Winterization complete!

We have been experiencing one of the warmest, driest November's on record. Which is refreshing as the past couple of years have had us scrambling around to get the golf course put to bed properly. This years winterization process went very well. The lack of precipitation (rain or snow) has allowed us to finish the fertilizer and protectant applications in order give the turf a strong start next spring. Greens, tees and fairways have been fertilized and sprayed for snow mould protection. Rough areas are fertilized, divots are filled and course accessories have been brought in. Prior to this, the irrigation lines were blown out (it takes 2 full days) and leaves and debris were cleaned up to minimize disease potentials.

Winter can throw some interesting challenges at us, but aside from that I feel we have prepared the course very well.

Let it drain...

There have been a few nagging drainage issues on the golf course through the later part of this season. Rebel Creek is a unique property in that there are small springs that make there way to the surface in the strangest places. The key to maintaining a good playing surface is drainage, drainage, drainage. We have addresed three areas this fall in order to catch the water before it gets to the surface and redirect it into the existing drainage system.

Check out my slide show on divot and ball mark repair >>>>>

Bunkers... hazards???

It is interesting how a hazard that was once a wind eroded depression created and used by sheep grazing on the old courses became this! The cost of maintaining our bunkers, far exceed the cost of maintaining our greens. Bunkers have evolved into highly manicured hazard with sharp edges and fluffy (but not too fluffy) sand. I wish I had a sand pit suitable for bunker sand, because it is "gold" delivered in a dump truck.
Highly manicured turf... yes, but hazards... I am not sure...

light topdressing

Driving Range

Scattering your divot pattern as you practice on the driving range will speed up the recovery time of the divots. We include seed when we fill the divots with mix, but a bentgrass divot also fills in from the sides using lateral growth from stolons. Remember: try to ensure each divot is not touching the another and this will help speed up divot recovery!

Did you know... (mowing greens)

Did you know...
- the greens at Rebel Creek are mowed everyday
- we use Toro 21" wide walk behind greens mowers (as the photos show)
- Toro Flex21's have a floating cutting head that moves independently of the chassis. This allows for a great cut over undulating greens
- it takes 4 teams members, 3.5 hours to mow all 20 greens
- each team member taks great pride in mowing razor straight lines
- numerous ballmarks are repaired and filled on each green before it is mowed
- each mower is precisely set to <0.125" height of cut and checked everyday
- greens mowers are sharpened numerous times during the season
- all greens are mowed in a different direction everyday
- grass clippings are always collected and we monitor the yields to help us determine the fertilizer requirements