News

By the end of this past week I was able to finish the remainder of the herbicide applications covering all 164 acres. I spent 33 hours spraying the golf course for the control of clover and other broadleaf weeds. That doesn't seem like a long time unless you consider all of the factors that affect the ability to spray on the golf course. Weather conditions must be favorable with less than 10 mph winds, maintenance practices must be completed in the treated areas, and we also have hundreds of golfers every day. Overall it went about as smoothly as could be expected.

The irrigation system has been used more in the past two weeks than the entire previous golf season. We have been working through some electrical issues we have been experiencing since the flooding. The practice green stations had continued to short circuit until the problem was corrected Friday afternoon. These issues have created a lot of dry spots on the practice green and collar. 

There are still a few small issues remaining in the pumphouse as well as leaking valves around the golf course. The pumphouse was inspected by our technician and he will be on site in another week to complete the repairs. The pumps need new bearings and seals due to the flooding. The pump issues will be addressed later in the year when time allows us to get them to Pixler Electric

 

This next week we will start to address more of the valves issues around the golf course. These areas have a lot of standing water around valve boxes as well as leaking irrigation heads. Generally these issues are caused by debris in the diaphragm of the valve. 

 

Obviously our rainfall totals have been way out of control in 2024. This has resulted in the turfgrass roots remaining very close to the soil surface. In general the turf plant's roots start off very shallow and grow deeper as the season moves along. This year the soil has been so saturated the turfgrass roots have not needed to grow very deep since the moisture is present at the soil surface. This causes a lot of stress on the turf plant when the temperatures get very warm. This is noticed by some of the brown areas showing up in different areas of the golf course.

The past week we hosted 80 senior men on Monday morning. Saturday we hosted 80 golfers for the Salute to Veterans golf event. Both were very busy days. Next week we have the Smiley Open golf event on the 27th. The month of August will also see quite a few golf events on the calendar.

Please reach out if you have any questions or would like additional information on a topic. Enjoy the remainder of the beautiful weekend.