Patchwork or prudent use of resources?

We are slowly making our way around the course, repairing and replacing cart paths, based on need.  While some paths have significant issues throughout, many of them only have a few cracks that make your clubs rattle when you drive over them.

As a trial, on #5 tee path, instead of resurfacing the entire run, we had the contractor mill and repave only the bad cracks.  We chose #5 tee, since it had a large number of areas to address within a short distance of each other--thus this is something of an extreme example when compared to other cart paths needing repair.    

This work was done for a fraction of what repaving the entire path costs.  However, aesthetically it certainly doesn't have the uniform look of a new cart path.  

So as you play the course, does this jump out at you?  Please feel free to share your thoughts with the Green Committee members.

Worth the wait?

Due to the harsh winter, we delayed greens cover removal by six days this year (when compared to 2024).  With little growth during the entire winter, you might not expect that an extra week would make much of a difference.  

However you need to remember that this wasn't an extra six days during January, it was in March.  The Sun's angle and warmer temperatures now are somewhat magnified compared to mid-winter, and the extra few days under cover made a tremendous difference in the greens' healing.

The greens looked appropriate for a St. Patrick's Day cover removal.

Some members have asked what would happen if we did a late season aerification but did not cover the greens.  A couple of  check plots were left uncovered throughout the winter to provide an answer to this question.  

The difference in recovery between the covered and uncovered sections is easily seen on the back of #2 green:  

So when you're on the course during the next couple of weeks, take a moment to check these side by side covered/uncovered areas and decide for yourself whether covering is worth it.

An Early Push

After a long, hot summer, fall is typically the time when the turf can start to recover.  However, the fall of 2024 did us no favors as far as turf health goes.  If you recall, we received less than one inch of rain in September, followed by a record-breaking 0" of rain in October.  Any area with less than perfect irrigation coverage saw no recovery at all during this time and went into winter in a weakened condition.

Currently, we are still on the line between a moderate and severe drought:

Because of this, we are entering the 2025 season with some thin, tired looking turf, particularly in the heavily trafficked primary rough.  The team has already been out, making a fertilizer application to try and jump start some spring growth.  

A dense healthy stand of turf provides the best defense against weed encroachment.  The goal is to get the grass growing and fill things in, prior to the emergence of Crabgrass and Goosegrass this spring. 

Trying to Catch Up

The winter of 2024-2025 wasn't the best for getting projects done on the course.  Among other things, the frozen soils prevented us from sodding.  This past week we were finally able to get out and work on releveling the Champion tee on #1.  The team did a fantastic job of stripping the tee, bringing in mix to raise the outside, grading, and reinstalling the sod.

Installing sod in early March doesn't provide much time for rooting prior to being pounded by play (particularly in any area that will be dealing with cart traffic).  The Champion tee will be shut down for a few weeks, but we hope to have it open at some point in April.

It's not always grass...

While the Grounds team doesn't specialize in construction projects, we are always willing to lend a hand.  Such was the case when a light pole needed to be replaced outside of the Clubhouse.

The guys poured a new concrete base with mounting bolts and conduit for the wire at our shop.  After removing the old pole and base, the new base was installed.

The replacement pole was was then mounted and leveled.  Not too bad for some grass-growers. 

An actual winter?

It's been a few years since we have had a memorable winter, but 2025 sure started off with some bone-chilling temperatures.  Keep in mind that January is already the coldest month, and this year we averaged almost four degrees below normal for the entire month.  

As you can see above, we only had 11 out of 31 days that were above average, and 20 that were below average.  However, despite the cold and some snow, we were actually well below normal in precipitation, with only 1/2" for the month.

You know it's cold when the local residents start showing up at the front door, looking for handouts:

While these conditions will likely have little long-term impact on the golf course, there are a number of projects we need to get working on.  Hopefully February will allow us to get caught up, and perhaps provide a few good days of golf!

Doing what can be done...

January's frigid temperatures have put a damper on our winter projects.  However we continue to work on whatever we can each day.  

Due to the challenging access, we knew that repaving of the cart path on the fairway side of #2 and #12 would require firm conditions to avoid significant turf damage.  Well, January definitely gave us some solid soil to travel across, so we took advantage of it. 

These cold conditions may be good in some ways, however they're definitely a double-edged sword for the paving contractor.  The hot new asphalt is brought to the street behind #12 green, then transferred to the "dumper" which hauls the material to the work area for installation by the paving machine and rolling.  The tricky part is getting this whole process completed before the asphalt cools off!