Course Update - 4/5/11

NORTH COURSE FERTILIZER APPLICATION
We will be applying fertilizer and herbicide to the North Course tees, fairways, and roughs today begining at 12:00. This is a very important application as it helps the bermuda grass start growing while preventing many summer annual weeds. The strong winds forced us to re-schedule to today. We will irrigate immediately after applying this product. It is a possibility that we will have to be cart path only for Wednesday morning in order to prevent burn from carts on the fairways. Thank you for patience

SOUTH COURSE GREENS AERATION
We were able to aerate several greens yesterday. The following greens have now been aerated - 1,2,3,7,9,11,12,13, 15, 18. These are small holes that will definately help the greens be a success this summer. Most of the greens were only partially aerated - just the bad areas or areas that had been sodded in the past. All of 7,9, 13 were punched. These greens should recover very quickly.

OTHER COURSE NEWS
North Course - Greens single cut and rolled. All other normal maintenance
South Course - Greens single cut with walk mowers. Probably will roll later in the day. All other normal maintnance

***North Course Fert/Pre-Emerge Update***

High winds today will most likely prevent us from making any applications this afternoon. Currently we are re-scheduling for tomarrow afternoon. This will likely result in the North Course being closed in the afternoon on Tuesday and cart path only for Wednesday morning. We have approximately 6.5 Tons for fertilizer/herbicide to apply and the only way to get it out is when the course is closed. We will be working with the proshop and watching the weather throughout the day. Please check back for more information. Thank you for your patience with this important matter.

Course Update 4/4/11

North: Greens Double Cut, Tees-Collars-Approaches Mowed, all other normal practices.

South: Greens Single Cut, Fairways Mowed, Bunkers checked only, all other normal practices

An early start for maintenance today. With the shotgun tournaments on both courses we rolled out of the shop at 5:00 am. I will post more later regarding our fertilizer application and aeration on the South.

Monday tournaments make working on the course difficult, but that doesn't mean that there is isn't plenty to do. For example, it is a great time to give all the equipment a thorough cleaning and inventory dry chemicals and other materials.

Lupe Gonzales uses a pressure washer to one of our fairway units

Assitant Superintendents Mike Mccarty and Isidro Moreno inventory and organize fertilizer

Course Update

North Course: We return to normal play today. The greens were double cut and rolled for the second day in a row in order get them rolling quicker. In addition, we changed out the rollers on the front of the mowers from a smooth roller to a grooved roller. This allows for a more aggressive cut. We almost doubled our clippings from yesterday. See picture below:

South Course: The greens were sprayed today with mixture containing several different products. These include a light preventative fungicide, wetting agent, light fertilizer, and micronutrients. We will maintain a consistent spray program on both courses. All chemical applications are made very carefully, following all label instructions, applied by trained personell, and with highly calibrated equipment. We finished edging the bunkers yesterday. This is a time consuming task that requires more labor than you might think. We break this process into four steps.

1. Sand around bunker edges is pulled back - 2 men

2. String trimmers are used to trim any grass and re-create sharp bunker edges - 2 men

3. A blower is used to remove any plant material from the bunker - 1 man

4. A mechanical rake is used to smooth out the bunker and return to normal playing conditions. - 1 man

Thank you for your patience when we are edging bunkers. This process takes place every 2 to 3 weeks depending on conditions.