Practice Facility

Yesterday we removed the cover from the practice tee.  Overall the tee looks good and there was significant germination.  Though some of it looks spotty with continued warm weather as well as timely fertility applications, in a few weeks we will see a more consistent growth pattern.  Nick and I fertilized the tee with an organic fertilizer and next we will be applying a starter fertilizer that will offer more phosphorous to the young seedlings. We are months away from opening the tee and are currently looking at early July for the opening.  We also see very good germination on the fairway and target greens.  These areas will go through the same establishment process as the tee and should fill in nicely over the course of the next few weeks. 

Yesterday we removed the cover from the practice tee.  Overall the tee looks good, there was significant germination.  Though some of it looks spotty with continued warm weather as well as timely fertility applications  , in a few weeks we will see a more consistent growth pattern.  Nick and I fertilized the tee with an organic fertilizer and next we will be applying a starter fertilizer that will offer more phosphorous to the young seedlings. We are months away from opening the tee and are currently looking at early July for the opening.  We also see very good germination on the fairway and target greens.  These areas will go through the same establishment process as the tee and should fill in nicely over the course of the next few weeks.

Welcome to our New Horticulturalist

This winter we hired a new Horticulturalist, Ryan Hogan.  Ryan has an extensive background in landscape management.  Ryan has owned and operated his own Landscape and Design company and until recently has been employed at Tangletown Gardens in Minneapolis.  Ryan earned his B.S. Degree in Forest Resources from the University of Minnesota and recently completed his Masters Degree in Horticulture, also from the University of Minnesota. We are excited to have Ryan on staff.  We are quite certain you will see an improvement to the overall look and appearance of our gardens.

Spring Preparations

With the course scheduled to open on Friday clean-up on the course and preparing the playing surfaces becomes our number one priority.  The irrigation system has been pressurized and the playing surfaces have been cleared of debris.  Starting on Thursday we will begin mowing greens, tees and approaches.  We will mow fairways Friday morning.

Since we are opening so early this year we have cancelled Member Clean-up, but thankfully we were able to have the Southwest High School golf team give us some of their time in exchange for the club allowing them to use the course to practice as well as play some matches.  Roughly 30 players spent 1.5 hours raking on the course.

The 17th green was the only green that incurred winter damage.  It appears water found its way under the cover and accumulated in the low spot.  The turf that died is poa annua, the green grass in the middle is creeping bentgrass that was plugged into the green last summer following when we had summer turf loss.  Which grass is the heartier grass?  I will let you decide.

The plan is to over-seed the damaged area this week.  We will maintain a protective cover over the area until we feel the seedlings are established enough.  We will also keep this area roped off for a number of weeks. Please be patience as we need time to regain full recovery of this area of the green.

West Lake Landscape is here again this spring working on another project.  This time it's around the 10th tee house.  All of the old blue stone is being removed and we are replacing it with red brink pavers.  One of our goals is to create consistency of products used on the course and around the club.  Red brick pavers along with  lannen stone is and will be installed where and when we feel improvements are necessary.

An Early Start

It's March 15th and we have removed all the covers from the greens.  I would say we are about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule with this process.  Thankfully we were able to have 7 seasonal staff members come in early to help us begin the process of preparing the course for the season.  Obviously the more staff we have the smoother and more efficient we are with the process.  Of the 21 greens at the club 19 of greens are covered using the Greenjacket covers with foam insulation.  Only the 17th green appears to have some minor turf issues.

It appears that at some point moisture got under the cover and became trapped causing the low spots of the green to become water soaked.  I have pulled a sample to see if the turf will recover.  We are also immediately covering this portion of the green with an HPI cover to aid with warming the soil to generate some growth.  We want to see how much of the grass is truly alive and if there is really any death associated in this area of the green.

Front right corner of 17 green.

Otherwise we are very pleased with the overall condition and health of the putting surfaces.  In preparation for opening the course we will get the greens cleaned off, rolled and mowed over the course of the next week.  General clean-up and spring maintenance will be in full swing starting next week.  By all accounts we are off to a solid start.

 9th green

 13th green

It takes a team to complete this task!