#12 @ Wild Horse

#12 @ Wild Horse

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Greens aerification update

We have poked holes in all the greens during the cruddy weather we have been having the past few days. It hasn't been pleasant to work in but it is great timing because we aren't in your way and you aren't in ours.  We hope to get our topdressing out Monday if we don't get too much snow tonight.  Then we hope for some warm weather to help greens heal up quickly.

Even though we see it often, it is truly amazing how quickly and easily new roots find these channels in the soil.  The new roots love the freeway without compaction and water and air are readily available. 
As most of you know we are seemingly always poking holes but there is really no substitute for this critical practice if you want to maintain high quality turf.   We realize it can be an inconvenience for you playing the game but we try to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.  And the week of less than ideal playing conditions pays off in a season long stretch of great conditions coming in the months ahead.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Course Update April 2017

It has been a warm April and the course is looking pretty good for this time of year.  We are starting to wrap up aerification with fairways and surrounds done.  We had planned to do greens this coming week but the weather looks not promising so we will postpone greens aeration until May 1 and 2.

Greens are looking good right now and we have heard some "slow" comments about them.  True they are not down to midseason height yet but we like to give them until after aeration before we shave them down.  This is for two reasons-- the higher height of cut will help them heal faster from aeration and also aids in root development now.  Once we get down to summer height, root development will be limited by less leaf surface.  Leaf surface area has a strong correlation to rooting depth.  For example a 3 inch high lawn will have about 3X the root mass of a 1 inch lawn. So we use this time in April to build up a root mass to help us through the summer months.

This is a busy time with aerification, fertilizer apps, pre-emergent weed control, and  root disease control to do right now.  We always consider this time fame in April as the setup window for all the good that is to come this summer.  We are excited about where the course is right now and are looking forward to a great season