Time

It is now the last weekend of August, a month that never seemed to end.  As we turn the corner (hopefully) I want to thank all the members for their patience during this last 6 weeks of stressful summer.  It hasn't been easy on you and your guests, and for that matter on the staff here as well.

Speaking of them, I would like to thank all my staff for their time.  I know it is their job, but they put in tough hours in even tougher conditions and miracously show up day after day.  Twelve days on and two days off all year long gets very tiring, especially with the heat of the past two months.  Yet again they show up, smile and get after it, day in and day out.  Along the way we have had some hard times, our mechanic of 25 years, Rick Bushey has had to deal with his son being in ICU and other larger issues.  Our hard times are nothing compared to those who face family tragedies.

As we turn the corner, many things are on the horizon.  We are spending a lot of time evaluating products and practices for the new renovation.  Many which we will start to put into place over the next few months and well into next year.

We are researching construction methods, evaluating grass types and networking with all the area superintendents on methods and practices for what works best.  In the end, it is our course and we need to work with what our property has and can provide.  The conditions here are like nothing anywhere else.  We can fit our entire property onto the front nine at RTJ!

The team at Renaissance Golf will provide a great design, but it is up to us to provide the best growing environment to make that design be outstanding.  Conditions always start with good agronomics.  The best grass in the world will not grow well in poor conditions.  Sunlight , air movement and drainage are the keys in any situation to make great conditions.  We must provide that in our space to ensure this renovation is the best it can be.

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about soil.  I want to emphasize there is nothing wrong with the soil on our property.  We have used precision farming methods to map the soil of the entire property and we have a great starting point to begin the renovation process.  Many think compaction means poor soil, but any soil is prone to compaction when subjected to a lot of concentrated traffic.  This comes in many forms and our equipment is just as responsible as carts and foot traffic.   Some of the design will attempt to reduce pinch points, egress on and off fairways, and even foot traffic on and off greens.  It must be noted that there is only so much room on our property to accomplish all these wish list items, so making sure there is ample sun, air and drainage are even more important when the land constraint is added to the equation.

I will outline some of the many issues we will be working on in future articles, but again let me say thank you for being patient while we work through the issues we face on the course today.  Time will allow healing to begin and nature will turn the corner and reset the clock to better growing conditions.

Thoughts in August

I thought I would just update a few things from around the course.  For a few days you could feel the shift in the air, a night below 70 degrees, but alas it was short lived.  Just that little respite from the heat overnight made the grass spring to life a little bit.  Made us feel better about a lot of the fairway grass.

We aerified holes 1-3-4 this week, slit seeded bent grass, and started watering.  Along with the extensive sod project last week on 3, we will keep carts on the path on 3 and 4 for now.  We need to see how long it takes the new seedling to emerge from the hot soil before we determine if it can withstand traffic.  We decided to not push any further until we can see how the fairways react to the rising temperatures this week and weekend.  If they handle the stress, we will continue the operation next week and beyond.

It's always a challenge to understand exactly why things happen.  In this case we are trying to aerate to improve conditions, but cause a strange ripple in the turf.  This is the challenge in using these tools,  are the soils too dry,  or wet,  is the machine timed properly or the tines too worn?   Many times we need several tries to get all the particulars sorted out, another reason why we need time on Mondays to work out issues that arise.  In this case we needed to roll the surface with the mowers then the seeder rolled out the turf as it sliced seed into the soil.

Speaking of turf, the sod project at 3 went well.  We used the same method that will be in place for the renovation.  26 big rolls of 007 bentgrass was installed on 3 fairway.  All the new sod is considered ground under repair, as is the sod on 18.  Please take relief from this area, as you know the rules require you to take complete relief, not stand on the sod and hit from the rough, or worse yet, ignore the rule and take a divot from the new sod.

Speaking of the renovation, next time you play 1, take a look at the sod on the left side walk up to the green.  After this summer, it still looks great.  This turf type tall fescue has held up well, and this will be the rough grass used everywhere on the rebuild.  Nice, dense and consistent.

Grass at hole 1 walk on

Also speaking about renovation, we have started the stripping and preparation of the chipping green area.  After 1 month of treatments, we finally eliminated most of the bermuda and other grass from the area.  We will be installing new sod next week, again in big rolls.  We had planned to start this week, but again weather has caused us to hit pause.

A lone bermuda plant was all that was left behind after treatments

If you've played recently, you may have noticed the mounds around the 13th green.  For you long term members, you'll recognize the mounds of annual cicada killers.  This mean looking insect, seems like an oversized killer bee, but in fact is relatively harmless.  They burrow into the bunker slopes at 13 and fly into the tree to snag a cicada, fly it into the hole and use it for food for the larvae.

We don't try to control them as it is an annual event in nature, and they don't harm people.  In fact many times, disturbing this process can lead them to find other areas to populate, like greens and tees, where they cause havoc.  It's much better to deal with the small disruption for a few weeks and know the limits of the damage.

Well to end, I will just show the photo below.  I understand golf can be frustrating, and maybe the conditions are keeping you from having your best game, but I find this particular type of damage unacceptable.