Weekly update

Judging by the faces we see returning to the island i would say summer is arriving. Not everyone is "down for the summer" yet but quite a few have returned. The course continues to get rave reviews. We went from a wet spell where it was always dreary and cold to some very nice days. Feast or famine. Biggest issue has been the lack of rain keeping the pollen alive and recirculating. The breezy days have not helped. We seem to be closing in on that cycle, thank goodness.
We managed to get ahead of the grass clippings for the most part only to have the oak tassels and pines dropping stuff as well as a few leaves coming down everywhere. Luckily we just had some wind and not the full force of the tornadoes that hit many communities in Mass. Still giving us a workout trying to keep the course clean, however.

Barry blowing off the 1st green so I can mow

We had a hydraulic hose blow on the second fairway. Luckily Fred heard it and pulled the mower into the rough before more damage occurred. I went out and rinsed the oil off. We use a vegetable based hyd. oil which runs cooler but the heat still torched the leaf tissue. I will check to see if the crowns are still alive before we decide what to do next to repair the damage.

washing hydraulic oil off turf

next morning

The grass on the left woods on number seven has taken hold and was actually too thick so we mowed it down. Eventually I hope for this area to be a thin and wispy fescue area. time will tell.

woods improvement #7

The deck work continues as well. I stained my stairs and deck as a trial run before starting the clubhouse porch. I also began the power washing of the lower deck and handicap ramps.

lower handicap ramp power washing

Matt staining deck

Kevin and I decided Friday would be a good day to aerify some of the weaker green surrounds. We have a lot of thatch in some of these areas and by mid summer they begin to give us issues. The best way to deal with excess thatch is to remove it. Pulling cores works well and gives us a place to add sand and or seed if necessary. We started with three and five until the belts broke on the aerifier. Just as well as it took several hours to clean up the cores and get the areas top dressed. We also did a fairway exspansion on number four and the cart path expansion on three. A productive week by any measure but especially when we lost a day with the Memorial Day Holiday Tossed in. To stay ahead of the mowing schedule I mowed fairways Sunday night. I had no intention of cutting them all but the course was slow and so I was able to get them all done in 3.5 hrs. Sorry I did not think to take a picture of mowing the last two in the dark. It was interesting to be sure.

Aerifier cores from three surrounds. No soil at all. solid thatch

Next week we will try to get a few of the irrigation sprinkler additions done. And continue to improve the decks.