HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

With the rain that we are experiencing today, combined with the high temperatures that are in the forecast, we will be going out on Monday morning and venting our greens. Again, this is a very non-disruptive task. To our greens the benefits are huge by supplying oxygen to the root zone..and still virtually unnoticeable when putting...a win/win in my mind...

On Tuesday we will be beginning the process of fairway verticutting and clean up. The process is as follows: 1. The fairway is deep verticut with our Sissis verticutter. 2. All of the grass and thatch are then blown to the middle into piles. 3. We then pick up all of the debris and load it into carts, trailers and trucksters to be hauled away. 4. The fairway will then be mowed to clean up any remaining debris. This cultural practice helps to control the accumulation of thatch in our fairways and approaches. Thatch can limit the turfgrass' ability to utilize vital nutrients and water. As always we will do our best as to not disrupt play, but your patience during this process is always appreciated.

On Monday, May 28th we will be venting our greens. This is a process where we use a very, very small tine to open up channels for air and water to go down into the rootzone. As you can see from the picture the tines are very small, so small that once rolled they are unnoticable. We will be out early in the morning with 2 machines to ensure that we stay ahead of golf. With a very early and dry season upon us our soils/rootzone are starting to tighten up and restrict the downward movement of water and air (both essential for successful turfgrass). We will be periodically venting our greens throughout the season. This process has proven to help tremendously with minimal disruption to play.

As noted in our Twitter feed we will be applying a wetting agent to some of our fairways this morning. A wetting agent is a soil "conditioner" that aids in the penetration of water into the soil profile, therefore making the water "plant available". Localized Dry Spot (LDS) is a condition that is very prominent in turfgrass soils. This condition happens when the sand or soil particles repell water to a point that the turfgrass wilts and could eventually go dormant or die. Applying these wetting agents helps to maintain a healthy amount of moisture in the profile. To apply these products we try to be sure that the soil is moist so that the product can move into the ground evenly. We also are required to water in the product as it does us no good sitting on top of the turfgrass. So with this I will remind our members that throughout this morning we will be running the occasional fairway and approach sprinklers. You may find that some of our fairways are a little softe...

This week (Tuesday, May 22nd) we will be lightly topdressing our greens. While topdressing may seem disruptive at first, this cultural practice is very beneficial to our greens. The process is as follows: Greens are all mowed to remove growth and dew. A fine application of sand is put down on all greens. Once the sand dries, we brush it in to the canopy of the greens. Occasionally we will throw some water on the green to work the sand in further (weather dependent). Sand topdressing is very effective in smoothing out any imperfections (unfixed ballmarks, etc). Our main goal of topdressing with sand is to dilute the organic matter (thatch) that is a byproduct of healthy turfgrass. Organic matter can be detrimental to turfgrass performance if it is allowed to accumulate. As always we will do our best as to not disrupt play...

First and foremost I would like to apologize for not blogging lately. As always, the spring is full of to do lists with what seems like never enough time to complete them. The last month has been a very productive one. Our Grounds department has grown substantially as our staff has returned from school and all of our seasonal staff have started with the exception of our summer/highschool team members. Cultural Practices: This spring has been exceptional for performing cultural practices. The dry weather has allowed us to perform these tasks at an efficient and effective rate. Some of the jobs completed in the last two weeks are as follows: Greens topdressed Tees aerified, deep verticut, topdressed and fertilized Approaches deep verticut, topdressed and fertilized Fairways have been fertilized *Fairways will be deep verticut next week (weather permitting) Along with our cultural practices we have worked away at shifting and adding fresh sand to our green side bunkers and will ...

Since the golf course opened the weather has taken a turn back to some more seasonal temperatures...although off to a quick start, the turf grass has slowed down considerably, almost to the point of frost and cold temperature damage. Rough areas are looking weak...we need some warm temperatures and rain to kick start the turf grass. During the early spring the golf course usually is growing faster than we can mow..but this year with it being very dry and cold night temps, the common areas of traffic are appearing a bit worn for this time of year. We will be going out with some fertilizer into the worn areas to help boost some growth and recovery. One of the advantages of this weather is the fact that we can perform cultural practices at a very efficient rate...we have already completed our spring deep tine aerification and we will be topdressing our greens again this Friday, prior to the rainy forecast. Other cultural practices will continue throughout the spring, as always we will not...