Taking out a few trees

Last week we took down two trees on the course that had out grown their current areas. The large Elm tree on the left side of hole #6 and a large Water Oak tree on the right side of hole #16. Both of these trees were spilling out into the fairway effecting shots and we had a very hard time growing any grass close to these trees.

  

 

 

 

 

Warmer weather

This has been by far the best weather week that we have seen on the golf course this year. Warmer temperatures and plentiful sunshine have helped us start growing some grass. It is not secret that our fairways came out of the winter a little thin in some areas. This was mainly due to the frequency that we received rain this spring. Some of these areas have been wet since the first week of February and are just getting dry this week. The photos below show what a little warm and dry weather will do for us.

#3 on 3-31-15

#3 on 4-14-15

#3 on 5-5-15

#5 on 3-31-15

#5 on 4-14-15

#5 on 5-5-15

 

 

We still have some areas to sod and some areas to get grown in, but I feel much better than I did 3 weeks ago.

Linger Longer Invitational Video

Here is a video about the Linger Longer Invitational tournament that we hold every year. It is a tournament that draws college teams from all over the country to play. I am a little late getting this video edited and out because it has been quite a busy spring for us.

Aerification Update

A quick update about our greens aerificaiton from last week. Below are three pictures taken of the greens. You can see how they are progressing in each one. The cool/wet weather last week definitely slowed our growth down a little bit. The rain did however help us to work more sand down into the holes. But now the greens have definitely turned the corner and we are getting a good bit of growth every day. We have been rolling and mowing almost everyday since aerification and it is really helping to squeeze those holes back together.

4-14-15

 

4-17-15

 

4-20-15

 

 

So as you can see they are progressing along nicely. With a little bit of decent weather this week we should be almost completely healed by the weekend.

Aerification 4-14-15

On 4-14-15 we performed a 1/4" hollow tine aerification on our greens and we punched our fairways with 3/4" solid tines. Our process on greens was:

Topdress heavy with Damp Medium sand
Aerify w/ 1/4" hollow tines on a 2"X2" spacing
Brush 2 directions
Blow off the debris that was left
Roll with Salsco roller
Fertilize with a granular fertilizer

These small holes usually heal up pretty quickly, so hopefully with some decent weather the greens will be back in great shape in no time. The fairways will heal very quickly from a solid tine aerification. After a few mowing's the holes will just disappear.

Tom topdressing the putting green

You can really see how much sand is being put out here

Mike aerifying the putting green

That is my pocket knife and a dime to give you some perspective on the hole size.

A close up of the holes

Johnny and Billie solid tine aerifying #1 fairway

Fertilizer Video

Here is a video of our spring fertilizer/pre-emergent process this year. We purchased this fertilizer from Howard Chemical company and they come out with the big truck and spread it for us.

Masters Week

Masters week is always a very busy week for us here at Great Waters. We have averaged just under 200 rounds everyday since this past Saturday. Here a few pictures of our guys in action this morning.

spring sod work

Spring time in Georgia can be very unpredictable. We had a fairly cold winter but overall it was not too bad. We have however had a VERY wet spring. It has rained on average 1/2" per week since the beginning of February. Rain is usually a good thing but just like anything else too much of a good thing can be bad. This has made it very hard to actually get out there and do any kind of mowing on the golf course. It has also created some issues on a few holes where the water collects, creates algae, and does not let the grass grow. If the rain would stop for a week or so the areas would dry up and the algae would crack open and the grass would grow through, but this has not happened yet. We are sodding a few of these areas and we are running a solid tine aerifyer over some of the other spots today. We laid 18 rolls of sod in different areas on #2, 6, and 7 today. These areas will take a little time to heal from the sod but it will be much faster than waiting on the algae. The solid tine aerification should help the other areas to dry out and start to grow some grass faster.

 

 

Coming alive day by day

With the temperatures slowly warming up the golf course is changing every day. Greens are almost 100% out of dormancy and the fairways and tees are following closely behind. The rough is coming along nicely in some areas while some of our wetter or heavily shaded areas are still just sitting there.

Spring is getting closer

What a difference a week makes. We had some warmer temperatures and a little bit drier weather. Last week we finished up the drainage project that we started on #8 back at the beginning of February. We added 2 surface drains and installed about 180' of solid 4" pipe. We also mowed rough last week for the first time this year. Last fall our rough was grown up fairly high for the Big Break Invitational and we are starting it slightly lower than we normally do. This makes for a very slow, ugly process on the rough. We made it all the way around last week mowing and blowing but honestly it still looked a little, well "rough." We started back around on all of it again today and it is really cleaning up nicely. The weather this week looks a little wet again but the temperature look better so hopefully we will have a green golf course very soon.

Pictures from the drainage project on #8

 

 

 

The first cut on the rough 

After the second cut

Another picture of the second cut. You can see just how dusty this is when the grass is dry. You can also see #13 fairway beginning to green up here.

A close up of the rough after the second cut. Here you can seen a lot of green grass coming though. Cutting all of the excess dead grass off the top should help the grass green up quicker and come out healthier.