Kinloch Golf Club
1st
Quarter Golf Course Maintenance Update
Although the winter weather has been sporadic, our golf maintenance team has remained very productive. Over the past 3 months, we have accomplished many tasks and projects while maintaining the course for daily play. The following report will cover our production throughout the off-season. We have organized this report into the following sub-sections:
I. Completed Projects
II. Projects Underway
III. Upcoming Projects
IV. Perennial Practices
V. Spring Aeration
VI. Aeration Recovery Time-Line
VII. Detail Work
I. Completed Projects
Under the guidance of our design team, Lester George and Vinny Giles, we have completed several projects across the property.
• Cleaned up and restored the native area to the front right of the 3rd tee complex.
• Removed hardwoods behind the 3rd green.
• Set-back the tree line to the left and rear of the 4th green.
• Restored the native hillside to the left of the 6th fairway (upper)
• Expanded the bent grass approach around the rear and to the right of the 9th green
• Cleared a line of sight to the right lower fairway on the 9th hole
• Converted the first10 yards of the right lower fairway on the 9th hole to rough
• Installed bluestone pathways at porch exits at Cottages 2 and 3
• Re-grassed the par 3 green to new varieties of bent grass
• Re-sodded all collar areas infested with perennial rye-grass
II. Projects Underway
• Install new teeing area to the right of the fire-pit
• New paver path and landscaping to the left of the 2nd green
• New landscaping at the pro-shop entrance
• Restoration of the native area to the left of the 15th tee complex and fairway
• Grading and mulching the gravel access trail behind the 17th green
III. Upcoming Projects
• Reinstate 19th hole teeing area along the dam
• Creek restoration on the 10th hole between the tee complex and fairway
• Creek restoration behind the 11th green
• Paver path way from porch exit at Cottage 1
• Landscaping installations to the left of the 10th green and behind the 15th green
• Landscaping installations along the new patios at all 3 cottages
• Install new irrigation caps on all broken heads (new distance plaques)
IV. Perennial Practices
• Double deep tined fairways and approaches
• Vertical mowed all bent grass surfaces
• Drainage installed in the 3rd and 9th approaches
• Cut-back all over-grown wetland/native areas
• Cleaned up underbrush on the opposite sides of the cart path
• Pruned tree limbs near pocketed green sites (#3,#4,#5,#7,#11,#17)
• Re-furbished all benches, trash cans and other course furniture
• Re-painted all tee marker borders
• Cleaned up all leaves across the entire property
• Fertilized all of our existing plant material
• Planned and ordered all chemicals and fertilizer for 2015
• Removed many dead or dying trees across the property
• Mulched all landscape areas (in progress)
V. Spring Aeration
Our annual spring aeration has gone very well. I remain very thankful for all of the member support that we receive during both the spring and fall aerations. Other than perhaps Member Invitational, there is not a more stressful period(s) than aeration. Although we are very excited about the positive benefits of an aggressive aeration program, there is no one more impatient than our golf maintenance team with regards to recovery time. To keep this report as concise as possible, I would direct you to our blog site for a detailed recap of this year’s aeration process. http://kinlochgcm.blogspot.com/. We look forward to re-opening on Tuesday, March 31st.
VI. Aeration Recovery Time-Line
Once aeration is completed, we immediately focus our attention on the recovery of our playing surfaces; particularly the putting greens. With our process, we apply a great deal of topdressing sand. We do this this for three reasons: (1) to fill all of the aeration holes thus creating clean pore space for months on end; (2) to smooth any imperfections within the putting surface and (3) to firm up the surfaces for the long-term. Although we will remain committed to an aggressive top-dressing program, it does limit our ability to roll the greens directly after we re-open. We do not want to press tender leaf tissue against the grainy sand that has yet to be fully worked into our canopy. Thus, during the first week after reopening, we will single cut the greens each morning with little to no rolling. Beginning with the week of April 6th, we expect that the grass will have grown through the sand to a point where we can re-introduce rolling in conjunction with mowing. Ultimately, we target Master’s Weekend (April 10th – 12th) for consistent putting green performance. This timeline allows for proper post-aeration recovery and dovetails nicely with our opening day celebration. We already feel very fortunate to have such a patient membership regarding our aeration practices. We hope that by explaining our recovery time-line, you can fully appreciate our process and trust that we want to push our surfaces as soon as possible.
VII. Detail Work
A key differentiator in Kinloch’s maintenance practices has always been our strong attention to detail. Nowhere is the commitment more evident than in our care and concern for crisp edges and straight mowing patterns. Following the clean-up from aeration, we will begin edging all of our features while re-marking and straightening any skewed mowing patterns. Throughout the year, we edge every feature on our property every 14 days. However, the first edging of the new season is always the most intensive. Furthermore, we are beginning to mow turf, applying fertilizer and finishing our project list mentioned above. With all of that taken into consideration, our plan for detail work over the coming weeks is as follows:
1. March 30th – April 3rd – Edge Cart Paths/Sod Damaged Edges and Mulch Work
2. April 6th – 10th – Edge Bunkers and Mulch Work
3. April 13th – 17th – Edge Sprinkler Heads and Creek/Pond Banks and Mulch Work
4. April 20th – 24th – Edge Mulch Beds and Complete Mulch Work
Ultimately, our seasonal crescendo is the Member Invitational, but we hope to have most of the detail work completed on our around our Opening Day Celebration.
We hope that you find this report useful. As always, if you have additional questions, feel free to contact me either by phone (804) 840-8320 or email at thedgepeth@kinlochgolfclub.com. You can also access more detailed information on our blog site: http://kinlochgcm.blogspot.com/ and you can see daily course updates on our twitter feed: @kinlochdaily.com. Thank you for reviewing this report and we look forward to a great spring season.
Trevor Hedgepeth
Golf Course Superintendent
