Getting "Schooled", Again!...Follow KGCtweets

Holy, I am still learning about Twitter.  You may be sick of how daft I am when it comes to this topic but this should be the last change.  A third party pointed out something with respect to Twitter and audiences.  I dare say none of you care about the minutia of growing grass and some other grass geeks most likely aren't interested in frost delays, aerating and top dressing days, or whatever I post as it relates to KGC.  Using the hashtag #KGC to identify posts particular to the golf course works but the tweets seems out of place when I post using my original username so I made a new one: KGCtweets.  Again, if you use Twitter you know what to do.  If you text all you need to do is send a text to 21212 and type Follow KGCtweets in the message body of your text to receive real time updates about the golf course.

Now, what's happening out on the course?  There are18 holes opening on Good Friday.  As usual, we won't be ready but any play in April is all about working out the kinks and renewing friendships.  All greens wintered well with no real problems and all will be in play.  The past couple years we've attempted a pre-opening aeration and top dressing and 2014 will be no different.  The biggest hurdle is completing the task while trying to clean up from winter.  Truthfully, we won't be done and you'll have to deal with the process until we are done.  Sorry.  As predicted, start up of the irrigation is a struggle.  We only just started the back on Tuesday this week and still the hydraulic lines on the driving range, hole 17, hole 15, hole 13, and hole 14 are frozen.  Without the control from the hydraulic lines to keep the sprinklers down we cannot pressure the pipes on these holes so, obviously, we are unable to water.  It may seem early, but with no real moisture this spring the greens have dried out and appear stressed.  It should be easy to get them back but we are at the mercy of our irrigation system.  Tank watering could be an option but without available equipment or staff it won't be happening this year.

This past Monday had the Annual Work Bee and as usual people really chipped in.  I would guess because of the day we picked, numbers were down a bit but those who showed up definitely did their part and I am grateful.  Pictures will be posted on the KGC website under the "Photo Gallery" tab so go check it out.

The only picture I want to show is this one:

Elk Tracks

For some strange reason the elk are still around.  They are a problem in the fall and are usually long gone by now but  #2 took a shellacking the other day.  The real interesting part is how the damage to the surface was the worst at the back left of the green and far less severe on the front right of the green.  Why?  Better root mass at the front is my theory.  That green doesn't have great roots to begin with but the front right of the green sees more sun and has somewhat more substance versus the left side which is weak looking and always shows disease stress first. That big fir and ponderosa are going, it just a case of when.