Wednesday

Great job by Lyn and Jesus who put the final touches on the new stone patio extensions at the croquet pavilion!  Our next and final load of sod for the spring is coming Tuesday morning from a Maryland based sod farm.  That will finish off #11 and finish the tie-ins around this new stone work. 

We are continuing to have to irrigate every and all day!  The low humidity is drying out sod faster than we can add water to it.  There is a 30% chance of rain on Sunday and hopefully we can get some form of a measurable amount.  Right now, Highlands is 32" below where we should be.  

Landscape Improvements

Our team is working hard to improve the landscape in front of the Clubhouse using a plan developed by Mary Palmer Dargan.  It is looking great under the leadership of John Branson, our fearless landscape technician!  Yesterday, over 20 Boxwoods were planted in this area.

Monday

 

Fairway striping has commenced today!  I love this photograph taken by our Spray Tech, Billy Brooks!  Starting today, fairways will be mowed at angles for the remainder of the season.  During the early spring weeks, we mow fairways at what is called light/dark or 50/50 simply because it is faster and requires less labor...only one mower is required to mow 18 holes.

We are working to lower the height of cut of greens starting Tuesday morning.  In the meantime, we are brushing greens as well as approaches to stand the turf in the most upright position possible prior to mowing.  Doing so, will result in turf that is more dense and upright in growth habit.

Poa annua/Bentgrass Greens in Springtime

 

Springtime in Highlands is always an exciting time!  However, the golf course greens are rolling bumpy and slow.  Why is that?

First, the height of cut of the turf right now is 0.135" compared to our summer height of 0.115".  This is a pretty big difference.  The reason for this is because April isn't a time to be pushing turf for performance.  Rather, the grass which has just come out of winter dormancy a couple weeks ago, needs time to develop a deep root system that will sustain it through the summer.  Soil temperatures are still on the cooler side and even though our day time air temps are 70*F, the soil temperature is far from optimal yet. It takes time, and pushing turf too hard now, will lead to a lot of trouble in the summer.  Early April is too soon to open a golf course in a cool season climate like Highlands.  HCC is the first golf course to open in the area.  Most are May.  

Second, the greens are healing from spring aeration.  This is the most critical cultural practice we do, to reduce organic matter below the greens.  Failure to do so, will result in soft, soggy greens that would be unacceptable to our membership.

Third, the Poa annua on our greens is producing seed head.  We are on a program using plant growth regulators to reduce seed head production of Poa annua.  However, the results can be mixed because that science is not completely understood and there are many factors that affect it.  In short, the seed head produced by the Poa annua (better known as annual bluegrass) creates a surfaces of varying heights compared to the surrounding Creeping Bentgrass, that requires warmer temperatures to resume growth.

The final and forth reason the greens aren't smooth this time of year, is caused by winter itself.  In a sand based greens, a winter of freeze-thaw cycles creates uneven putting surfaces.  In April, we do a lot of lightweight rolling to smooth the putting greens.  However, it takes time and isn't accomplished by rolling one time.

To conclude, spring is great in Highlands, but it must be met with reasonable expectations.   Rest assured in another 2 weeks or so, we'll be where we need to be for the season!

7-Day Forecast

 

No rain in sight!

Opening Day!

With the golf course open, we are working the height of cut on putting greens down to our summer normal of about 0.115 inches.  During the next week and a half, we plan to be there.  Right now, labor is a temporary challenge.  The humidity is so low, coupled with drought.  We're having to have as many as four team members water new sod areas to keep it alive.  On top of that, we are trying to get all these projects knocked out all while maintaining a golf course (mowing etc.).  I couple use 35 people right now!  Rest assured we are doing our best to balance it all, and once our H2B labor arrives, we'll catch up to where we need to be in a short amount of time. 

Water, water, water!!

We have 2 more truckloads of sod to install to finish our winter projects on the golf course.

Sodding #11 Tee Complex

At 7:30AM, the sod for #11 tee complex rolled into the parking lot!  The Green Committee first voted to sod this area with fine fescue, in order to make it a no-mow area that turned to seedhead.  However, the sod farm in Maryland, that we've been getting fine fescue sod from was sold out, with none being ready for sale until mid-May at the earliest.  Because of this, we are sodding the tee complex with Kentucky Bluegrass.

#11 Tees

 #11 Tees is just about ready for sod!!

Upcoming Project

In the next 2 weeks, we'll be resurfacing the bridge on #10, just like the bridge on the 18th hole, where the boards run length wise, reducing the "roller coaster" noise you've come to know.  Also, the 6x6 post curbing will be replaced for safety.  Once the lumber has a couple weeks to dry, we'll stain the bridge a dark color.  

Wednesday

The above data sheet, from Syngenta, shows the current data of soil temps and other important info we need to make decisions regarding our agronomic practices.

I'm loving the forecast!  Bring on some heat!

This year, we are doing a spring DryJect aeration to incorporate more sand and also firm up the greens for the summer!  The minor disruption this causes will be well worth it in the long run.  This is the 3rd DryJect process we've done this year.  Greens of our age (almost 30 years old!) benefit a lot from this program compared to newly reconstructed greens that have little to no organic matter.

The white channels of sand are the result of the DryJect process, incorporating more sand into the upper organic layer. This, in conjunction with our core aerification and topdressing program, allows us to maintain firm greens that still drain at at high rates, through the summer.

Monday

 

This morning, we are mowing the entire golf course out and it is looking great!

Below, this shows how effective our drainage projects have been!  This is a photo looking down into one of the basin inlets in the middle of #1 fairway.  There is a 4" pipe below a 2" pipe above it, and both run non-stop, every day of the year.  This is water we captured from a spring under the 1st fairway.  If we had not directed this water into a pipe, the same water would be coming to the surface, making this area of the fairway unplayable.  The water in the 2" pipe, is from this winter's drainage project. 

Wall Street Journal: Bunkers

 CLICK HERE!

Click above for an article appearing in the April 4th edition of the Wall Street Journal regarding the history of bunkers and the cost to build and maintain.

USGA Green Section Record

 CLICK HERE to access the latest edition of the USGA Green Section Record. 

Practice Tee Update!

 

Are you in Highlands and want to hit some balls at the practice facility?  I've gone ahead and opened the practice tee a week early.  The stations are on the artificial mats however, if you'd like to hit from grass, please fee free to.  I'm grateful to have James back and he is anxiously awaiting your return.  The range tee will not be staffed this weekend, but it is open.  Starting Friday, April 10th, the range will be staffed most hours. Enjoy!

The only exception: we will have the practice area closed on Monday and Tuesday for maintenance.

Wednesday

We're rolling greens this morning with a 1.5 ton roller!  This is something we do once a year to smooth them out following aeration.  Our lightweight rollers we use on a regular basis are better for the overall health of the putting surfaces, but this roller gets us where we need to be faster,  in early April.

Also today, our annual spring fertilization, including a pre-emergent crabgrass prevention herbicide, is being applied to everything except greens.  The analysis is a 22-0-7 fertilizer, containing 22% nitrogen, 0% Phosphorous and 7% Potassium.  This analysis is based off of last autumn's soil testing.  We will finish this application on Thursday.