Rain Rain Go Away Already!!!

The monsoon season is apparently upon us since we have gotten one of the wettest months of the year rainfall in a few days!  All this rain means an awful lot of extra work for the grounds staff.  When we get this much rain, pretty much every bunker on the property (55) needs to be pumped out before we can begin the maintenance process of pushing the sand back where it belongs and getting the bunker playable again.  This process of pushing the sand back up is very labor intensive and unfortunately just brings about more and more rocks and contamination into the bunker from beneath.  All we can do is continue the rock picking all over again and do our very best at providing the best bunkers we possibly can.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Clover Control In Fairways and Tees

The above photo is a picture of a patch of clover in the 18th fairway.  Clover is a weed in our bentgrass/poa fairways and tees.  We have recently applied a herbicide that is safe on our fairways but will totally wipe out the clover and any other broadleaf weeds in the playing surfaces.  The clover area will die in a week or two and the surrounding grass will eventually fill in the void left by the clover.  As you are filling in your divot with divot mix in the fairways and see a dead patch, please take a little bigger scoop of sand and fill in the voids you see in the fairways too.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Importance of Topdressing Sand Applications On Greens

A cornerstone in our pursuit of perfection on our greens is a consistent topdressing program.  We topdress light every other week during the season.  This allows us to not only brush and groom the greens to stand the old bentgrass up, but it allows us to continue to build up our rootzone with sand.  This is very important as it allows the greens to drain better, putt better and receive a golf ball better.  Since I have been here we have accumulated around 4-5" of a sand layer which is very impressive.  This allows us to also manage the greens much more aggressively in the summer months to keep conditions consistent season long.  So if you see us out there applying sand to the greens, understand, this is a top reason our greens are in the shape they are currently in.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

Utilizing Sod From The Old 11th Tee.

We don't let anything go to waste here on the maintenance staff as many have probably seen with the re-sodding of the 6th approach.  The area thinned out last summer as a result of the lack of irrigation in that area.  This spring we removed what "Good" sod we could from the re-constructed 11th tee, prepped and installed the sod to provide a much improved approach to the 6th green.  Make the most out of all resources on the property!

Mike O'Neill, GCS