Mink Meadows Turf Maintenance Department: Divine intervention

If you looked at the radar or watched the news than you can understand just how lucky we were over the last week on weather. We played golf every day over the long weekend with only a few showers compared to inches of rain and micro bursts. We managed to get everything we planned for the course closing on Tuesday with a perfectly timed .2" after we were done and watering it in anyway. Next day it is sunny and perfect so greens dry nicely and we can brush them in again and let the healing begin. It is most assuredly better to be lucky than good. Maybe hiring a Murphy was good luck!

common site as the storm just brushes MV second pin is Home and 4" recorded

scary looking. tweeted "glad not a turf pest"

Labor Day Scramble. Nice grouping, yes we made birdie

The cultural practices we planned for Tuesday went off without too many hiccups. The weather was sketchy to start with heavy fog. It kept everything wet and made a mess of the slice seeding for a couple of holes. It would have been impossible to topdress. But eventually the fog lifted and we began the long arduous task of applying sand to all the greens and approaches. Once we had most covered and it was just about dry enough to brush the skies turned black and we had a few rumbles of thunder. Panic would not describe the feeling you have knowing you could turn all that sand into mud and possibly not be able to do anything with it for another day, potentially. We began moving the sand in with a calm diligence and the storm missed us yet again. Must have been the third or fourth time in as many days. Payback for those 4 days in a row in the 90's in July? Maybe. So aside from a foggy start, a threat of rain at the worst time, and a tire blow out on the top dresser, the day went perfect. We aerified all the collars and approaches with our machines. The contractor deep tine aerified the greens and new tees and for giggles I test my luck and had him do the nursery. I did over the pipe we know is there with our machine and he did the rest. It was the first time so poking holes down 10-12 inches is always a gamble of what you might find. Sometimes an old cup gets speared and then jammed back into the grass until you notice the damage and extricate it from the tines. Sometimes an abandoned pipe is hit (5 green a couple of years ago) and then it makes a mess of your green and the list goes on and on. Again luck prevailed and no issues. In fact he only brought up one rock on the new tees when aerifying those and it only broke one tine and did not do much damage to the tee. The slice seeder managed to get everything done and catch his boat. He even did a few rough areas on the side of a couple holes. The tree contractor, Island Timber, was able to get all the stumps ground up as well. Perfect day.

Six green and slice seeder on one fairway

Shane aerifying greens

Tom grinding away

The recovery has been spectacular from the aerifying. We only brushed them one time after the first day. Yesterday we rolled them in the morning and today we are cutting them for the first time. Most greens you can barely see the holes.