With CPO being lifted today on holes 1,2,3,9, and 10, it's time to begin talking about what the coming months will look like for our golf course. Spring to summer transition will be here before we know it, so I'd like to give everyone a gentle reminder for what that may look like. And how this year will vary from the past (and future).
It's no secret that the timeline of our renovation was condensed. With such high demand for play, it was important that we kept the course open for as long as we could in spring of 2022, and opened as early as possible in the fall. We were able to pull that off, but not perfectly- juvenile greens with some bumps, a non overseeded driving range floor, and cart path only on those 5 holes- we're a few of the compromises (some forced) in order to pull off the project. From early on, it was expected that we would be continuing aspects of the project into summer of 2023, but there's no way to fully estimate how much and what work would need to be completed when it is weather that determines those factors.
So, what should we expect through the remainder of the season and into summer? With warmer temperatures, we should expect to see the greens to begin to grow again. With this, we will be able to fertilize, top dress, and verticut- to promote smoother roll and faster green spends. As the greens grow above ground, the roots will establish below the surface, which will help contain the sand that has had a propensity of falling into the cups.
The driving range floor? What in the heck are we going to do there? If I'm being honest, I'm not totally sure what to expect down there when the Bermudagrass wakes up. Im estimating that about 2 acres (the low awake and the large collection of water) will need to be regrassed. The wildcard in this is how much of the "established" grass on the floor will come back. There were areas of the driving range floor that did have green grass on it, prior to frost, but frost came so early this year that it only had a few weeks to establish before it went dormant. Only time will tell down there, but the game plan is to regrass the driving range floor in June, weather permitting. This will likely result in a closure of the driving range, hopefully just 2 weeks, but again, we won't know the full severity until it gets warm enough for the Bermudagrass to green up.
Lastly, 1,2,3,9,10 and some areas on 5, 6, and 7 will need some remediation work. We have about 1.5 acres of area on those 8 holes that were impacted by monsoons. I do not foresee any long term closures to these holes, outside of regular scheduled Mondays and aerification closures. We will be "spraying out" or "chemically eradicating" the Ryegrass the first week of June, and shortly there after we will know what we have, as it pertains to Bermudagrass coverage. I can not stress this enough, June and the first part of July is gonna be ugly. Uglier than a normal transition. But we have a plan, and I'm not concerned at all in our ability to exicute it.
Comentarios