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 17th. 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.
