I wanted to take some time to update the membership on what has been completed on your golf courses over the past couple of weeks. Ken Newcomb sent out a post just last week answering some construction questions that have been circulating and also touched on aerification. Today is the last day that the South Course is closed and we have had an incredibly productive couple of days. We have deep tined the greens to a depth of 8.5 inches. This will get oxygen into the soil at depths that normal aerification just can't reach. It also gives us channels that allow roots and water to move more freely through the soil. In addition to the deep tining, we aerified with the 1/4 inch tines, that were used on the North Course just last week, to help alleviate compaction and remove organic matter. All the greens have been topdressed with sand and will hopefully heal up in the next week or two. If the North is any indication of what we can expect on the South, the greens will be back to Coto quality very soon. We also have roto tilled every fairway bunker on the course. As mentioned in an earlier post, with the increased water needed by the golf course this time of year, the bunkers can become a little hard and compact. We are also adding new sand to greenside bunkers where needed. Playability of all the bunkers on the property should be greatly improved heading into the summer.
We are still in the process of aerifying the rough and hope to be able to completly finish on Friday, Monday at the latest. There will be some plugs in the rough, however they will be chopped up and dispersed by our mowers over the next couple of days. We also took advantage of the time closed to leach the fairways on the South for salts. This process requires a large amount of water to be put on fairways in order to push salts down past the rooting depth of the turf. And finally, the cartpaths on #12 and #17 that were lifted and cracked due to tree roots have been repaired.
All of this work done by your Golf Course Maintenance staff in a couple of days just in time before the heat hits us this weekend. The heat aside, it should be a great time to come to the club and play golf. I hope to see you all here.
