Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The Spring of 2015 has been a beautiful, productive season to say the least. Our team has been busy preparing the golf course and performing many essential agronomic practices to ready the turf and course for the season. Overall, we are very pleased with course conditioning. A few eye sores remain in the turf around bunker faces. This is being sodded out on Tuesday. Collars came out of the winter better than ever with very little sod needing to be installed. Spring Dead Spot was much less evident this year and proves that our programs have been working. Virginia Tech Turf Pathologist, David McCall will be on site next week to gather data on a few of his research projects. There is not a comparison between 2015 and 2014 in regards to Spring Dead Spot. I can't wait for his research to quantify the reduction of occurrence.
Darin Brevard, our USGA Agronomist, was on site this month to conduct his annual Spring visit. Darin's visits always prove to be insightful and this one was no different. Darin reported healthy turf conditions and had great insights into fine tuning our agronomic programs including core aeration, collar management and the management of our fine fescue areas, Darin is the Director of Championship Agronomy for the USGA and I am excited to watch his work in action next month at the US Open.
Speaking of fine fescues, the areas on 7, 8, and 15 are growing in beautifully. These areas require very little fertilizer inputs and now that they are establised, I was able to shut the irrigation heads off in these areas. We will be patient and not over water or fertilze these areas. We don't want to promote weed growth or overly thick turf. We want to promote a healthy stand of fine fescue. The goal of these areas is reduced water use, reduced chemical use, reduced fertilizer inputs and the creation of habitats for a large amount of wildlife....Not to mention, the aestetics of these areas are beautiful.
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| These fine fescues have thrived and grown into a beautiful stand of grass. They will turn a khaki color this summer. |
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| A view towards 15 green |
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| A view towards 17 green |
A few other projects around the club have included the installation of fans on 7 and 17, repairing the driving range net, renovating the driving range practice bunker and renovating the landscaping in front of the clubhouse. The primary focus of the spring has been dedicated to turf health and waking the course from winter. Now that all of our turf has been set up to thrive this summer, we will focus on course conditioning and our tournament season. Over the next month, we will host the RWGA City Champtionship, Men's Member Guest, a US Amateur Qualifier and our Men's, Women's and Senior's Club Championship. Our team is motivated and ready to provide a great playing experience.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend,
Jordan Booth CGCS
jbooth@willowoakscc.org
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| Over time, sand is hit out of the practice bunker and on to the surrounding turf during practice. After years and years of this, the bunker becomes distorted. To renovate the bunker, all of the turf was removed from the face and the sand was removed until we reached soil and the original shape of the bunker Sand had built up to a depth of 12 - 16" on the face and had dramatically changed the look and feel of the practice bunker. |
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| The finished product on the Driving Range bunker renovation. |
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| All of the damaged nets on the driving range were replaced this past week. |
