#17 Green repair

New Sod

Trick or Treat

 

 

October 31st marks the last day of reciprocal season and the beginning of the Stonebridge experience. The new season starts with, new flowers, new flags, new flagsticks, new cups and soon to be delivered, new Tee Markers.  We are excited about the future of Stonebridge, the new clubhouse will provide a centerpiece for a magnificent Country Club environment.  Our goal is to use the golf course and grounds to paint a complete picture. 

 

 This summer provided quite a few challenges.  A tremendous amount of effort was put into the recovery of a few weak areas on the greens.  Although substantial improvement was evident, I made the decision to sod the most affected of the areas.  With a firm grasp on the root of the issue and a hearty debate between playability, presentation and aesthetics, I made the decision to jump-start the healing process.   The act of sodding a portion of a green is an arduous one, careful attention is paid to maintaining the integrity of the green.  A great deal of effort was exerted to preserve the playability and aesthetics. 

 

The benefits of an "ABNORMAL" summer is the revelation of deficient characteristics around the property.  These are the challenges we are charged with correcting, on a daily basis.  We have a great team in place to maintain and exceed member expectations.  

#15 Tee

#15 Berm

 Burning the Midnight Oil

 

 

 









 The last week of October always has us scrambling to tie up all the loose ends.  This year is no different, except there seems to be an infinite amount of loose ends.  The winter annuals are in the ground and a fresh coat of pinestraw is being applied around the golf course.  Our wall to wall fertilizer with pre-emergent herbicide hit the ground on Tuesday.  This application will provide nutrients for the turf and aid in weed control throughout the winter months.  We are making progress with our stressed areas on the course and will continue to supplement these micro-environments until they are completely recovered.

A couple of projects that were delayed by the summer rains include; course wide Root Pruning and the new bulkhead on #15 White Tee.  The Root Pruning is done to sever the over-extended feeder roots that are competing with the turf for nutrients and water.  Root Pruning is acclomplished with a tractor mounted attachment that has two rotating blades that penetrate the soil to a depth of 10 inches.  This process does not harm the host plant, as it is only cutting the secondary root system.   The other major project that we squeezed into October is the construction of a bulkhead around the White Tee on #15.  This tee was moved to the right side of the cart path during the concrete improvement project.  The size and stability of the new tee led us to the decision to install a bulkhead with the goal of matching the rest of the tees on this hole.  The bulkhead is complete and the remainder of the fill dirt and sod will be installed early next week. 

Last minute projects, last minute fertilizing, last minute weed control and last minute detail work, that is what I love about this profession.  The chance to go "toe to toe" with Mother Nature and not back down.  The real challenge comes in having the patience to respect the process of recovery.  I look forward to an eventful season with an ever-improving golf course.






Root Pruner Attachment

Lines from Root Pruning





#15 New Bulkhead

#15 White Tee

#9 Approach

#9 Repaired

 New Beginnings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 October is typically the month we are putting the final touches on the golf course in anticipation of "Opening Day" the first week of November.  This year is a different story.  We will be focusing on repairing damage to the course due to the abnormal weather pattern that persisted through the summer.  Our task at hand is to refurbish the bunkers that were contaminated by the heavy rains, repair and replace the turf around the drains that were under water for much of the summer and re-establish a quality root system that will support the playing surface throughout the golf season.

We are looking forward to more predictable weather for the next few weeks, this will afford us the opportunity to enhance our agronomic plan in an effort to accelerate the recovery process. We have already seen improvement in turf conditions as the course continues to dry out.  The goal going forward is to acclimate the turf to receiving less water, this will improve the root system and turf vigor.  A supplemental program is being employed on a few of our weaker areas(i.e. #15,#17 greens) this includes spot treatments of fertility, pinpoint moisture control and a specialized program to improve soil conditions.  This will all be accomplished with the mindset of maintaining optimum playability.

The pictures included in this post reflect a portion of the work being done including the repair on #9, the installation of "ground level" 150 yard markers and the new potting soil for our "winter annuals".  The new annuals will be planted this week, this will allow them sufficient time to mature before the "unofficial" official start of Season.  I am looking forward to a productive month, with the goal of presenting a golf course that our members can be proud of. 

New "150" Yard Markers

New Soil for Annuals

Greens Aerification

Standing Water #9



When life gives you Lemons, you make Lemonade!

 

 

 

 

 

Mother Nature provided the ingredients for a sour, yet sweet, weekend.  Lemonade consist of: a lot of water, a few lemons and a hint of sugar.  The water is easy to explain, more than 6 inches of rain fell on Stonebridge during the evening hours of Friday the 6th.  The result of this weather event caused significant standing water throughout the golf course.  This leads us to the Lemons in this recipe, the course closures.  We had to close the course on Saturday and after another downpour in the evening, we remained closed on Sunday.  The "sugar" in this recipe is the fact that we had the opportunity to get a "head-start" on the greens aerification.  Sunday afternoon provided clear weather and an empty golf course, that is when we went to work.  Although the course remained closed because of the standing water, we took the opportunity to aerify 9 greens this afternoon.  The weaker greens were pinpointed to give them an extra day of breathing.  Aerification provides compaction relief, organic removal and thatch control, but most importantly, it releases built up gases in the soil and provides oxygen to the root system.  We have a full slate of projects schedule for this final week of maintenance.  I am confident we will complete the tasks at hand, regardless of the ingredients presented.

 

A quick point of reference, the photos for this blog were taken on Sunday at 2 pm.  The standing water in front of #9 green actually covered the entire front half of the green Saturday morning.  

 

 

 



#1 Tee

#18 Tee



A Big Sigh of Relief

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am happy to report that the Concrete Cart Path Project is complete.  The spine jarring rides over unpaved limestone have come to an end. I want to thank all of our members and guests for their patience and understanding throughout this journey.   Jayme and our staff are the unsung heroes of this project.  The amount of soil and sod required to present a finished product is astounding.  They have worked "sun up to sun down" to maintain the integrity of the golf course.  This project was a joint effort of the Golf and Greens Committees, with added insight from Gordy Lewis, our Golf Course Architect.  Playability, accessibility, maintainability and aesthetics were all considered before the final routing was approved.  For example, the paths on #4, #7 and #14 were removed for playability.  The cart path on #5 was moved closer to the green for accessibility and the path on #12 fairway provides a conduit for shotguns, maintenance and liquid fertility deliveries.  Finally, the concrete paths provide a surface that will be maintainable and aesthetically pleasing for years to come.  We still have a few remaining asphalt paths, the worst of these areas received an "overlay", as seen in the picture below.  Two of the major improvements, centered around raising the catch basin at #14 tee and softening the walk-up to the restroom at #15 tee.  Pictures do not do them justice,  the difference is dramatic. 

 

Our focus now is the presentation of the course for the Labor Day Shotgun.  We have a full field of Stonebridge and Visari members/guests.  We like to shine when we entertain guests!









#12 Fairway Crossing

#14 Tee

Asphalt overlay #8

#15 Restroom



#17 Green

Fungicide application w/UV protection





 

 



 

 

 

Course News

 

The golf course has seen its ups and downs this summer.  A record amount of rain in June and July followed by a couple of weeks of hot and humid conditions in August have led to prime conditions for stress on owr closely mowed areas.  Most notably #15 and #17 greens.  These weaker areas will receive special attention throughout the growing season to bring them up to par with the rest of the greens.  The goal is to have consistency in our soil structure within the entire green complex.  These pictures represent sections that require additional organic matter to improve water holding capacity.  This is accomplished with additional fertilizer, soil amendments and wetting agents.  We also have specific areas that retain too much moisture.  We will combat this with enhanced aerification to increase oxygen levels and penatrents to move water through the soil. 

As the Cart Path Project comes to a close(I Hope), we will focus on returning the golf course to expected conditions.  Our team has spent countless hours moving dirt and laying sod, they will be happy to start mowing grass and trimming bushes.  I want to thank Erik and his staff for all his help in re-routing traffic during this project.  Our members and guests have been understanding and gracious while out on the course.  Thank you for your patience, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

#15 green

New Concrete Path

#3 Greenside

 Slowly but Surely

 

 

 



Asphalt removal by Bobcat

 

 



Unfortunately, we have encountered numerous delays in the Cart Path Project.  From concrete scheduling to inclement weather, we are well behind my expected progress.  My staff has worked hard to maintain access for our members and guests.  It will be a "bumpy" ride as we continue to form and pour concrete with the golf course open for play.  The golf course itself is responding nicely to the aggressive cultural practices implemented during our closure.  A few low lying areas remain wet due to the heavy rains we received over the last two months.  The rain totals for the months of June and July are just shy of 40 inches with 4 inches of that coming in a two hour span during the early morning hours of July 27th.  This rain event caused our lakes to crest and the golf course to flood.  We had standing water for a week following this downpour.  These abnormal rains allowed us to identify previously unnoticed drainage issues.  Rectifying these drainage problems will be an ongoing initiative.  Our recent aerification and topdressing allowed us to dry out the course sufficiently for our Saturday opening.  I am proud of the effort put forth by our staff, the course is quite playable, but far from perfect.  The totality of the presentation weighs heavily on me, I will be persistent in pushing our contractor to finish this project in a timely manner.  Enjoy the rest of your Summer, come Season, Augusta will try to measure up to Stonebridge.

#16 Fairway