Too Much Traffic!!!

The above photos show the practice green next to the room on the green.  Notice the stressed brown areas in the corner of the green.  This is a result of too much foot traffic in this specific area.  The area is already dry, as we maintain the greens on the edge of wilting to promote the best possible putting surfaces we can.  The concentrated walk on area just pushes the grass over the edge and it starts to go south.  We can prevent this by avoiding areas such as this as we walk on or off of a green.  We could certainly avoid this by watering the greens more often but I don't believe many members would like the resulting wetter greens for playability.  Please avoid these areas and take note of the fence set-up there, it is there for the betterment of the green.

Mike O'Neill
GCS

Brown Ring Patch on Greens.

Many have probably noticed the yellow rings on a few greens on the course recently.  This is a fungal disease called Brown Ring Patch.  This disease infects the green primarily in the spring.  A spray application was made a week ago with not much control.  I have applied another application today in hopes it clears it up.  The disease is strictly aesthetic and has no effect on ball roll on the greens.  Once the disease is controlled with the fungicide spray applications, it will grow out of the disease in no time.

Mike O'Neill
GCS

#18 Bunker Project Update

The project is in its final stages; here, Mark Nichols, the assistant superintendent,  is applying a polyurethane coating to the bottom of the bunker to bind all the rock together.  This will keep the rocks and soil particulates from migrating into the bunker sand.  New bunker sand has been ordered and will be installed as soon as it arrives.  The old bunker sand stored in the bunker next to the new bunker will be used to top off bunkers on the course that are lacking sand.  The new bunker will be complete and ready for play by the end of next week.

Mike O'Neill
GCS