This has been the first spring in which we are breaking in our new greens and bunkers! The greens have performed wonderfully! Their performance has improved steadily from week to week with the return of good growing conditions. The warm weather has allowed our staff to regularly groom, manicure and grow our new Tifeagle greens to achieve a more dense and smooth surface that a fully mature ultradwarf putting green provides. For the first time in our nearly 10 year history I can honestly say our golf course is thriving in most all aspects of conditioning and playability. In order for bermudagrass to provide consistent championship quality playing conditions to our members and guests, we must manage under four basic L.A.W.S. of nature. These L.A.W.S. govern that we must have:
Light in high abundance and quality.
Air in an adequate supply in the soil and an abundance of movement along the surface.
Water of high quality and in the right quantity.
Soil of high quality that supplies the right amounts of water, air and drainage.
We have focused on improving these basic elements with our renovation projects over the last year and are now beginning to see the results.
This spring you've probably noticed a few areas of poor coverage that we normally do not have around the course. These areas can be attributed to one or a combination of a few things listed below:
- New sod from last year's renovation that was not fully established going into the winter;
- Pre-emergent burn from a non-uniform application;
- Traffic from construction/cart traffic;
- Shade.
All of these areas are filling in now that summer is rapidly approaching. One of the most sensitive areas on the course is the severely shaded areas in 9 approach and along the left side of the hole. This area does not have adequate light and water from the competition of the large oak trees while the approach tends to stay wet due to low light during the winter. These factors add up to an area that is constantly under stress year round. So please do your part to help our team keep our goal of 100% turf coverage and keep your cart out of the sensitive areas. This saves our club a considerable amount of time and money by reducing the odds of needing to purchase sod for this area in the future.
One last trend that has happened three times since we reopened is golfers taking divots out of our greens.
This is very poor etiquette and is very concerning. We want to do everything we can to protect our beautiful greens so please do not hit your ball from these areas out of frustration. If your ball does come to rest on a green requiring a wedge shot to another hole please simply take a drop. If you see anyone doing this or notice it done on a green as you play please report it to our pro shop immediately.
Thanks and I hope to see you on the course soon!
