Greening Up

As the days go by and the temperatures are consistently in the “warmer” range, we’re seeing conditions improve across the golf course. Slowly and steadily we’re able to clean up more areas and even mow some spots too. Greens, tees, and fairways are improving and starting to grow in- we’re mowing more and more regularly and still hope to get more mowing accomplished as the days go by

As for the damaged greens, we’re happy with the progress they are making. The covers we have been using are doing an adequate job of keeping the soil temperatures a few degrees warmer throughout the nights as well as aiding in keeping frosts from settling on the playing surfaces. All of our initial verticutting, seeding, and fertilization is completed, so we are now just watching and waiting for the seed to germinate. In fact, it seems as if some of the seed has begun to germinate. It will take some time for us to see what our success rate is with the seed, and the conditions and weather will continue to play a large role in determining the fate of the grow-in.

All in all, the five greens of concern are responding well to our aggressive approach. We’ll continue to keep a vigilant eye on them as we move into May, and hope to see further improvements as weather and conditions improve.

Thank you for your patience up to now, we too are excited to see these greens eventually open back up.

Here’s some comparison pictures so that you can see the progress:

The above picture shows the 3rd green soon after the damage occurred.

This picture shows the progress we’ve made over a few weeks on the 3rd green.

Here’s #8 after a few weeks of attention.

And finally, you can begin to see some germination. Slow, but there nonetheless.

As you can begin to see, things are slowly improving. It’s optimistic, but we’ve still got a long way to go. We’ll do our best to keep the blog updated as much as can so you can see and hear about the progress.

Take care,

The Keepers

Course Open

As of Friday morning (April 11) the golf course is open for play!  We’re starting the season out with 5 temporary greens- all of which received extensive winter damage.  The specific greens are #3, #7, #8, #13 and #17.  We’re working very hard at getting those greens back in playing condition as soon as possible, and will update that progress here as much as we can.  These greens are currently covered so that we can keep them warmer, which will expedite the growing process.  We’re in the process of verticutting, seeding, fertilizing, and topdressing them as well. Here are a few pictures of the damage as well as the work we are doing.

 

Here’s #7 soon after we discovered the damage. This green has the most damage of all of them.

 

 

Here’s #13- showing some of the work we’re doing to facilitate growth.  Thirteen has the least amount of damage.

 

We’ll add more pictures as time passes.  Please ask any questions you may have, we’ll gladly answer and explain our methodology and process.

Take care,

The Keepers

 

Early April- Welcome Back

We’re busy getting the course cleaned up and ready for play.  Our crew has arrived back for the season, and we’ll all be golfing before we know it.

I’ll get into more detail about specific course conditions in a few days, but for now wanted to welcome everyone back to another Spring at The Orchards!  I’d also like to remind all of our readers to make suggestions for improvement here.  We’d like to update more frequently this season, and if there’s anything else you’d like to see please let us know.  Thank you.

Take care,

The Keepers