Welcome to my blog!
It is my intention to give the readers a better understanding of what we do to maintain The Farms Country Club's 18 hole championship golf course and grounds.


Thursday, May 21, 2015

Memorial Day Weekend Fast Approaching!

Memorial Day weekend arrives early this year. All departments are working hard with final preparations. The maintenance staff is busy sprucing up clubhouse areas with flowers, sod and mulch, setting the tone for a great season!
4,500 square feet of sod, in rolls, being placed for installation.

Sod being rolled out

Crew tightening up the seams and making the cuts.
Finished product!
Flowers being planted.
Mulch being spread.

Friday, May 8, 2015

New Divot Repair Mix Hits The Course!

FILL THOSE DIVOTS!

We have improved our divot repair mix for this season! We have taken our already high quality material and added some amendments to increase our germination success. During the primary golf season, we normally use a divot mix composed of sand and peat moss. We are now experimenting with the addition of a porous ceramic product and a granular wetting agent. The mix has improved water holding capacity which allows our desired creeping bentgrass seed the best chance of germination. We purchased a cement mixer to allow us to thoroughly mix our own custom blend.
Cement mixer used to create new, custom, homogeneous divot mix
Creeping bentgrass is our seed of choice because it is genetically superior to the inferior, indigenous Poa Annua. There are times of the year when you may notice that the seed does not seem to germinate as well as others. This is primarily attributable to not enough moisture in the filled divot. We cannot irrigate our tees and fairways with the sole purpose of germinating seed in the divots. If we did this, we would be reducing playability because these areas would be over-watered. Fast and firm is always our goal. We will be continually tweaking the mixture throughout the season until we have created the best mix possible!

Added benefits of this mix are sterility and dryness. No weed seeds are introduced to our fairways and tees and a dry mix keeps seed from germinating in the divot boxes and bottles.

Finally, our divot filling program has been our most successful tool in increasing creeping bentgrass populations, especially in fairway landing areas and high use areas on tees.

How do I fix my divots at The Farms Country Club?

Let’s keep this simple…

1.    Divot Mix:
a.    Only use if it is provided! If it is not provided, there is a reason.
b.    Only use divot mix on tees and fairways!
  • You may not see the seed, but it is in there. There are nearly 6,000,000 seeds in one pound of Creeping Bentgrass. They are small.

2.    Replacement of divots:
a.    Always replace divots in the rough and first cut!
b.    Always replace divots, ANYWHERE, when seed & soil mix is not provided!


Ø We provide players with divot mix at the proper agronomic timing!