Grounds Update April

The work continues across the Grounds of Hyde Park, Mother Nature continues to work against us. Thus far, in the month of April we have accumulated almost 4" of rain and below normal temperatures which has meant a slow start for the grass and the golf season. As of this week the staff continues to focus on wrapping up a few projects which include:

Bunker on 9

Squaring of the 4th tee

With the warmer weather the Zoysia grass seems to be greening up, but rather slowly areas hampered by shade are still wet and lagging behind.

A view of the 2nd fairway

The 18th fairway, thin and wet turf due to too much shade

The harsh winter, wet and cool spring will possibly mean a longer period of carts on the path until the zoysia is actively growing. The zoysia sod on 13 and in general the renovation looks great overall with a couple minor settlement issues and portions of the fine fescue high rough are lagging due to the late seeding. Cart traffic on 13 will be limited until the new sod matures.

A view of the 13th

Another project that will be commencing shortly is the addition of a fan on the 3rd hole. The addition of the fan will allow increased air movement reducing plant pathogens and improving overall plant health.

The 6th tee is ready for sod

Green and tee aerifcation are completed and healing well- 8 days after

Green drainage- Practice green

Overall the putting surfaces where drainage was added are performing well however, root growth is lagging behind due to the extreme winter, these greens will be treated slightly different until rooting catches up!

Practice like a Pro! The use of a lineal divot pattern with a couple inches in between will conserve space and allow for faster divot recovery! Large bare areas will not heal!

Thanks to Mary for the wonderful tulips! Spring is here!

 

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Grounds Update- Spring is here?

Even with the extremely slow start in the weather the Grounds Staff and I have been extremely busy over the winter months with snow removal and projects. The proceeding months of planning prior to the start of the season are extremely crucial in executing our strategies to enhance playing conditions and the overall experience.

With that said, the staff is close to shifting from project mode into daily maintainence. The sand topdressing applied to the greens in December to protect the plant from the cold temperatures is almost gone and daily mowing will begin soon. As of March 20th the staff continues to:

-Pick-up of debris (multiple times)

-Seeding and sodding of miscellaneous areas

-Pressurization of the irrigation system

-Applications of preememeegent herbicides

-Bunker repair from the deep frost this season

-Tennis court resurfacing

As you take a look across the golf course many of the grasses continue to exhibit many shades of brown. The Zoysia grass fairways continue to show signs of making it through the winter well, but green-up will be late this season. The greens where drainage was installed late last season (3,5,14 and 15) did not show the root growth we typically see in the winter months due to the frozen ground. Although playable, we will treat these greens a little different then the established greens, this may mean that aerifcation will be delayed on the newly drained greens until the root growth ininiates.

View of the 3rd green and sodded drain lines

Sod peeled back on 3rd green to show lack of root growth

 

Upcoming projects include:

The installation of a fan located behind the 3rd green slated to be completed in early May. Additional brush has been removed left of 3 and the addition of a fan will aid improving the air circulation across the putting surface to reduce plant pathogens and improve turf quality to enhance populations of creeping bent grass.

Red circle on the above photo denotes fan location behind 3 green

Other upcoming projects include the addition of drainage to the practice green behind the practice tee and the addition of a greenside bunker behind the 9th green that was removed decades ago.

Ross drawing of the 9th green and the return of the bunker in back

 

Everyone is very anxious to see the Spring season in full gear, although delayed, it won't be long. If there are any questions or feedback please contact us at: grounds@hydeparkcc.com or follow us on twitter @pobrienhpgcc

Regards,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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