October Update
As we approach the last month of the golf season our focus has been on course presentation and keeping up with the day to day setup with limited staff. September was filled with rain events; precipitation amounts almost doubled over the average for this time of year. Keeping up with the rough has probably been the toughest challenge. Trying to find the balance of getting the grass cut with preventing excessive damage from mowing on very soft turf. We have been pushing things with some areas getting some muddy tire tracks.
With colder temperatures here, we have had a few instances of frost, the turf growth will slow and we will start checking off some items on the To-Do list before putting the course to bed for the winter.
Irrigation blowout will take place a little earlier this year. The week of October 19th we will be winterizing the system. Apologies in advance as the sudden explosion of compressed air through our sprinklers can be quite startling! We will attempt to stay ahead of play, but in order to be thorough we may need to be working amongst play to ensure the system is as free of water as possible. This will take the washroom on 6 out of use for the season; our portable washrooms will be there.
After being delayed a week because of weather we were able to complete our aeration on the greens. Having the course closed makes all the difference as we would not be able to complete the job in a single day otherwise. Everything worked out well in that we got our work done on a day that would have been fairly miserable to golf in with cold gusting winds making being outside less than ideal. The crew moved efficiently and we were able to punch, sand, overseed, and fertilize our putting surfaces. Getting this done before we are too far into the fall will give a greater chance of recovery. Some warm days upcoming will expedite the process. Fertilizer applications before and after help the goal of a speedy recovery.
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