Hmmm, where to begin. It has been a few weeks since my last post, and let me tell you, things have changed quite a bit. The weather has warmed up, cooled down, warmed back up, got COLD, and now it seems that we are going to stay warm for an extended period of time, I hope. The only thing that I can find to complain about is the abundance of pine pollen floating through the air. Oh the joy of spring.
The past couple of weeks have been quite busy for the maintenance crew and will only continue to get busier as we move towards summer. Last week, the crew worked hard mortaring rocks around the newly renovated flower beds and it appears with the work they put in yesterday, the end is in sight. Another new renovation that was started AND completed yesterday was the re-painting of the bathrooms at #'s 4 & 14 to match the newly constructed water cooler stands. With just a few small projects left, we will now be turning our attention to the weekly maintenance practices that are required during the growing season, which includes mowing, aerifying, weedeating, etc.
The golf course has shown more signs of life with the warmer temperatures. Yesterday, we fertilized the fairways and tees to give them a jumpstart into the new year and by next week you should see a major difference in the color of the turf. With the exception of a few week areas, the greens held up well to the winter that we experienced. These areas, mainly the front of # 3 and the back of #13 have been put on a rejuvenating foliar diet that will whip them back into playing shape quickly. One thing we are doing to limit traffic in these areas is to eliminate placing any pins in or around these weak areas for a couple of weeks. We will also cease mowing these areas until we see adequate growth taking place. Weekly small, hollow tined aerifications will take place once we get into more stable grass growing temperatures, which I hope is right around the bend.
Why are these areas weak, you might ask. There are a few factors that have lead to the thinning of these areas and the main culprit being traffic. The problem we run into on #'s 3 & 13 is that entry and exit points are limited to a very small area. These areas are under a lot of stress from foot traffic on a constant basis, compaction occurs, and the health of the plant deteriorates due to shallow rooting. Just something to think about next time you are out playing, when you are exiting a green, try and take a different path than then the one you used to enter onto the putting surface...call it a game within the game.
So as the day draws to a close, I will close by saying I hope that you all have gotten a chance to come out and enjoy the beautiful weather we have been experiencing. I will do my best to get on a regular routine now that we have entered the growing season, but as always feel free to shoot some questions, concerns, even suggestions my way and I will do my best to answer any and all.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Interesting Weather Information
Houston reached 80 degrees yesterday the first time we have seen 80 since November 15, 2009…now that is impressive this far south and gives a testament to just how cold this winter has been. The area has just suffered through one of the coldest winter periods on record and the month of February averaged significantly below normal. Houston recorded its 5th coldest February on record (6.9 degrees below average), Hobby its 3rd (8.4 degrees below average) and College Station its 5th (7.8 degrees below average). Victoria tied for its 2nd coldest February on record! Houston only had 2 days of temperatures above average during the entire month. From the period of Dec 1-Feb 28th (meteorological winter) Houston suffered its 6th coldest winter ever and the coldest since 1977-1978, Galveston its 5th coldest winter ever, and College Station its 6th coldest winter ever. Additionally, at Corpus Christi, the number of days that were at or above 70 in February 2010 was only 4…last year there were 26 with the average being 12.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Is Spring Here?
Well as March has rolled in, it looks as though we will be experiencing some nice seasonal temperatures over the next couple of days. This is the first week in a while that there is no rain in the short term forecast and no hint of any frost delays, YIPPPEEE!!
With the temperatures consistently warming up, hopefully we can wake the grass from the deep slumber it has been in since about late-November. As the temperatures begin to reach more seasonal-like, the soil temperatures will begin to rise, and we will see the emergence of some green, yes I said green, color across the golf course. Believe it or not, the grass is not DEAD, it's DORMANT, and it will come back once the conditions are suitable. As we move into spring, the sun will begin to move more into the northern sky generating more intense sunlight on this part of the world, bringing along with it warmer temperatures. A perfect example to watch for is the temperature inside your car when it is parked outside for an extended period of time. If you were to park in the direct sunlight today, the interior would be comparably cooler than a month from now, unless it is a cloudy day. Try it and see.
Over the past few weeks, I hope you have all gotten a chance to see the new additions we have made around the course, mainly the flower beds. We have done a lot of renovating, removing, and replanting in these beds that have been neglected over the past few years. Due to the flower bed renovation at the clubhouse, we were left with a large amount of healthy plant material we were able to transplant out into the recently renovated areas. Next time you are out, pay attention to the tee box areas on 6, 10, 12, and 13. These were all areas that were targeted as "most needing attention." These new additions should go along way in dressing things up around the course and we will continue to make improvements where ever we can
I will close by saying I hope you can all get out and experience the wonderful weather we are experiencing this week. Also feel free to pass along comments on the blog, I promise I can take the negative with the positive. This is a tool for me to communicate effectively with you as a member, so your feedback will only make it better. Until next time hit it straight and as few times as you can.
With the temperatures consistently warming up, hopefully we can wake the grass from the deep slumber it has been in since about late-November. As the temperatures begin to reach more seasonal-like, the soil temperatures will begin to rise, and we will see the emergence of some green, yes I said green, color across the golf course. Believe it or not, the grass is not DEAD, it's DORMANT, and it will come back once the conditions are suitable. As we move into spring, the sun will begin to move more into the northern sky generating more intense sunlight on this part of the world, bringing along with it warmer temperatures. A perfect example to watch for is the temperature inside your car when it is parked outside for an extended period of time. If you were to park in the direct sunlight today, the interior would be comparably cooler than a month from now, unless it is a cloudy day. Try it and see.
Over the past few weeks, I hope you have all gotten a chance to see the new additions we have made around the course, mainly the flower beds. We have done a lot of renovating, removing, and replanting in these beds that have been neglected over the past few years. Due to the flower bed renovation at the clubhouse, we were left with a large amount of healthy plant material we were able to transplant out into the recently renovated areas. Next time you are out, pay attention to the tee box areas on 6, 10, 12, and 13. These were all areas that were targeted as "most needing attention." These new additions should go along way in dressing things up around the course and we will continue to make improvements where ever we can
I will close by saying I hope you can all get out and experience the wonderful weather we are experiencing this week. Also feel free to pass along comments on the blog, I promise I can take the negative with the positive. This is a tool for me to communicate effectively with you as a member, so your feedback will only make it better. Until next time hit it straight and as few times as you can.
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