Finally a warm Spring day...

After a record low on Tuesday morning, we rebounded with a day in the mid 80's. We took advantage of the sunny and dry weather today by mowing the Native Area to the the left of #9. We typically try to mow this area once a month from May through September to aid in pace of play for that hole. We use a Bushhog attachment on the back of a tractor and mow this area at a height of 6", being tall fescue and slightly wispy gives the player the ability to play out of it, but not allow you to go for the Green in two. We do love the look of the seed heads in the wind, but we also know the difficulties in finding your ball in this area. The picture below is Kellan, our Equipment Technician, using the tractor and Bushhog attachment to make a pass the entire length of the hole, you will notice the distinct difference in height from what has not been mowed to what has been mowed.

We also took advantage of the weather and decided to mow our Tees and Approaches. We are currently maintaining these areas at .300" and our goal is to maintain them at .375" throughout this summer. With the weather pattern that we have been in for the past two months, we have been able to mow these area just twice per week, as the weather becomes more seasonal we will increase our frequency to three times per week. Mowing this often allows the grass to appear more groomed and smooth, which is similar to someone who shaves daily versus weekly. Here is a photo of Olegario mowing the Tees on #11 with one of our Toro triplexes.

Once we mowed the Tees and Approaches we sprayed these areas with fertilizer and a wetting agent to keep them thick and green. We sprayed a quick release fertilizer that should last approximately 14 days and provide excellent playing conditions. The wetting agent is a combination of Humic Acid, which aids in soil microbe activity, and a penetrant that allows water to break the surface tension of the soil and be absorbed versus running off. We spray this wetting agent monthly from May through October and we have seen excellent results from this product. Here is Israel spraying the Tees on #10 with the fertilizer and wetting agent, you will notice the white foam on the Tees, we use this to mark the areas that have sprayed versus a dye that will tint the turf either blue or green.

We also began our program of spraying a selective herbicide in the natural areas so that we can restore these areas to weed free areas that thrive with the native grasses selected for this area. This is a very time consuming project and we are staying committed to improving these areas to ensure a more uniformed mono stand of turf versus a collection of assorted weeds mingled into the turf. Here is Tim Murdock, our Second Assistant Superintendent, selectively spraying weeds in the native area in front of #17 Tees. We will hopefully finish up these areas this week and continue to monitor the areas to make additional herbicide applications as needed.

Thank you for reading about our activities and progress on improving the conditions of Windermere Golf Club. We hope that you will contact us with your questions or comments.