Preferred Practice Technique to Maximize Turf Recovery

Thursday, March 31, 2011

As we begin the golf season, I want to address an issue that affects every player at Willow Oaks.  This issue is the proper use of the Driving Range Tee during practice. Our friend Dan Meersman, Director of Grounds at Philadelphia Cricket Club, has created this video that does a great job of demonstrating the best way to practice on the driving range tee.  This method allows for the grass to reestablish quickly and to limit the amount of disturbed tee space.  The only caveat to his video is the fact that Dan works with a different...

Read More

Another visit from Old Man Winter

Monday, March 28, 2011

Snow yesterday, VCU in the final four and a wintery mix expected this evening?!  This weekend was one to remember and this upcoming week looks to be one to forget.  This week looks to be somewhat of a disaster with rain or snow expected everyday except for tomorrow.  We are working this morning to beat the rain and finish our pre-emergent herbicide application.  This application should prevent goosegrass and crabgrass from germinating this spring.  Our next application in...

Read More

Post Aerification: Q and A

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Q:  Why are our greens so bumpy and sandy? #2 Green: 126 Holes per Square Foot A:  As anyone who has played this week would tell you, the greens are not putting well.  This is due to the core aerification that took place last week as well as the heavy topdressing it takes to fill the holes with sand and to smooth out the surface for the golf season.  Please be patient with the greens.  This 2 - 3 week period of poor green conditions will pay large dividends this summer...

Read More

First Full Day of Spring: Thunderstorms Avoided, Work Underway

Monday, March 21, 2011

We narrowly dodged some serious storms this morning.  We are currently working on a lot of projects to begin getting the golf course ready for play.  We are currently: Topdressing Greens Fertilizing Greens Applying Pre-Emergent Herbicide to prevent crabgrass and annual weed germination Installing Bunker Liner on 3 and 9 Adding Bunker Sand to bunkers on 3, 4, and 8 Our staff is growing as we get closer to the season and we will have our team established by April 4. &nb...

Read More

Wrapping up a long week

Friday, March 18, 2011

We are finishing strong this week with final touches being added to the greens, continued bunker work, stump grinding and cleanup and golf course setup.  The greens will be bumpy and we will have 11 bunkers marked 'ground under repair' but the golf course should be very playable this weekend.  Once again, thank you for the closed day to complete these much needed agronomic practices. Have a great weeke...

Read More

Some Pictures from Aerification

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Well, we beat the rain.  We were able to core aerify our putting greens in two directions.  The first direction was completed on Monday and the plugs were cleaned up Monday night.  We spent the rest of the day Monday and most of the day Tuesday topdressing, brushing and watering sand into the holes left from aerification.  This is the most difficult and yet the most important part of the process.  If these holes are not properly back filled with sand, they will collapse...

Read More

Flood avoided, Greens Core Aerification under way

Monday, March 14, 2011

There are four things that I am very thankful for today. We avoided a flood! Day light savings time has sprung forward and we will have longer days for golf and work We look to have a great week of weather for our greens core aerification We have brought in our season staff so we can start to really gear up for the season by getting a lot of work done Currently, our team is grinding stumps, working on four different bunker projects, core aerifying our putting greens, and taking soil samples to...

Read More

River staying within banks

Saturday, March 12, 2011

The river has stayed within its banks We have dodged the flood bullet for the time being.  The river is currently at 14.65 ft. and looks to crest at 14.8 ft. feet this afternoon.  The river looks to quickly fall following the crest.  It is going to be a beautiful day but the golf course is still very wet.  The golf course no longer drains once the river is at 11 feet so the canals have begun to flood around 15 and 17 green.  This water will leave the golf course as soon...

Read More

Bunker and River Update

Friday, March 11, 2011

We are having a very busy morning.  After 2.3 inches of rain yesterday, most of which came down in about 45 minutes last night, we have a lot of cleanup.  The new bunker on number 8 had zero wash; the other bunkers are another story.   The river is predicted to crest at 14.8 feet.  We may take on a little water but damage should be at a minimum.  We have placed sandbags along the lowest part of number 5 to prevent silt coming onto the golf course with any river water. Sand...

Read More

River Level Update

Thursday, March 10, 2011

This graph from the National Weather Service predicts the flood level of the James River at the Westham gauge which is only a few miles up river from us.  We are currently at 8.7 feet.  The river looks stable for the rest of today but will rise over the next 24 hours.  The projected crest as of night now at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 10 is 14.7 feet.  This number is just a prediction so a foot in either direction could make a huge difference.  The golf course really...

Read More

New Right Fairway Bunker on #8 Doing Great

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; ...

Read More

River dropping today, rising tomorrow

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

The river has dropped below 12 feet, which is technically flood stage.  The predictions are for the waters to fall to around 9 feet and then rise following tomorrow's rain event.  We will tweet and blog more information as we get it. The bunker project on 8 will be completed today.  Please email me if you would like more information on this project.  We are not going to post anything to the blog due to a pending patent on this process. Have a great ...

Read More

Flood stage Update

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

This graph from the National Weather Service predicts the flood level of the James River at the Westham gauge which is only a few miles up river from us.  The golf course experiences minor flooding at 13 feet; Water will encroach up near the 16th tees and we will probably experience interior flooding from our streams and ponds.  We are currently at 12.3 feet.  The river looks to subside in the next few hours but tomorrows rain will raise the waters again.  Only time will tell how high the river will crest following the next...

Read More

Golf Course Draining Well

Monday, March 07, 2011

The golf course received just over an inch of rain over the course of Sunday's storm.  The course is draining well and we received minimal damage to our bunkers.  Hopefully you have seen our continued work to prevent washouts in the bunkers on holes 3, 8 and 9.  This work will be continued on holes 4, 12, and 18.  Today, we are finishing the work on an new bunker liner product that has proven to be very successful on other golf courses.  This work is being done to the...

Read More

USGA Article

Friday, March 04, 2011

Here is a great article from the USGA concerning putting green aerification.  We are aerifying greens the week of March 14 -18.  http://turf.lib.msu.edu/gsr/article/bevard-putting-3-4-11....

Read More

A look in the Rearview

Friday, March 04, 2011

Number 17's new  'Island Green' The past 15 months have been trying to say the least.  We have experienced many highs and lows and the year of 2010 presented many challenges and opportunities.  We have continued to push the golf course to create a fun, challenging experience for every member, guest, and tournament participant.  We experienced everything from flooding to extended drought and from record snowfall to record high temperatures.  Our management team wanted...

Read More

Irrigation System and Blog: Live and Well

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Moving Air Out of the System During the cold winter months, we drain our irrigation system to prevent damage from freezing and thawing conditions.  Yesterday, we successfully refilled our system with minimal issues.  Our pumping system is comprised of a 25 HP Pressure Maintenance Pump, two 75 HP Pumps, and a Variable Frequency Drive which controls which pumps operate for maximum efficiency.  The pumps are driven by a control station that monitors total flow, pressure, and gallons...

Read More