Winter Putting Green Appearance

Thursday, February 23, 2012 Questions

I appreciate feedback and questions and every Thursday I will attempt to answer one question.  The question posed this week, "Why do the greens look mottled?" This time of year, the putting greens have a mottled look with green, blue, tan, and purple colors comprising the grass that makes up the putting surface.  This is representative of the different biotypes (slightly different types of bentgrass) that combine to form our A1/A4 putting greens. A1 or A4 is a variety of bentgrass but...

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2012 Maintenance Calendar Now Online

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The 2012 Maintenance Calendar is now available on our blog. The calendar is located on a separate page and can be accessed from the top right corner of the blog home page. This calendar will continue to be updated as the year continues but our closed dates are set as well as our major agronomic practices. The only thing that would change this schedule would be major weather events such as a March snowstorm affecting our first core aeration dates.  Most of the major golf tournaments are listed as well.  I hope this calendar serves as...

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Tree Work and Herbicide Applications

Thursday, February 16, 2012 Projects, Tree Work

The past couple of days and tomorrow will be dedicated to our Spring pre-emergent herbicide application.  This application will help protect against crabgrass, goosegrass, and poa annua germination.  Our management team has sprayed around the greens and bunkers with some green dye that you may see out there.  That is a tracker dye to indicate where we have sprayed.  Our team is also applying a post emergent herbicide to remove any remaining poa annua plants directly around greens. ...

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Recognizing the Back of The House

Thursday, February 09, 2012

One of the busiest areas in our line of work day in and day out is the Mechanic's shop.  Our Equipment Manager, John Anderson, stays very busy year round with scheduled maintenance, detailed record keeping, equipment breakdown, and cutting unit sharpening.  This time of year is dedicated to 'Winter Maintenance"  which includes maintaining, servicing and rebuilding the equipment most used during the golfing season. This year John is in the process of replacing every reel on all of...

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Another Great Monday

Monday, February 06, 2012 Irrigation, Projects

Today was almost like a real winter day on the golf course.  We had a heavy frost this morning which kept our staff inside for some necessary painting and equipment maintenance.  We have not had much indoor time this year and the work is starting to pile up.  The staff paints on/off posts, hazards stakes and other amenities while staining benches.  A few staff members helped John, our Equipment Manager, install new reels into the fairway cutting units.  Ruben started grinding...

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USGA Green Section Record, Mid-Atlantic Update

Friday, February 03, 2012 USGA Green Section Updates

Bonus Golf: Take Note of the Risks By Darin S. Bevard, senior agronomist, Mid-Atlantic Region January 31, 2012 While some light snow has fallen at times and reminded us that it is winter, milder than normal temperatures have been the rule. Nicer weather has allowed for more golf than usual to be played during the winter months, but there may be consequences in the spring. For the past several weeks there have been many opportunities for golfers to get out and enjoy...

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Fielding a Good Question

Thursday, February 02, 2012 Questions

The question was recently asked "I was on the driving range and was wondering why we don't put sand in the divot areas like we do on the golf course?"  Great question and I hope to provide some good feedback. We will fill the divots during the winter with our bulk topdresser once the front tee is fully used up.  If we topdress the tee with sand when the turf is dormant, it will leave the tee covered in sand as the grass is not growing and filling in the divots.  Even...

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