I'm pretty embarrassed looking back to see how long its been since I last posted on here so I appologize, but I have been a lot busier this year than years in the past.  Unfortunately, that does not seem to be changing anytime soon.  Our mechanic left for another job in September and I have not yet been able to find a replacement.  What that means is I am now also the mechanic.  This is NOT my area of expertise! And wouldn't you know, in the span of 1 month I had to rebuild 2 small engines.

The roller engine needed a new camshaft so dismantling the entire engine was needed.  Incredibly enough, it runs again.  Then a week later a small piece of metal broke inside the green's mower engine and went rattling around for a bit.  What we ended up with is something like engine gumbo.......

We actually had the same engine upstairs from a previous mower, but it had carburetor issues.  So I Frankensteined 1 out of 2 and that son of a gun fired up and mowed greens for 2 weeks. Ugh!  Now it seems to be leaking fuel from the carb so the journey isn't over yet.   Hopefully soon we will have a solid Technician replacement, but until then.....

Since my last blog in June, nothing really changed much as far as course conditions.  I was quite impressed with how well tees and fairways held up through the entire year.  I know we had a pretty decent summer with timely rains, but we dealt with some pretty stressful periods and the bent just kept on recovering.  My 2022 plan includes all the new fertility that I used in 21, but I added more applications in the shoulder months.  We just recently applied our overwintering fertilizer to greens and tees so I would expect a rapid green up come next spring. 

I don't know exactly how to word my feelings on the range tee so here is where we are at.  The bluegrass we chose has literally come back from the dead three times this year and shocked me.  Unprovoked by me, the sales rep started telling me how in year 2 is when the plant really starts tillering and filling divots like bermuda. I think this is what I have yet to see in order to be completely satisfied. Irrigation failure was the cause of the injury so I am confident that it will be resolved.  

We were able to complete tee aerification this year with a lot more efficiency and a lot less damage.  Due to a solid stand of turf through the summer, tee tops were able to withstand the punching and now we can continue a healthy cycle of fall aerification in order to keep adding sand to the rootzone for firmness and drainage.  

I would like to give a very large thank you to Cheryl Shackelford for her efforts and ability to add some color to our landscape beds throughout the course.  She put a lot of hours into the prep, planting, and care of those beds and it showed all year long.  

I believe that after this week of freezing temps, our bentgrass will finally start going dormant.  I hope to start the planning stages of this years drainage projects.  Hole #13 will be getting all the drainage love this off-season as I plan on trenching through each valley along the left side of the fairway.  Each small valley will have its own system in place with a drain box at the fairway edge similar to the other holes we have done.  This should add up to about 1000 feet of tile when we are all done.  That hole did pretty well this year, but there was about a 3 day period where I saw it start turning black in the valleys due to excess rainfall.  This should take that worry out of play and I am all for less worry.

The last thing that I will touch on is tree work for this season.  I typically start my planning with where I want to take the boom lift when I rent it in January.  Its not an easy transport so I have to plan an efficient route.  With as big and heavy as it is, just driving it down the cartpath isn't a great option.  This year I am going to concentrate the lift along holes 11-16.  I would also like to get it out to 3 tee to trim the large trees on the left side.  We were able to sneak in a little brush clearing this summer and early fall to give us a head start.  At this point Manuel and Mario have almost finished the right side of #14, Ashton, Kaenin, and I have put a good dent in #15, and we still plan on taking a lot of brush out on #16.  Having the brush cleared before I get the lift makes limb clean up a lot easier.  There are a few key limbs I want to take off some oak trees on #11 and the walnut by the left bunkers on #12, but I plan on spending quite a bit of time around #13 tees and green.  I can't drive over the bridge there so hopefully I can find a path through an empty lot in order to get to #14 fairway.  I am going to try and limb the large trees right of #14 fairway by reaching over the creek.  With all the erosion in the area driving that lift over there is a no go.  I am hoping that more sunshine along that creek will promote the native grass to cover the ground better.  After that, #15 shouldn't take too much time and then I want to take another stab at the right side of #16 on top of the old dam.  That is the main rundown on the lift pruning, but I still have some dead trees to take down around the course this winter.  Holes 1,7,and 9 all have dead trees that will be addressed this year.  From all of our tree work these past couple years we have created quite a bit of firewood.  I used to do this at Deer Creek and now I would like to start it here as well.  We are selling firewood from the shop if anybody has a need.  It is all split and seasoned and stored under cover.  I'm not looking to retire from it so we sell it cheap.  $100 for a pickup truck load and you can stuff it in the cab as well ha ha ha.  I split the money up between my guys, but I make them buy something they can use at work.  Usually boots, coveralls, coats, etc...  Contact me through the golf shop or email and we can get you squared away.  

I apologize again for such a long time between updates.  I know that the blog is enjoyed by you all and I hope to get back on a regular schedule with writing them.  Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.