Manic Monday Update

Our first Monday of May is in the books and it was a busy one:

Needle Tine Greens:

We began our bi-weekly process of needle tinning greens yesterday, this process is an important cultural process on multiple levels to vent greens while aiding in compaction, stimulating root mass and creating porosity.  The holes where poked on a 2.5 inch spacing at roughly 5 inches.  Topdressing followed to improve Anthracnose control, playability and incorporating sand into the native mix every chance we get.

The holes, although noticeable, will not effect ball roll and will disappear after a couple of mows and rolls.  This practice will be conducted in a rotation with spiking every couple weeks from now till Fall Aerification in September.

Red Paint Lines Around Bunkers:

You may be asking yourself during your round, why is there red dotted paint around all the bunkers?  Don't fear, I'm not turning all the bunkers in to hazards (although I wish I could sod them all for the sake of my game), I'm simply outlining the bunker faces as a training tool for the staff in deciphering which proper piece of equipment to use to eliminate the ridges that have been created from past practices.  With our contours that surround our bunkers, the line indicates the stopping point for push mowers and the area inside of the red line adjacent to the bunker will be maintained with fly-mowers and weed-eaters.  This is just an initial step and rest assured there will not be red lines around the bunkers all season long.

Project Update:

I wanted to give a quick update on the approaches on #3 & #5 along with the forward tee on #6.  All three projects have turned out great and are moving right along to be opened for play.  We have began mowing each respected area regularly to reach the same mowing heights of all our tees and approaches.  This coming Monday, I plan on aerifying and pulling cores with the smallest tine possible on the approaches followed rolling with our Salsco roller to work out any imperfections and bumps from the project.  Thank you for your continued cooperation and patience with the areas, the time being provided for establishment while pay dividends in the long run for three great additions to the layout of Longue Vue!

Golf Course Update

What a glorious week of weather we've experienced since Monday as the trees are gaining more foliage, the grass is growing and various plantings are in bloom.  For me, this is a breathe of fresh air as I'm starting to see all the array of colors and beauty this property has.  Including a little touch of home with the dogwoods.

I don't have much to report for this week, but you'll by happy, excited, elated and any other words in the thesaurus that may describe the feeling of knowing that we began mowing rough.  Therefore, I've been extremely busy in mapping out the areas that we are going to maintain compared to those that we will begin the process of establishing natives in out of play areas to improve the aesthetics of the property while reducing labor and operating costs.  A great deal of training has been giving to the staff in where to go and what to use while respecting the golfers in such a time consuming task.  Ultimately leading to better playing surfaces and overall experience on each of your visits.

Outside of mowing rough, the majority of our time was spent on prepping the golf course for today's Western Penn Fred Brand golf tournament.  We focused on little details such as edging yardage plaques and tee monuments while continuing to mulch and prep the beds on the golf course for the arrival of annuals in a couple of weeks.

Overall, not to shabby of a week.