What you should excpect over the next week!

The weather stinks blog has already been used this year so lets just all assume we are on the same page with that one.

ROUGH
Over the next week as the temperatures warm up the rough is going to begin to grow and playability will become very difficult. We try our best to keep up with it but it always seems we are playing catch up. The rain and tournament this week has prevented us from cutting it twice, we will try throughout the weekend to get around and re-cut the longer areas. Staff are continuing with sod patching throughout the course, thin areas in the rough are being seeded next week.

Ask the pro shop for some tips on how to play shots from deep rough!

MAINTENANCE DAY
Aeration and spiking are a superintendents most important tool when dealing with compaction, thatch removal, root zone modification, increasing oxygen levels to the roots and the removal of soil layering within the root zone. It is our breath for turf grass survival throughout the year, without it the greens will not survive.
The greens will be aerated Tuesday May 24th, with a mini hollow tine that pulls a 3/16"core out of the green every 2 inches. These cores will be broken up, matted back into the turf and the remaining holes filled with sand. A seeder will be driven over the greens and collars seeding bentgrass into them. Members will see minimal disruption and the greens will resume there playing condition by weeks end.
Tee aeration will commence once the greens are complete and will continue throughout the week.

COURSE BEAUTIFICATION
Staff are beginning to prepare flowerbeds for the arrival of annuals in early June. Beds are being edged, mulched and weeded over the next week.

COURSE ETIQUETTE CONTINUED!

DIVOT FILLING

The soil we use for our divot mix consists of a mixture of finely ground compost, sandy loam soil and sand. It holds moisture beautifully and doesn’t compact, which makes for a good growing medium. On our fairways we use a mixture of Bent grasses. The seed is almost naked to eye, as there is over 6 million seeds per pound. On the tees we use a mixture of Perennial Rye grasses. The major reason for the difference is the speed of germination. The Rye grass germinates in 7 to 10 days where the Bent grass takes 14 to 21 days. If the Bent had a faster germination rate we would use that on the tees. Please do not fill the divot bottles on the carts with divot mix from the tees. The grasses are very different and we do not want the Rye grass seed used on the fairways. Also, please do not use the divot mix for fairways in the rough, bent grasses are an undesirable turf species for the rough.

Please replace your divot whenever you can especially if soil and roots are attached. Add divot mix around the edges to fill in. When filling a divot place enough mix in the void to fill to the top and gently press down with your foot to compact it.