Rolling Road GC Golf Course Management

  What a week.  Frosty mornings, blustery winds and well below average temperatures.  Winter weather made an appearance this week but it was short lived with the end of the week more seasonal.  The team braved the wind and cold and had a great week.   With the forecasted freezing temperatures, the team started off the week removing all flowers around the property and cleaning all mulch beds.  With frost every morning the team started edging cart paths.  They completed the back 9 and most of the front 9 this week.  We will be finished this project early next week.   The team completed deep tining fairways early in the week.  Once fairways were finished they moved to deep tining all tees and practice fairways.  We are very pleased with the results and we hope to start round 2 of deep tining soon.   This week the team knocked out our first drainage project of the off season on hole 6.  We started with  som...

  Now that days are shorter and weather is changing the team switched gears this week and started tackling our winter work list.   This week the team started the process of deep tining fairways.  This is a long process with the average fairway taking 2.5 hours to complete and some fairways taking up to 4 hours.  Standard aerification only punches about 2 to 3 inches deep, so the deep tine allows us to go deeper to fracture the layer caused by standard aerification.  This is our first round of deep tining with the target depth around 5.5 inches.  Our goal is to be finished the first round early next week and complete a second round later this month with a target depth of 7 inches.  Also this week the team completed a deep verti-cut on all tees.  Once the verti-cut was complete the team spent hours cleaning up the debris.  This process allows us to remove thatch tied up in the top 1.5 inches to help with water infiltration and thatch dilut...

  Fall has arrived this week.  We had chilly temperatures and wind every day this week.  The team had a busy week.   We started off the week cleaning the parking lot in anticipation of sealing the cracks in the parking lot before the winter weather sets in.    Winter tees were marked. The first and second mow to lower these areas was completed this week.   This week marked the first week of fall that leaf clean up was a priority.  The team spent every day blowing and vacuuming leaves to stay ahead.     With the lack of rainfall in September and October we are back in a drought.  This is a tough time of year to be this dry.  The team spent a lot of time this week hand watering areas that are extremely dry. It is important this time of year for the soil and plants to be hydrated heading into the winter months to prevent winter desiccation.       Also this week the team found some time to knock o...

  The first full week of October and a big weather change.  The start of the week was warm with temperatures in the low 80's, we had a cold front move through the area that made the end of the week really feel like fall.  Our team had a great week.   We started off the week with an early golf outing on Monday and while the course was busy the team took the time to finish cutting down the native areas.  The mower we used for the tight areas and slopes was a DEMO unit called a Ventrac with the Tough Cut attachment. This mower is able to handle the hard to reach areas and severe slopes that we would have to weed eat.  The Tough Cut attachment is just one of over 30 different attachments available for the Ventrac.   Once Native Areas were cut down we applied our fall and winter herbicide treatment.  This application kills weeds left over from the summer months and prevents winter weeds from emerging.   Once the team was finished wi...

  Last week of September and the start of a new month.  The weather this week has been beautiful and the course is really shinning.  The team had a great week.   Now that we are into October and sunrises are later, headlights are in full use.  The team completed full course mow outs Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week.   Also this week greens were sprayed and fall fertility continues to be applied in the rough.    The big task this week was the mowing of all the native areas.  This is a big task with all hands on deck.  The team did amazing this week mowing down 90% of these areas with only a couple spots to complete next week.  After the mowing is finished we will be applying our fall pre-/post-emergent herbicide application.   Lastly, for the remainder of the week the team with be focused on details and getting the course ready for the weekend.  Thanks for reading.