LETTER FROM THE GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT
RICH'S RAP
Summer started out with an abnormal drought and now
we are finally in our summertime rain patterns. Our
North Course greens renovation program is in full swing
and doing very well. The newly planted sprigs and collars
are doing great and should continue that trend. Greens
aerifications, tee aerifications, along with aerifying the
collars and approaches has been a big success and will
continue throughout the rest of the summer.
The North Course greens renovation started out great
with the welcoming of our summer rains. After six
weeks of being on the ground, the greens are now at
90-100% grown in. The collars are fully established and
are tied in perfectly. The combination of great teamwork
and working closely with the contractor has proven
to be essential in our success. The entire maintenance
staff has assisted in a huge way. Jessie and Mike, my
two assistants, have played the biggest part in carrying
out the program to near perfection. Countless hours
watering and babysitting for the first four weeks was
no easy task for them, but they came through in a big
way! Louis was also a pivotal player in the grow-in. His
irrigation knowledge and passion for perfection kept us
on track as well.
continuous spray program to eradicate as many weeds as
possible. It will show improvement over the next couple
months of summer. Our goal is to have minimal sod
work needed and provide an enhanced playing surface
without weeds.
Tree work throughout all three nines is also taking shape,
as well as the dead pines and old stumps removed. This
will provide a better look while at the same time making
it safer. Cart path work, bunker edges and landscape
beds will all get nice facelifts throughout the remainder
of the summer. Our inside staff consisting of Brad, Tyler
and Keith have played a vital role in reducing how much
water stands on the fairways after a hard rain. They have
worked diligently on this to make playing conditions
much better. The trio has also been tackling a few other
projects such as spraying weeds for beds, exotic tree
removal and the never-ending cart path edging job. My
whole team thanks them for this! Our comfort stations
(restrooms) on all three nines have also experienced some
nice upgrades with hard work from Leo. He has deep
cleaned, pressure washed and repainted them and they
are ready for season. They look great! We fully expect to
have a great rest of the summer growing grass!
Weed control from the season transition has been our
toughest task. On-going daily efforts, and I mean daily,
have been great in what has been a very successful weed
management program through this part of the summer.
Not a day goes by where we are not boom spraying,
spot spraying or pulling weeds throughout all three
nines. You will continue to see weeds dying throughout
and will also see very thinned out areas due to our
See you around the course,
Richard Osgood
Golf Course Superintendent
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