There's a heat wave in Highlands with the temperature at a warm 45 degrees today! The off and on rain showers are slowing us down but we were able to pick back up where we left off since the very cold temperatures the last few days. Topdressing and fairway verticutting continues as well as some other projects.
Above: This winter we will be installing additional drainage on #6. I'm often asked if there are areas with a lot of solid rock below the surface. Compared to other courses in the area, we have little rock to contend with. However the entire hillside of #5 and #6 is solid rock with about 10" of topsoil sitting on top of it. This particular spot on #6, is always an issue because during wet weather, water seeps from the bedrock in this area. We've put drainage in this area before but you just can't get deep enough to make it effective. I'm planning to be more aggressive this winter and it may require renting a jack hammer or two to gain the necessary depth.
Baldemar picked up where he left off with the aerifier and knocked out #12 as well as the practice facility tee and approach areas.
During my daily golf course walk, this caught my eye as I cut through the woods between #14 and #15. It's been a few years since I last saw one of these! These were made in 2002 or 2003 during Kid's Camp at the Club. Rickey Holland headed this project up with the kids that year. They were made for mice to live in. Rickey said that if you increased the population of mice, the population of hawks and other birds of prey would would also increase due to the available food source. This was a pretty cool project he led that week, over 15 years ago! Time goes by way too fast!