Frosty mornings seem to be the norm as of lately. Unfortunately, last Tuesday we were unable to open the course until after noon. Saturday was a similar situation. I sent the weekend crew home and came out later and determined we could start play at 11:40. If you were out on Saturday, you may have wondered why we started with ice still on the trees and the turf. The greens were frozen underneath but the crown and the leaf tissue was moist after wiping with my hand. The air temperature was hanging around right at 33 to 34 degrees which made the thaw take a long time. It seems like every frost is different. I am just grateful that we were able to get the golfers off and not miss out on our Saturday revenue.
Last week we were a bit short handed with Chris, Steve Pearce and myself
out attending the OGCSA Pesticide Applicators Meeting. As usual the
meeting was well attended by golf maintenance, parks, landscape, and
municipal employees from across the state. Some of the key speakers were
Joe Vargas, Michigan State University, Frank Wong, Bayer Environmental
Science, and Rob Golembieski from Oregon State. We learned much
about the latest in pest control but we certainly missed out on some dry working days.
The frosty mornings have allowed us to get caught up on the small details. Monday, Bob retrieved all of the trash cans and hot water pressure washed them. From the looks of it, it appears Bob was responsible for the heavy fog that lingered on most of the day.
Steve Pearce has continued to work on the birch trees in the buffers. I'll have some pictures next week to show how different it looks. He has done a great job.
Weather permitting, we will be fertilizing the greens and applying a fungicide to control mirodochium patch. Last week we managed to topdress the greens with a little sand which will help smooth them out. Mowing will continue as needed.
Drainage continues to be our priority this week. We are currently working on the 11th fairway. First we will wrap up the small low near the 160 yard mark then will move forward, up near the approach. Thank you again for your patience in using the temporary green. We should be off the fairway by the end of the week.
The course is playing great. If you can stand the cooler temperatures now is a great time to play. I can't remember the fairways playing so well for the middle of the winter. Keep a close eye on the weather and remember to call the pro shop first thing to see if there will be any delays.
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