What's Missing?

As a few of you may have noticed, we had two limbs removed from the over hanging tree off of number 8 tee box. Although it may not look like much, this allows the left side of the tee box to be used with out much interference from the tree. 

BIRDS

In the past few weeks there has been a strong bug population on our course. In specific, this time of year they lay there larvae in the soil. This is always happens and we then spray insecticides on our greens to kill the larvae. The reason we do spray is if not the larvae will eat the roots in our greens and thus effecting the health and quality of the turf. Please take a look at the picture. This was before we sprayed.

Course/Greens Update

Here is an update on what has been done to our greens this past week. The greens have been rolled everyday at least once since we have received our new rollers last Thursday. Today we were able to verticut, topdress, and drag in the sand on our greens, followed by another roll. The topdressing should give us a bit more of a firmer and smoother surface for our greens heading into the weekend. Today the greens were stimped at a 9.7 at about 12:30 PM. Now to address some of the areas in our fairways. Although these areas may be unsightly, this is what was expected from theses areas considering our current mowing heights, mowing frequency, and irrigation program. We have been running our irrigation programs to about 75% of what the actual daily ET is. Combined with how low our mowing heights are (.400), the cool season grass simply can not survive in the summer heat. It may not look the best, but this is very beneficial to our long term goal of being 100% warm season grass in our fairways. Some of these areas are being marked Ground Under Repair for the time being. Once again we appreciate any and all comments about the golf course!

Updates

It has been a few weeks since the last post and we wanted to get back on track. Our new rollers came in this past Thursday and we have rolled everyday since. We went from a 9.2 on the stimp to an impressive 10.3 just yesterday. Not only did we increase a foot in speed, we also are more true with ball roll throughout the day. We are very excited with our new equipment and the results that it has shown. Lets also keep in mind that there are three more months to go until we get a break in the heat. On the horizon is overseeding of tees in early October, coring of greens in late September, and lastly getting prepped for winter. Winter? Yes, we will be raising up mowing heights in our fairways starting September to improve in the aid of golf car traffic, and keeping the healthy kikuya grass growing as long as possible. This all has to do with mother nature. The longer we have mild days is the better for the course and its growing conditions. Thank you all for you abiding by all our ropes, chains, and stakes out on the golf course. There has been a drastic improvement with keeping turf alive were we have never had it before. Check the blog out again later in the week, we should have more pictures to show you.....