Today I want to share a picture and some videos from a couple tasks that were completed in the end of July. I finally wrapped up Deep Tining tees tops which is just the beginning of creating a smoother, more consistent playing surface. With this machine I was able to pop solid, 6-8" deep holes in all the tees to improve rooting and drainage. I definitely found a couple tees that need serious water adjustments as you will see in the first video. The front roller of the aerifier was acting as a squeege as it worked across a few tees. Finding this is going to help us all moving forward as I will be aware of these areas in the future. Also in the future, all tees will be verticut, topdressed, and core aerified which will bring us flatter and smoother surfaces. Here is a video of me deep tining the blue tee on hole 12 and then a second one of the action of the machine.
The following picture shows some crabgrass and nutsedge feeling the affects of the herbicide that we applied to all tees after the aerifying. We used a three way combo of products in order to kill crabgrass, yellow nutsedge, and goosegrass. If you have noticed some weeds turning white on the the driving range tee, that is the goosegrass' reaction to one of the chemicals. All tees will need a second application this upcoming week to truly knock out the crab and goose. The nutsedge will be done just after 1 app. We seem to have had crabgrass breakthrough on tees and there could be many reasons why. Rainfall can play a big part in the breakdown of the pre-emergent, and we had plenty of that this spring. Divots taken will also create holes in the chemical barrier which will then allow for weeds to germinate. I believe I will try to split my application next year into 2 and see if we have better success.
One other small note. We have begun mowing the native down. It will take a while to finish this project, but I am hoping that we can spray a broadleaf herbicide behind the mow and control all the weeds now that they will be susceptible. This should create a clean look as the grass grows for the remainder of the season. We will mow it again once we are most of the way through fall.
Well that is about it for this entry. Please continue to stop us and ask questions whenever you'd like. Hope you have a good time out on the course and thank you for all the kind words and support we have been receiving.
Course has looked great all year and the greens have been terrific. Also it is great to see sand and sod down. Thank you for getting this in before member-member! I am curious if you are concerned about what looks to be the beginning of the brown fungus spots in the fairways. We struggle every year with this, and today is the first day it appears to be showing in some areas on multiple holes. Also is it possible to stop dumping the green clippings in the native grass soo close to the green. #3 has piles of it just left of trap and in play to a tee ball.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words. We are actually due to spray fairways and tees this week which will address the brown patch popping up. The humidity has been in high gear for the last week and with the little rain showers we have been receiving its a perfect combo for disease. Greens were sprayed this morning, fairways will be Tuesday and Wednesday, and then hopefully the rain on Thursday will hold off so we can spray tees that morning. As far as the clippings go, yes I will speak to our greens mowers about where they dump. More than likely, the Native will still be the best spot to dump, but we can work on our technique so that we get away from the piles.
DeleteCourse played great all summer - thanks. but agree the greens get chewed up because they are not repaired to the offending parties. Also - What can be done to get the geese off the course. It is awful at times...
ReplyDeleteSoooo, as for the geese. I don't know if there is a complete and permanent solution. The Staley Farms wolves are obviously not working and the one on 15 green is more humorous than anything. String is another option that the geese get used to and are not bothered by. I tried mylar tape at Deer Creek and once agian, they got used to it and kept hanging around the course. One good option is Grant's dog Casey. She loves chasing after the geese and getting them up and out of here. However, I can't afford to have Grant just drive around the course all day. I'm going to look into getting a remote control boat of some sort this winter that maybe would be a good combo attack with Casey. I've seen other courses of FB and Twitter that have success with the boats. Whatever the attack is, it will have to be consistent in order to keep the geese at bay. They sure don't like golf carts driving at them either.....wink, wink.
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