Utilizing our tools

Now that the warmer weather is upon us, we have to really stay on top of our greens moisture levels. Every one knows if the greens dry out it can lead to them stressing and eventually dying. The same is true if they are too wet. One of our best tools in attaining the perfect moisture level is our moisture meters. You will see us out with our meters checking the moisture levels throughout the day. We mainly use them in the mornings and afternoons so we know where we start the day and where we end up. This allows us to know if we need to run the overhead irrigation on the greens or just supplement certain areas with our hose. 

So when you see us out with our moisture meters, you will know what we are doing. If you are interested in knowing more about them, just ask and we will show you how they work. 

New Fence on #7

We put up a fence on #7 today to help people see the drain pipe that daylights on the right side of the fairway. Since the fence is an immovable obstruction, it is covered under rule 24-2. If it interferes with your lie, stance, or the area of your intended swing, you can take relief with no penalty.

Curfew Application on Greens

Today we applied Curfew Soil Fumigant to the greens. This is to combat our high nematode counts on our greens. Curfew is a liquid that is applied by a machine that slices 5" into the soil and injects the liquid into the soil. Once Curfew is in the soil, it volatilizes as a gas and moves through the soil and kills nematodes on contact. With the curfew application, we will have healthier turf. Nematode control promotes healthier root systems and this allows better uptake of water and nutrients.
This is the second year we have applied this product and we hope to see the same if not better results this year.

Checking Root Depth on Greens

This morning we are pulling samples from the greens for our nematode assay (more on this later) and I just wanted to send out an update on root health. We are pulling a 3/4" round core at a depth of 6". On the majority of our samples the roots are hanging out of the bottom of the corer. This is very encouraging with warm weather coming up.

Edging Bunkers

Over the last two days, we have completely redone our bunker edges. This is a very timely process when we do it for the first time of the season. We have to pull all of the sand away from the edges. Then we cut a clean sharp edge with a weedeater. We are mainly trimming all of the rogue Bermuda runners that come off of the face of the bunker. Once we have our new edge, we clean out the bunker. The most timely part of the process is rebuilding the edges. We have to make sure we have a good lip where we need it and make sure there is a good slope from the grass to the bottom of the bunker on the low side of the bunker.
Throughout the summer, we will edge all the bunkers every 2-3 weeks. The rebuilding process will not take near as long the remainder of the season.

Aerifying Heavily Compacted Areas

A lot of areas on the golf course get very compacted due to cart traffic, equipment traffic, lack of water, tree roots, and other factors. Probably the worst factor is cart and equipment traffic. For the next few days we will be aerifying these areas. We will be using the same machine we used for the fairway aerification. It is just a little slower process because a lot of these areas will be aerified numerous times. We are doing all of this aerification in preparation of our big fertilizer spread next week.
Alex Moseley is the man on the tractor this week. He has been with us for almost 2 years and has become one of our go to guys on a lot of things. He can run any piece of equipment we have with just a little training. He has stepped up in our greens water management as well. If you see Alex out there, thank him for his hard work and dedication. This goes for all of our guys as well. They like to know their hard work is appreciated by you all.

Fairway Aerification

We aerified all of the fairways today.  We use a different machine on the fairways than we use on the greens.  This machine is pulled behind a tractor and is ground speed driven (it pokes the same amount of holes wether you go 1 mph or 10 mph) and is a lot wider than our greens aerifier.  Fairway aerification is a lengthy process.  We start by pulling the cores from the fairway.  After they have been aerified, we drag the plugs.  This breaks up the plugs and makes them a little more manageable.  Once they have been broken up, we blow the fairways off with the tractor blower.  The last thing we do is mow the fairways.  This helps smooth out the tufts of grass left from the tines.  Over the next few days, we will mow them in different directions to help smooth them even more.
You may ask why we pull a core instead of just using a solid tine.  Pulling a core is a lot messier and a lot more work to clean up, but if we are going to aerify, pulling material out is the only way to go in my book.  If you use a solid tine, all you are doing is causing more compaction between the tines as the soil is just pushed tighter together.  If you remove the material by pulling a core, you are relieving compaction and also removing thatch and organic material.  This is the same wether you are aerifying a golf course, sports field, or a home lawn.

Here is Alex using the aerifier

Here is a close up of the machine and what the plugs and holes look like just after being pulled.

Andrew hard at work dragging the plugs with the steel drag

This is Mike using the tractor blower cleaning the debris left from the drag mat

And we finally mow the fairways to finish up the process

Here is the finished product

Awesome Day

One year ago today was one of the absolute best days of my life.  My daughter Lily Deraney Brown was born.  So, that means we celebrated her first birthday today.  My wife planned the party for about 5 months and everything was absolutely perfect.  Lily was surrounded by friends and family and was absolutely spoiled for over 2 hours (some people say this is no different from any other day).  Days like this really make you sit back and think what is really important in life and make you grateful for everything you have.
I know this post was not related to the golf course in any way, but some people said they would like to see a little more personal side of me on the blog.  Today was one of those days that I just wanted to share.  I am a VERY proud husband and father, so sorry if I go overboard on the pics on this one.  Thanks for reading.

Here is Lily at her party at nursery yesterday.

Mother and daughter. ( My wife Chastity)

Lily checking out the incoming guests.

Checking out the balloons  

Lily thought I could use some cake.