A busy couple of days....

During our annual course closure we strive to complete as much as possible...through extensive planning and organization this was evident this year. With the golf course closed we are permitted to perform our procedures in an efficient and very effective manner. As you will see in the list of completed activities, our Grounds Dept. worked tirelessly to complete about 5 days of work in 2 long days.

Tasks completed on August 2nd/3rd:

All greens aerified with hollow tines (cored)

Cores shovelled off by hand

Greens top dressed

Greens over seeded with T1 bentgrass

Greens brushed

Greens fertilized with Potash fertilizer

Greens fertilized w/Soluble Ammonium Sulphate 12-0-12

Greens rolled

All Fairways and Approaches were Verticut using our Sissis Veemo Vertical Mower

Fairways and Approaches were blown clean

Fairways and Approaches mowed

Tees solid tined using 5/8 tines

Tees top dressed

Tees dragged using a steel matt

Practice tee top dressed and matted

All of the rough was mowed (completely)

All bunker banks were fly mowed

All mowing around the landscaped areas completed

The Elm Tree on #5 we removed, along with stump grinding and clean up (5 total)

Our Grounds Department greatly appreciates the time allowed to complete these very crucial cultural practices. If it were not for our dedicated and talented staff, this process would not have been so successful. I truly appreciate all of the hard work and commitment from our entire team...HCC Grounds.

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The Practice Range Tee

Last fall we utilized a “new to us” method of revitilization for our practice tee. Our contractor TDS, fraize mowed the surface of the tee to remove organic matter as well at to aid in leveling. The tee was then aerified and seeded to a new variety of creeping rye grass. We chose this type of turf grass as research shows rapid recovery and a low growth habit. We were able to get some great growth in the fall, but the tee is still not ready for traffic and full use. The plan is to utilize the mats until growth has filled in some of the voids etc. We will then begin to slowly set up hitting areas on the grass tee. For a while we will alternate between grass and the mats with a 50/50 ratio of use. Once the grass tee is established and is in adequate recovery mode, the practice areas will be back to normal. As always our membership’s patience is appreciated as we try to improve these areas for use.

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!

Venting Greens...

This week we will be venting our greens with needle tines. These tines make a hole that is less than an 1/8th of inch. With our greens being completely saturated from the incredible amount of rain that we have recieved this season, there is no room for air movement in the soil. We need to create very small channels for air movement to the root zone. When roots don't have air, they die. This has not been evident yet, but with the warmer temperatures of July upon us soon, trouble could be lurking. This will be a very non-disruptive process to our members and play. We are going to vent all of our greens over then next few days early in the morning as to not disrupt play. The process is simple, we vent the green using the aerifier and needle tines, roll them smooth and then mow the green. The holes virtually dissapear and are of no effect to roll. I realize that the word aerifier starts to scare people, but this is necessary and again is very clean and non-disruptive. Check out the pic...

HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

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