Posted at 09:36 AM in budgets, golf, greens committee | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 02:03 PM in greens committee | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Every fall we over seed our fairways with bent. I do not know the particular strand but needless to say our fairways bring us a sense of pride and a terrific shot making surface as well. Part of the process of course is killing back any clover, crabgrass or any other "weed" that my have encroached onto our lush green carpets. This is performed much the same way as you would spread weed killer on your lawn but with a twist, you don't cut your lawn to a range of 3/16-1/4 " so when the weeds are killed on your lawn you notice some thinning. However when it is done to wide winding watered fairways that are cut tight this "thinning" turns into patches of mud ranging in size from 2 to 3 inches in diameter to 2 to 3 feet in diameter. The members should know and accept this right ? Well it has taken some time but we had a break through a couple years back and the grounds committee began announcing when this was going to take place and as a result the "great fall fairway panics" subsided. This year just to return the members level of interest in this process our fall 4 ball was pushed back a week to this weekend, however the great weed killing was done on the same schedule of the 2nd Monday of September net result, you guessed it, a course full of tournament playing members playing a mud patched golf course on a damp September weekend. Joy oh Joy. Do you think anyone will nominate our green keeper for Turfnet's Superintendent of the Year award ?
Posted at 11:44 AM in greens committee | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I came accross this old ad for "perfect golf" earlier today and wondered if this "Golf Illustrated" ad from the early 20th century is what started this impossible demand for perfect playing conditions. At a recent green committee meeting the main topics were bunkers and roughs. The "roughs" are inconsistent, "they are not even the same kind of grass how are we supposed to get a fair lie when you can't even grow the same kind of grass every where ?" and "the traps have become unfair too, I have yet to have a flat lie in a trap this year." Watching the green keeper field these comments made me squirm as he knew there was no way out, these are such absurd statements and impossible demands. What makes them particularly insane is the bunkers (traps) are brand new and were built NOT to have any flat spots and the "roughs" are well roughs and we don't really have or want to spend the money to "improve them".
Posted at 03:34 PM in greens committee | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The summer heat has arrived, and right on cue the irrigation system goes on the fritz. How can that be ! It's obviously the green keeper's fault ! It's non-sense that it happens every year at this time, because this has never happened before ! He clearly wasn't doing something properly we must look into this.
When you say we must look into this how far do you want to look ? Do you you want to look at the massive algae build up in the system lines that clogs and destroys heads every summer ? Do you want to look at the fact that no one, INCLUDING the green keeper has bothered to look seriously at filtration systems that may help solve this problem as after a cursory look they are always too expensive after all it only took the super 4-6 extra hours a day for a few weeks to keep the system up and running, it is his job isn't it ? The fact that he doesn't have time to properly care for everything else is obviously due to his poor time management skills.
People get it together. This problem is not going to go away either solve it or be prepared to deal with it for a few weeks every summer. If you are going to solve it spend a few dollars and find out what works, you are not the only place that has or has had these troubles and just because this "guy you know" thinks this should work, or this "other guy" says its the worst case he has ever seen doesn't mean crap !
Posted at 02:54 PM in greens committee | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)