Friday, April 25, 2014

Aeration Dates Changed


The aeration of greens and tees was scheduled to occur next week on April 28th and 29th.   After evaluating current conditions and discussing options with Pro Shop staff, Club Management and the Green Committee Chairman the decision was made to hold off on aeration of greens and tees.  Due to the cooler spring, current turf conditions and next week’s colder forecast we are moving the dates to May 7th and 8th.  We will be closing the front nine on the 7th and the back nine on the 8th. 
Efforts to spur the greens into growing by applying both granular and foliar fertilizers have been met with little to no results.  The greens need to be actively growing in order to recover from the aeration process.  Currently the greens are not growing due to the cooler temperatures and current soil temperatures around 50 degrees.  This is almost 10 degrees lower than our soil temps last year at this time.   
Aerating the greens could actually result in setting them back a few weeks with next week’s lows being in the upper 30”s to low 40”s.  Highs next week after Monday are in the 50”s and mid 60’s.  These temperatures are not conducive to any type of recovery for the A1 and A4 bentgrass on our greens and could potentially lengthen the time required for recovery.  In a year like we are experiencing it has been decided to error on the side of caution.   
As always it is our goal to provide the membership with the best playing conditions possible.  Aeration to the greens is vital in providing healthy playing surfaces through the summer stress period.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and as always we appreciate your understanding and patience with these date changes.
 
For current information regarding the golf course follow the Golf Maintenance Department on twitter at: @amorris_andrew.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me at 309-682-9432.  See you on the course!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Is It Spring Yet?

As Spring is plodding along slowly so is the turf.  We have mowed all areas of the course except rough.  Greens and fairways have been mowed twice.  The turf is slowly responding to some warmer sunny days only to be set back by some lower temperatures that are below freezing.  Consistency in temperatures would go along way in helping the turf begin to really flourish.  Next week does not appear to be helpful as we have 2 mornings with lows around 30 degrees and highs in the upper 40's.  This may be consistent with the winter we experienced but not what we are looking for to promote turf growth.

As things have warmed up slightly the course has begun to green up.  We can see areas that were damaged by the harsh winter we experienced.  The damage is primarily in the fairways with greens and tees unaffected.  There are a few spots scattered around the course on fairways but #1 and #4 experienced the most damage.  This makes complete sense as these 2 fairways carry the most surface water and had the most turf that was covered under ice.  There are a number of courses throughout the state that are dealing with winter damage and in the big picture we came out of the situation better than most.  The reason being, we have higher populations of bentgrass and it is the Poa Annua that was most effected by the harsh winter conditions. 

Winter damage on #1 fairway.  Some areas are already recovering.
The turf for the most part will slowly recover but in a few spots we will be seeding into the damaged area.  We have already seen some areas begin to recover without having optimal growing conditions or temperatures so that is encouraging.  Patience will be required as the turf will need some time to recover.   Warmer temperatures will get here and the turf will ultimately recover with time. 

The course is getting cleaned up and is ready for play.  It continues to play "soft" but the greens are smooth and will only get better as we continue to mow and roll them.  Come out and enjoy some golf as carts are now available, weather permitting.  The clubhouse is open with some fantastic improvements so a lunch or dinner after a round of golf is a great option! 

Remember, for the most current course conditions and cart rules follow me on twitter at: @amorris_andrew  It is a great way to keep up on what is happening and the number of followers is growing daily.  I would encourage you to follow if you are interested and want real time information on the course. 

See you on the course,

Andy 



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Course Open to Walkers!!

We have opened the course to golfers who would like to walk.   Currently the conditions are very soft and the bunkers have not been raked or repaired from the winter disturbance.  We brought back 3 crew members this week to begin picking up the course and will have some other crew returning on Monday April 7th.  Our first goal is to clean debris off the greens and tee boxes.  The turf has still not broke dormancy but there is a very slight green color beginning to show.

We have not mowed any areas at this time.  Once we see the turf green up and begin to grow we will begin mowing.  It should be in the next 7-10 days depending on the weather.  Warmer temperatures and some sunny days will assist in getting the turf to "wake up."  Hopefully we will see some better temperatures start to come our way soon! 

Golfers can now follow me on Twitter.  I will be using this social media to inform our golfing membership about course conditions, cart availability, course projects that may impact playability and other information.  "Tweets" are very short and informative and will be done throughout the week.  I would encourage you to follow me at:  @amorris_andrew if you have a Twitter account and if you do not you can easily sign up for this free service.  It is the best way to have the most up to date course information and stay informed as to what is happening on the course.  As I said, Tweets will be one or two sentences in length so an extremely quick read. 

Hope to see you out on the course and we will continue to evaluate course conditions in order to get carts out as soon as possible.  It should not be too far off!  Follow on Twitter at: @amorris_andrew for the most current course information.

See you on the course,
Andy