Looking ahead to fall projects

 

Today is the last day of meteorological summer. The last few years, summer-like weather has extended into September, and we would not expect that trend to slow down, but with day lengths shortening and normal temperatures dropping, we are headed towards fall. This means leaves, recovery, and projects. Here are some things we have planned:

Drains- We will be adding drains to the poor areas on 4 green, 8 green, 9 green, and 15 green. Similar to what we did on #17, these new lines will only work to remove water from the bad area and the immediate vicinity, not the entire green. However, the benefit will be noticeable. The puddles of standing water in each of these areas will be eliminated, allowing the turf to survive much easier through the summer.

Bunker renovation- This fall we are scheduled to renovate the bunkers on holes #3, #17, and the Chipping green practice bunker. Just like we did last year and previous years, we will remove the old sod around the edges, locate the original bunker edge, then lay new grass. The work at the chipping green bunker will be especially delicate due to the large volume of sand that has been ejected from that bunker onto the green. We will carefully remove some of the grass on the green, get the built-up bunker sand out from underneath, and then carefully replace the same sod back onto the green.

Seeding- Our fall seeding efforts will continue as well. Our routine green surround seeding is always on the list. We will also be adjusting some fairway/rough edges through seeding as well. We did this in a few places last year- #1, #5, #10 for example- and the results were terrific. The goal is to seed into existing Bermuda grass (either intermediate cut or fairway) that is performing poorly because of shade and use the new cool season seed to make the area into rough. The benefit of this method is that there is no tree removal. We simply change the shape of the fairway and rough in the under performing section. The rough gets better in these particular locations and the Bermuda grass does better too. This tactic is not possible in every situation, but we have identified a few more places to do again this fall.

Recovery/Improved Fall conditions- Not all our attention will be on projects. We will also continue to make sure that the recovery we have started, continues until conditions are back to everyone’s expectations. The above projects certainly add to improved conditions, but more in the long term. We want to make sure that this fall’s playing conditions are as good as possible also.

If all these projects go well, and the weather is still cooperating, we will also add new drains to #1 fairway, #8 fairway, and #11 approach.

There is never a shortage of projects and plans after the season. We are ready, and fall is a great time to tackle the work.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please be conscious to not cut corners with your golf cart. The inside edges of turns are easily worn out after repeated traffic.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org