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!