Green House Plants

We have had the green house complete for a while now and we are in full operation.  Half of the plants are in and already potted.  In the top right corner of the pic are 100 ivy plants.  We pulled a lot of cuttings from the tee monuments to grow our own ivy.  We will plant these behind the fitness center.  We plan to have the plants out shortly.

Green House

We situated the green house behind the maintenance building because the building would protect the house from high spring wind and also shade the plants in the hot summer sun. The concrete pad was already in place so we would have a good floor to install the benching on. After we built the pressure treated base board we erected the hoop frames and installed the doors and framing for the louvers and fans.

We connected framing for the heater at the top of the green house.

After all of the framing was installed, we put two layers of poly on the green house. The first layer was put in right against the framing and the second was measured an extra foot to create an envelope. The envelope is later inflated with a blower to make a buffer to keep the temperature constant. This is the most efficient and cost effective way to heat a green house.

March 7th Verti-Drain

The verti-drain was completed on March 7th. We hand shovel 80 tons of sand on the 3.2 acres of green surfaces and then the verti-drain machine aerifies the greens. The tines are 3/4 inch in diameter and punch into the greens about 8 inches deep. The process is very essential and will help the greens get through the season.

Once the sand is loaded in the hopper to the left, the metermatic spreads the sand. Then, it takes us about 40 hours of labor per staff member to hand broom the sand into the holes and blow the excess sand off of the greens. We will then vibratory roll the greens 3-4 times to level the tractor and equipment tracks.

Rain Day Work

When we have the opportunity, we pressure wash all the equipment. If the weather is favorable we have most of the equipment on the course, but on rain days we go through the equipment thoroughly. We try to maintain and protect your investment.

Nursery Reseed

We ordered 80 tons of 90/10 sand and peat moss mix to refill the surface of the nursery. When we resurfaced #5 green we removed two inch sod from the surface. A lot of time is spent grading the area and constantly watering the surface to help settle the loose sand.
















This is a picture of A-4 bent grass seed. We apply three pounds of bent grass seed per one thousand square feet. The nursery square footage is approximately 7,100 square feet.















The bent grass seed is so fine that we have to mix the seed with a carrier fertilizer so the seed doesn't get completely blown away and we get a consistent application. We apply the mix at a very low rate and spread the seed in multiple directions to insure that every inch of the nursery is covered.















After the surface has been graded and the mix has been applied we track or "dimple" the seed in with the bunker rakes tires to further prepare the seed bed. This practice improves sand to seed contact and increases the percent of germinated seed. The dimples and constant irrigation keeps the seed from blowing away and drying out. If an area or streak does not get dimpled, the bent will not germinate.















This is the finished nursery. We raise the fence around the new green to keep animals like the resident deer from walking over the surface. The green will take a few weeks to germinate. If everything goes well we will be resurfacing another green by next spring.

Overseed Program

We are scalping the borders of the tees to keep the edges where they should be for the fall overseed. The areas will grow in with a little time and this fall we will seed the perimeters with turf type tall fescue.
















This is a picture of #16 tee after three years of overseeded fescue.
















This is a picture of #7 tee. The perimeter of this tee has been overseeded for two seasons.

#5 tee has been overseeded for the first time last fall. Over the next few seasons the overseeding program will help bring detail around the tees and green surrounds. Also, we will be able to spray the fescue overseed areas with growth regulator to control poa annua from spreading to undesired areas.

Moss Removal from Greens

Moss has taken hold on a few areas of the greens. On the back left of #7 green, moss is thriving with the aid of the wet weather. We are painting the moss in the mornings so we don't loose track of it and plug the areas in the afternoon. There are chemical controls for the moss, but the chemicals slow the growth of the greens and most of the time the controls don't prevent the moss from spreading. We will stay on top of the moss and eventually we will not have any moss issues.