Temporary Greens

What a great couple of months to end the season! With the extremely cold mornings, the soil temperatures have really dropped off and the greens are remaining frozen into the afternoon on some of the shaded greens. While we are able to push the greens farther than most courses because of our bentgrass greens and sand based profile, we do not want to push them to the point of damaging the plants. The temperatures will be dropping this weekend and we need to be prepared for the switch to temporary greens. During the afternoon on Friday, we will be switching the pins to the approaches/rough before the freeze occurs on the holiday weekend. Happy Holidays to you and your families. I am looking forward to another great year!

Waterfall Update

The pipe from the original pit to the outlet is in place and ready to go. We will be measuring the pond at the top of the waterfall this week so we can price out a custom liner to fit our exact specifications. This will give us less leak points by not using adhesive. Over the winter we will be building a sled for the pump to sit on, keeping it out of the debris and allowing us to pull the pump easily for maintenance. The final step will be chiseling a hole out of the vault and running the new inlet pipe down to the pond. The project should be completed my mid-April.

Bunker Maintenance

This off-season, we have already attacked a few bunkers by taking out the sand, re-lining, edging to the original shape, and filling with clean sand. The liner in these bunkers was torn and had become a nuisance to the golfers and my staff, peeking out at us on a regular basis. Once the sand finds a way underneath, it is very difficult to stop the liner from pushing up. We will continue working on bunker edging and cleaning until the ground freezes over. Below are some of the pictures from the process:

The entrance point to this bunker had crept in a good 3 feet on the edges from golfers walking, machines entering, and wind blowing sand out

The old liner is ripped out and the bunker is edged back to the original shape

New liner installed to fit snug against the bunker lip (cut with a blow torch)

The new type of liner staple is designed to stay in place during freezing/thawing

This is a bunker we have to attack. You can see the lip on the left and back that needs to be removed

Hopefully you enjoyed the great golfing weather in November.......the cold is near