October 28, 2011

I was probably just as surprised as anyone else was this morning to see a thin layer of frost on my windshield. It seems too early to be this cold already....but then again it seemed too early to be 90 degrees last April too. The weather is changing.

Earlier today Bucky made a trip out to my office and we talked about possibilities of having frost delays these next few days. We talked about getting everyone out as soon as possible and to still have the course prepped. We are always trying.

If it does frost, we ask that you stay off the course, including the practice greens, until we clear the course for play. Traffic and frost don’t go well together. The frozen plant cells will crack like frozen balloons if pressure is applied to them. If enough cells are cracked, the plant dies. Damage may not show for days, and sometimes not for weeks. But it will. Trust me - I have seen it.

Bucky and I work really close together when we get frosts, and as soon as we can, with out wasting a minute, we will get you to your tee. Your patience is appreciated, and it pays off with keeping the course in great condition.

October 20, 2011

Leaves, leaves, and leaves.....We get more leaf fall than snow fall!

From here on in we will be dealing with the leaves from the thousands of trees on the course – blowing, raking, gathering, and mulching. Leaf clean up requires more labor hours per year than any other job we perform, except for mowing greens.

We have already begun to send out staff to blow off the greens, tees, and fairways on a daily basis, followed by the rough mowers fitted with leaf mulching kits. We send staff to rake the leaves, acorns, hickory nuts, etc from the bunkers. Sometimes the leaves fall faster than we can keep up, and on windy days, it’s almost impossible as they scurry in all directions to escape us!

October 7, 2011

As the weather cools, we have been doing some “re-hab” to the course. These past weeks we have aerated, fertilized, and overseeded the tees. We fertilized the fairways and are in the process of overseeding areas that have thinned a bit due to the elements and everyday wear and tear. We are sodding the few areas on collars that suffered from the summer’s heat. We are catching up on tree work and repairing cart paths too. Soon we will be overseeding  and aerating the rough.

For the greens department, it is the beginning of the 2012 season. The work we do now benefits the course this year, but it really pays off the next.

Note: The months of August and September have been the area’s wettest ever since weather records have been kept.