Bunker Renovation Approved and Underway!

We have recently begun a 10 bunker renovation.  The bunker are chosen are consistently the worst bunkers on the course, on a  performance and  physical level.  These bunkers do not drain and consistently hold water after a rain event.  Bunkers on the front of 7 green and greens side on 12 will become (1) big bunker while all the bunkers on hole 11 and bunker on 17 just get rebuilt with new drainage, liner and sand installed.  Please bare with us this fall as these areas will remain GUR until we complete the project.  Sand will be installed first thing in the spring as the bunkers will be sodded top and bottom this fall.  The bottom of the bunkers will be sodded as a organic liner, allowed to root in and then sprayed with round-up in the spring and sand added right on top of the sod.  This method has proven to be a good method to keep stones and debris from moving up from underneath.  synthetic liners can be much more costly and in my experience, ineffective and cumbersome.  Please check back here as updates will be posted as we proceed.

Mike O'Neill, CGCS

Bunkers and Sand.

I have heard many complaints in the past of bunkers not having enough sand in them.  The truth is, as I have always preached, they have plenty of usable sand in them.  The problem is, when we get a big rain event where all the sand washes out, (Such as is depicted by the washout picture above) it essentially takes us weeks to have the time to properly redistribute the sand back where it was before the rain event. Bunkers are the most labor intensive aspect of our operation.  We typically spend 8 man hours daily to get the bunkers raked and after a rain event it can sometimes take us up to 130 man hours minimum to get them back where they should be.  We are currently in the process of extreme fine tuning of the bunker sand distribution for the upcoming member/guest as picture at the very top. We use the sand rake and the plow attached, with shovels and rakes to get the sand in the perfect placement.

Mike O'Neill, CGCS

Wildflowers Looking Nice Behind #8 Men's Tee!

The flower bed use to be a huge weed infested mess before I decided we would try some native wildflowers from seed in this bed.  It has taken a couple years to mature enough to look full, but it certainly has come along nice!

Mike O'Neill, CGCS

Healthy Rough, Unhappy Golfers!

Our goal, as golf course managers is to provide a healthy and vibrant turfgrass that can withstand the damage delivered to it on a daily basis from golfers and mowers.  Well, we have done that in the instances of our rough here at Bellevue!  We have the thickest rough this side of the Mississippi without a doubt!  This year we ended up lowering the height a half inch to combat how tough the rough is to get out of.  We are also experimenting with growth regulators as you can see by the pictures above.  We just sprayed the rough yesterday with a strong regulator.  We will monitor how the grass responds as we may see some discoloration of the grass from the application.

We are here to provide the best possible playing conditions we can and if that means experimenting with different growth regulators to make the golfing experience more enjoyable,  then that is what we will do!  Please bare with us as we do our best to thin the rough out a bit.  Once and if we get dry weather, the rough should thin out some as well.  Until then, do all you can to put the ball in the fairway or first cut!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Divot Repair Video.

Many members have asked about divot repair and this video explains the proper protocol perfectly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS4wbbtvyU4&t=22s

First Mow '17

Well it certainly has been a strange winter!  Mild February right into a late dumping of snow created a depressing end to March.  With all that mess behind us we are looking forward to a great 2017!  The mild winter allowed us to get out on the course and accomplish some major tree trimming.  We have focused on holes 2,4,5 and 8 with the trimming.  This area I have felt was the most dense and  needed the most trimming.  Golfers will be pleasantly surprised at the open feel with errant shots on these holes.  The trimming program will continue indefinitely as there are numerous areas to still get to. We will be opening the golf course for walkers this Sunday.  Lets hope for warm weather very soon!

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Winter Work In Full Gear!

As I often get asked "What do you guys do all winter?"  Well, we actually tear down every mower in our fleet of many mowers to replace bearings, change seals and grind and sharpen reels and blades to head off any possible problems that would arise during the season.  The old saying goes..."An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" rings true with our operation daily.  We also address all course accessories from tee markers to benches to ball washers to spike cleaners.  This time certainly allows us the opportunity to address the issues we don't have time to address during the season.  When weather allows, we are on the course trimming trees chipping the limbs and when we get 2 feet of snow we are responsible for the snow removal at the clubhouse.  Our job is multi-faceted to say the least!

Mike O'Neill, GCS