Liners

We've tore out a few of the plastic liners that hold water underneath the soil around the greens. This should help our low lying areas during the hot summer months.

Fairway Topdressing

While the course is closed, we are also applying a coat of fairway Topdressing sand. This will help smoothness, drainage and playability in the future. The following pictures detail this process.

Aerification

Golfers usually despise this process, but it is a welcome relief after another long, hot summer. Aerification is a way to introduce new material into the greens as well as create pores for air exchange. The following pictures depict our process, which includes creating the hole, applying sand, brushing it in, applying amendments and watering in all applications.

Member/Member

In anticipation of the first day of the Member/Member Tournament we are double cutting greens, mowing all short cut, using granite tee markers and Championship flags. Best of luck to all competitors!

Scuff marks

As a courtesy to your fellow members, please be aware of foot traffic and scuff marks. These marks were caught before the mowers went through, but if left unattended, they could scalp and eventually lead to thin turf.

Ballmarks

This is the time of year the roots are the shallowest and the greens are the wettest. Please take an extra second to fix your Ballmarks on the course and around the practice facilities. The practice green at the first tee was loaded with in untouched Ballmarks after this weekend. We appreciate the PACC's passion for their short game, but any help would be appreciated!

Wet Conditions

The course is still very wet. We are mowing all the short cut grass, rough and trying to get rid of all the grass clippings. We appreciate your patience as we navigate the wet conditions!

Triumvirate

Mowed out the golf course, single cut on greens, painted cups and Championship flags for the Triumvirate matches today.  Best of luck to all the competitors and I look forward to the PACC bringing home another victory.

Update

I apologize for the lapse of updates, but we have been running hard over the last couple of weeks.

Fans have been installed on greens #12 and #15.  These fans circulate air over the surface of the greens to create a more pleasurable environment for the putting surfaces.  We realize these fans can be an obstacle but as stated by our USGA Agronomist Stan Zontek "Weak greens are turning into good greens due to fans."  We are fighting some electrical issues on #15, but are narrowing down the cause and should have the fan operating shortly.

If you've played over the last couple weeks you will see a few weak areas on greens #12 and #15.  We will be amending those areas with new turf when the weather is more conducive to new sod.  We appreciate your patience as we need just a few more weeks until the weather breaks.

You may have noticed a drop in green speed over the last couple of weeks.  Unfortunately the hot weather causes your Golf Course Maintenance Team to play defense with the putting surfaces.  Practices like low mowing height, growth regulator, rolling and low moisture all make the putting greens fast, but cause stress.  We use more conservative measures like increased moisture levels and mowing heights to maintain the turf integrity during the hot summer.  All of these practices have been discussed with the Greens Committee.

I've gotten numerous positive comments about the fairways this year and especially over the last couple weeks.  The fairways are loving this weather!  You may notice if you travel to other courses that we cut our fairways a little higher than other facilities.  This calculated choice allows the golfer to have more leaf surface to hold the ball higher enabling the member to sweep the ball off the fairway.  

Per the Green Committee, we added a water filling station at the 17th tee box and we will add an ice filling station to the bathroom at #3.  This should allow all members an opportunity for water or ice with in a maximum of every 3 holes.

The heavy rains continue to test the bunkers.  We have been receiving large amounts of rain over short periods of time which cause our bunkers to wash out.  The following pictures depict just some of the images from the last couple of weeks.  Please notice the picture of #7 and the comparison of the 2008 bunker compared to the Better Billy Bunker installed this past fall.

2008 Constructed bunker vs. Better Billy Bunker

Bunker left on #7 up close

Summer is closing in on the end, and we are glad everyone is enjoying the golf course.  Enjoy the next month of warm golf before the cooler fall breezes move into town.

Fans

Today we are firing up the new fans on #12 and #15. They should provide a better growing environment for each of those greens.

Fans

The trench and hole on #15 is in preparation for the new fan we are installing. There will also be a fan placed on the back right of #12. Both of these green complexes struggle with shade and air movement.

New sign

We have installed a new sign on #5 that provides a warning from tee balls coming from #6 tee.

Water

There's no doubt it has been dry and hot the last couple weeks. We are using water to keep the course green, but could use a little rain. Our lake level is low but we continually add water to keep reservoir levels normal.

Green grass

The aerification process and additional nutrients cause a flush of growth on the greens. The greens will get a dose of growth regulator to slow down growth and increase green speed.

Debris

There is some debris still lingering through the course from our aerification this week. We are addressing it as I write this entry and should be cleaned up by tomorrow at the latest! Thanks!

Greens

Some of you who played through the weekend or today will see some brown spots on a couple of the greens including #2, #3 and #12. These spots are just old dry spots from pushing the greens for the Member/Guest and a dry couple of days for aerification. Please rest assured the greens have received adequate water and an application of nutrients this morning. There is plenty of new growth coming through and they will be healed in the next couple of days! Thank you for your patience!

Fairway Aerification and Topdressing

We are also Aerifying and topdressing the fairways, tees and short cut surrounds this week. We first aerify the fairways with our Aerifier. Then apply a layer of sand and eventually drag in all amendments. This process is a necessary evil we typically do this time of year which aids in drainage and playing quality. Thank you for your patience!

Rough

The rough is getting mowed for the first time in two weeks. We did not cut the rough for a week due to the Member/Guest tournaments. The rough has been raised to 1.75 inches, which is consistent with the past golfing seasons.

Greens Aerification

We are Aerifying greens today in anticipation of the summer heat. We realize this necessary evil is cumbersome to daily play, but the hole size this time is only 1/4 of an inch with no sand topdressing. The open holes allow us to work nutrients into the greens that will aid during summer stress. We appreciate your patience!

Preparation

We are doing some evening mowing in preparation for tomorrows Member-Guest. Thanks to your Golf Course Maintenance Team for their efforts!

Baily

Just in case we haven't crossed paths, Baily has been cruising the course and keeping our geese population at bay.

Green Speed

I will candidly admit our green speed last year for the 2011 Member-Guest was a little shy of our goal. This year we are looking forward to great weather and the ability to push the putting surfaces to unseen speeds at the Princess Anne. Our regime the next couple days will include double cutting and rolling in the morning and a single cut in the evening to enhance green speeds. I look forward to showing off your facility!

New walkways

Per the request of the Greens Committee, we installed two new walk ways for members crossing Linkhorn Drive from the lower parking lot. Thanks to Drew Proctor and Craig Grey who provided the muscle and ingenuity to complete the task. Thanks guys!

New Sand

My last post may have been a little confusing, but we put NEW bunker sand in the bunkers at #5, #9 and #10. This is the same same sand as the new bunkers on #6 and #8 as well as the Billy Bunkers on #7 and #11.

Fairway fertilizer

All fairways were fertilized and watered today.

New sand

New sand has been replaced with old sand on the bunker at #10. We will add sand to the two bunkers on #5 and one bunker on #9 tomorrow!

Sand replacement

We are taking the sand out of two bunkers on #5 and replacing the sand. The bunkers will be filled with new sand that has already been installed in bunkers on #7, #11 and the other new bunkers. Thank you for your patience!