Bathroom update

Making progress....

Hurricane Matthew

Hurricane Matthew

Hurricane Matthew

Nutrients

Filling the greens up with nutrients after all the rain.

Fall cleaning

Greens

The greens should start to gain more speed with increased topdressing, growth regulator and aggressive mowers.

Rain

Mother Nature granted us the opportunity  for 12.5 inches of rain since Monday night.  Bunkers are a little washed and the course might be a little wet over the next couple days.....

But the Better Billy Bunkers did well......

Aerification

We tried a new process this year will keep organic matter under control and promote a speedy recovery.

Aerification

The greens have had a long summer with multiple events.  They are loving the cooler nights and short days!

We try to stay consistent with mowing height, green speed and firmness throughout the entire year and tried to do that through a very tough summer.

Through the next couple of weeks we will be recovering from aerification, sodding the weak areas and letting the greens grow in.  

As part of this process we will be pushing the greens with fertility that will increase growth.  This process will cause a vibrant  lead blade that will slow down green speeds.  This should be short lived and we hope you understand our process will promote a great fall golfing season.

Weed control

We are getting ready for the VSGA Women's Team Matches
and Member/Member by cleaning up some summer weeds.

Picking goose grass

We are almost finished with #8 and have another group walking the rest of the greens.

Goose grass

We've received multiple questions regarding the increased goose grass populations on the putting surfaces.  Goose grass is a summer annual that is currently in the peak of its life cycle.  We address these plants in the spring and early summer with pre emergent control.

It is in my professional opinion that due to increased earl summer rain, these plants had plenty of moisture to germinate.  With the onset of increased temperatures through July and August, our protective barrier was degraded early by hot and humid weather.

Post emergent control can damage vulnerable cool season turf in the heat of summer, hence the reason we have not been aggressive with those post emergent chemistries.

We are not the only course with increased populations of goose grass this summer. Academia is seeing it in multiple locations throughout the southeast and mid-Atlantic.

We are actively hand picking these plants each day to decrease current populations.

With cool weather approaching, this summer annual will not tolerate the cooler temperatures and will start to fade away.

Venting

We continue to see new roots from our weekly venting process.  This agronomic practice increases gas exchange out of the soil profile and supplies necessary oxygen to the plant.

Rain

We had over an inch last night but had 3.5 inches last week.

Better Billy Bunkers worth the investment!

Increased nutsedge

With the rains of late spring and early summer, we've seen increased populations of nutsedge around the course.  

Today we're backpacking around greens and using the big sprayer outside the greens complex. 

We should see die back starting over the next 5 to 7 days.

Bridges

The final two bridges have been secured and the walkways installed.

#12

#1

Green speed

With two weeks of hot, humid weather under our belt, the greens are showing slight signs of stress.  In an effort to be proactive and protect them from future damage, we have limited our aggressive practices that typically increase green speed.  

We switched to less aggressive mowers, eliminated growth regulators from our program, we are limiting roller use and increasing fertility.  This combination will typically cause growth, and ultimately plant resistance as the ball travels to the hole location.

With cooler temperatures like today, the turf will recover sooner than later, allowing us to ramp up our practices for future tournaments such as the Club Championship and Member/Member.

We appreciate your patience!

Black spots on greens

With increased heat and humidity we are seeing black algae on the putting surfaces. Please be assured, although not ideal, these spots are more cosmetic in nature than detrimental to the turf.  Our weekly topdressing program, chemical control and venting practices will help keep these at bay until we see the cooler temperatures of fall. 

Turf growth

The warm season bermuda, which covers our playing surfaces, has enjoyed the hot, humid weather.  We can always tell by the clipping yield when we mow rough and fairways on Monday's.

Venting

To increase oxygen exchange we are venting greens today.  This is a modified form of aerification that has limited distribution of the putting surface.

This is a counter active measure to the hot humid weather we've had over the last couple weeks!

Bridges

Bridges on #1 and #12 have leveled and additional reinforcements have been added for future storms.

Sod

We installed new sod in multiple areas around the course.  Here's an example right of #12 fairway.

Storms

We've had 3 decent storms over the past 10 days. Rain accumulations are above 4.5 inches and the bunkers have washed each time we've had a rain event.

We lost a tree behind #12 green last night.

Grill area

Adding some new plants around the grill area....

Pruning

Here's our Horticulturist Emily Rothrock pruning some boxwoods....

Pinestraw

We are adding Pinestraw around the course in multiple areas.....

Sod

As you've noticed we've been adding new sod around multiple areas of the course.  We will start another phase tomorrow with more prep work.  New sod will be delivered and installed next Monday.

We appreciate your patience through this process!

Thank You!!!

We're working until 5:00 today, and a couple more Monday's through the Member/Guest season.  We are providing lunch and dinner to help bear the burden of extra hours.  Special thanks to our Golf Course Maintenance Team.... Thank you for all you do!!!!

Behind the scenes ....

Here's our equipment technician Wesley McClung making sides for a trailer.  This will make Craig Grey and the Club Gounds team more efficient hauling mulch and flowers.

Weeds

With the wet weather, weeds have started to creep up in the fescue areas including poison ivy.  We are making our way around the course as weather permits.