Rounding Third and Heading for Home....

It has been a busy end of the season for the agronomy team. The majority of this year's projects are heading toward completion. The most recent renovation was accomplished by Golf Preservations. They have completed drainage work on #4 and #8 greens and the leveling work on #13 green. The new drainage will help dry out and firm up #4 and #8 soil based greens. These greens should be ready for play by Thanksgiving.

On #13 green, the company lifted up the bottom right side around 6" and brought the lower area to a 2% slope instead of a 5% slope. This will open that area up for putting and more cup locations. In addition, the back half of #13 green was leveled, drainage added to the entire putting surface, and the whole green softened to try and ease the slope toward the lake. I believe it is a big improvement and will help with approach shots and putting on this scenic green. Moving forward, #13 green will be closed until the beginning of next season to allow the sod to root in. In these colder, late fall and winter months this process will take much longer. It may be a week or two before we can begin to get equipment on this green for maintenance. Also, the bentgrass sod will need to knit back in and fill in the cracks left from cutting. We will raise the mowing height for the first couple of mows and slowly lower as we get closer to spring. Right now it is very patchy and bumpy and we ask that everyone stays off the playing surface until it is ready to be opened next spring. 

Drainage #4 green

Sod removed from #13 green. Flags delineate the outline of the putting green.

Sod removed on #13 green

Drainage installed #13

Drainage in #13 approach

Sod being placed back on after leveling

Finished project. Bottom of #13 green now at a 2% slope from left to right.

The driving range project is ongoing. Most of the earth moving for phase 1 has been completed. Drainage for the floor of the range is finished and target greens and surrounds have been seeded. It is hard to distinguish where the location of the target greens are at this point because they are being grown in at the same time as the surrounds. Once the grass matures enough to begin mowing at lower heights the greens will be mowed lowered and become noticeable. Right now the target greens are seeded with perennial rye; however, in June they will be sodded with innovation zoysia, which is a more durable summer time grass, that is more disease resistant and drought hardy than the current perennial ryegrass. The zoysia grass was scheduled to be installed this fall, but was pushed to the spring because of weather events that delayed the installation past the optimal time for warm season grass to become established before winter weather occurs.

The chipping green, approaches, and driving range tee were seeded in late September and are coming in very well. We have mowed all of these surfaces at least once and will probably mow them a couple more times before dormancy. The putting green expansion was seeded in early October and is growing at a much slower pace due to less daylight, colder temperatures, and a couple of heavy rainstorms that washed out the seed before germination. Nonetheless, we will be mowing the majority of this area in the next couple days. Hopefully, the grass continues to grow before winter.

Sod is being installed around the putting green surrounds and this area will start to take on its completed look. Much topsoil has been added to raise the bottom portion of this area to level it out so the tent that is used for events can be installed. Again it will take many months before the expanded portion of this green will be ready for putting.

Landscaping was added to the right side of #5 tee for safety reasons. These trees and shrubs will eventually become big and tall enough to shield errant golf shots from landing on the chipping and driving range complexes. The plants used were white pines, Allegany viburnums, and smoke bushes. In addition 6 repointe maples were added. Three were placed in the wooded area between 4 green and the driving range to replace some of the dying trees in that location. The three others were installed to the right of #4 valley to help block long drives from the range from going into #4 playing area.

Cart path installation will begin in the next week with a 2" base of crushed limestone being installed on the driving range parking and cart path areas. Some sod will be added to areas that have been consistently washing out and catch basins will be uncovered after recent rainstroms. Other detail work will continue to happen as we move toward winter.  

Redpointe maples planted to the right on #4 green

Planting landscaping for #5 tee

Growing in bentgrass for chipping green complex

Chris Wheeler mowing the new chipping green

Bentgrass growing in on the driving range tee

Target greens starting to germinate

A view of the project area

New sod installed on putting green surrounds

Fall maintenance is behind schedule. We have put in over 900 hours during the last couple of months on project work, forcing us to play catch up. Aeration of the fairways was completed in late October. The original aeration date was postponed because of rain and we were unable to find a suitable time to complete the core aeration process. However, we were able to squeeze in enough time for Whuerkamp enterprises to solid, deep-tine aerate. This had not been done before on the fairway surfaces and should help to open up the thatch layer and aid in deeper root development. We are currently in the process of core aerating the play rough areas and will be able to complete them in the next week. We were hoping to begin verticutting the fairways in early November but have not been able to start this process yet. We may only be able to verticut a couple fairways this fall, but time and weather will dictate how much of this process gets accomplished.

Fall ferritization of all playing surfaces is currently taking place. Fertilizer has been applied to the rough and tees. Next up will be fairways and green surrounds. Intermediate ryegrass has been innerseeded into some of the bermuda grass areas throughout the course. We were a month behind on seeding and hopefully we will still get good germination to cover up the unsightly winter dormancy bermuda grass look. 

Tulip bulbs have arrived and the horticulture team is working hard to get the summer annuals removed and begin planting the 5,000 tulip bulbs that adorn the property in the spring. The small crabapple tree located under the red oak by the fountain has been removed. The tree was planted too close to the red oak, and it was hit hard this season with apple scab disease. This will free up room for more annuals to be planted.

Removing crabapple tree

Aerating the play rough

Deep-tine aeration of the fairways

Intermediate ryegrass slit seeded into a bermuda grass patch on #15 fairway

Leaf drop and cleanup is starting to pick up pace as the colder temperatures begin to descend upon the area. We are working to try and get as much of the fall maintenance accomplished as possible but we may have to skip some practices. Frost is starting to become an issue and is taking away some much needed turf work during the morning hours. Overall, the agronomy team is excited about the changes that happened on the golf course during this last season. We will continue to maintain the course and driving range area so they are ready for play next season. Tree work is on the horizon and in the next month we will be working to get a tree and limb removal list together to be accomplished in the winter months. Also, a new building is going to be taking shape over to the right of #18 parking lot and this will give us more space in the grounds building for much needed storage next season. The majority of this work will be accomplished by outside contractors with seeding and landscaping of said area being done in house. I speak for the rest of the crew in saying we are ready for the project season to wind down a bit and look forward to a more normal late fall routine.

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent