Cool, Breezy, and Damp Day...

We continue to look at the calendar with a befuddled look on our faces as we continue to wear our jackets or pullovers for the entire day. Today's high temperature of 60 degrees coupled with mist and a sustained wind of 16mph made the day less than joyful. The sun did finally peak through the clouds late this afternoon and it sent me scrambling for my sunglasses as it seems like it has been a week since we had a bright and sunny day.

The good thing about this weather is that the Bermuda grass on the course is not growing at its peak currently and that allows our staff the opportunity to continue to work on small projects. The bad thing about this weather is that the Bermuda grass is not growing, we are anxious to start pushing the limit of how good we can make the golf course. Mother Nature will come around soon and for once in my career, I can honestly say that I want a hot and humid summer! We did take advantage of the weather and mowed some Tee Surrounds and Green Surrounds. As you can see from the photo of the Rough on #13 we are definitely not into "Warm Season" grass growing weather.

We are currently maintaining the Rough at 1" as we want to encourage the grass to become extremely thick and as the turf density increase we will slowly increase the height of the rough. Our goal for the Grand Re-Opening in early August is to be at 1.75" and lush in the roughs. Mowing the Roughs at 1" creates an enormous amount of clippings that must be blown. In the picture below, we are pulling a turbine style blower behind a utility cart on the Green Surround on #10 to disperse the clippings into the surrounding Native Areas. Using this set up allows our staff to get closer to Bunkers and Greens without damaging the turf.

We also mowed Fairways today in our traditional "Tuxedo" cut. We are maintaining the Fairways at .400" currently and we will remain there through mid June. We will be aerifying Fairways in early June and once that process is over we will slowly raise our heights with a goal of .475" for Early August. As you can see in the picture from #14 Fairway, we are using Toro Fairway units that we have fabricated a self contained drag system. This allows our staff to break the clippings up as we mow, granted this does not disperse 100% of the clippings but it disperses 90% of the clippings.

As we approach the weekend our focus is on finishing up a few small projects, prepping the course for rain, and improving the course one day at a time. We are thankful that you took a moment out of your day to read our update on today's progress. Please feel to free to leave a comment or ask a question.