Rolling Road GC Golf Course Management

  What a great last week of April and the start of a new month.  This week the maintenance team absolutely crushed it.  Not only did the team complete spring aerification, the parking lot was sealed and restriped this week and more pre-summer applications were applied.  Spring aerification went very smooth even with battling cloudy conditions, some rain and equipment breakdowns.   With the sun shinning on Monday the team was able to put a huge dent into greens punching.  They started off with a heavy coat of sand on all the greens.   The SR 70 Deep Tine attachment followed close behind the sand application to punch 1/2" holes, 7 inches deep to break up the clay layer in the greens.  This process used to be contracted out but with the continued investment by the membership we now can complete this process in-house.   Following the Deep Tine process we used our two smaller aerifiers to punch a 3/8" hole while removing the materia...

  A taste of Summer this week.  With high's in the 80's and some days close to 90's it felt more like summer this week than the middle of April.  We even broke a couple records this week.  Our team had a great week.   Sprayers were out in full swing this week.  We were able to apply wetting agent to all playing surfaces to help with water infiltration during this growing drought.  Also the first round of pre-emergent herbicides were applied on fairways and tees. High traffic areas and bunker faces were sprayed with fertilizer to increase growth and density, along with normal weekly fungicides and plant growth regulators to tees, fairways and greens.    The irrigation system was put through its paces this week and some irrigation repairs were needed.  All in all the team needed to repair 6 sprinkler heads and 3 pipe breaks.   Greens fans were put back out this week.  We do not anticipate needing the fans just yet but w...

  Another week of temperatures up and down. The only thing we didn't have this week was rain.  The team had a great week dialing in details, playing catch up and even starting a project.   Once the course was prepped for the Monday tournament the team started off the week mulching the property.  They were able to lay 70 yards of mulch Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.   Details were one of the main focuses this week.  The team trimmed and edged all bunkers,  full course weed eat and power washed the bridges on holes 2 and 3.   Also this week we applied our first weekly nutrient package to the greens.   With the irrigation system fired up last week, we had some issue come up over the weekend.  The team tackled 3 irrigation leaks this week.  The irrigation repair list is short this spring but once we start testing the system more will most likely pop up.   This week we started a new fun project at the pool...

  Last days of March and a new month started.  The "Flip Flop" weather continued this week: frost and freezing temperatures last weekend, record highs, then back to more normal temperatures and above average temperatures for this weekend.  It has been extremely difficult to lock in our spring programs and stay on a consistent schedule but our team continues to crush it with another busy and productive week.    This week we applied our second round of Poa seed-head control on greens and fairways.  We are happy with the results so far but with the inconsistent weather patterns it's hard to say if our timing of the applications was correct.   Our tree contractor was out again this week removing all the dead wood out of the 3 Elms on hole 11.  Removing the dead wood ensures safety while playing and we are currently working with the Greens Committee on planning the replacement of these trees.   The big project for the week was sodding wi...

  The "Flip Flop" March weather continued this week.  From record highs to thunderstorms, wind, cold temps and even some snow showers.  The team had a very productive week.   We started off the week applying our first round of Poa seedhead control on greens and fairways.  This applications prevents the Poa plant from seeding which allows for better playing conditions and also strengthens the plant for the summer months.     The snow and ice we received this winter has put the team behind on some winter projects.  This week the team continued punching rough around the course.  We are over 50% complete and will continue punching rough over the next few weeks.  We hope to be completed by the end of the month.     Our tree contractor was out this week grinding all the stumps from winter tree work.  A full two days was needed to complete the grinding.  We will start the process of cleaning the stump grinding...