What a good week for golf! As far as January goes, I don't thing we could have had better weather. This allowed us to get quite a bit done last week including the renovation of the right bunker on sixteen. We really think it turned out nice considering what it looked like before.
We are still on the same mowing schedule. There are a few spots in the fairways that are still pretty soft. The guys have been doing their best to avoid them when mowing. We have kept the carts on the paths lately. We would like to see it get a little bit firmer before letting them out again. We gauge it by looking at the fairways that are normally firm and when we see they are soft we will hold them off. If this weather continues on a drying trend I am sure we will have more opportunities to open the fairways.
The greens are due for some nutrition soon. We will be spraying a plant protectant as well. I am still very please with where the greens are at. The seem to be holding up well to the recent play. The tees are in the same shape. Mowing once a week seems to be good.
New Range Picker
Steve has been busy building the cage for the new range picker. Monday we ran over to BBC Steel and picked up some material for the cage and Steve went right to work. He is doing a phenomenal job. I can really tell he enjoys fabricating things. It is a nice change of pace for him. Until I saw the article in GCM, I had no idea that we could use an old RM 5200 fairway mower for range picker. When Steve hooked it up to try it out he was very impressed how it handled and maneuvered. I cannot think of a better unit to do the job. I have no doubt that this unit will be the perfect solution for the new range picker. The range crew should find it much easier to operate and it should require a lot less maintenance. Steve should have painted and ready for the range in about a week or so.
Tree Troubles
Last Thursday I met with Treecology and a consulting arborist to evaluate the Douglas Fir trees on the property. Since the opening of the course many trees have been failing which has been a concern. Treecology has a new tool called an air knife which uses compressed air to inject into the soil, fracturing it and alleviating compaction. They would like to treat three tree root zones at no charge, as long as we cover the cost of the air compressor. If we start seeing a change in the condition of the trees that were treated, we will know that we will have a chance of saving the rest and will want to proceed treating the rest of the trees. It was also recommended that we mulch the root zones around the trees. Planting grass around then has changed their environment to a point where it has caused significant stress. We will be able to use the mulch that we have produced from the chipper.
One thing that we do know is that many are too far along and are beyond survival. The arborist recommended that we start inter-planting new firs in the areas where the trees are in the worst shape. The Doug Firs are a very important feature of this course and we should consider all of our options to save them.
