Skip to main content

Spring Preparations...





It has now been two weeks since we removed the covers off of our greens. As mentioned before the greens wintered very well. We have since had both good and bad weather (typical) to continue spring preparations for opening on Monday (the 18th).

Greens have been rolled, mowed and verti-cut numerous times. Last week we took advantage of the good weather and put out a good topdressing of sand on greens. Timing was good with the rain on Saturday to work the sand into the canopy. Tees, collars, approaches and fairways have been mowed a couple of times (removes the brown tips that dormancy creates). We have been rather fortunate that all of the playable areas are in good shape, especially considering the very long and harsh winter that we experienced here in London. Last week we were able to get out on the fairways with the Superject and create some air channels for our clay soils to "breathe".

Our irrigation system was pressurized at the end of last week. This is always nice to get out of the way with as few breaks and leaks as possible. It's nice to confirm that we did a good job of winterizing both the system and the pump house.

We also had our arbourist in on Friday to grind out any remaining stumps from our fall and winter tree work. All stumps have been back filled with topsoil and are awaiting sod or seed.

Clean up was completed by midweek, but we are out again today picking up the remnants from this weekends high winds.

The crew is also out raking bunkers in preparation for play tomorrow. The bunkers also wintered well and will be receiving some fresh sand in the near future. By the end of the day we will also have all of the course accessories (ball washers, bunker rakes, tee blocks, yardage stakes and cart exit posts) out and ready for use.

Comments

  1. JasonApril 19, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    Great blog Greig!

    Hope all is well!

    Cheers,
    Jason Hooper
    QGolf Club

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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.
Post a Comment
Read more

Winter is here...

Happy New Year! The winter weather has certainly arrived with sub zero temperatures and snowfall  accumulating...We were very fortunate this fall with a balmy forecast, work continued right up to the Christmas break is steady fashion. Our most recent phase of drainage work was completed in due time. Dry and warm conditions made for clean and quick work. Areas of focus this fall were the rough, fairway and green on the 14th, some smaller rough areas on 11, 17 and the upper landing area of the 3rd fairway. Our tree management plan is in full swing with the removals of some dead Ash trees. An important part of our tree plan is to re-plant a more desirable species in these key areas. The trees have been tagged for delivery as soon as possible in the spring. Our winter greens preparation plan was completed in due time as well. We have performed all of our fall cultural practices and winter prep tasks to give our greens the optimal chance of winter survival. In addition to our ann...
Post a Comment
Read more

Golf Course & Grounds Department Update

During the winter months our department keeps busy with a number of tasks required to help ensure the upcoming golf season goes smoothly. Through the course of the winter myself, our Assistant Superintendent (Paul) and our Equipment Manager (Alan) attend a number of professional development opportunities to further our knowledge, techniques and practices. We are also required to submit all of our Chemical application and Fertility data to the Ministry of the Environment to conform to the Integrated Pest Management Council. Another substantial task is the complete refurbishment of our course accessories, benches and equipment. All of our course accessories are painted, cleaned or replaced to ensure a functional and aesthetically pleasing setting is presented for our membership. Every single piece of equipment is serviced, sharpened and gone over with a fine tooth comb for safety defects, etc. This winter has been far different than the previous two that we experienced. Fortunatel...
Post a Comment
Read more