HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

Verticutting is a fairly common practice on playing surfaces. This process removes organic matter, more commonly known as thatch. Thatch accumulation can create a soft and puffy putting surface. This process also removes some of the aggressively growing tillers of the bentgrass plants. This inturn creates a more upright grass plant, which makes a faster, truer putting surface. The verticut channels also create a good seed bed for overseeding. As always, "weather permitting", we will be verticutting, overseeding and topdressing our greens this Thursday and Friday. The plan is to start verticutting late on Wednesday night after play and continue Thursday morning. We are starting on Wednesday to ensure that all greens are cleaned and mowed before play on Thursday morning. On Thursday we will overseed the greens with Creeping Bentgrass. We will then begin topdressing either late in the evening on Thursday or early Friday morning (weather permitting). Again, our goal is to topdres...

Through years of play and abuse, our bunker noses tend to look tired and worn out. Sand is repeatedly splashed up onto them causing them to heat up and burn out in warm temperatures. Today our 2ND Assistant Paul Snelgrove and summer staff veteran Cam Edgar renovated the bunker noses on both #4 and #15. The task is labour some and tedious to say the least (especially in 33 degree heat). First, the old worn sod and sand is removed. Then bunker boards are installed to hold the new edge. New topsoil is then added and reshaped. New bluegrass sod is then installed. What you end up with is a new fresh looking bunker nose (note pictures). Our department will continue to repair and reshape some of the bunker surrounds as we go through the season.

With the wet weather that we have experienced for the past two years, the clover has taken a stranglehold on some of our rough areas. Our department uses various methods to control clover. We use back pack sprayers around greens, tees and bunkers with a liquid herbicide. We use a large boom sprayer with a liquid herbicide in the vast areas of the course. Last but not least we use a granular herbicide to spot treat areas of high concern. We have applied herbicide to all of the areas around greens, tees and bunkers. We are doing our best to get out with the boom sprayer to control the clover in the larger areas around the golf course. Unfortunately, the rainy, wet weather that helps the clover flourish, also prevents us from spraying. We need dry conditions with minimal wind to apply the product properly and safely. To eradicate the amount of clover that we have will take a couple of years, but with diligent planning and effective management of these areas we will control it.

If you played golf on Thursday you probably noticed us working with an excavator on some drainage repairs. Some of the older drains that are situated near trees have been damaged by tree roots. On the 3rd hole we replaced a drain next to some poplar trees that had been completley plugged with roots. This drain tile was the main feeder line from the 3rd tee and 4th green complexes. Tree roots are incredibly good at invading drain tile. They can find their way into every opening, connection and hole that is in the pipe. In the picture here you will see what I mean. The roots have made a fully functioning drainage system non existent. Once the area was trenched we removed the old pipe and lined the trench with a synthetic liner, then installed new solid drain tile, with minimal connections. This should give us some longevity out of this drainage system.