Tee aeration was completed this week. It took longer than usual due to a few equipment problems, but the last tee was cleaned up Thursday afternoon.
The golf course is pretty dry for this time of year. I have received a few comments this week about the extra ball roll in the fairways. With the exception of the greens, the rest of the golf course has not been irrigated in quite some time. The lake levels are also lower than normal. The golf course is a little drier than I would like it in a few areas, but I wanted to push the envelope a bit knowing that rain will be coming soon. In fact, we are supposed to get some precipitation this evening.
John mowing area adjacent to hole 3
We were able to get a little brush mowing done this week adjacent to holes 3, 4, and 5. We will continue this process throughout the course as time and weather permit.
Aeration of greens and approaches is complete. We really lucked out with great weather. The maintenance staff did an excellent job during our entire aeration process. Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the hard work and long hours each one of you put in this week.
Let the healing begin
Overall, the aeration process went pretty smoothly. There were a couple of equipment issues, but that is just par for the course. The biggest issue that came up was a drag mark on front edge of 7 green. This was caused by a tine that stuck in the turf and was just barely above the surface of the green. The core harvester operator could not see the tine because it blended in with the cores on the surface of the green. Consequently, the tine was dragged for a few feet before the problem was resolved. Below is a picture of the drag mark during repair.
Sandpines hosted the Coast Open tournament on Wednesday and Thursday. The weather was pretty good, but not quite as good as last year. The golf course continues to be in great condition, and the maintenance staff is receiving frequent compliments, especially regarding the greens.
Bear damage on 3 green
Wednesday morning we found some bear damage on the 3rd and 12th greens. On the 3rd green, a bear played with the flagstick and ripped out some turf next to the cup. On the 12th green, the cup and flagstick were just pushed over.
Bear damage on 12 green
This morning, we found similar damage on the 6th green. We have seen this type of activity before, although it is usually rare. Who knows, maybe the last group out has been eating smoked salmon lately. Thankfully, the repairs are usually pretty easy to make.
Bear damage on 6 green
Speaking of wildlife, I have seen more coyotes on the course this year than in the past. I got a good picture of one on Thursday morning.
Coyote on hole 3
The practice greens were aerated yesterday. We will start aerating the rest of the greens on the golf course Sunday (October 16th) following play. The course will be closed on Monday (October 17th) and Tuesday (October 18th) to complete the process. If all goes well, we should be able to get the approaches aerated as well. At this point, the weather looks like it is going to cooperate, which will be a huge advantage.
Chipping green getting some fresh air
I know there are those out there that have a hard time understanding why the greens need to be aerated, and especially when they are in such good condition. It is best to aerate during times of active growth. The turf can better handle the stress associated with aeration, and recovery time is minimized. If anyone has any specific concerns, feel free to contact me directly. I am again including a video on the benefits of aeration. I encourage those that have not seen this video to check it out.
The greens were top dressed earlier this week. I have received a number of compliments on how true the greens are rolling. The greens were groomed frequently the week prior to top dressing. Grooming helps to reduce grain or lateral growth of the grass blades.
My voice recorder on a recently groomed green
The grass is really growing right now. We mowed the collars and approaches an extra time this week, and they are looking good. Most of our time this week was spent mowing all the turf areas on the golf course. The buffalo blower was also out on the course quite a bit this week tidying up clippings. Tuesday night it rained pretty hard, which led to some severe bunker washouts. Dean and Jerry did a great job repairing the bunkers Wednesday morning. The fairways were fertilized this week, and are looking really good. The course is in great playing condition for our upcoming tournaments. The Florence Classic tournament is this weekend (Sunday at Sandpines) and the Coast Open tournament is next Wednesday and Thursday.
We were really hoping to get the fairway aeration completed this week. The grass is growing pretty fast right now, so we knew it was going to be a challenge to keep everything mowed and finish the fairway aeration. Thanks to the hard work put in by the maintenance crew, we were able to finish up the fairway aeration Friday afternoon.
