Welcome to the First Edition of In the Fairway. In this series of messages, we will be outlining relevant information pertaining to Golf Course Maintenance at our three clubs. We will cover things like projects, important updates and general educational information regarding turfgrass maintenance and golf course upkeep. In this particular edition we would like to highlight some of the things our Golf Course Maintenance Teams have been up to the last couple of months as well as what to expect this Spring.
Our Golf Course Crews have been very busy this offseason preparing for the coming Golf Season. At all three courses our crews have done a tremendous amount of offseason work including but not limited to:
- Tree work
- Brush Clearing
- Stump Grinding and Chipping or burning
- Equipment maintenance
- Oil changes and general service and cleaning
- Mower blade and reel sharpening
- Fertilizer and Herbicide planning and ordering
- Offseason fertilizing and herbicide treatments on the course such as spraying out the cold season grasses in our warm season fairways and tees
- Installing new signage around the facilities
- Filling in out of play bunkers
- Sodding and seeding
Many folks have asked about the areas where we have done some brush clearing (such as left of the green on #17 at Persimmon Ridge). The long range plan for these areas is to become fine fescue dunes mix areas and keep them free from weeds and small trees. We have seeded some of these areas and will continue to seed more of them. For starters they will look like the rest of the rough, but they will grow out with some time.
Lake leak repair on Hole #10 at Oxmoor:
Trash Can & Ball Washer refurb:
Fine Fescue Dunes Mix area between 17 Green & 18 Tee:
As we enter Spring, March is that wonderful time of year where the weather starts warming up, trees start blooming and oh yeah, we aerfiy our Greens. While many look at Aerification in a negative light, the better job we do aerifying our greens now, the better condition they will be in through the long hot summer golf season. Click HERE for an informative explanation of aerification from our own David Thomas, Golf Course Superintendent at Polo Fields.
Lastly, we want to highlight a new program we are involved in for 2024. We have signed up to employ a crew of H2B Visa workers for the golf season. Our crew of 6 workers will be helping us at all three golf courses this season from March through October. This crew has a good bit of experience working at golf courses previously and they immediately have made an impact at our courses.
The plan with the H2B Crew is to have them spend a full week at each course for the first six weeks (so two full weeks at each course). During this time they will be helping with greens aerification, repairing drainage in, edging and filling bunkers, mulching, planting and weeding our landscape beds, tree work, trimming and other detailed work to get our facilities ready for the season.
Bunker Drainage Repair:
Once they are finished with this rotation and these projects, they will start a weekly rotation where they move from course to course throughout the week and assist in all aspects of golf course maintenance. From set up, mowing, raking bunkers, week eating and other small projects that come up throughout the season. We are confident that with this crew we will be able to get to and keep up with more detailed work thus enhancing the quality of our course conditions and ultimately your experience on the course!
We are very excited for the 2024 Golf Season to get underway and we are committed to doing all we can to make your experience at our clubs enjoyable. We hope to see you out In the Fairway soon!
Sincerely
Steve Shafter – Director of Golf
Karissa Hardesty – Assistant Director of Golf