Time To Pre Emerge Again

It's that time of year to put out your pre emergent weed control for the summer. Over the last few days, in between all of the wind, we have started spraying the course. There are different chemical choices that you can use. We have decided to use the same chemicals we used last year. We had excellent results last year with our weed control, so we decided not to change anything. 

We are using two different chemicals this year. We are using Ronstar in some of our weaker turf areas and on tee boxes because it is safer on these areas and will allow the turf to fill in throughout the growing months while still providing excellent weed control. 

The other product we are using is Specticle. It is a great pre emerge for all types of weeds. We sprayed it last year at this time and we feel like we got pre emergent weed control all the way through the fall and into the winter. Everywhere we sprayed Specticle, we didn't have a single bit of Poa Annua germinate this fall. This is a great product. 

Another thing we are doing is adding a Glyphosate (active ingredient in Round Up) product in with our chemical. This is going to clean up any weeds that have germinated over the winter. Since it has been so cold, the Bermuda grass is completely dormant and this will not harm it. 

We feel this will provide us with a relatively weed free golf course for the summer. 

New Fountain

On Wednesday we installed our new fountain in the pond on #10. We felt this would have a big impact from the course as well as from the clubhouse. We went with the Otterbine fountain with the Tri-star pattern. We feel it turned out very good. It has an LED light kit, so it is also very nice at night. We hope you enjoy it. 

Winter Has Arrived

So far this winter hasn't been very harsh. Well, that all changed yesterday. We had a low temperature yesterday of 9 degrees. We reached a high of 31 degrees. This morning got down to 14 degrees. This has allowed all of our Bermudagrass to go completely dormant. Now would be a great time to spray roundup on any weeds you have in your Bermudagrass. It will kill the green weeds, but won't harm your lawn. 

Have a good weekend and stay warm. 

Big Changes

As you may have noticed lately, we have a lot of new changes here at the club. ClubCorp has put up lots of new signage and put out lots of information about our new company. If you have any questions or want more info, go to www.clubcorpatlanta.com to see about our new company. We are very excited about all of the new possibilities around the club. 

Moving On

Thursday was the last day of work for our assistant superintendent, Joey Hickok. Joey came to work with us in January of 2013 after earning his bachelors degree.  He had worked a summer with us a few years prior to his graduation, so it was an easy decision for me to hire him. His work ethic stood out to me as one of his biggest assets. He grew and progressed with us over 21 months and became a great assistant superintendent. 

Unfortunately he decided to move to Acworth and when a job presented itself, he needed to take it so he could move. 

The biggest compliments I could give Joey is that I had no worries about the way the course was managed whenever I had to be off property, and Georgia National is a better golf course now than it was 21 months ago because he chose to work here. 

Invasion of the Armyworms!!

We had our first outbreak of the year of Fall Armyworms today. You may have noticed them or their activity in yards recently. It usually starts around tree lines and looks like the grass is dry. If you look closely, you will see the worms eating the grass leaves. 

Here is a full grown Armyworm. They are green and have black stripes and they look like they have a black helmet on. 

If you haven't seen them, you have probably noticed their eggs on anything and everything outside. 

This is their eggs on our flags. They have been evident for a few weeks. The armyworms usually "attack" when we get some cooler nights, like last night. 

Here is the start of their activity on #12. You will notice the grass around the trees looks dryer than the rest of the grass. It isn't dry. That is the start of the armyworm invasion. They will eat an entire hole of rough in a day if they aren't sprayed. 

Here is some severe damage across the cartpath on #4. We will be spraying for them tomorrow with a product called Bifenthrin. They are pretty easy to control as long as you catch them early. 

Tree Removal

Yesterday we had Pro Tree Service come out to the club and remove some dead or harmful trees that we have not been able to get ourselves. They removed 14 trees in all and also ground a few more stumps for us. They did a wonderful job and took great care of the course while they were out there. 

Summer is here.

It appears that the heat and humidity is upon us again. We have gotten all of our fans greased up and ready to turn on. We will be turning them on tomorrow and they will probably run non-stop until after Labor Day. Please don't turn these fans off or push or pull on them. They are set at the right height and angles for maximum benefit for the greens. 

The greens are very healthy right now going into the stressful part of the season. Hopefully we will get a few breaks in the weather throughout the next 3 months to help our greens (and employees) recover from the heat a little. 

Please remember to be courteous to our employees in the afternoons when they are watering greens. It is a quick process to check the green and it only takes a couple of minutes if we have to pull a hose and water some hot spots. Please don't hit into the green when we are checking it or watering. Sometimes we have to jump in front of a group in order to make timely passes and check all of the greens as needed. 

Thanks for your understanding and support. Hopefully we will have a terrific summer. See you on the course.