Welcome

We developed this blog to provide golf course maintenance information to our members. From projects, small and large, to updates on course conditions, we want to provide as much information as possible. Although we hope this blog answers all of the pertinent questions regarding our operation, we always welcome more personalized dialogue. If you have questions beyond the information found on this blog, feel free to contact our golf course superintendent, Trevor Hedgepeth.

thedgepeth@kinlochgolfclub.com

804-840-8320


Thursday, April 21, 2011

Cottage Putting Green Update

Today is exactly one month from seeding on the cottage putting green. Here are a few pictures to show its progress.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Our First Intern Is Here

The Kinloch Maintenance staff is proud to introduce the newest member to our staff for the upcoming season. Ajay Malhotra comes to us from the CAEP global internship program as a summer intern. Ajay is from New Delhi, India and is extremely excited about coming to the states to learn the American style of turf management practices and experience the culture and social lifestyle of Americans.

Ajay began his career working at Eagleton Golf Resort in the southern region of India, which is currently ranked the second best course in the country. He received his bachelors of science from Agra University in Agra, India and became the first ever turfgrass student from India after successfully completing his National certificate in greenkeeping from Elmwood college in St. Andrews, Scotland. He is also the only Indian who was awarded scholarship by ‘’R&A’’ for studying greenkeeping. While in Scotland, Ajay was fortunate enough to have an internship at the Old Course on St. Andrews, including the experience of the 2010 British Open Championship. Since completing the R&A program, Ajay signed up through CAEP which located him here with us at Kinloch. In his free time, Ajay enjoys watching golf on TV, playing golf when he can, running and visiting his family and friends that are here in the United States, in the Washington, DC area.

The remaining three interns will be here the first of May, so check back for a bio on those individuals.

Cottage Putting Green Update

Here are a few photos on the progress of the cottage putting green grow-in, three weeks after seeding.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Cottage Green Germination

After two cold weeks, we now have germination on our new putting green located near the cottages. Once the finish grading was complete on the green surface, the surface was divided into six different quadrants of bentgrass. This will serve as an excellent opportunity for us to monitor the advances of these new varieties in comparison with the existing L-93 on the golf course. This comparison will allow us to evaluate which varieties may be more heat tolerant, disease tolerant and drought tolerant for future projects. The six different blends were as follows: Tyee, T1/Alpha, Tyee/Mckenzie, T1, 007 and V-8.



Once seeding was completed, the seed was raked-in and tracked with a sand-pro to ensure good seed to soil contact. The knobby tires on this machine also produce dimples and pockets to help with water holding in the early stages of establishment.



Two weeks later, we now have a green glaze across the putting surface.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Stay Updated on Twitter!

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Another spring aerification is complete

It was a cold, dreary last few days, but we can officially call our spring aerification complete. The process started on Sunday at 11:00 am after a lengthy frost delay. First we deep tined greens, followed by removing 3/8 inch cores with our walk behind aerifiers.



On Monday morning, again after a lengthy frost delay, we finished up the remaining greens and Mid-Atlantic Dryject Company started the process of dryjecting the greens. This process was outlined in last week’s blog, in which a machine provides the cultural benefit of creating additional aeration holes while filling them with sand at the same time. This practice took all day, with only the completion of #14 spilling over into Tuesday. Employees were stationed at each green using buckets to fill dry sand into the machine every pass.



Once greens were finished, the process of coring tees and approaches started. As of today we have aerified all approaches and most of tees with the exception of a few on the front due to rain storms.


On Monday afternoon, we started topdressing greens, and completed the process on Tuesday. Following topdressing, greens were push broomed to work the sand into the holes. A one ton asphalt roller was used to roll any ruts out that were created from all of the traffic from equipment on the greens during the entire week.


To round out the week on Wednesday and Thursday, we did our bulk gypsum application on tees, fairways and rough. We also finished aerifying the rough using pull behinds spoon aerifiers. Greens and tees were amended with gypsum, pro-mag and a balanced fertilizer to help with recovery. Finally, everything from benches to flagsticks were put back in place for the return of play of Friday.

All in All, with the exception of Mother Nature trying to throw a wrinkle in the game plan, it was yet again another successful Aerification. A special thanks goes out to the entire staff, who put in countless hours over the past week to make it all happen!