Hydraulic Leak

Everything we do on the course is thought out and planned.  Not everything goes as planned, as we had a hydraulic leak from a greens mower this morning.  Although most thoughts are negative, there are a few positives to consider; we have Bermuda greens, it's hot, it's only on the Putting green and we aerify greens in less than 2 weeks.  These areas will be setback and possibly die, but we will be able to push these areas with fertilizer and fill in.

2013 Member-Guest

Member-Guest has wrapped up and was a success.  I thought we had the golf course in great shape, especially beginning the week with close to 4" of rain.  I really like the format of this tournament, with 5 nine hole matches and an alternate shot shoot-out to declare a winner.  Most everyone who participated in the tournament stayed till the end.  In the end it was Gary Wright and guest David Koran.  Mr. Wright drained a 5 footer for par to win.

The final groups battling to the end

Awesome scene behind #7 green.  Talk about pressure!

Going for the green #8

The mad rush to get situated to watch the last putt drop

View from behind #6 green

Enough rain...

Typically this time of year Superintendents don't complain about rain.  While I don't mind the rain I wish it was on another week.  2.75" has fallen in the last few days with more expected throughout the day and evening.  The rest of the week looks good with drier conditions.  So with all this rain it means one thing, Member-Guest week!!  In my years of working on golf courses the weather seems to know when we have a big week and when we try to stay late to finish jobs.  To say we have been setback is an understatement.  Bunkers are trashed and we have standing water everywhere.  The course will be ready for the Friday and Saturday's tournament rounds.

We have received 6" Rain as of June 18
We have received 36.5" for the year so far.  To put that in perspective we got 44" ALL of last year.

Greens

We are finally seeing good progress with the greens.  I am spot fertilizing less area each week.  I verticut, topdressed and dragged the sand in.  We tried something new this time and circle verticut, which instead of going in straight lines we went in circles.  This thought process is to attack the plant from different angles and smooth them out.  Overall I was pleased with the process.  This will continue throughout the summer growing months.  By Wednesday almost all sand was worked into the canopy.

Fairway aerification

This week we aerified fairways with 5/8" cores.  After holes were punched, we then used our chainlink fence drag to bust up the cores.  I plan to do this several more times this year.

Finished product.