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Golf Course Update...

It finally feels like the golf season is upon us. The poor weather this spring has delayed a lot of routine practices. I truly feel that we are still a few weeks behind in our typical routine. Below is an update on our most recent projects and tasks:

Sodding and repair work:
As most will notice we have completed a lot of sod work on our tees. The winter injury that we experienced was not recovering as we had hoped, so we decided to force mother nature's hand and sod the affected areas. We are fortunate to have a decent sized turf nursery to strip the sod from. We will now begin the process of growing in a new T1 Creeping bent grass nursery for future use. We have also completed the sodding of the area adjacent to the 11th green. Previously this area was thin and spotty due the pine/spruce trees that were once there.

Capital Drainage:
Phase 2 of our Capital drainage project was also completed in early June. Once again TDS Drainage did an outstanding job  on site. One would hardly know that they were here for 3 weeks and installed over 5000 linear feet of drainage tile (sizing from 10" down to 2"). Their professionalism and cleanliness are trademarks of their work. We are now looking at pricing for phase 3, focusing on the rest of the Front 9.



Rough Fertilizer:
As we move forward towards the summer we are applying a healthy application of fertilizer in the rough. This application is a Polyon 43-0-0 slow release product. We use this type of fertilizer so that we do not have a flush of growth. This product will give us a nice steady feed throughout the summer and into the early fall.


Greens Recovery:
The greens in question #1, #8, #10 and #12 are getting better everyday. We have continued to mow them at a higher height of cut with a walk mower. Plugging, topdressing and seeding have also continued. This wonderful warm and sunny weather will only help in the long run.

Bunkers:
We have begun the process of bunker sand shifting and addition. Fairway bunkers are done and we are moving into Green side bunkers this week.

Trees:
Due to harsh conditions of the winter, we are behind on our tree removal. Members will notice a number of dying Ash trees on the property. Most are marked with a yellow band of tape. These marked trees are beyond any treatment to save the tree. We will be systematically removing these trees upon approval.  As for key trees in play, we will be evaluating the areas once the trees are removed and plan accordingly for replacement, etc. There are however a number of ash trees on the property that we will be spraying to help protect them from the Emerald Ash Borer. This will be done near the end of June.

On the list:
As mentioned, due to a tough spring we are behind on a number of routine tasks. We are doing our best to schedule such tasks accordingly to priority:
Herbicide application to control Broad leaf weeds.
Core aeration of Tees followed by sand topdressing.
Fairway and approach verticutting.
Regular maintenance that has been seemingly interrupted...consistently interrupted.



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