Monday, August 29th, 2011

The course continues to play well. We have seen quite a few days in the 90's and the course is holding its own. We have been diligently adjusting the irrigation daily to meet the needs of the course while keeping the pond levels up. Last week we had a couple days of threatening weather but unfortunately it didn't measure up to much. One nice thing is it sure made for some pretty sunrises.

Again, we had another very productive week. Steve got the rough mower back on track and now we are back on a regular rough mowing schedule. We have been picking away at the bunker edges and they are pretty much done throughout. Monday we seeded the upper tee box on the driving range. We suspect we will run over it one more time this season so it will be imperative for us to keep it wet as it germinates. This means we will need help from the cart barn staff moving the portable sprinkler around throughout the day. This will insure a complete germination and a quick recovery.

The highlight of the week was the inaugural run at spraying the fairways. As we predicted, the entire job took only 4 hours to complete using the new Boominator spray nozzles. Mike made a perfect application, mixing it all in our batch tank and then applying it based on the settings of the computer controlled spray system.

Just to clarify there are two types of liquid fertilizer applications that can occur. There is the "foliar feed" application in which the fertilizer is applied to the foliage and is taken up through the leaf tissue. This is very common in many greens fertilizers. The other is a "foliar applied" fertilizer application. This is basically what we are doing with the boominators. We are using water to apply the fertilizer to the foliage which is then washed into the soil with irrigation or rain. You may compare it with a granular application but only with more precise control. The nutrients that we are applying are mostly feeding the soil which will then sustain the grass plant from below. It would be safe to say that there is also plant tissue uptake but that isn't the primary goal of our program using the Redox fertilizer.

This week on Tuesday the crew will be playing in the OGCSA's Annual Crew Tournament which is held down the street at Arrowhead Golf Club. This is always a great time for the guys. A chance to play another course and enjoy the camaraderie among themselves. Today (Monday), Doug, Jason, Mike and I will be playing in the Oregon Turfgrass Foundation golf tournament at Columbia Edgewater. This year the tournament has sold out which should be a huge success for our fund raising efforts for Oregon State University. I would like to recognize the Foundation Board of Directors for all their hard work in putting this event on. Especially Bo Hepler our President and Linda Whitworth,our Executive Director. They have provided so much of their time organizing and making it all come together. Rumor has it that Stone Creek may be favored!