#12 Fairway Bunker

We finished the fairway bunker on number 12 today.  Below is a picture of the finished project.

Weekly Review

Its been a rough week for the GCM staff and myself due to aerfication and the rain event we had on Sunday morning.  On Monday we began the aerification of the white and blue course to accommodate the Rhinestone Cowgirls and the East vs West tournaments, which are scheduled toward the end of the month. After aerifing 9 holes, we ran into some mechanical difficulties.  The cushman, used to pickup the cores folded in half.  We now were removing cores by hand.  After 14 holes, the aerifier broke down and the part needed was on back order.  We borrowed an aerfier from Kingwood and finish the aerifciation process on Thursday morning.

With the aeification debacle going on, we still had 100 bunkers that were flooded and needed major attention.  This took our staff two days and 80 man hours to get the bunkers back into play before the weekend.  Our renovation work on #12 Fairway bunker has been pushed back due to these two events.  We are scheduled to aerify the red nine on Monday and if everything goes smoothly we can will direct our attention to the fairway bunker.

Aerification Change

To accommodate the East vs West and the Rhinestone Cowgirls, we have moved aerification of the white and blue nines to June 3rd and 4th.  We will begin aerification on the white nine Monday morning and finish up the blue nine on Tuesday Morning.  The red nine will be completed on Jun 10th.

Weekly Review

It's been a challenging week to say the least.  Starting out the week, I had plans to add sand and drain lines to the first fairway bunker on number twelve.  When I woke up Wednesday morning my plans had changed.  After 3 inches of heavy rain and strong winds, our staff went into recovery mode.  We had debris scattered throughout the course and 100 bunkers that resembled the pictures below. As I type, we still have several bunkers in this condition.  We hope to have all bunkers pushed up and playable by Saturday morning and begin routine main on Sunday.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

 We have also struggled with two fairway units this week.  This morning the radiator fan come loose and punctured a huge hole in the radiator.  A new radiator was ordered this morning but its replacement want be in for 7-10 days.   The unit we are using to mow fairways this morning has issue with a hydraulic valve, powering the back two reels.  This issue will cause an uneven look when the fairways have been mowed.   This valve has been ordered an will be here sometime tomorrow.  We should have this unit in good working condition in no time.

Once we have everything back in order we will began the bunker project on #12 fairway.

Aerification Update

Unfortunately, we were unable to aerify the red greens on Wednesday morning.  We will resume aerification of the red nine and chipping green on Tuesday the 9th.

Pond Maintenance Update

We have finalized everything with Lake Sence LLC and we will begin treatment on Monday the 8th.  Mr. Lindemann assures me the treatment will have a rapid effect on the algae and slender pondweed (Potamogenton pusillus).

17 Algae Bloom

Due to our new fertility program over the winter, we have had a huge bloom of algae in number 17 pond.  In years past we mechanical removed the algae from the pond.  This year the algae is so dense we will be removing the algae chemically.  I'm currently wrapping up a contract with a pond maintenance company that will treat number 17 pond, along with the other four water bodies. I hope to have the contract finished by the end of the day and start spraying late this week or early next week.

 

Aerification Updat

We have complete the aerification of the white and blue courses along with the putting green.  We are schedule to wrap up this cultural practice tomorrow on the red nine;h however, we have some heavy rain in the forecast tonight and tomorrow.  If we are unable to aerify on Wednesday the 3rd, we will finish the red nine on Tuesday the 9th.

Greens Aerification

We had some irrigation concerns over the weekend that influenced us to start aerifying the blue nine greens on Monday morning. We think the problem has be solved, therefore, we will begin aerification of the white nine come Tuesday morning.  We didn't want to risk aerifying greens on the white nine without knowing we had access to irrigation water.  We apologize for the confusion.

Fairway Aerification

Today we started our spring aerification of Fairways and rough.  This process will take approximately 2.5 to 3 Days to complete.  Please check with pro shop for course availability. 

# 4 Bunker update

Unfortunately, I was unable to take action pictures this morning.  I was on a spray rig a majority of the morning, and the staff made quick work of the bunker preparation.  However, I did take some pictures of the finished bunker on the right side of #4 White.

Bunker Work

As we are gearing up for spring, we are working on some smaller projects around the course to help with playability.  Today the 5th, we started a bunker renovation of #4 white.  We used a vibratory plate compactor to compact the existing clay and added a single drain line to the bunker.  We are currently adding sand to this bunker and should finish the right side bunker by some time tomorrow.  Once this bunker is completed, we will begin work on the left side bunker.  If all goes well, we will finish this bunker no later then Friday morning.  Below are some pictures of our staff working on the bunker.  Hopefully, I can get some action pictures of the process tomorrow, when we start the left bunker. 

Pre-emergent application

The weather has finally cooperated this week.  We have had our pre-emergent application scheduled every week for the last three week. On Thursday the 28th, we were finally able to coordinate this application.  We  started spraying at 11:00AM on the 28th and we plan on finishing the application late tomorrow evening.

Pre-emergent Application

Unfortunately, the course received over 1.5 inches of rain over the weekend and we were unable to spray our pre-emergent application on the 11th.  We have reschedule this application on Thursday the 21st. We will also push back the post emergent application around greens and tees.

Monday 11th Pre-emergent application

This coming Monday we are schedule for our spring pre-emergent application.  We will be closing the course for the entire day due to this application.  We will be spraying Barricade wall to wall for pre-emergnet control of summer weeds.  We will also be spraying a post emergent around greens and tees. These area were missed during our fall application of spectacle due to its mobility. This post emergent will take care of any Poa Annua or rye that may have emerged over the last month.  This chemical is also very mobile, therefore, we want to keep all play of the course for the day.  Any traffic on these greens before the chemical dries will cause damage to the winter rye.

Reminder:  We do have rain in the forecast over the weekend.  We may need to reschedule this application later in the week if the course is to wet for the spraying equipment.

Thanks,

Justin Lonon

April Sound Country Club

Golf Course Superintendent 

Mondays Fungicide Application

Late last week we noticed some dark greens rings which appeared on six of our older greens.  This is a sign that Fair Ring or Mini ring is present.  On Monday the 7th, we spiked these greens with needle tines and applied prostar at curative rates to combat the disease.  Currently the disease is only effecting aesthetics and no turf has been lost.  We will keep a close eye on these rings and will make another application in 30 days if  necessary.

Happy New Year

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New year and invite everyone out to play some golf.  This winter has been a success.  The overseed has come in beautifully and the course is clean from all winter weeds.  This has been the second year for using Specticle as our post emergent weed control product and we look forward to using down the road.  This product has help save on labor and other post emergent product that we have used in years past.  I also want to thank the GM staff for their outstanding contribution in 2012.  Here to another successful year in 2013.