Native areas

We began mowing native areas yesterday. Mowing the native in early fall allows the grasses time to grow back up before winter, while discouraging the weeds and small trees from coming back. The end result is a much cleaner look without all of the small trees and weeds. We hope to finish this in the next few days.

#11 fairway sod

The maintenance crew resumed sod work on fairways today. Due to the fact that good Bermuda growing weather is rapidly decreasing, we are starting to fully sod bare areas. We are no longer strip sodding because we want to be fully grown in by winter. Bailey Ranch is coordinating with a local sod farm to assist us in getting this project done in a timely manner. We are responsible for all prep work and they will come in and lay the sod. Once #11 and #16 fairway are complete, we will continue going around the golf course removing any area larger than a bathtub. Much of this work will be during the hole closures this fall so we can work without interrupting play.

WallStreet Journal article

Here is a great article from the WallStreet Journal describing the impact the weather is having on greens across the country.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409411501359450.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_SportsMain

#5 Bunker renovation

JonesPlan is wrapping up the renovations at #5 bunker today. The last of the bunker sand and sod will be completed by the end of the day. Just like #9, this area will be marked ground under repair until the sod is rooted in and the sand is firm enough for play. Although this new complex has 6 smaller bunkers instead of 1 big bunker, we were still able to reduce our area of sand by almost half. This will reduce our bunker maintenance costs for this hole for years to come, while still allowing plenty of difficulty and shot variety.

#9 bunker renovation

The bunker renovation for #9 has been finished as of Monday. This area will remain ground under repair until the sod has a chance to root into the ground and is stable enough for foot traffic. We will continue to water the sod over the next week or so to allow it to survive the summer heat. The bunker will also get water to firm the sand and get it ready for play.

#5 Bunker renovation

Work has begun on the bunker complex on #5 green. The rough grading has been completed and the drainage is currently being installed. The original bunker is being converted into 6 smaller bunkers. The complex will look the same from the tee box but the amount of sand will be cut down by half. Since there will be multiple bunkers, there will still be a lot of shot variety and plenty of difficulty.

#9 bunker renovation

The bunker renovations on #9 green are almost complete. The guys wrapped up installing sand and have started laying sod. The end result for this bunker complex will be a overall reduction in sand but the difficulty will remain. The long term maintenance will be greatly reduced due to the decrease in the square footage of sand. The bunkers that remain will have new material which will allow for much greater drainage and less wash outs after rains.