May weather hasn’t been much different than April’s and we
have had very few days with combined temperatures in the 150’s. What that
equates to is that we still aren’t at the optimal temperatures for Bermuda grass
growth. As we all know the tendency in Sun City is that our fairways suffer
their most compaction during the winter months when the Bermuda is dormant and
not growing. This in turn causes us to have tight lies in the fairway and not
all golfers prefer that type of lie. Once we are at a consistent 150 combined
temperature we will start to see the fairways grow, get a little “fluffier” and
provide easier lies for those who do not care for the tight lies. Often times I
hear “we are hitting off dirt” (or sometimes they say concrete) and this not
the case. A compacted area of turf is still turf, do we have some spots here
and there that are bare, yes, but we continue to identify them and work towards
growing them back in or re-sodding them.
The first quarter projects are finished and they included
the drainage project on #14 at White Wing, the trimming of the big oak on #6 at
Legacy Hills and the seeding and clearing of an area on #8 at White Wing. Due to the cost being less than expected on
the tree trimming on Legacy Hills we will have enough in the budget to address
some trees on White Wing that were on our playability list from 2012.
The Playability committee also met this month and completed
the spring tour of White Wing. During this tour we also looked at some of the
safety items that were brought up in the Safety Committee’s report from last
year.
