Growing In

The re-grassing of the North Chipping Green is coming along nicely.  It has been three weeks to the day since the initial seeding and it almost looks like a green again.

The north chipping green was stripped of sod earlier in the year to use for repairs made to the other greens on the course after some winter damage occurred. We were forced to use the chipping green as a nursery because our old nursery green was abandoned due to a previous construction project.  Later this summer we will be reestablishing a new nursery green so that we will have grass available in the future.

The north chipping green was seeded with two improved Bentgrass varieties, The green was split in half as a side by side test of the two different varieties. One side of the green was seeded with A-4 and the other T-1. These grasses will be evaluated for future overseeding into the existing greens based on the their performance on the chipping green.  Initially the T-1 is out establishing the A-4, but time will be the true determining factor as to which grass performs best under our difficult growing conditions.

Germination 6 Days From Initial Seeding

T-1 21 Days After Initial Seeding

A-4 21 Days After Initial Seeding

Big Rain = Lots Of Work

We have settled into the monsoonal moisture flows and the afternoon thunderstorms have been impressive. In the last two days we have received more than an inch of precipitation which is always a good thing. 

Unfortunately the rate at which the rain fell washed out several of the bunkers on the golf course and took several of our staff members most of the day putting things back together.  Our goal today was to get the sand back in place and we will re-compact these washout next week.  Until that time some of the washed out faces might be softer than normal.

No Wonder You Can't Make Any Putts!!

We are now in mid season and golf rounds are quickly mounting and so is the wear and tear on the golf course.  In the month of June alone we had 4800 rounds and not all of them took the best of care of the golf course while playing.

The picture below shows the twelfth green and in the photo and each golf ball represents an unrepaired or improperly repaired ball mark. There are 165 balls on the green and there should have been more if not for the fact that I ran out of golf balls.

Over the years I have charted the number of unrepaired ballmarks per green and it has been at constantly at 10% of daily round played. In other words if we have 180 players in a day the next morning I can expect to find 18 unrepaired ballmarks.  This damage quickly adds up to some impressive numbers, on Twelve green alone the more than 165 ballmarks adds up to fourteen square feet of dead or damaged turf.  Do the math that's a rectangle with an area of 2' by 7' on this one green alone.

Take responsibility for your actions and fix your ballmarks and replace your divots.  Make the golf course more enjoyable for your fellow members.