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.
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