Spring Projects

Lead Assistant Nick Folk lead a crew this week stripping turf on the dogleg bunker on 7, the two left bunkers on 7 as well as the 160 bunker 16.  As you can see the turf quality on the bunker was quite poor and needed to be replaced.  The poor turf quality was in part do to our efforts to allow the turf on these faces to be thin and wispy.  Since it was decided last fall by the Grounds Committee to abandon the wispy look and go with completely mowed bunkers, there was a need to re-sod these four bunkers.  

Next week our staff, lead by staff Horticulturalist Ryan Hogan, will begin the process of planting the perennial gardens at tennis and the driving range.  Our staff spent this past week prepping the beds and making some minor changes from the construction last fall.  We have a great design, completed by Heidi's Lifestyle Gardens and are excited to see the final product in place.

 Prepping the driving range bed.

You've Got to Love the Colors in the Spring

 A perfect Donald Wyman Crabapple by 18 tee

The view of the mass planting of tulips in the spring never gets old.

20 Years and Counting

It's not often when a grounds department has an employee that's worked 20 years on the seasonal staff.  Barry Bloomgren has returned for his 20th year on our staff.  Beginning on the staff when he was 16 years old, Barry has done almost every job the seasonal staff members do, from mowing, trimming, raking bunkers, etc.  For the past 10 years or so Barry has worked exclusively on weekends mainly helping to mow greens, occasionally rake bunkers, fill water coolers as well as complete the tee service task.  It's great to know we can count on Barry to be here almost every Saturday and Sunday to help with the weekend set-up.  Thanks Barry for all your years of service to The Minikahda Club.

Making Progress

Aside from our normal spring clean-up projects we have seen excellent progress on the 17th green as well as the grow-in on the driving range.

 17 before our efforts to over-seed

2 weeks later we had excellent germination.  We continue to maintain a cover for protection during the cool nights.  This area will remain roped off for the remainder of the month of April and until we are confident in the maturity of the new seedlings.  Care will be required the remainder of the season for this location especially since this is a high traffic walk area as well as the low spot on the green.  

The range tee continues to show progress.  Some areas lacked good germination and seed cover so those areas were over-seeded this past week.  By next week expect to see germination.  We will continue to fertilize to push the bent to fill in and establish.  The tee has been cut once and next week a second mowing will be required.

The range fairway and target greens are also looking fantastic.  Timely rains, warm temperatures and some fertilizer have all contributed to a quick establishment.  We're hoping a first cut to the fairway will happen this week.  Before that happens we will roll the surface to smooth out any imperfections to help insure a good first cut.