Oops...Not Quite What We Planned

There is many areas on the course that receive an extreme amount of maintenance for what they are.  My personal pet peeve is the lack of required irrigation necessary to keep the greens surrounds healthy and playable (SEE HERE for more whining by me).  It takes running hoses, little wap-waps, and lots of time and labour to keep surrounds on certain greens from burning out during the summer.  Adding extra irrigation to a green like #7 isn't an ideal situation but it is the type of project that suits our budget and addresses one of the areas where we do quite a bit of hose irrigation.

We had some control wire left from expanding the irrigation on #6 green as well as some irrigation pipe from the driving range "do again" renovation.  Also, this spring we dug up an inch and half remote valve left in the ground from when we re-did the irrigation around 5 green a few years back.  Combine all these items and the fact that a control satellite is directly beside 7 green, installing a make shift surrounds line around 7 green appeared feasible.

We picked a routing and started work but unfortunately we weren't the first to use that routing and ended up hitting the lateral that controlled the front heads on 7 green.  Actually, hitting it is an understatement.  We demolished a large portion of it: oops.  We spend an extra couple days fixing that and now we're back on finishing the initial project. I'll keep you updated at we go along.
   

Repairing the Line

If you look around the course you will see a bucket load of saskatoon blossoms.  This year, and this observation relates to the turf also, has seen great growing conditions early on and all plants are loving it.

Saskatoon Bush on 15 Green

How the spring growth will play itself out during the rest of the year is hard to say but there is lots of potential!

Spring Update

The weather is causing everyone to think it's mid June and the warm days have really got the grass hopping so there is lots to cut but I am going be sort of a wet blanket and make everyone look at the calendar.  The month of May is somewhat in the middle of the spring peak growth cycle for cool season grass (remember there are two growth cycle for cool season turf: spring and fall) so I like to take advantage and get some increased density and, hopefully, root growth by keeping grass at a healthy H.O.C.  The clock starts ticking on turf health once we begin cutting at summer height so I choose mid to late May as the time to lower the height for mowing the greens until early September .  Furthermore, with the deep tine holes and the holes from the aeration in April I want to allow the turf time to take advantage of the oxygenated root zone and grow some nice root mass.  More root mass means the turf is better at "getting" nutrients and water which translates into healthy turf which leads to a better playing surface.

One quick comment on some things on the course.

Dandelions Around Base of Tree
( Double Click on Pict)

It's a great time to see all the dandelions we have on the course.  Specifically, its a great time to see where they are and where they are not.  Mostly you will see dandelions in the rough or around trees, or inside unmaintained areas.  There are very few growing in tees, fairways, or even in the rough immediately adjacent to the fairways.  The only reason relates to the cultural inputs whether it be water, fertility, mowing, or aeration.  Basically, all those processes make the turf healthier so it can out compete the weeds.  We don't spray large swaths of the golf course but tend to focus on areas prone to knapweed, sweet clover, and high profile/high play areas.