Sodding Tee on hole 11

Last week we stripped, leveled, and sodded the #2 tee on hole #11. This tee has been struggling more and more every year due to traffic and shade. We changed the tee from 419 Bermuda grass to Zeon Zoysia. The new sod that we put down was in the large rolls so there are less seams to be grown in. Hopefully with lots of rolling, mowing, some decent weather, and a little fertilizer we will be playing from this tee very soon.

 

Painted Logo

During this years Member-Guest Tournament we had a little surprise for the players. Back in the winter our assistant equipment technician George Reynolds made us some plywood stencils with our company Duck logo on them and this was our first chance to use them. We placed them in a few different areas around the golf course and got some good feedback from the players. Even though they are made out of a full sheet of plywood they do look a little small once you get out on the golf course. Who knows maybe in the future we will go bigger.......For now here are some pictures of what we did for this years tournament.

  

Sod work in fairways

Last week and early this week we really worked hard on getting all of the weak areas fixed in our fairways. We had a contractor to come in and help us strip and lay most of these areas. We stripped and laid about 2/3 of an acre of sod and added drainage on 2 different holes in 5 days. The machine that was used to strip and prep the areas was very impressive and made it look very easy. These areas look much better than they did before and they should grow in very quickly.

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.