Friday, November 30, 2012

Yardage markers

We are installing the new yardage markers on all the irrigation heads from 230 yards in. Hopefully this will speed up play. I want to thank Martin Greene and dean Taylor for helping shoot the yardage on a rainy day.



Thursday, November 29, 2012

Ugly pines hole 7

Today we took out the pine in the back right of 7 green. The other pine will come down next week. I'm glad to see these 2 trees gone as they were an eye sore. The wood from these 2 pines will be taken to the saw mill and the lumber will be used to finish our maintenance barn. What a wonderful way to recycle this wood.





Top dressing greens

After we aerate the greens, we then topdress the greens with sand. This fills the holes and will firm up the green. This time of year we get no growth on the greens, so unfortunately the holes you see won't heal until warmer weather.





Fairway aerification

It's a slow process but we are making progress. We have finished holes 2,3,4,5,6,7,9,11,15. While the weather is warm we will continue to aerate more fairways. The fairways here have not been aerated in years. This will relieve compaction, improve drainage and allow nutrients into the soil.below is a pic of Antonio contreras aerating hole #2.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Greens aerification

I love this time of year. This week we are aerating the greens. We are using a 1/2" tine on a 2x2 hole spacing. Since the grow in of these greens we have been on a very aggressive aeration/ top dressing program. Aerification relieves compaction, reduces thatch( dead organic matter) ,helps with gas exchange and allows nutrients down into the root zone. We then top dress the greens with a damp medium sand and drag into the holes. Amendments are then applied to all greens. The new toro greens aerifer is by far the best on the market and one of my most important pieces of equipment.







Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Short work week

This week we are finishing up on some brush blading around the course. We won't have any new lumber for the shop till next week, so we are taking this time to finish up on some other projects. We are also scheduled to aerify greens next week. We will be using a 1/2" tine and a heavy top dressing of sand. Potassium, gypsum and a slow release fertilizer will also be applied.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Aerification of fairways

We have started aerating our fairways. This will relieve compaction, reduce thatch and help get water and nutrients into the soil. It's a long process. We hope to complete 9 holes before winter, and finish the other 9 in the spring.



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Education at myrtle beach

The last 3 days I have been taking classes for ceu points and hours toward my pesticide license. Time to get back to digging in the dirt.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Maintenance building repairs

The repairs to the golf maintenance building are coming along. Irvin Canada ( head mechanic) is taking the bull by the horns and over seeing this big task. When completed the shop will have all new siding, windows, interior lighting, replaced roof and a fresh coat of paint.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Annual thanksgiving lunch

Today was our annual thanksgiving lunch. Irvin fried 3 turkeys and a pork butt, the staff brought the trimmings. I think we served 30 people, thanks to all who came and enjoyed this annual event!

Snow

Woke up to a little snow this morning

Monday, November 5, 2012

Drainage 1 fairway

More drainage today on 1 fairway by the 150 yd post. This area stays wet after a rain and the turf around it is in very poor shape.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

15 tee expansion

Today we enlarged the pro tee by 8 feet. This hole never had enough teeing space. These boys really worked it today laying all this rock by hand.