Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

April 5, 2016

The bunker renovation on #16 is finished and I believe it turned out great! In my opinion, removing the back two bunkers that were seldom played from was an excellent decision. Medalist did a fantastic job blending the area to create swales and bailouts for the golfer. Once the sod knits, we will begin mowing out new approach lines and expanding the fairway height of cut around the green. Medalist is also finishing a few improvements to the fairway bunkers on #17. These improvements are expected to be completed on Wednesday. Once the work is approved by Billy Fuller and 16 and 17 are buttoned up we will move to the 6^th hole. Be on the lookout for the updated PDF, which will show all the improvements and changes coming to #6.   

It has been a crazy busy spring! The team is going full bore on finishing up winter projects and beginning to grind on the weekly maintenance. On Monday, the team went “Beast Mode” on the bunkers and I have never been more impressed. They took great pride in producing a superior product by edging, fly mowing and raking the bunkers I can’t remember when they have looked better in my 7 years. I know we still face our challenges with fabric in the bunkers that were constructed 27 years ago. But, we are slowly tacking those problems too. A group of team members have repaired the fabric in the big fairway bunkers on the right of #3 this past week and it is a drastic improvement. If you see the guys around the course, please give them big thumbs up, as they have been getting after it lately!

Next week, we are Hydroseeding the slopes in front of #11 red tee and the tee complex on #15. We will be planting “Weeping Lovegrass”, this particular grass will mature around 12-14 inches tall and its density will crowd out a majority of the weeds. This grass’s resilience to herbicide makes treating for weeds a breeze. Caution, It will take 1 to 2 years for everything to mature and produce the look I envision.

We really need some 80 degree days and night time temps in the 60’s to get all the Bermuda and Zoysia moving. We had a short run in Mid-March that popped everything to wake up but we continue to have a low-mid 40 degree night which doesn’t speed up growth and we are green but not growing.  The spring of 2015 was tough as it remained cool and cloudy until late May. We have already applied one of our fertilizer applications and once the weather breaks for good we will be applying a 2^nd application to the fairways and stressed areas. Once this application is applied we will be able to determine what grass is slow in transitioning and what needs to be re-sodded.

A few quick bullet points/reminders:

1.      Tarps and temporary cups will be removed Monday, April 11^th

2.      Annual Flowers will be delivered the 3^rd week of April

3.      Cart Path work will begin Monday, April 11^th (All work to be done is marked by green paint on paths)

This is my best Masters/Jim Nance photo

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at kmacdonald@valleycrest.com and for more information and plenty of pictures and videos follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See you on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A