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Cultural Practices @ HCC

Earlier this week HCC had our annual course closure to allow the grounds team to perform a number of Cultural Practices on all playing surfaces. The closure allows us to complete these tasks in a timely and efficient manner that would not be feasible if play were to continue.
 I will briefly list the tasks completed so that our membership can appreciate the amount of work completed by our talented and dedicated staff.
Greens:
All greens were aerified (cores pulled)
All cores removed by hand
All greens topdressed and brushed
All greens blown by hand to help work the sand into the holes
All greens interseeded with T1 Creeping Bentgrass
All greens fertilized with a Potassium based product
All greens rolled to smooth out and depressions from traffic
Lots of water added to ensure survival of the 30C temperatures
Tees:
All tees were aerified (cores pulled)
All tees were dragged and matted to break off the organic matter from the cores
All tees were then blown clean and all debris was removed by hand
All tees were topdressed and brushed
All tees were blown to remove any excess debris
Fairways:
All Fairways were deep verticut with a tractor mounted Sissis Verticutter
All fairways were blown to remove the organic matter
All fairways were crosscut to remove any remaining debris
All fairways mowed again to create a smooth and consistent playing surface
Practice area:
The Practice tee was aerified (cores pulled)
The tee was dragged and matted to remove the organic matter from the cores
The tee was blown to remove excess material
The tee was topdressed and bushed
The tee was interseeded with rye grass to encourage the filling in of any voids
Tree Work:
Our Arbourist, Zap Tree Service was onsite to remove the following trees
8 Dying Ash trees to the left of the 15th green
2 Dead Poplars off the 17th at the property line
1 Dead Maple off the 17th fairway
1 Dying Ash off the 1st fairway
1 Dying Ash off the 3rd fairway
2 Dying Ash off the 5th fairway
All tree material was chipped and all stumps were ground and cleaned up.
As previously mentioned all of the Ash trees that were removed have been infected by the Emerald Ash Borer.
As a bonus we were also able to mow all of the rough completely during the closure...
As you can see from the list it was a very busy couple of days...a big thanks goes out to our turf team for a very productive and efficient couple of days....

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