Nutrients

Here is a picture of granular nutrients going down after aeration. Having holes in the greens allows for an easy way to get nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium into the root zone for plant availability.

Sand based greens (USGA spec) don't hold nutrients very long and you must replenish these elements on a regular basis to keep the plant healthy.

Aeration

Here is a picture of the aerator punching greens. Aeration is a necessary management practice to keep greens alive and healthy throughout the year.

Deep tining greens

Here is a picture of the Vertidrain punching deep tine aeration holes in the greens before the regular aerator goes over greens. This helps the grass develop long root systems and allows root regeneration after a summer of root loss. We do this in October because they are still too weak during the August aeration to have this machine on the greens.

New Drains

We are working on replacing some of the old concrete drains that are cracking and falling apart. They are being replaced with plastic basins that are set in concrete. We just have to tie in the existing outfalls into the casing. This should give the drains a neater look, and eliminates the danger of damaging mowers due to unstable drain tops. Right now we are working on #12 and #17. After these are finished we continue on others around the course.

Greens

All of the weak greens are recovering nicely and we are seeing a lot of seed germination from all of the seeding we have been doing. These greens were aerated and fertilized last week - reason they look a little more lush than the others.

The rest of the greens will be aerated next week and fertilized at this same rate. It is best to have holes in the greens when applying this fall fertilizer. We will lightly topdress all the greens next week after they are punched.

I am happy with the overall condition of the greens after this difficult summer, and they are rolling at a speed that we will try to maintain until the amigos leave for the year.

New pump controls

Here is a picture of the touchscreen computer that controls pump operation. This new pump station should help us really save on utility costs, decrease on water usage, and help elongate the life of our irrigation system.

New Pumps

Here is a pic of the new pump skid being installed with the crane.