Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

April 30, 2014

It always happens…  You turn around and the season is hitting you square in the face. The Agronomy Department is ramping up staff and busy training new employees.

We have completed our wall-to-wall fertilizer application, so once we finally get consistent warm weather the Bermuda grass should really start moving.  We will also begin stripping the Bermuda grass that did not transition through last winter.  These areas will be stripped, graded, a pre plant fertilizer applied, sodded with new grass and hand watered.  It does not appear that we will have more than a truck or two of sod to lay and we are hesitant to start striping sod until we have at least one good week of warm weather.

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

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A 

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

April 9, 2014

We had no major damage after 3.5” of rain Sunday night and all day Monday.  The Course was like a swamp Tuesday and now it is starting to dry up with the sun shining and wind blowing.  As long as we don’t get any more rain this week we will be 90 degrees for the rest of the week.  

We don’t have any big projects happening on the Golf Course this week, just basic maintenance practices.  One item the Membership should be brought up to speed on is topdressing of the TifGrand collars.  We have seen the trench line from the fumigation covers begin to settle this winter.  Now is the time to get out and fill these areas with topdressing sand.  It will take a couple of applications of sand to get them perfect, a short-term inconvenience for long-term gains.  

The bulk fertilizer spread was canceled on Monday due to rain and flooding.  We are working on booking a new date to get out the first application to encourage spring green up.

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

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A 

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

April 3,2014

Dogwoods, Redbuds and Cherry Trees are all blooming. This week’s weather has been amazing! It has been so good that I can hear the birds chirping and Jim Nance's voice saying “A tradition unlike any other."That’s right.  The Masters is next week. The warm weather has really helped awaken the turf and everything is starting to green up. The greens look good considering they were covered this time last week and it was 25 degrees. We still have some areas lagging behind which can be attributed to the fact that when Bermuda grass breaks dormancy, it does not do so uniformly.  We have scheduled a “wall to wall” fertilizer application for Monday.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate. This application of slow release fertilizer will give us 10-12 weeks of color, which will put us on schedule for another application after the Men’s Member Guest.  The covers are scheduled to be brought into the shop this week and stored until next winter. Once we remove the final four fans there will no longer be objects around the greens!

We hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather and getting your game in shape for the upcoming season! 

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

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A 

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

March 26, 2014

Hopefully, we pulled the covers on the greens for the last time Tuesday afternoon.  It was quite the experience with winds in excess of 35 mph.  Next year on one of these windy days we pull covers, we will have someone mount a “GoPro” video camera to their head; I think that will provide an up close look into what goes into covering greens in high winds.

We are currently scalping fairways, approaches, tees and Clubhouse turf.  This removes all the dead tissue that has formed during the winter.  This also opens up the canopy to allow sunlight to reach the new growth that is starting to pop.  Once we are done we will begin fertilizing the Bermuda and Zoysia grass.  The Staff also started a small project behind #9 green; say good-bye to the small goat trail through the azaleas.  The azaleas and abelia were removed; the area was graded and should be sodded prior to Friday.  Our Staff was also able to remove fans from holes 12, 13 and 14.  We only have to remove 1, 4, 5 and 6 at this point.

 

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

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A 

Trip to GCSAA Headquarters

A picture in front of the GCSAA Headquarters in Lawrence, KS. It was an honor representing the Georgia GCSAA Chapter for the 2014 Chapter Leader and Executive Symposium. 

(That's Old Tom Morris in the back ground)

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

March 19, 2014

This has been a terrible week for maintenance work because it has not stopped raining and the sun has not been shining.  We have, however, been able to do a few projects that have been on our to-do list.  A two man crew spent all day in the creek on Monday hand digging the two sandbars that accumulate after heavy rains.  We also removed plant material at the 9^th green in order to create a bigger walkway.  Then a crew was sent to “freshen” up the walk path from #15 tees to the 14th green.

Next week is shaping up to be busy as we will start scalping the Bermuda grass, (fairways, roughs and approaches) and begin our first fertilization of the year.  The Agronomy Department cannot wait until we break out of this “never-ending” winter. 

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

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A 

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

March 6, 2014

Here are a few bullet points from this week down at the Agronomy Department.

The greens were lightly top dressed and brushed on Monday. This will help fill in unrepaired ball marks, reduce thatch accumulation and firm/smooth the greens surface. During the early spring this will be a bi weekly application and transition into a weekly application once the greens are actively growing. The sand will be applied at an extremely light rate, brushed and watered to minimize any negative impacts on your golfing experience.

We are getting close to finishing our PreEmergent application; it is frustrating applying this during the late winter. This should be a 5 day application that always turns into a 4 week process; it is too wet, windy, cold or raining to get the sprayer out on the course. However, we plan for the uncertainties of mother nature and start early so we can hit our timing window.

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

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A