GOLF COURSE UPDATE 11/9/21

 

ROUGH TEE PAD BUILT/MIX TO COME/GRASS NEXT WEEK

• GREENS - Mowed at .125" 3 times per week rolled 2 times, TEES/COLLARS/APPROACHES Mowed at .325" 1x times per week, FWYS Mowed at .375" 2 times per week, ROUGH Mowed at 2" as needed.
• Fall Aeration schedule was modified due to inclement weather during our week but overall it was a success greens, collections and tees were cored with big 5/8 tines and filled with sand, while fairways were deep solid tined to an 8" depth allowing water to penetrate deeper in the soil structure. Roughs will begin 11/15/21 and continue until completion.
• Our irrigation system will be winterized beginning on Friday 11/12/21 and will include all golf course, halfway house, and pool house restrooms.
• Renovation work has started in roughs with sod and seed to repair areas damaged from the additional cart traffic, diseased varieties, and weakened grassy areas, and as time permits will continue.
• LEAF RULE IN EFFECT - Leaf cleanup will be daily and often. Thankfully we had hard frosts all last week to hopefully get them down fast and hard.
• Property Detail - All flowers and perennial beds will be cleaned out and lightly mulched for the off-season as frosts have scorched any good plant material.
• Plant protectant, growth regulator applications, and weekly to bi-weekly fertility application programs are in full rotation to provide healthy playing surfaces.
• Needle-tine aeration to greens bi-weekly with sand topdressing as time and weather permits. This will allow us to continue pushing root mass before winter and allow air, water, and nutrient to penetrate our surfaces.
• PROJECT WORK has begun and will continue next spring with driving range tee area grass extension work, the re-introduction of our step-cut (11/8/21) similar to pre-pandemic lines, rebuild/reline/resand greenside bunkers, and rebuilding the #12 and #14 tee complex. Tree work will also begin this winter starting with dead trees and moving to other areas where we can open sightlines for aesthetics or help improve growing conditions.
• Tennis Court Screens/Nets - Friday 11/12/21 we will shut down water to courts meaning Har-Tru Clay will no longer be watered daily. Courts #6,#7,#8 will be taken down the week of 11/8, Courts #3,#4,#5 will be taken down the week of 11/15. And Courts #1 and #2 once Ricky has decided that they are no longer necessary.

What a season it has been with transition, more rounds than ever, labor gaps, incredible rain events, and my high expectations to deliver the best! We did it! We managed to pull off a great golf season during some adverse circumstances.

Now the fun has begun to get our property back to pre-pandemic conditions and propel Pine Hollow to best in class as I always felt we were on the North Shore. This all began back in August with our first aeration and continued with all the small projects we've been working on the past few months. Now we have turned to a more aggressive mentality while laying out major CAPX projects listed above and dialing in our cultural practices with aerification and sand topdressing. These short-term inconveniences will be performed in the off-peak season and provide us with great playing surfaces and exciting improvements for years to come. McDonald and Sons Golf Construction has been secured to rebuild bunkers and tees mentioned and is the same company we used successfully for #1 green complex. This company is the best in the business and is currently booked for the foreseeable future with work, so we are extremely lucky to have such a great team on site. In regards to our playing surfaces, we will continue to aerate at different depths and with different tines this fall adding more sand applications until the ground freezes and again aggressively next March so that I can restore all shortcut turf to firm and fast playability. I know it's always tough to say goodbye to golf in the Northeast but this is my department's time to shine and prepare for next year. As always thank you for your support and get some rounds in while we can! Thank you!!!!

FROST 11/7/21