Course Update 5-28-14

Yesterday the course was closed and our staff worked from daylight to near dark, getting the course ready for the week, after a busy Thursday-Monday Memorial Day weekend. So many people were out playing and it's great to drive around talking to people four days in a row.

We have been fertilizing, topdressing, and mowing as much as possible over the past few weeks now the course is in full growing mode. It's been a busy time for our staff and I know we are all happy to start seeing the results of warm weather.

The pic below was taken late afternoon as we were watering in the topdressing along with a fertilizer application.

Tight shot and such a beautiful view.

Golf's winter woes reach into Georgia

Great article on the winter of 2013/2014

Golf's winter woes reach into Georgia

For those thinking that the troubles related to the severe winter of 2013-14 have been limited to golf courses in the northern U.S. and Canada, think again.

Courses as far south as Georgia and Florida have experienced varying degrees of turf loss this spring because of the unusual spells of cold weather that stretched into these areas. And now, according to a news release from the Georgia GCSA, superintendent's ability to quickly repair these areas of dead turf is being hampered by a critical shortage of sod, which means golfers emerging from hibernation are finding straw-colored blotches littering their fairways and green surrounds.

“It really has been a perfect storm,” says Ken Mangum, CGCS at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, which hosts the U.S. Amateur Championship in August.

A significant number of sod farms in the Southeast closed during the recession and most others reduced their acreage. For those survivors, golf is generally a sideline behind demand from the commercial and residential sectors. As the economy recovered and construction resumed, golf’s supply was already being squeezed.
“But we also had cool, cloudy and wet conditions last summer that extended into the fall,” Mangum adds. “So a lot of farms weren’t able to establish new sod after their harvest last year. Now we have all these golf courses that suffered badly because of the winter. And even if you do find some sod, good luck trying to secure a truck to deliver it.”

Mangum, who has prepared the golf course for two PGA Championships and a U.S. Women’s Open at Atlanta Athletic Club, will be inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in January. He says the past winter was the worst he could recall since 1977 when “we stayed frozen for six weeks straight and it killed a lot of grass everywhere.”

The most susceptible areas on a course are north facing slopes, persistently shaded areas and areas with poor drainage.

The good news is that the greens at most facilities came through mostly unscathed. Bentgrass is relatively cold tolerant and most courses with warm-season bermudagrass greens now use covers when temperatures plummet. But on fairways, around the greens and in rough areas which are grassed almost exclusively with warm-season turf in Georgia, superintendents can do little but cross their fingers.

Officials from the Georgia GCSA have asked for patience from golfers while their courses recover, which will happen, eventually. But without sod at the ready, recovery will require consistently warm temperatures and clear skies with plenty of sunlight. Sub 50-degree nighttime temperatures, like those experienced this week, do not help.

“Still, the situation is getting better every day,” Mangum says, wryly. “It’s just that the days go by too slow.”

Course Conditions May 2014

It's nice to start seeing the golf course respond, finally, to the warm weather. As most of you know, winter in Atlanta has brought some less than desired conditions to many courses in the area. If you've had an opportunity to play outside of Laurel Springs then you have probably seen acres upon acres of Bermuda at area courses did not make it. This is due to the extremely low temperatures that seemed to linger for weeks. We faired much better than other area courses that I have either personally seen or have heard about and we all should be thankful that our course came through the winter with very little damage. My initial estimate is about 3000 sq ft of sod that needs replacing. Sod availability in Atlanta is incredibly low and virtually non existent at the current time but we will take care of this as soon as possible.

The greens are doing very well and the health is a directly related to the covers being applied this winter. The covers raised the ground temperature just enough to keep them from detrimental turf loss. I know of one course whose cover blew partially off a green during one of the coldest nights and the turf that was exposed did not make it. As young as our greens are, I'm very satisfied with their health.

The spring dead spot that we deal with year after year is recoving and we should see marked improvements to our fairways if the temperatures stay where they are. Mid to upper 80's are certainly our friend. 

Our Champions Invitational is this weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone out on the course.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at

wesley.michielsen@ourclub.com

Slit Aerification of Fairways

This week we are aerifying fairways on the course. After this is completed all areas of the course will be fertilized again to promote heavier growth. The aerification is performed by a slit aerifier that pushes a large blade into the soil to open the turf canopy, reduce compaction, and stimulate growth. This process is very effective and doesn't impact play as much as a traditional core style aerification would.

The task will be finished by Friday of this week and then we will start on the same process for the tees.

Spring News

We have been really busy over the past couple of weeks... It's been great to be out on the golf course and hitting a stride in a work week without rain.

Leading up to member /member the golf course has been mowed, the landscape area behind #12 green is getting close to completion, pinestraw is also going down around the clubhouse and some areas on the course. All lake banks, creek banks, grass hills have been sprayed to reduce broadleaf weeds and we cleaned out the weedy area behind #8 green. This area is going to be a big focus for us regarding keeping the natural area weed free.

Next week we will begin our slit aerification of the fwys to help promote new growth. This year we saw a resurgence of spring dead spot in the fwys. Unfortunately, this disease attacks in the fall and is not visible until the spring. Spring dead spot has plaugued plant pathologists for years and as of now there is not a reliable preventative fungicide. This aerification, along with a kick of fertilizer to the fwys, will help to jump start new growth in these spots and we should recover quickly, just like years past.

Tee aerification will follow once the soil temperature gets up a bit more and the Bermuda is actively growing. We are fertilizing all Bermuda turf next week and will start a more aggressive plan on par three and range tee tops over the next few weeks. Any area that doesn't show signs of aggressive grow-in will be resodded.

The weather has been super over the past few weeks and I hope you are out enjoying the course.

As always , if you have any questions or concerns about the course please send me an email.

wesley.michielsen@ourclub.com

Spring Has Arrived

Barring any curve balls from mother nature, I would have to assume that spring has sprung and the 2014 golfing season is well underway. The weather is absolutely wonderful today.

You might have noticed we are leaving the bunker rakes inside the bunkers now. The rakes are placed in the lower entry points to allow ease of access to the rakes. We ask that all players enter and exit through the lower end to keep the upper lips fresh and without foot prints.

Remember: it is every players responsibilty to aid in the enjoyment of the course, regarding your fellow players behind you.

Enjoy the weather and I'll see you on the course!

Pre emergent 2014

Its been a crazy year for weather and the course has really taken a beating thanks to the snow, ice, and rain. Its been difficult to find a dry day on the course to get out pre emergent application out but this week has proven to be a stellar one.

With the January thaw coming a month late and temps in the high 60's, its been a perfect combination of weather conditions for us to get out on the course spraying and next week looks great as well. We have currently sprayed all of our fairways, collars and greens surrounds and will be moving onto the rough and tee complexes. To date we have applied around 60 acres of our roundup/pre emergent mix over this past week. A huge accomplishment considering the past months worth of weather.

We are also adding additional sand to the bunkers on the course. We selected and started with the green side bunkers that lacked the most sand and will continue through the course once our sand orders arrive over the next week.

Winter Update January 2014

    

     Although we have moved forward into 2014, we are still experiencing the same weather pattern that kept us from achieving so much this past year.  Throughout 2013, most of our time was spent pushing sand back up in the bunkers and cleaning up debris from course flooding.  Since the beginning of January we have experienced temperature swings of 50 degrees in one day, 56 total hours below freezing, -15 degree wind chills, and only 3 days of golf on the course in 11 days.   Not exactly the start to the year we were hoping for.  The covers on the greens have been quite the learning curve but we have, seemingly, got the placement and removal down to a science.  Our trigger to place the tarps on the greens is a nighttime temperature below 24 degrees.  If you see that the temperature is dipping that low then please call the golf shop regarding play for the next day. 

Because of the many rain events throughout last year and the first part of January, we have been in a constant state of bunker repair.  Our staff has spent countless hours in the bunkers redistributing sand.  While this is a daunting task in itself, it has given us the opportunity to identify bunkers that are shallow and need sand.  Originally, our winter plan was to start a heavy pruning project on the golf course. With the saturation level of the course due to rain, we haven't been able to start. Our plan of action now, is to start the bunker sand replenishment project.  This project will start this week and continue as the weather permits.  I have identified the bunkers that need additional sand and we will move through the course as quickly as possible.  Along with additional sand replacement, we are also training our employees on the proper way to rake and maintain the slopes of the bunkers. We go through this training every year in order to keep our team's mind focused on the quality that we all expect. The golf shop will be alerted as to what hole we are on in case the bunkers are "ground under repair".



Bunker at #1 after our new training session



      Last year, for one of our winter projects, we reconstructed the water cooler stations on the course to upgrade their appearance.  Our staff is very talented when it comes to woodworking projects and we have used these talents on the course for many small projects.  This year we have taken on the task of creating new tee markers for the golf course.  As you all know, our current tee markers are rocks with one face painted to signify tee placement.  Our new tee markers will be a wooden marker that will be stained, have our logo in place, and will upgrade the tee experience.  The new markers will be rolled out over the next few weeks as we complete them.  We are also refurbishing our sand boxes and exit posts during this time.  These will be back on the course very soon. 

Our new tee markers being constucted