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!

Divot party

The divot party is underway!

Clean cut

In an effort to provide the best possible playing conditions next week, we are sharpening all the cutting units on our fleet this week. Here are team members Wesley McClung and Ricky Bright with our new grinder.

Hydraulic Leak

As typical with a Monday, we had a hydraulic leak from a mower this morning near the practice green. The dark material you see is charcoal, which helps absorb the oil from the grass. If the charcoal does not work we will cut out the grass and replace it. Thank you for your patience!

Bunker washouts

After the 3 plus inches of rain on Wednesday, our crew used 12 guys for six hours to put the golf course bunkers back together.   I am very thankful to have such wonderful people on my team....they are the true heroes of our department and sincerely appreciate their hard work, dedication and loyalty to the Club!  Thanks guys!

Miguel Pineda putting the bunkers back.

#7 before our crew

#9 Before our crew

Practice green before our crew

Ricky Bright mowing fairways

Jason Page mowing greens

David Scott preparing the tee surfaces

Jon Wynne mowing tees

Bobby Carroll spraying greens