1. Course-Wide Aeration
2. Drainage
3. Chemical/Fertility Planning
4. Irrigation Audits
5. Fairway Basin Leveling
6. Creek Bank Restoration
7. Wood-Line Thinning
These objectives, although a central focus of our off-season efforts, do not entail everything that we must complete before April 1st. In addition to the list above, we will (or have already): cleaned-up all of the fallen leaves throughout the property, install several new landscape features, build new walkpaths, dormant fertilize the rough, complete miscellaneous sod projects, refurbish equipment, restore our outside furniture and bunker rakes, re-paint our tee markers, organize our shop and adjacent yard, order staff uniforms, compile a list of necessary play supplies, hire and train new staff, map contaminated rough, prepare for our upcoming renovation, and maintain the golf course on days when our members can play.
In a nutshell, we have been extremely busy and productive. And that drumbeat will go on throughout the rest of February and March.
In this blog post, while I'd like to cover everything that we have accomplished, I will focus on a few of our key initiatives.
1. Course Wide Aeration
Just after the new year, we began core aerating all of our maintained turf, less the greens. Due to our upcoming closure this summer, we decided to defer our typical March aeration. We did this to give our membership an extended spring with no disruption to the putting surfaces. Although I am comfortable deferring the greens' aeration, I felt that we must core aerate our fairways, tees and primary rough.
So, on days where we could get after it, we have pulled a 1/2" core on 2" centers to a depth of 2.5". We have completed 75% of the closely mowed turf and 40% of our primary rough. We are aerating the bentgrass with our 648's and our rough with John Deere Aercore 2000's. For our fairways and tees, the cores have been swept with our Toro Pro-Sweeps and top-dressed with 1000 pounds of sand per 1000 square feet. Once the sand has been applied, we have used our sweep-n-fill(s) to clean the fairways. Following the sweepers, we have rolled each fairway and tee with our Salsco fairway roller. All in all, the process has been very smooth with minimal collateral damage.
As for the rough, once the core has been pulled, we have drug the debris in several directions. Once the aeration is complete, we will apply some spring fertility and bulk gypsum. At our current pace, all aeration should be completed by the 15th of March and we will turn our attention to daily conditions.
2. Drainage Projects
2018 definitely identified areas that are not draining well enough to support healthy turf. So we have identified multiple areas that need additional drainage. To date, we have installed drainage in #8 fairway, #4 walk-path and #5 tee complex. Additional drainage will be added to holes 1,2,3 and 15.
3. Walk Path Construction
We have constructed a new walk path from the 1st green to the 2nd tee. We think this path will be more functional and beautiful. We have completed the structure, but will be installing some defining landscape features as well.
The off-season of 2018 has been extremely productive. Our biggest goal in 2019 is to host an absolutely stellar spring golf season. With the golf course closing in early July, we are excited to present our members and guests with 3-4 months of great conditions with little to no disruptions. The work we are doing now will lay the foundation to achieve that goal.
In closing, I must thank our team!! These guys have been relentless working odd-hours and long-weekends. Aside from the long hours, they have been extremely flexible and highly efficient, all while maintaining the best attitudes. Our assistants, Mike Nowicki, Adam Sauls and Blake Heinz have been outstanding leading our team. And Terry Kennedy, our equipment manager, has been unreal in keeping the equipment operating while focusing on his preparations for 2019. Kinloch Golf Club is lucky to have these guys!!
We look forward to warm, dry weather soon!
