HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

Just as a reminder...we will be topdressing greens early Tuesday morning...a light application of sand will be put down on greens followed by a brushing in, once the sand dries. We will also be Vertidraining approaches followed by a topdressing as well. We will do our best as to make little impact on play throughout the day.

In an effort to add to the consistency of the golf course we will be extending the 14th fairway towards the tee. The average distance on a par 5 (here at HCC) from the forward tee to the front edge is 60 yards. The 14th currently is about 80 yards, once extended it will match the others at 60 yards. We will be slowly lowering the height of cut in this area starting today. The area will look thin and weak for the remainder of the season. Once down to fairway height we will be over seeding the section with creeping bentgrass and fine fescues.

The season of 2012...Irrigation management was at the top of our priority for most of the summer season, which this year was from April to September. When managing a clay based golf course irrigation management can be tricky. When clay goes dry...it is very hard to re wet. When clay gets wet...it can take some time to dry out. Our goal has always been to find the balance in moisture management. Now throw in playability vs aesthetics as well as disease occurrence vs stressed turf, you are walking a fine line. This is why I have been heard repeatedly saying that it is not as easy as applying more water at night. There are far more variables other than the colour of the turf grass. During this past summer our area experienced record breaking temperatures coupled with extended drought periods. Currently our area is experiencing the seventh month in a row of lower than normal precipitation. Commonly off colour turf grass is thought to be dead or in "bad shape". The term "...

Yesterday we received the physical analysis report of our 18th green...This is a soil test that compares the soil from the top 3 inches of the green against the bottom 3-6 inches. We had this test done to investigate the reasons behind the thinning and poor rooting that we experienced throughout the 2012 season. In layman's terms, the report has shown that in the top 3 inches of the soil profile we have accumulated a decent amount of sand through regular topdressing. The negative results are noticed in the bottom 3-6 inches of the profile, there is virtually no sand...thus creating a poor draining and compacted layer. These conditions make it very hard for turf grass to deeply root and thrive. When you are unable to produce a solid root mass, the turf grass will struggle, especially in a summer like we just experienced with record breaking heat and drought. We have been working away at deep tining our greens for the past three seasons. The profile will get better through repeated ...

With the fall season upon us our department will be performing a number of cultural practices on the golf course. This week: Monday: Topdressing greens followed by a brushing Tuesday: Deep tine aerifying tees with topdressing Wednesday: Deep tine aerifying approaches with topdressing Later in the week we will be performing some deeptine aerifying on both the 18th green and the Upper Putting Green. Both of these greens have suffered some turf thinning throughout the season and this practice will aid in full recovery and relief of compaction.

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...

As you play the golf course over the next week, you will notice a dozen or so trees marked with yellow marking tape. These are trees that we will be removing during the course closure scheduled for next Tues/Wed. All but one of the marked trees are Ash trees that have been affected by the Emerald Ash Borer. The majority of the trees are located to the left side of #15 green by the path. If you happen to see the trees that are marked, take a second to examine the entire tree, you will notice significant decline in the canopy with a large number of dead or dying branches. These trees are becoming unsafe and unsightly. Our goal is to have the trees removed, stumped and cleaned up in a quick manner during course closure.