Wednesday, June 28, 2017
We could not have asked for a better couple of days at the end of June than we experienced this week. Cool nights and low humidity are always welcome and our schedule greens aeration on Monday could not have come at a better time. Our team pulled a small 1/4" core and then blew the cores off on Monday. This is as little disruption as we will ever see from a core aeration but will set the greens up well heading into the summer. If the weather had been warmer, we would have punted on this aeration but we were able to take advantage of the perfect conditions. Tees were also deep tine aerated on Monday and both surfaces are recovering well.
Our team has also stayed busy with a few sod projects. Some of our main goals this year include renovating the roughs on holes 1, 9 and 18 as well as the tree line between 13 and 14. This month, we sodded the perimeter of the rough on holes 9 and 18 as well as walking paths, sprinkler heads and drains in preparation to sprig this rough to bermudagrass. This process is much more affordable than sod and allows us to grass large areas at one time. Most of the fescue on #1 was also sodded out this week. We chose to sod this instead of sprig due to its location. The remainder of these rough renovations will take place when the golf course is closed for fairway aeration on July 17-19. The tree line between 13 and 14 has received a lot of attention this year. Dead trees were removed and pine straw and mulch beds have been installed. Our team sodded around these new mulch beds today and last week. Any remaining fescue will be replaced with sprigs July 17-19. This project has been a great improvement to the golf course and I look forward to tackling the tree line between 14 and 15 next.
An area that has always been poor is the area directly behind #9 green. It sits under a large 'namesake' Willow Oak and is the walk on/walk off area for #9 green. The combination of shade, tree roots, traffic, and compaction has caused the area to be a maintenance nightmare for many years. This week, we decided to start fresh. We removed all of the different types of grasses and replaced it with Zeon zoysia. Zoysia is more shade tolerant that bermudagrass. We also aerated this area very aggressively and added topsoil to provide the best growing conditions possible, all things considered. The sod looks great and I am very pleased with the finished product behind 9 green. We also installed zoysia in the most shaded parts of the tree line on 14, the shaded collar on 7 and the shaded collar on the clubhouse putting green. Hopefully these are good, long term solutions. Please avoid walking through the sod until we remove the stakes around it.
 |
| The area behind 9 green was stripped and aerated to relieve compaction. |
 |
| Topsoil and fertilizer were added. |
 |
| Finally, our team sodded the areas to Zeon zoysia. Irrigation heads were leveled to minimize impact to play in this roll off area. |
 |
| The collar on the clubhouse putting green sits directly under the large Willow Oak in the patio. This picture was taken at 11:30 and this area is in full shade. Hopefully, zoysia is a good solution. |
 |
| The area behind 9 green turned out great and the shade is already creeping on to the zoysia by noon. |
Our primary focus this time of year is plant health and playability. Fans will be running all summer unless we continue to get 80 degree highs and 55 degree nights (fingers crossed.) Please do not turn the fans off and if you must, please turn them back on when you leave the green. The golf course is playing well and should be in peak shape for the extended Independence Day weekend.
Have a great week,
Jordan Booth, CGCS
jbooth@willowoakscc.org
