Spring Aerification 2014

The first aerification of the year was completed yesterday successfully to only be followed by snow today, crazy! This aerification was a two-part process of a verti-drain aerification and our normal aerification. Typically this process would all be performed in one day, but due to scheduling conflicts they were completed in two separate weeks.

 Vertidrain BYCC

The verti-drain is a process of aerifing a hole 10-12″ deep through the entire green to allow water to penetrate through the green and allow gases to be released. This will be a yearly practice to help prolong the life of the greens and keep water moving through.

Greens Aerification

Greens Aerification

Early spring aerification is behind us and the next aerification is scheduled for early May. Each aerification performed is a necessary cultural practice to remove organic matter and provide open channels for water to pass through and gases to be exchanged. Every aerification timing has a specific purpose as well, the early aerification is a chance to wake the greens up from the winter, the early summer aerification is mainly to remove organic material, and the fall aerification is also for organic material removal and summer stress recovery.

 Fun Facts From Aerification: Spring 2014

  • 12.27 cubic feet of green remove per 1000 square feet
  • 1104.3 cubic feet of green removed over all greens
  • 9.82% of the putting surface affected
  • 72 holes per square foot
  • 6,480,000 holes over all greens

 Many wonder why aerification is so important. Greens aerifications are a necessary practice to ensure the green’s health for the future. Normally aerification on bentgrass takes place when the plants are at their optimum time for growth and when golfers view the greens are at their best.  Performing this cultural practice during this time will provide a speedy recovery and allow adequate amounts of oxygen and applied nutrients to the soil for healing and growth.

When selecting a tine size, tine spacing, and amount of organic matter to remove  is a lot more than just a guess or how much you want to make the golfers mad. The USGA provides guidelines for the amount of organic matter removed from a green every year (15-20% OM/Year). These guidelines help to prolong the life of a green and ensure the root zone will stay functioning as it should. Typically 3-4 aerifications a year  will comply with the USGA guidelines.  We plan our tine sizes and spacing to remove 3-8% organic matter per aerification for the year using different tine sizes for different periods of the season.

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Warm Weather Throw Back

With the recent warm weather I thought it would be a good time we all can remember what it feels like to have sunshine and green grass. Heres to the golf season.

#13 2013

#13 2013

#14  2013

#14 2013

#3 2013

#3 2013

#2 2013

#2 2013

Clubhouse 2013

Clubhouse 2013

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Benches Face Lift

These two benches have been on the property for quite sometime now and have been polyurethane several times. This year we decided to sand blast these benches and apply a clear poly to protect and beautify the benches for many more years to come. Here are a few pictures of the beginning phases of the face lift.

Tom Clark Sand Blasting the Benches

Tom Clark Sand Blasting the Benches

Before/After

Before/After

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Summer Annual Herbicide

This coming Monday (3/10) officially begins our, the GCM staff, season. Every year just as soil temperatures begin to approach 50 degrees we begin our summer annual preemerge herbicide applications.  If you are out on the course Monday walking keep a heads up for the fertilizer truck navigating through course spreading our summer annual defense.

Spreader Truck Applying Fertilizer

Spreader Truck Applying Fertilizer

Keep in the mind the Deep Tine aerification coming up on the 17th and our regular aerification coming up on the 24th of this month.

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BYCC Aerials

After the golf course maintenance staff had finished with the tree canopy lift we decided to have a little fun with the machine. In #1 fairway we raised the lift to its highest point for a cool photo opportunity and a different vantage point of the course.

Hole #1

Hole #1

Hole #2 plus in the distance #15/#16

Hole #2 plus in the distance #15/#16

Clubhouse plus Old Hickory Lake in the background

Clubhouse plus Old Hickory Lake in the background

Panoramic

Panoramic

 

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Tee Sign Face Lift

Tee Signs Halfway Through Painting

Tee Signs Halfway Through Painting

The tee signs are almost finsihed from the last of the winter painting jobs. You can see the difference between fresh gold paint and the old gold paint.

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Out of Bounds

 

New Out of Bounds Stakes

New Out of Bounds Stakes

One winter project this year was the creation of the new Out of Bounds stakes. Previously the OB stakes were PVC that over time broke and was unable to mark line of sight to each pole. The new OB stakes are pressure trated 4 x4 and will provide a long term life of adding stokes to our scores.

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