Overseeding Time

Every year in the fall we overseed the driving range and par three tee boxes with perennial rye grass. The reason for only seeding these tees is once the Tif-Sport goes dormant, there will not be anymore recovery from divots until the spring. The rye grass will provide a great playing surface during the winter months and will transition out in the spring with the warm temperatures.

There are a few steps that have to be taken to ensure a good germination:
1) Verticut two directions
2) Mow at a lower height of cut (almost at the scalping point)
3) Seed using drop spreaders in 3 directions
4) Water and keep moist during the germination period (7 to 10 days)

TifGrand Tees

The #5 and #6 forward tees have been converted to TifGrand Bermuda, which we will test the shade tolerance during the next growing season. We should be able to get a few heavy top dressings in before they go dormant to smooth them out. The more we can work on them now the better they will be in the spring and will be ready to play.

The area around the camp kitchen it getting a little beautification in the next week. We want to reduce the view of the structure and garden in the back from #6 fairway. The driveway area will be reduce and an assortments of plants will be planted to enhance the area.

#5

#6

Camp Kitchen & Vegetable Garden

The cooler temperatures are upon us

With the beginning of October and fall temperatures inbound, it's time for our last pre-emergent herbicide of the year along with a wall to wall fertilizer. We are using Specticle for the third year and it has provided great poa control throughout the winter. A well blended granular fertilizer was applied on all turf to ensure a healthy plant going into dormancy. 

We are going to test a variety of shade tolerant Bermuda called TifGrand on the forward tees of #5 and #6. Our goal is to find the most suitable turf for our shaded tees. The two tees have already been sprayed and will be re-soded with TifGrand in the next week or two. They will be ready for play in the spring when we emerge from dormancy.

Adam and Rodney spraying out #6 tee

Rain!

We received almost 3" of rain last Friday, which was very welcomed. Unfortunately it happened just as the Club Championship was getting under way, but everything turned out very well. The rain did raise lake Travis ever so slightly, so it might delay more restrictions until next year.

We have a vast drainage network running throughout the golf course that drains everything from the greens, tees, bunkers and low areas on the course. These large rainfalls reveal where there is a weakness or if a drain is clogged, generally with tree roots. #5 fairway is a good example and we are trying to determine if the 8" line separated at the joint or if we have a blockages further down the line. This area will be GUR until repairs are made in the next day or two.

Two sections of pipe joined here has failed

Practice Putting Green is Open

The new 10,000 square foot Tif-Eagle putting green was opened this week which is looking fantastic. We are also replacing yardage plates on the irrigation heads throughout the course and applied a few new products from Earth Works on the greens. The products are an organic formulation to flush sodium and bicarbonates out of the soil profile. Sodium is not necessary for plant growth and at high levels can damage the physical structure of the soil. These products will be used monthly to help improve our soil health.

Golf Course Update

We are in full swing preparing for our September tournaments and the agronomy team is hard at work providing top quality conditions. The putting green is just about complete and will open next week, which many members are anxious to play on. The greens are continually being verticut and topdressed weekly along with topdressing the tees and approaches. The cutting height to all turf areas have been lowered to proved a tighter lye, which as cased scalping. Scalping will not kill the Tif-Sport and will be looking great again in a short while.

Putting Green

#11 approach

Scalping on #11 fairway

August 2013 Aerification

The last aerification of 2013 is complete and went great. Due to the temperatures constantly in the 100's on a daily basis, we only aerified the greens and collars. The greens had a 1/2" core pulled and were verticut prior to the aerification. Fairways, tees and approaches were verticut and topdressed. Everything is healing up nicely and the greens should be back to normal condition by the end of the week. Here are some random photos from the week of aerification.

Verticutting fairways

verticutting greens

Practice Putting green at 5 weeks

Turf Brush dragging in the sand

Fertilize greens