HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

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.

At this time of year the question always arises “When are we going to open the golf course?” Each and every year the opening date is based upon a number of factors. Moisture: We at HCC immediately think of moisture. Being a heavy clay based property, we tend to hold onto the moisture from the winter snow, rains etc. The club has invested a large amount of capital funding into a drainage project that has mitigated a lot of previously experienced issues, but there is still a lot of property not completely drained. In the spring there is a large amount of water at or just below the surface of the turf due to the fact that it hasn’t dried out in over 6 months. Traffic on this turf can result in heavy, more permanent damage like root shear and rutting. To open the golf course we feel that waiting for at least one drying event prior to opening protects us from this type of damage. Growth and recovery: In the early spring the soil temperatures are obviously very low. Turf growth

It is always an exciting time when our team removes our greens covers. After an up and down winter in 2018, we are happy to report that all of our greens have come out of the winter in nice condition. This is always a nice step into starting the season off right, hopefully a sign of more positive things to come!

Heading into our 2018 golf season the HCC Grounds Department will be utilizing our blog again to increase our communication efforts with our membership. As time went on we found that a lot of our posts were repetitive and redundant. Now that we have had a hiatus, we will be posting updates and notices via this blog as well as on Twitter and our communication board at the pro shop/1st Tee. The majority of the posts on this blog will be detailed plans of cultural practices and efforts. We will provide information on when, why and how we perform these all important tasks throughout the golf season. The communication board will be utilized for day to day information pertaining to play. We hope that you bookmark this page and visit regularly. For up to date short postings about the golf course and our department follow us on Twitter at @HCCGrounds. Let’s hope this snow melts and we can get those covers off soon!

With the cooler temperatures this week, we will be performing some all important greens maintenance procedures. Monday evening (after the outside event) we will be doing a light grooming on both our greens and collars. This task will help to reduce the amount of lateral growth, therefore standing up the plants (for a better cut) and smoothing out the surfaces. Following the grooming we will be dry mowing all areas tonight to help clean up the debris. Tuesday morning we will be applying our biweekly light topdressing prior to play. Once the sand has dried, we will use our cocoa matt to drag the sand into both the canopy and the shallow grooming channels created by tonight's procedure. These practices in conjunction help to create a smooth, firm and healthy surface to putt on.

Our spring aeration of greens is just around the corner. We begin this Sunday evening at 4pm. We will work through the golf course in order, while utilizing temporary greens during the process. The process will continue on Monday. Our goal is to complete the full core aeration, core removal, rolling, over seeding, topdressing and brushing in of the sand before Monday night. Once the greens are finished we will be reopening them accordingly... Check out this short video produced by the USGA on the effect of aeration of putting surface quality.