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A look at #16 green after we verticut it and seeded it. Brandon is topdressing it and then it was dragged. All this took place on April 30th, one week ago.

After the seeding process was completed we covered the green with a "Evergreen" cover. The timing was right on as the weather turned cold and miserable for the rest of the week.

Here is the verticutting process being done on #7 green. We cut in two different directions to create good channels for the bentgrass seed to be broadcast into.

When the turf comes out of winter in tough shape it is overwhelming how much there is to do while the sun is shining. As soon as we realized #7 & 16 green were not going to "come around" we went into action and got them seeded and covered. The covers allowed us to get a head start on germination during the miserable days that followed seeding. The good turf rebounded quickly and is aggressively growing, and after one week it appears we have some germination starting to take place. Our normal practice for the next couple of weeks will be to cover the greens for the night and uncover them during the day. On days with little sun and 50 degree temps it is likely the covers will stay on throughout the day.

There are quite a few fairway areas that lost turf, our plan is to slit seed, topdress, drag, and fertilize all those areas. To help with recovery we will be directing traffic away from those areas, so please follow all signage and ropes. With good weather the course should be back in shape soon.

There are a couple of collars that have significant damage and over the next week we will be regrassing the worst ones with sod from the turf nursery. We will also be aerifying, seeding, topdressing, and dragging all collars to help with recovery.

All in all we have a lot of work to do over the next two weeks to get the golf course back in prime shape for the summer. And that's just the recovery efforts, the laundry list of items that need to be done during the spring is long to say the least.

Greens Mower Check

We double checked the greens mower today by mowing #18, everything looks great so the plan is to mow the greens Saturday morning before the course opens for the season. The chipping green is very saturated so we will skip that green, we will also not be cutting the putting green due to its rather poor condition in spots. There shouldn't be much if any snow left after the beautiful weather today. There were some bunkers that had a lot of snow when the crew made there way around today so they skipped them. Those bunkers will be addressed soon but should still be playable if you happen to find yourself in one.

It was kind of rushed to get the course ready for the opener on Saturday. Since we only had 2 days to prep I know we ran out of time and missed a few things here and there. The water coolers will be out early next week if we do not get them out over the weekend. The hazard stakes still have ice in the ground sleeves so they should be able to go out after some warm temps this weekend when that melts. Seed/soil boxes and mix will be out starting Monday if it does not get done on the weekend. And there is quite a bit of debris cleanup that will occupy a lot of our time over the next week or two, especially around greens and tees.

Course is Opening April 27, 2013

This is what the course looked like yesterday morning, full of a lot of snow, but today it is 90% all gone. Course opens Saturday morning but it will be a little wet and there are some rough spots here and there. The annual bluegrass did not enjoy the long winter and much of it is definitely not green. For the most part the only turf loss appears to be in the bowls and pockets in some of the fairways. The front of #16 green is also in pretty tough shape, there are some fairly large areas that do not look like they survived the winter. We will be evaluating it over the next few days as things warm up and take quick action to get it back in shape as soon as possible. With only a couple days of being able to prep the golf course for the opener I just want all the members to know that certain things might not get done. We will do our best to get through as many bunkers as we can, I predict there will be snow still in some of them along with some leaf/stick debris. Our plan is to mow greens Saturday morning if they are firm enough for equipment traffic, some of them at this point are not. They will be clean and playable regardless. Do to remaining snow and wet conditions throughout the course, including our cart crossings in fairways, there will be no golf carts until conditions permit. I'm predicting carts will be allowed on paths only Monday or Tuesday of next week.

So here we go...

Growing Degree Days and Weather

Horticulturists, farmers, and gardeners use growing degree days(GDD) to quantify heat accumulation over a given period to predict plant blooms and pest emergence. I put together this chart for a couple of reasons today. One, it is a great way to visualize where we are today as compared to the last two years when it comes to weather. And two, at IVGC we use it to plan our first chemical application to inhibit poa annua seeding on our greens during the growing season. Using a base temp of 32 degrees F we are waiting to hit the 250 GDD number to apply the first of two pesticide applications. The chart shows how the weather can be extremely different from year to year. I hope we start warming up and accumulating some GDD fast (I say that with snow coming down and starting to accumulate on the turf). It is December right?

Welcome to Island View Golf Club

The new front entry sign, in progress...

Busy Fall

The front entry project has officially started in full force. Southwest Paving is now removing asphalt and will start the grading in the next day or two. Hartman has started the renovation of the first tee also, so there is a lot going on at the club right now. Projected entry project completion time is Mid October. Oh yeah, on top of all that it is aerifying time again. We completed the front nine greens today, plug-collect-sand-drag-brush-mow-water. We did not get the fertilizer down at this time because the winds were blowing 20+ mph all day, it was great for drying sand but not for spreading fert. We will get it down as soon as the winds calm and allow us to.

What A July, What A Wind!

How many days with 90+ degree weather so far this year? I think we are at 25 and counting. The month of July was something that is for sure. We had multiple days with soil temps at or over 100 degrees, it was a challenge keeping the turf cool. Collar areas took the brunt of the stress and there are quite a few poor spots to show it. We will be sodding a couple of the worst areas with bentgrass sod from the nursery area, and aerifying, seeding, and topdressing all the collars to help with a quick recovery. The recent cool down has been greatly appreciated that's for sure.

And now for the topic everyone has been talking about the last couple of days, the storm that blew through on the 3rd of August. Here are pictures to give you an idea of the damage and cleanup challenges we are facing right now. We hope to have 75% of the work done this week and the rest finished up by midweek next week. In all we will lose 17 trees due to the damage caused, some completely came down but many are so badly damaged that they need to come down. There are hundreds of hangers and fallen branches. Once the course is cleaned up and the hangers have been cut down we will start with the removal of the trees. A huge thanks to the members that showed up Sunday morning to help rake and pick up sticks, the effort is really appreciated by the staff. And a special thank you to Dean Geiger for the continued help he is giving us to load and remove brush from the golf course.