Temporary Greens

In an effort to reduce the wear and tear on the greens during the off season, we are using temporary pins for the remainder of the winter. Even if the day time temperatures rise enough to thaw out the top layer,  I would ask you to please stay off the greens. With recent heavy rains, the green surface is very soft, but still frozen underneath. This combination will cause foot printing and cratered ball-marks that Will Not Heal until spring. We are excited to start a great 2013 golfing season and though inconvenient, this will help us to put our best foot forward. Thank you.

Ball Marks

As we head into the 2013 season the club is going to be focusing on golf course etiquette. A new stewardship committee will be introduced and will have the task of communicating with members on proper care for the course.

It is EVERY players responsibility to leave the golf course in the same or better shape than they found it.  
Fixing the ball mark correctly is extremely important, and if not repaired properly, it will leave an unsightly brown spot that will take weeks to heal even with ideal conditions. Remember, the later into the season, the longer it will take to heal.
The mid winter thaw has allowed us to get a head start on fixing ballmarks. The guys will use a probe to punch out the dead grass in the center of the mark and then fill with sand.


Below is a great video on how to properly fix your ball mark!

PLEASE repair your ballmarks.

A quick punch to about 1 inch.

Using a squeeze bottle speeds up the process.

The Clearing Continues

The mild winter weather has afforded us the ability to work outside and continue clearing the thick underbrush around the course. The crew also removed the old farm equipment and the broken fence that ran parallel to # 11 fairway. The dense thicket at the end of #12 fairway and around #13 tee has been cleared, giving a much cleaner and open look along the cart path and hole. We have started to hydro-seed these areas with a recycled paper product and Aurora Gold fine fescue. This process uses a sticker solution that binds the seed/paper mixture to the soil reducing erosion.

Seth shedding a tear for the ol' boy.

Before...

This clearing will not only improve the look but help the trees from being choked off.

Mike going for the big haul.

After. Ahhh daylight!

Chris applying hydro-seed.

The hydo-seed will help eliminate any erosion.

Welcome to the Jungle!

 We have begun clearing tree-lines around the course to bring a cleaner look to Rivercrest as well as increasing the turf health surrounding these areas.  The crew have been hacking, slicing, raking away the underbrush between holes 11 and 12, 10 green, 10 fairway end, and 9 gold tee. The end of 10 fairway was cleared so that the entire fairway could be seen from the black tees. This not only allows us to utilize the entire black tee, but allows better airflow to the bottom corner of the fairway which has been difficult to maintain.

Thick underbrush along 12 Approach.

Finished look.

 

Even without the leaves 10 green is barely visible.

The guys tearing into the jungle.

Half way there.

Cleared and ready for fine fescue seed.

First look from 10 Black Tees.

Removing underbrush and dead trees.

Complete view from the tee.

Increased airflow to lower portion of the fairway.

Bunker Rehab

One of my main goals this fall and off season is to rehabilitate the bunkers. The bunkers will be depth checked, re-edged, and any contamination within the bunker removed and refilled with fresh sand. One other issue we are addressing is the bunker faces. As the years pass, the green side bunkers will have a tremendous amount of sand splashed onto the grass faces. Many of the bunkers that are southern facing can begin to show decline during the summer as the sand beneath the grass will heat up much faster than the soil. The green side bunker on number 1 poses more challenges due to its southern facing banks (rapid heat up)as well as reduced airflow from the wood-line to the left. After removing the sod from #1 almost 5" of sand was uncovered and scraped away. Once the new sod becomes established we should see much better results for years to come.

Decline due to excessive sand build up coupled with a south facing slope.

Stripping away years of build up.

Re-sodding the face after proper soil amendments were applied.

Finished product!

Face-lift for #15 Bunker

Another of our fall/winter projects is the green side bunker on # 15. This was originally a small pot bunker with sod walls and very little room for a back-swing. We decided to renovate this bunker by raising the height of the floor 2 feet and slightly increasing the overall dimensions. This will allow golfers an unimpeded swing an eliminate the need for a sideways shot.

2 feet of drain pipe added to raise the height.

Soil added and reshaped.

Final hand work and edging before we plate tamped the floor.

New drain installed.

Stapling and gluing down the bunker liner.

15 green side completed!

# 5 Bunker Project Update

We received a little more snow than I was expecting, but that didn't hinder our progress on #5 bunker. Late Tuesday afternoon as the snow was winding down the crew went out and shoveled the sod-cut area around the green and bunkers in preparation for a sod delivery Wednesday. Until this snow storm arrived, we've actually been quite dry through November. This usually doesn't matter during late fall, but with temps in the 60's arriving early next week and our scheduled irrigation blow-out coming up, we needed to get the sod laid while still having access to water on the course.

Waiting for sod.

 

Finishing up the bunker slopes.

        

Walk on/off restored.

New look on # 5