Course Conditions June 2012
The Cowan Creek greens were obviously the big topic of discussion the first quarter of the year due to poor putting quality and appearance. They are rolling smoother and faster now but we still are not satisfied with the overall health and aesthetics of the greens, we will continue working our plan and following the USGA’s recommendations until they are completely healed.
Greens aerifications have been going well with the exception of mechanical/operator problems that left some tire marks on various greens. These areas have been topdressed and smoothed back out and are healing up well. We will modify our clean up process in the future to eliminate this problem. In regards to greens aerifications I have received some emails in regards to the amount of times we aerify. I have attached a comparison of last years schedule in this weeks Golf Communicator to show that nothing has changed from previous years with the exception of the additional Cowan Creek aerifications to address our organic matter problem.
We have begun our fairway aerifications and will try to complete two core aerifications on each course over the next three months and one solid slicing aerification after that. This also includes aerifying high traffic areas in the roughs and tee boxes.
Tree trimming at Legacy Hills was completed this month and it has made a dramatic change in both appearance and playability. This has been on the playability report list for two years and was a big item to get knocked off the list. The smaller tree limbs will be done in house by December of this year. We also have numerous dead trees and shrubs on the course that will need to be taken out when time allows this winter.
White Wing and Legacy Hills Bunker Summary
The White Wing and Legacy Hills Greenside Bunkers have been one of our weakest areas in terms of playability. This issue has had us trying many different methods to speed up the firming process.
Actions that have been taken:
- Sprayed sand traps with wetting agents
- Hand watered when staff was available to do so
- Used hand tampers to try and pack the sand
- Lab Tested sand to verify proper specifications – It did meet the guidelines.
- Contacted the Sand Supplier for any recommendations on firming the bunkers up more quickly.
- Contacted several Superintendents in the State that have used the same sand and compared notes on the maintenance of the bunkers.
- Removed 2 inches of sand from the greenside bunkers on #18 at LH and #16 greenside at WW to see if the shallow depth would help the sand set better. We are going to give it two weeks from June 25th and evaluate it then.
Future Actions to be taken:
- Evaluate the bunkers that we removed the sand from
- If it is still soft we will have to remove an inch or two out of the greenside bunkers and add in sand that will compact more. It will be the same color but will be a different particle size and more angular in shape so that it will compact.
What will be done?
It is most likely we will have to remove an inch or two out of the greenside bunkers and add in sand that will compact more. It will be the same color but will be a different particle size and more angular in shape so that it will compact.
When will this all be done?
Going forward from today we will be re-training the staff to rake the sand down from the sides and then remove the excess from the bottoms. Once this is complete we will use the new sand and blend it in with what we have. Due to our staff size this is not something that can happen over night, we will have to continually work on this and have it completed sometime in the winter or early spring. We will continually test the traps and also ask for feedback from our playability committee on the firmness a playability of the bunkers as we work through this problem.
