We started working the course the second week of April this year. The ground was still frozen in week one. By week three we were knee deep in green aerification, overseeding and topdressing. Throw in the fact that we had to prepare the course for play by putting supplies out, mow fine turf areas and try to get sixty-two bunkers playable for Opening Day on April eighteenth shows we are stretched thin.
What players notice:
- Cups, tee markers and pins
- Water coolers, ballwashers, trash receptacles, litter caddies, benches, hazard markers and bunkers prepped including rakes
- Branches, twigs, leaves and debris
- Cleanup of wood chips and stump grinding debris from winter tree work
- Landscape bed cleanup and pruning
- Mowing and rolling greens
- Mowing tees, fairways, first cut and rough
- Aerification of greens (extra time needed because more intense this Spring)
- ETC...
What players don't notice but is vital to our season's success:
- Additional, intensive overseeding and topdressing of winter damaged areas on greens
- Spraying of greens twice so far for Poa Annua seedhead control, fertilizers, Annual Bluegrass Weevil and wetting agent
- Spraying fairways and tees for Poa Annua seedhead control, Annual Bluegrass Weevil and crabgrass preventative
- Irrigation system fired up and fix all normal springtime problems
- Staff hiring and training
- ETC...
This is a minor glimpse at my list of things to do, which at last glance, is near fifty items. It obviously changes daily. I can't emphasize enough the importance of the items you don't see. It is critical that their timing trumps some things that are visible to the players right away. What you don't see today would be visible soon and playability and turf health would suffer long after.
The course opened for the first time, with carts, on April eleventh. Seventeen days ago. During that time we had six days with varying degrees of rain and five frost delays.
Yes, I'm trying to paint a picture. We are working hard to get the course in prime shape! Trust me when I say... We Care!
Thank you for your patience!
