September 4th: Course Update
It has been awhile since our last blog post so we wanted to provide an update to some of the work the agronomy team has recently completed or has planned for the near future. This time of year sunrise is over 30 minutes after the grounds crew starts their work day. With tee times still at the normal summer hours we need to complete the first few holes of work before the sun comes up. As a result one thing early morning golfers might notice is an increased amount of dew on greens for the first few holes. Normally this dew is mowed or rolled off by our morning course set up work but with the later sunrise a new layer of dew often times is forming behind the mowers/rollers despite still mowing 7 days a week.
Aerations:
Slightly over two weeks has now passed since our summer greens aeration was completed. Overall we are very happy with how the process went and how the greens have responded/recovered since.
While seemingly grumpy looking Matt was happy with how aeration went Crew picking up the aeration cores About 5 days after aeration Some sand channels from the aeration First mow post aeration 9th Green
This coming Tuesday we also plan to perform a verticutting to greens with a light topdressing if time and weather permit. Verticutting helps reduce thatch build up, promotes upright dense turf growth, and creates small channels to more easily incorporate topdressing sand into the green. This process was recently completed on the large short game green and caused little to no disruption to the green. Additionally we intend to preform another micro tine aeration to greens towards the end of the month. This is a practice we have done already this year and is another example of some minimally invasive/disruptive cultural practices we are aiming to do more of. Membership will be informed of these maintenance events via both the blog and the club SMS communication system. These practices are necessary for the overall health and continued success of the greens here at Ipswich especially as they continue to age. These practices are being done with the goal of increasing the overall performance of the greens day in and day out. Agronomically we are looking to reduce thatch and increase water infiltration. Which in turn will improve playability with increased green speed, firmness, and smoothness.
Approaches were also recently core aerated, topdressed, and fertility applied. We plan to solid tine and topdress the approaches one more time this season in order to help firm them up some more. We have also adjusted the mowing height at which the approaches are maintained at to a lower height of cut.
Jim Kindler aerating approaches Cores to be clean up Topdressed approach Handmowed Tri-plexed
Tee aeration is planned to begin shortly, likely sometime next week. They will be core aerated, cores collected, and topdressed. This process will have little disruption on play.
Divot Bottles:
The agronomy team and the golf operations team have been going through the plastic divot bottles and discarding any broken/cracked ones. New replacement bottles have been ordered and will be put out as soon as they arrive. In the meantime you will likely notice a reduced number of divot bottles available at the refill stations on 5, 10, and 14. We will have more available hopefully shortly.
13 Sod Prep Area:
Work to the area of rough on the left of 13 that was stripped of sod is still underway. Unfortunately we experienced some equipment failure which put a halt to the prep work. A replacement was ordered and should be arriving (today actually) at which point prep work will resume. This area will be sodded sometime later this month or early next month.
Cart Path Repairs:
This week the section of cart path leading up to the 8th forward tee was repaved by Atlantic Paving. This section of path was in terrible shape was becoming a safety hazard. We took the opportunity to redesign the path slightly and extended the path out past the forward tee towards the fairway. This extension was where forward tee players were driving onto the fairway from thus creating a distinct traffic pattern. This paved section will allow us to better control cart traffic from the forward tee using stakes and hopefully eliminate future traffic issues from forming there. The crew is currently in the process of cleaning up and landscaping the edges of the new path. Below are some before and after pictures of the the path. Landscaping of the area will continue with some areas being seeded and others sodded.
Path is wider New turnaround Path extension rounded for cart exit options
The next section of path that will be submitted for approval is a small section of damaged path between 5 green and 6 tee. This is the section of path that has repeatedly formed a small sinkhole in the middle of the path creating a safety hazard. Cart path repairs to sections of the path along the 10th hole are planned to be submitted for approval following the completion of the above work. Agronomy is well aware this is a big member gripe and will be making our best efforts to get work in this area approved.
Wildlife Photos:
Green Heron Young Buck
