The things you find.....

Last season, when we began the process of checking sand depths and adding sand we noticed some tree roots intruding into the left greenside bunker on #11. In an attempt to rid the bunker of this problem we ran a trencher inbetween the bunker and the Maple tree overhanging the bunker, this process is called root pruning. This process prevents any more roots from growing into the bunker...but it does not do anything for the roots already grown in to it....

This past weekend we were again in this bunker to do some work and noticed more roots....little did we know what we were about to get into. There is actually a matt of tree roots inbetween the the sand and the clay that the bunker is built from. In the picture on the right, you will see the amount that was removed from the bunker floor. In the future we will be conscious of this problem and begin to address any others as time permits.

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Spring Greens Aeration...a week later!

A week has passed since our annual spring greens aeration. We have had a mixed bag of weather, hot, dry, cold, wet and even frost! These conditions make it challenging to aid in healing, but with the more recent consistent warm temperatures we are seeing solid recovery. We were fortunate to have decent weather to complete the process on time, allowing us to fill all the holes created by the 1/2” hollow tines. As there are some minor depressions within some of the holes we will be beginning our bi-weekly topdressing program early next week. Our team is mowing and rolling our greens daily, while slowly lowering our height of cut to our summer norm. We all know that spring cultural practices are not popular among golfers, but these all important tasks are the building blocks for high performance greens conditions throughout the heart of the golf season. Check out this video produced by the USGA on Aerations effect on putting...

Greens Cultural Management Practices Schedule

The fall is a great time to perform a number of necessary cultural practices. Our goal is to amend the upper portion of the greens surface with enough sand to help insulate the crown through the winter as well as removing and diluting organic matter. Below you will find a schedule of cultural practices that we aim to complete before the covers go on and the snow flies!!! Wednesday, Sept. 30th- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt Tuesday, Wednesday October 13/14-Course Closure full core aeration with heavy topdressing. October 19th- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt October 26th- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt November 2nd- Light topdressing followed by a Cocoa matt November 9th- Deep Verticut, followed by a sufficient topdressing. November 16th- Post Course Closure, Heavy topdressing followed by Deep tine aeration. Of course this is all in hope that the weather cooperates...happy fall!

Renovation in progress....

This week we began the scheduled renovation of #12 Tee and #2 Tee. On #2 we are extending the Gold/Black Tee forward to accommodate more use and aid in divot recovery. On #12 we are raising and enlarging the Silver/Blue teeing area. The renovation on #12 co insides with the new cart path through the forest on the right hand side. Rough shaping will be completed on Monday (weather permitting). Following the shaping, a sand based growing medium will be added to the surface. Once the grade is set we will re-connect the irrigation in these areas and wait for the sod farms to open (early April). Once the tees are sodded, we will nurture them to encourage rooting and growth. With some good spring weather we should be back playing on those tees in a short time.

HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

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