowly bring them back up to seasonal height.  The tees and Fairways will follow the same program.  They will go from .5” all the down to .25”.  At one point this summer our tees and fairway will be running like greens and our roughs will be sitting up like fairways.  This may be a good time to lower your handicap! 

With a full slate of cultural practices going on and many more tweaks to the course to come, I am looking forward to 2 more closures as successful as this one.  Perfection is only attainable if you are willing to grind. I am blessed with the most amazing team in all of golf maintenance.  I have literally challenged other clubs to a “Crew Olympics” knowing that we would take home all the Gold!  Stonebridge is lucky to have them and I am blessed to be able to call them my friends.  They have bought in to my vision and take a lot of pride in their work.  What they accomplished in the last 11 days is nothing short of miraculous.  My guys are the best guys!

P.S.  The next closure begins on July 17^th. It will encompass many of the same practices employed in this closure.  I will make it a goal to add photos to my next blog post.