Fern, Topdressing and Hot Spot Recovery

Removal of the Ferns

The long hated ferns near the garden dining area have been removed and the area was treated with herbicide.  This was the easy step now comes all of the other pieces to transform this area into something else.  Soon we will be removing all the lantanas in the clubhouse big bed as you enter the cart staging area and repairing the irrigation for new vegetation.  We are hoping this project or projects will be completed within a six weeks.  Both of these I am working with Armstrong growers to come up with a new pallet for these areas.

Additionally, this week we finally got time to attack the overgrowth on Country Club drive.  By day's end this almost half a mile run will be completed including the corner of Frank Sinatra and El Dorado.

Topdressing 14's Green

With the transition of the greens the "pockets" left after the Poa Triv has died and been removed tends to lead to "bumpy" greens.  This along with the heavy fertilization rates to instill recovery and prepare for the upcoming aerification intensifies the bumpiness effect.  To combat this we have slightly lowered the HOC and topdressed the greens.

I should note that all of this fertilization to aid our greens in recovery will also greatly slow them down as well.  These are necessary steps to fill in the greens quickly but we will address these issues too. 

Speaking of recovery, 4's green is going to have some sod work performed on Tuesday the 11th.  To minimize the impact to our members we will be having a back nine start and focus all of our efforts and much of the team to complete this task quickly.  No decision as of yet has been made if a temp green is going to be used or not.

"Hot Spot" on 16 Filling in with Bermudagrass

The dreaded "hot spots" caused mostly by normal transition from one turf to another are filling back in with bermudagrass.  But please remember that ALL of the ryegrass will die around the golf course as we transition.  We will address as always this transition as quickly as possible ... and no, I did not forced transition ... we stopped that chemical transition process a couple of years ago.