Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A few pics, fall maintenance

This is some pretty dense stuff, so we'll take a little out to loosen things up.  When this soil dries, it is hard enough to break glass. I've demonstrated in the shop once or twice, but glass shards are not worth the entertainment.
The process gets a little smoother each year and so do the fairways.  Have you noticed the reduction of bumps and bounces?  Our fairway mowers have and so have their lower backs.
Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better.  This hydrophobic area lost some turf shortly after aerfication, but it will get better now that water can penetrate the soil.  Please be patient, improvement is a process.

Any guesses?  Yes, this is an obliterated cup that was painted the day before we punched the greens.  Nice pic, Rob.

Once again we used small tines and close spacing which we've been doing for three years now.  Great change for the greens and the membership.  We pull out more material and heal in a fraction of the time.




We finished in one closed day, Tuesday, after punching a few greens on Monday night after a tournament.  Long days this time of year are to be expected and the payoff is well worth the effort.






Here is Ricardo going out for the first morning mow on Monday, 6 days after punchin' the holes.  We mowed up some sand during the weekend and now we're cutting some shaggy turf.



Fairway fertilizer going out with Bert on the tractor and Ricardo flagging.  This is an organic source of fertilizer that will smell unpleasant for one short day.  A little water and the smell is gone.


Here is Richard manning the irrigation control box and putting out a small shot of water right behind the fertilizer application.


September brings quick healing and we can start to lower the mowers to get back up to speed.  This pic was 6 days after aerification, the same day as our first morning cut. 


With all this behind us we are still finishing up aerification on the approaches and some spots in the rough.  Seeding should have already been done, but a heavy dose of tournaments have filled our maintenance days and we'll have to finish things little by little.  The weather still looks good, so our limited overseeding should germinate and fill in before it gets too cool. 

As you can see, we've been busy and the blog has been quiet.  We'll keep the camera with us because there is still plenty more to share. 

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