St. Augustine concerns

In regards to St. Augustine on Golf Course

There has been several changes over the last five years in chemistry and law and regulation regarding herbicides and herbicide applications.  The product that was used in the past (MSMA), has been regulated by the EPA.  This chemical is no longer labeled for broadcast application, which has impacted the golf industry and Sod farms.

MSMA is a selective herbicide used to eliminate grassy weeds such as bahiagrass and St. Augustine which is established in bermudagrass.   Since the herbicide has been regulated, the big three chemical companies have been working on a new formulation to replace the use of MSMA. However, these new products have not been perfected.

We take great pride in producing a weed free environment for our members and guest.  We will look into the newer chemistry's and set up some test plots.  However, a majority of the St. Augustine found on the golf course is next to residential areas where irrigation is limited.  Spraying these area with no irrigation would leave bare areas for a extended period of time.  We would much rather have some type of ground cover then bare dirt. Areas with irrigation should not be a problem.

Thanks,
Justin Lonon
April Sound Country Club
Golf Course Superintendent

Greens Aerifiction

Starting Monday the 27th, we will begin our final aerification of the year.  We will start with the white nine on Monday, the Red nine on Tuesday and the Blue nine on Wednesday.  Due to the heavy topdressing, we do not anticipate mowing the greens before Friday morning.

2.5 inches and Counting

To day we have received 2.5 inches of rain and we are still counting.  Rain is in the forecast over the next few days and the course as become super saturated.  If the course is open tomorrow, expect us to be on cart paths only.  We will reevaluate the golf course Friday morning and make a judgement call on the cart path situation.  

Aerification and change of plans

We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the pump station on the Red and White golf courses and we are unable to irrigate the golf course manually.  We have a company coming out Monday to resolve the issue.

Without water, we are hesitant to aerify the white course on Monday.  Therefore, we will start aerification off the blue nine Monday morning.  If all goes well, we will proceed to aerify the Red nine on Tuesday and the White nine on Wednesday.

What a storm

Our staff did a knockout job getting the course ready for the Bluebonnet Interclub tournament that we hosted on Thursday morning.  Thanks to the members and the Proshop staff, we were able to close the course for most of the day, which gave us the opportunity to remove debris without interruption.  After 12 hours and several loads of debris, we had the course cleared and ready for play.  In our efforts to clear the course we have fallen behind on our routine mowing schedule.  The rough has yet to be cut and fairways have only been mowed once this week.   We will try to complete our second cut on fairways but the rough will not be cut until Monday of next week.  

Thanks for your cooperation

Tee Signs

We are currently refurbishing tee signs around the golf course.  The red nine has been complete and we are currently working on the blue nine signs.  Once these are complete, we will remove the white nine signs for touch ups.  We should have all signs completed by late next week.

 

Hot and Dry Conditions

Looks like 2012 will be another hot and dry year.  We started off with some much needed rainfall in January and February, then the rains stopped.  It's been approximately 1.5 months since our last significant rain event and we are starting to see localized dry spots throughout the course.  We could sure use some rain over the next few weeks to help supplement our irrigation system.  

Our best chances of rain are Thursday and Friday of this week and Wednesday and Thursday of next week.  Until we get some rainfall, our staff will be hand water greens as needed and watering Fairways during play to minimize desiccation in these areas.

 

Course Update

After a long weekend, our staff is working hard to catch-up on cultural practices and moisture management on the greens.  This week we will be topdressing all greens.  We verticut/topdressed the red nine greens this morning and also topdressed the blue nine before play.  We will be topdressing the white nine greens before play on Wednesday.  Therefore, all play will begin on the blue nine Wednesday morning. If your group catches our staff on the back nine, please be patient and play around them if possible.

Monday

Due to a tournament on Monday morning, all course will be close for play until 3PM.  After three all course will  be open for member play.

Rain

We received .5 inch of rain last night and we are expect some more rain over the next few days.  We could defiantly use some supplemental rainfall throughout the course were our irrigation system is limited.  It also looks as if  temperatures will drop into the mid 70's over the next few days.  This will slow the recovery of some of the thinner areas.  We can't wait for summer.

Course Closed Monday 31st

Due to a Junior Varsity golf tournament, the golf course will be closed the entire day.

Cleanup pass

We have had some questions about the cleanup pass on the blue nine greens. Our staff has been asked to limit this passes to two times per week to add in summer transition due to thinning turf.  This passes are mowed with a mower specifically designated for the cleanup pass.  This mower is slightly raised and fit with a solid roller to reduce wear.  We will continue this practice until we have full recovery.

Bunker renovation

If you have been around the club over the last few days, you may have notice the renovation project we started on the practice bunker.  We hoped this would be a quick and easy renovation, but after further evaluation it's going to take a little longer then expected.  Overtime, sand was add to the bunker and the bunker floor was deeper then expected.  We brought in some dirt and clay mix to raise the bunker floor and we will be adding proper drainage to this bunker.  We will then add six inches of bunker sand and compact it for proper playing conditions.  We hope to have this bunker is ready for play by the middle of next week.  

Pictures will follow

50 HP motor

Our 50HP pumpstation motor was installed today on the Blue Nine.  This will give us the capability to irrigate the golf course with the automatic irrigation system.  The motor has been out for two weeks and the course just dried out enough over the weekend to allow us to bring in the crane for installation.  This was perfect timing with our aerification practice being scheduled for this week.  

Aerification

Our staff has finished Fairway aerification for the week by completing the White and Red courses.  We will complete the Blue Nine next Monday the 9th.  We will also begin aerification of greens on the 9th.  This year we have made a decision to limit Aerification of greens to nine holes per day, this will allow us time to properly backfill holes and smooth the playing surface for play the following day.  Currently, we are scheduled to aerify the White Nine on Monday, the Blue Nine on Tuesday and the Red Nine on Wednesday. 

Fairway and Rough Aerification

While thunderstorms surrounded April Sound Country; our staff started its first day of aerifciation.  With a little help from Mother Nature, we managed to aerify eight holes on the white nine.  Hopefully, the weather will hold on Tuesday and we can complete a second full day of aerifciation.  Our staff will finish up the white nine first thing tomorrow morning.  Once the white nine is completed, we will move to the blue nine until 10:00AM.  After lunch (11:00AM), the red nine will be closed until 3:00PM for aerification. 

This is the beginning of the new April Sound GCM blog.  I wanted to run a quick test to make sure everything is up and running properly.  Below is a picture I took today of #1 red, a day after vertical mowing.