Monday, August 30th, 2010

Conditions

Today was the day that we were scheduled to aerate the greens. Unfortunately I forgot to send the memo to Mother Nature. We felt the weather was to risky from what we were seeing in the forecast on Sunday and had to make a call so we could start filling Monday tee times. They are calling for all day rain showers so with that we would never be able to get the sand to dry and fill in the holes. Wednesday is just calling for clouds. Since we are moving it to this Wednesday I believe we will be able to get the Wednesday Men's club to play Monday instead.
We were able to aerate the chipping green on Monday with a new set-up on the aerator. We will be using the quad tine set up but with a mix of different size tines. Of the sixty tines we will have fifteen 1/2 inch tines spaced evenly across the width amongst the shorter and narrower 3/8th's inch tines. This will give us a deeper and a little wider hole on a 3 x 3 inch spacing but also with the normal 3/8's inch shallower tine's in between on a 1.25 x 1.25 inch spacing. We feel this will help us mix up the aerification layer that can develop near the bottom reach of the tines and may keep us from having to use the 5/8's inch tines each year. From what we have observed on the chipper so far, the healing process is the same as we have always seen with the quad tine setup but with the benefit of the deeper penetration. In this photo you can see the mix of larger plugs with the smaller ones. There is quite a difference underground but hardly noticeable on the surface.

Event Center

Jason and Rick have been working on the patio revision and I think it has turned out nicely. The stone work really sets the front of the building off. After they finish and have the pillars done, the new event center will be looking great!

Golf and Wildlife

Osprey at Stone Creek Golf Club

The Osprey have found some good hunting in our lakes this summer with the water clarity so good. Wednesday Mike and I were driving by the "Charlie" lake and we heard the Osprey calling out. We looked up and behold, there it was with a huge bass in it's clutches. Luckily I had my camera and was able to snap a few pictures.

Great Horned Owl's by Jim Ramey, Crosswater Golf Club

I sent a copy to my friend Jim Ramey, Superintendent at Crosswater. We trade wildlife photos and he replied with this one of a pair of Great Horned Owls. Pretty awesome! Golf courses sure make great wildlife habitat don't they!