Week of September 25th

Early morning on 1

Fall planting of mums was completed this week

Mums mixed in with our perennials

Aeration Update:

Tee aeration was completed om Monday. In conjunction with tee aeration we aerated the range tee targets as well. The targets are scheduled to be topdressed tomorrow. The agronomy team plans to aerate and sand topdress the more recently constructed tees on 4,7,9,16 this week in an effort to improve water infiltration on these tees. We may also be starting approaches this week, but this will be dependent on what other agronomy challenges we face this week.

Also this week we aerated the short game greens using 3/4 inch solid tines. This has been a practice that has been gaining popularity as of late. The process is a relatively easy way to incorporate a large amount of sand into the root zone. The recovery process is also supposed to be quicker. I will be monitoring the two short game greens and see what I think. My initial concern is bulk density would increase. Bulk density is basically a way to measure compaction. It basically measures the volume of pores in a soil particle. Bulk density is something we always track and look at closely. This may be an aeration practice we incorporate periodically, but I do not see it taking the place of core aeration and physically removing material from the green.

A gallery of the aeration process:

Any aerations to greens at this point will either be done with a micro 1/8 to 1/4 inch solid tine or a 1/8 inch coring tine. We have events Monday and Tuesday of this week and the earliest we could start would be Wednesday. At this point in the growing season we will be utilizing less aggressive practices. This will result in very little disruption if any to play. The only other cultural practice that will be taking place is routine topdressing, brushing, and grooming.

8 creek area seeded this week

The cleared creek area on 8 was loamed and seeded. While working in the area two old stumps were uncovered. The stumps will be ground out along with the stump by the first tee where a tree recently fell. Grinding should occur this week and as soon as these areas are ground we will be preparing them for seed.

Fallen tree cleanup on 1

Other work completed:

Greens sprayed with fungicide, plant growth regulators, and a variety of fertility

Tees sprayed with fungicide, plant growth regulator, and fertility

Small beatification project started on 17

Reoccurring wet spot by 4 tee dug to identify the problem

Water running in old irrigation and a broken drainage pipe below the waterline, pipe marked in yellow

Wildlife for week:

Lepoard frog peaking out of it's hiding location

Nice looking tree frog crossing the cart path

Mallards changing colors. Drakes starting to show more color