Tree Work

     The cooler temperatures is giving us time to get some much needed projects completed.  We rented a boom lift to cut tree down on hole 12 and clear some high limbs that were blocking tee on hole 18.

Lift hole #12

 

Ash tree was hanging over 12 Green

 Hard to believe tree was standing.  It was hollow.

 

  Removing limbs from 18 Tee's

Drainage work

    With the cooler weather we are able to work on our project list.  We rented a trencher and cut in the drains that were clogged up by tree roots on holes 3 and 4.  We will be getting trencher back to work on more areas. 

 Trenching #3

 Working # 4

 Drain was emptying out into neighbor lawn 

We move drain down hill away from neighbors yard

Hickory Tree # 9 Tee

     The dead Hickory tree next to the forward tee on # 9 was removed today.  Dan got some good shots of the tree falling.  That tree has been on the to do list for a while.  Glad to see it go.

Going

 Going

 Going

Gone

Hydrojecting

     Today we did our second Hydrojecting to our greens.  We will do this one more time in August.  Hydrojecting gives our greens much needed oxygen to the root zone.  It also displaces the CO2 that accumulates in the root zone area.  As I stated in my earlier blog on Hydrojecting too much CO2 is bad.  It also helps to dry our greens out.  It give the moisture a tunnel to leave.  Too much moisture this time of year can be costly.  We want to manage the water and air the greens receive.  If  Mother Nature decides to give us more rain than we need the Hydroject holes will help manage the excess soil moisture. 

 Hydrojecting # 18 Green 

Hole pattern is 3inch by 3 inch.  You can hardly see the holes.

Sod Work

     We have been busy fixing some bad areas in Fairways.  Holes 4, 6, and 15 all had some thin spots.  All areas have white paint around them.  Play as ground under repair.  Take a drop and please keep carts off new sod.  Here are few before and after pictures.

 # 4

 # 4 after sodding

# 6 after sodding

Greens

     At the moment our greens are in great shape. Weather has been hot and humid.  That is a combination that can turn good greens to poor greens real quick.  As I was changing cups this morning  I had a chance to examine our root system.  We have roots coming out of the bottom of the plug on a number of greens.  This is a really good sign.  6 to 7 inch roots going into summer is amazing.   The deeper the roots are the more area they have to pull water and nutrients out of the soil profile.  The stronger the plant is the better it can fight off stress.  Below is picture of one of the plugs I pull out.  You can see the roots coming out the bottom.  If you look closely you can see a big hunk of roots on the left side of the picture.  Seeing this has made my day.  Dan and I have been putting in a lot of hours the past couple of weeks taking care of the Greens.  This makes it worth it. 

# 14 green

Venting Greens

     With the high temperatures and high humidity we are spiking greens.  This helps greens dry down and  helps with gas exchange in the soil profile.  The greens need Oxygen to reach the roots and we need Carbon Dioxide to leave the root zone.  Too much of the later and you will see a decline in the turf.  We will spike the greens every other week.  You can hardly tell we spiked the greens.  We mow them after and the slits are barely visible.  We are also going to implement alternating mowing and rolling greens until the temperatures cool down.  You should not see any difference in ball roll on the greens on day we do not mow.  The rollers will smooth the putting surface.  As long has the heat stay with us we will continue this practice until it cools down.  Hopefully soon.