Bent outside collars

Some of the collars have some bentgrass outside the collars. I plan on spraying it out but have to wait until the Bermuda goes completely dormant. Once that happens we will spray out this bentgrass with roundup (roundup doesn't affect dormant Bermuda). There are chemicals that will kill the bent without hurting the bermuda but this type of herbicide has a tendency to move with water in the soil. This is dangerous to spray around greens because one heavy rain could move it into the greens, killing the grass on the greens.

Course conditions

We got about a tenth of an inch of rain last night. This has made the course a little on the wet side and the greens are a little soft. We are rolling greens this morning and the greens are rolling nicely. I would like to have them about a foot faster right now but rain has made that difficult to achieve.

Spots on greens

This time of year the greens get a little spotty look to them. These spots you see are different bio-types of bentgrass that have segregated out though the years. We normally start seeing it around the first frost. These different biotypes react differently to the cold weather when compared to the other bentgrass and the poa in the greens. So not to worry - no diesease or pests present.

Course conditions

The course is pretty wet after all the recent rains. The soil has been at field capacity (filled up with water) for some time now thanks to the wet year we have had in 2011. It will be wet for a while because of our soil type and no grass growing to suck it up.

The carts will be on paths for the remainder of the winter. I let them go on the grass as long as we could, but with the rainfall and the Bermuda being dormant it's time to limit the traffic. This will help the Bermuda come back great in the spring as it has the last couple of years. Running carts throughout the winter on dormant grass will wear down the grass and compaction becomes a major concern - resulting in slow greenup and thin grass in the spring.

2 TRCC Amigos Robbed Returning Home

2 TRCC Amigos Robbed Returning Home.

Two of the Mexican workers (Felipe and Luis) that collectively have worked ten years for TRCC, were robbed at gun point returning home for the winter. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The robbery took place between the Mexico City Airport and their homes.

Based on the few facts that Brent has, the robbers have spotters working in the airports. When they see individuals similar to Felipe and Luis getting off a plane from the U.S. with large boxes and more baggage than usual, they relay this info to individuals outside the airport, along with the make and model of the car they are driving and then rob them on route.

 As is normal, when they leave to return to Mexico, they take some cash as they have no credit cards. Felipe had just bought a new Canon Camera and Luis had a new TV and all this was taken along with gifts, all their clothes, passports, visas, i.d.’s etc. which have to be replaced.

Based on the prompt response of the three Golf Associations, (Men’s, Ladies’ 9 &18) the golf community raised an appropriate amount of money, based on Brent’s input, and he has wired the money to both men. We are sure that if they were here in person they would extend to all their sincerest appreciation.

Attached in a photograph of the President of each group presenting the check to Brent.

Roberta Nucci, Stephanie Heller, Brent Graham. Betsy Northrop, Frank Faykes

Irrigation blowout

Had an irrigation line blow out this afternoon near #16 green. WHAT A MESS! Washed out both bunkers and left dirt everywhere.

Curbing removal

Here is a picture of some of the curbing removal that we are doing on #4. After the curb is removed, the sod will be removed, dirt smoothed, and sod replaced.

Cold weather

The weather has finally started cooling off. Here is an early morning picture of #9 with a heavy frost in the rough. The frost this time of year will set in heavier in the long grass and not so much on the greens and fairways. This is the reason that the fairways are still a little green - the frost hasn't hit them quite as hard yet.

PG2 Timeline

Scalp down old green

Heavy verticut in two directions.



Aerate 2 times.

Deep tine aeration

Heavy topdress

Gas with Methyl Bromide

Remove Gassing Tarps

Seed 007 bentgrass on 9/9/11

First nutrient application

Dimple in seed for good seed-to-soil contact.

10 days after seed

15 days after seed

19 Days after seeding and 1st mow.

34 days after seeding

66 days after seeding

70 days after seeding.

Showdown with Duff

Thought this was a great picture of Duff and my 3 yr old son Landon.  Who's watching who?

rolling greens

We are rolling greens this morning.  Have two of the new guys getting trained on this.  Rolling is one of the most difficult things to learn on the golf course.  The steering is reversed than that of a car - it takes a little while to pick it up.

Changing cups in the Winter

We try not to change cups every day in the winter.  Usually every other day unless we get a day with a lot of play.  The greens are not growing as fast as they are in the summer so the old cups don't recover as fast and it will seem like there are old cups everywhere.