Tree work

     We were busy cutting down the dead Elm tree on # 10 rough this morning.  We got it all cleaned up ready to leave when I could hear a tree cracking.  The wind was blow out of the south pretty strong.  I looked up in the Cedar tree next to the tree we just cut down and saw a big split in the main trunk.  I made the decision to remove the tree before it broke apart and fell on top of someone.  So we removed 2 trees and had them cleaned up before lunch.  My staff did an outstanding job.  Here are a few pictures.

 Elm tree on the ground

 Almost cleaned up. Red arrow shows Cedar tree we removed

 Split in main leader of Cedar tree.  Crack was over 10 feet long.

 Crack extended to about 10 off the ground

Cleaning up Cedar.



Venting Greens

Summer is here so we are being proactive with our greens.  We are venting the greens today.  Venting is solid tine aeration.  We are using a very small diameter tine and punching holes into the greens.  This allows for better gas exchange in the root zone.  It also helps dry out the root zone when we get too much rain. We need oxygen in the root zone and CO2 to get out of the root zone.  Excessive heat and too much rain can cause some serious problems with the greens.  This will help us get through tough weather conditions.  We will vent greens every month thru August.  This cultural practice takes about 6 hours to complete and it takes 4 people.  We begin by aerating the green, then we mow green, we lightly topdressing green and finally we roll the green.  When we are finished you can hardly see holes.  In couple days you won't see holes at all.

Nick Venting greens

 

Left side of flag has not been rolled.  Right side has been rolled.  Holes will be gone in couple days

Clearing # 8

     We finished clearing some under brush on # 8 ditch.  We have had some complaints about being penalized twice when hitting your tee shot into the hazard on hole 8.  After taking your drop you had no way to advance ball towards green.  We removed 5 small trees and limb up 3 bigger trees so you could at least punch a shot towards 8 green.  Here are some before and after pictures.

 Before small trees removed

 Trimming large limb

Finished