Maintenance News
April 2008
April 2008
Golf Course Conditions
The golf course is in outstanding condition as we are reaching the end of our winter season. The course is showing positive signs for a very smooth transition into the summer season with our bermuda base. The greens are maintaining speeds of over 11on the stimp meter and the surfaces are rolling very smoothly. Over the past couple of weeks we applied two spiking applications and one verticut application to the greens. These cultural treatments have aided in softening up the greens along with removing some of the overseed density for our summer transition. With the bermuda turf beginning to arise from the winter dormancy, the tees, fairways, and roughs are in the best conditions that they’ve been in all season.
During the month of April, we will be in full swing for our summer transition at the golf course, which entails many cultural applications to be done to the turf during the next few months. On the 8th and 9th of April, we will be doing our first aerification of the spring. This will be a simple ¼” hollow tine that will be picked up and removed both days. This aerification will cause very little disruption to the greens, and the surfaces will remain in good conditions. Throughout the rest of the month, we will be verticutting our greens, tees, and collars to help remove some of the winter overseed to allow the bermuda turf an opportunity to take over in these areas. The verticutting applications cause zero disruption to play, and will provide much better conditions in these areas.
Works in Progress
During October 2007, we had the opportunity to build a new entrance sign at the Pines. This sign was a huge improvement to the course and added outstanding visibility for the entrance of the golf course. During this month we will be completing our next sign which will be located behind the back tees on #6. This sign will be seen from the freeway on I-10, as well as the landscaping that will wrap all the way around the gold tee complex.
One of our main focal points from the end of March and in April will be the improvements to be made in the driving range. We have just completed a landscaped separation area from the public hitting area and the area that will serve for lessons only. This will provide for better privacy and comfort for our guests during their lesson time at the Pines.
In effort to improve the tee complexes on the golf course, we will begin our project to renovate all of the tee entrances on the golf course. We will be cleaning and adding new decorative gravel to the sides of the tee entrances. The walking area onto the tee complex will be redone as well with a decomposed granite material in the walkway. This should be an outstanding improvement to our tee complexes on the golf course.
TurfEd
For anyone who has overseeded turf growing at their home, you are probably starting to experience the same transitions that are going on at the golf course during this time of year. Even if you have turf that has not been overseeded, there are several things that can be done to allow for faster growth on your home lawns. Here are a few tips that may improve your lawns for this summer:
Overseeded Lawns:
1) Allow your overseed to grow an inch or two higher than normal and follow up by cutting it down lower than your normal cutting height.
2) Apply a fertilizer that has high phosphates and potassium contents.
This will allow for your bermuda to strengthen and increase root depths.
3) Avoid fertilizers with high Nitrogen content; heavy nitrogen fertilizers strengthen the overseed instead of the bermuda grass during this time.
Non-overseeded Lawns:
1) Spray out any weeds that are growing in the lawn with a turf-safe weed killer to eliminate competition with your turf.
2) Apply ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) fertilizer to your lawn every couple of weeks. Make sure to water in the fertilizer afterwards.
3) Steadily increase the amount of water that is being applied during the week. Getting the bermuda started always takes extra water.
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