Recycling Program

We have started a recycling program at the maintenance facility. We fill the truck up about once a month, which we take to the recycling center on rain days. We accumulate a lot of boxes from equipment parts and course supply. The trash cans are filled with glass bottles, paper and plastic that we collect from the trash cans around the golf course. The recyclable load in the truck isn't even a big collection compared to what we have in the summer time when more rounds go through the course. At the maintenance facility, we are trying to do our part in lowering the golf course's carbon footprint and because of the program we are removing twelve truck loads of recyclables out of the landfill.

Course Update

Poa has started to seed out on the greens. Trimmit is a very aggressive growth regulator that we apply to the greens keeping the poa in check. When the warmer weather is in the forecast we switch to Primo, another regulator. The regulators tend to yellow the poa a little, but the regulators keep the poa from spreading throughout the green.















The bermuda is still taking its time coming out of dormancy. The areas will begin growing once we hit warmer weather and get an organic fertilizer application down.















#5 green is very healthy and we will open the green sometime in May. We still need some time to get the green smooth enough for play. I am very excited about how this green turned out. This was a great project and we are still continuing to make forward momentum on the golf course.

We are topdressing the green as much as the turf can tolerate. We have topdressed the green three times with 4-5 tons of sand every application. It takes a lot of work to get the green smooth and to get the turf acclimated to all the extra maintenance.

Green Root Comparison

The seasonal health of the greens depends on the depth and overall health of the roots. The plug on the right of the picture is a plug taken from our USGA spec nursery seeded with A-4 bent grass. The plug on the left is a plug from #4 green. The greens have the same fertility and fungicide program and the greens all receive the same amount of irrigation. St. Clair is a very difficult course to maintain due to the inconsistent subsurface composition, different turf varieties and the unreliable drainage and irrigation system.

















From left to right, #4 green, #8 green and the nursery, these plugs represent the different generations of the newer greens. It is popular in the golf industry, to reconstruct subsurfaces and establish an A-4 bent grass surface due to the nature of the turf. We have made a little headway on renovating a greens surface to A-4. #5 was the first green we have resurfaced with A-4 and it should be a more playable and manageable green.

Golf Course Update

The course is really coming along. We have had great weather for growing turf. The green resurface on #5 went very well and we will have the green playable shortly. After all the heavy equipment on the greens from the verti-drain, I believe the greens have finally smoothed up. For the most part, the fairways have come out of dormancy. The few off color areas you see in the fairways is the bermuda that will take a few more weeks to wake up. The Ladies Opener is in the morning and the Mens Opener is on Saturday. I am confident that we will have a good showing for the two events.