Thin Areas On Green Edges...A Result Of Green Expansions.

This Spring we have made an aggressive attempt to keep the width of the collars consistent the whole way around the golf course.  Many have noticed the white dots on the collars indicating to the greens mowers where to keep the edge of the green cut as to keep everything consistent.  When we cut these areas down it takes some time to get use to the aggressive nature in which we maintain the greens.  During the last heat wave, regardless of how much water we applied, a lot of these areas thinned out some as you can see from the above picture of the 13th green.  On these areas, we often skip mowing these spots periodically to let them heal back in.  We will start the healing process with some plugs and some seeding of these spots.  It may take some time but eventually all of these areas will look as good as the rest of the green.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

More Drainage Work In Problem Areas.

The top photo shows the landing area on the 14th fairway.  It is very noticeable how wet the area gets when we receive any amount of rainfall.  We have recently installed a sump drainage system to remove the excess surface water that collects in the landing area of the 14th fairway.  The area will remain G.U.R (ground under repair) until it fully heals for play.

Mike O'Neill, GCS

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

#11 Tee...Before and After

A quick before and after of the work we have done to reorient, level, re-shape and re-sod the 11th tee to what it looks like now.  Now the tee actually aims down the fairway and will provide some much more fair shots from the tee surface.  Thanks to our hard working staff!

Mike O'Neill, GCS