The back nine is open for walkers as of this afternoon. The third and the eighth holes still have snow on them so we will not be opening the front nine this weekend.

This fall has not been the best for golfing or getting work done on the golf course. The excessive amount of rain in October and November has made it difficult just getting equipment around the golf course. Most of the primary tasks associated with getting the golf course ready for next year  and the upcoming winter have been accomplished or are nearing completion. We are currently finishing our leaf cleanup, mowing down the outer fescue rough, finishing some irrigation repairs, and making our final fungicide applications on greens, tees, and fairways. This past Monday the greens were "deeptine" aerified to a depth of 8 inches. This is done with a solid tine that doesn't pull plugs and actually "kicks" when it penetrates the soil. The kicking action creates a ballistic effect that shatters compacted soil. The end result is improved drainage and deeper rooting on the greens. The goal is to impact the deeper portion of the soil profile. The difference with the September aerification is that we are pulling plugs so that we can manage the organic matter in the top 3 inches of the green.

We will continue to work outside until the snow makes it impossible to access the golf course. There are certainly some projects I'd like to complete. So let's hope for some dry conditions and no snow for a little while. This will be my last blog for this year. I have really enjoyed writing them, and for those of you that read it I hope it has been a useful means of communication.  Have a great holiday season. 

 Fall is fast approaching and that signals some changes in our day to day priorities on the golf course. Now is the time we begin to get the golf course ready for next year. Aerification on tees will be done by early next week and we will be starting fairways as weather permits. We have been applying a lot of our rough fertilizer and will be doing some sodding on bunker banks and cart path edges that have deteriorated through the summer. The tall fescue rough will be getting mowed down and sprayed for weeds. All that and then the leaf removal begins.

Project wise we will be finishing up the extension of the 9th tee box and possibly raising the depression on the right side of the landing area on number 10 fairway. All that should keep us busy.

On a side note we have adjusted the 150 yard marker on the 6th hole after questions about its accuracy.

 Also the sprinkler head formerly marked as '141' has been changed to read '133.' We will be ordering a new yardage plate in the spring.

 Greens aerification is in the books for another year. The process went well with the exception of some rain on Tuesday that shut us down about 1 o'clock that day. It's not that we can't aerify during the rain but we can't topdress and sweep if the sand gets wet at all. One of the questions I get asked is why do we aerify the greens in September when the weather is still so nice. The reason we do it now is to take advantage of the weather conditions. The days are still warm and more importantly the nights are still reasonably warm also. That combination helps keep soil temperatures up to a point that encourages growth. Better growing conditions lead to a quicker healing time. Unfortunately, there really is no "great" time for us to tear into the greens.  In November we will be doing our traditional "deeptine" aerification of the greens. This is done by an outside contractor and will either be the 12th or the 19th of the month.

I will update with the aerification progress as we complete each hole:

Labor Day is fast approaching and as most of you know that means our greens aerification will start on Tuesday the 4th. We need 4 good days of dry weather to get all the greens aerified and filled with sand. Sand does not sweep well when it is wet. Not every club in the area is doing an aerification on Tuesday. Many clubs did their aerification earlier in the year. The important point is that they all do it at one time or another. The goal of our aerification is to remove organic matter and replace it with sand in the upper profile of the green. Excessive organic matter makes for spongy greens that stay wet longer and don't allow air and water to penetrate the surface of the green. The sand helps keep the greens firmer and smoother. The link below is a video you may have seen before that explains the entire process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va98sIUEjFw

I just wanted to thank everyone who has been involved with the "Adopt a Hole" program this summer. We have had this program in the past but I would have to say that without a doubt this year has been the best by far. On some holes I can't keep enough divot mix out there to keep up with the hole captain. So thank you to: The Briggs family(1); Mr. Webster(2); Mr. Dudley(#4); The Livingstons(#7); The Kniskys(#9); The Barbers(#10); Mr. Paulsen(#12); The Summersons(#13); The Prices(#14); The Leppers(#15); Mr. Vergo(#16); The Vanderstynes(#17); Mr. Romeo(#18) and all the others that helped these hole captains do their work. Your efforts are noticeable and appreciated.

At the request of the membership we have added some divot bottles to the landing area in front of the fairway bunker on #16. We have placed the bottles in the fairway to make them more accessible. Additionally, we have added a pin location flag to the ash tree half way up the fairway so that you will know if the pin is on the upper or lower level.

When things get a little dry around here all we need to do is schedule the men's invitational. We received over 2.5 inches of rain since Wednesday night and the golf course is soaking it up very well. That is more rain than we have had for all of July and June. The turf really responds to the flushing of the soil with this much rain after relying totally on the pond water and the irrigation system for so long. As you can see from the picture the pond is also filling up again. 

I thought the RDGA tournament went very well last week. It was a tough week weather wise but overall the golf course made it through in good shape. I did aerify with the pencil tines on the left side of #1 green and the back half of the 4th green to improve water penetration. These holes should have minimal impact on your putting as they heal up very quickly.

As I mentioned in my previous post the water quality in the pond can affect the surface of the greens. High amounts of sodium and calcium in the water can actually plug up the pore spaces in the greens. Because we are relying so much on irrigation water this year it is more likely to happen. This makes it difficult for water to get through the surface and into the lower soil profile. The end result is a wet putting surface that is difficult to dry down.  We use wetting agents but the pencil tine aerification is the best way to ensure that the water can physically move into the soil.    

For the last few weeks it's seems my time has been completely consumed by water, water and more water. Looking back I can't quite recall the last beneficial rain we had here at Cobblestone.  As we watch the surface area of the pond declining many people have inquired about the possiblity of running out of water. It has never happened in the past and I doubt it will happen this year as the pond is very deep in the middle. A couple of good heavy rains should fill it up nicely.

I am sure you have seen us out with the hoses during the day rushing around to cool off greens, tees, fairways and rough. The fact of the matter is the irrigation system we have can distribute large quanities of water through the sprinklers but getting the right amount of water on specific areas without over watering is difficult to do. The hills, the undulations, the wind, the sprinklers themselves all have an effect on how the water gets distributed and it is far from perfect. Thus the requirement for a lot of hand watering to really put the water where we need it without over watering the areas that don't need as much.  

This is the time of year when the turf is really hanging on to survive more than it is vigorously growing. Soil temperatures are at a point where growth has slowed and stored carbohydrates in the root system that were developed last fall and spring are gradually being used up.  The soil structure gets a little clogged from the excess minerals in the irrigation water out of the pond. Roots are getting shorter and air and water movement in the soil is not great. Foot and cart traffic can make a bad growing situation even worse. On the right side of the 5th green you will notice that the turf is a bit more yellow than the rest of the green (picture below).  The reason is simply the consistent traffic on and off the green in that one area. It is really very similar to the areas that you see where the cart traffic tends to wear down the rough. Keep this in mind as you move about the golf course by cart or by foot. Any place you can break from the herd is better for the turf.

With the assistance of a crew from Wilmorite, we have installed a new fountain in the southeast corner of the large pond. The purpose of the fountain is both to add to the aesthetic value of the pond and to improve the overall quality of the water through aeration. This year the pond has developed an unusally high amount of aquatic vegetation. We are not sure why this is happening but it may have something to do with the milder winter and the warmer water this spring. The fountain will not help us eradicate the vegetation that we currently have but it should help keep the algae down in that part of the pond.

This coming Monday the 25th we will be doing 1/4 tine aerification on the greens. We will use a solid tine approximately the size of a pencil. The greens will be rolled immediately after they are aerified. While I know nobody likes the word "aerification" this is not the same process as we use in the fall. I expect the holes to heal up quite rapidly with minimal interference in the putting surface. We are doing this now to "vent" the greens for improved water and air movement through the upper soil profile. Anything we can do to help water movement through the green will make for a better putting surface. This will help keep the greens in a healthy condition as we move further along into the heat of the summer. 

The dry weather today gave us a perfect opportunity to topdress the greens with sand. The greens were verticut, mowed, topdressed, brushed, rolled and watered. The verticutting stands the grass up and thins the turf so that the sand can get down into the turf canopy. The brushing and watering also help to move the sand down. We roll after brushing to smooth out the greens. Topdressing with sand helps keep the greens firmer by diluting the organic matter that builds up from all the growth that we push through constant fertilizing. It also helps to support the turf plant and protect the crown of the plant where the growth originates . Our goal is to topdress every 10 to 14 days so that we match up with the organic matter we are producing during the growing season. With a busy golf schedule and the constantly changing weather we try to fit it in when we can.

We have removed the sand from the fairway bunker on the 16th hole and are in the process of cleaning it out and repairing the drainage lines. As soon as that is complete we replace the sand and the bunker will be back in play.

In order to make better use of the ladies tee box on the third hole we have pruned up the limbs on the 3 oak trees to the left of the tee. Perhaps a little more of the left side of the tee can be used.  

What are the red slash marks and the marker flags along the intermediate cut for? We are adjusting the width of the intermediate cut where we feel it is too close to bunkers and doesn't give us a smooth contour line around some of the features on the golf course.   

Nancy Harber and Judy Kinsky hard at work planting flowers in the garden to the right of the 7th tee box that was planted in honor of Caroline and Wayne Harber.  

Over the past several weeks we have been battling an infestation of "anthracnose" on some of our putting greens. The green with the most noticeable damage is the practice putting green. Some diseases will show symptoms that are easily treated with a fungicide application, resulting in little or no damage to the turf. Anthracnose is not as easy to treat and often times results in a loss of turf, most likely Poa annua as opposed to bentgrass. We are currently making weekly applications of fungicides and fertilizers to control the disease and assist the turf in healing. In addition, John Keeler of Harrells Turf has been stopping in once per week with his camera and computer so that we can actually look down into the turf canopy to see if the disease is present.  Part of the difficulty in controlling anthracnose is that the the location of the disease makes it difficult to get to. The picture below is from John's computer and shows the black 'setae' on a lower leaf sheath, indicating the presence of the disease.    

Dave Kinsky works on the 9th hole as part of the "Adopt a Hole" program. Anybody who knows Dave knows that he does a lot to help keep the divots filled no matter what hole he is on.

New sand has been added to several of the bunkers on the course this week. After the new sand is placed and raked out, we water the sand and use a power tamper to compact it. Under drier conditions, the sand may play a little fluffy for a period of time. We will be working on additional bunkers over the next several weeks, focusing on the greenside bunkers first.

Jim Opela and his crew from Wilmorite arrived today with the flowers for the wooden bridges on the course. They chose a slightly different flower mix this year including: begonias, heliotrope, sweet potato vines, and red canna. Thank you to them for their work!

One of the ideas brought up during the course review process was the removal of a large hickory tree on the left side of the third hole. The tree was located just past the second bridge. If your ball was on the left side of the fairway in the landing area, the tree forced you to hit a hook shot to get to the green. After consulting with Neil, a decision was made to go ahead with the tree removal. The picture below is the new view from the left side of the landing area.

Over the last week and a half the golf course has taken on more than its share of water in the form of both snow and rain. Last night we received another .5 inches in a very quick downpour. What that means to us is that there was a lot of additional work to get done this morning when the maintenance crew arrived. Today we will be spending 50 to 60 man hours just putting things back together for the weekend. As you can see from the pictures the bulk of the work will be invested in the bunkers. I really appreciate the effort the crew puts in on a day like today.

For those of you that are going to play this weekend you will notice a discolored branching pattern in the turf on the seventh green. I have never seen this before but it appears the seventh green was struck by lightning last night during the storm. I am not sure what the short term effect of the strike will be but my feeling is that the green will recover just fine. We will be watching it closely.

Last fall we began cleaning up two areas of the outer fescue rough that had become overgrown with weeds, vines and small trees. The first is located to the left of the greenside cart path on #7 and the second is to the right of the main irrigation pump station immediately to the left of the tenth green.  We have completed renovations in both areas and have applied a blanket of straw to assist in the germination process. The strawed areas will be marked as "ground under repair" until the turf is established enough to withstand play. One of the reasons the fescue gets so many weeds is that it does not get cut on a regular basis. Mowing helps to keep weeds under control. Since we can't mow the fescue regularly we must rely on spring and fall herbicide applications to control weeds. This spring we will be spraying weeds in the outer fescue throughout the golf course and picking out some additional locations where similar improvements can be made.

I received this youtube video from a vendor and thought it was worth sharing. It is a good explanation of the preferred way to hit balls on the range tee so that we can maximize usage and get recovery as soon as possible. The number one message from the video is that the quickest way for the tee to recover is to leave enough turf between the divots so that we don't have to rely totally on seed germination and then plant development. I agree with everything the narrator explains except I'd rather see a little turf within the line of 50 shots that were shown in the beginning of the video so that the turf has more area to heal from. I also thought that the idea of starting on one side early in the morning and working across the hitting station was a good one. With a little help from you and an upgrade in our maintenance program we would like the tee to be in the best condition possible throughout the season.

Click on the link below to see the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTRwmEexg6Y&feature=email

Cold weather has slowed down the rate of turf growth  allowing us to take care of some projects on the golf course. Because of the early spring we have chosen to aerify the third green so that we can continue to get more sand down into the surface layer of the green. One of the problems on the green is that it holds moisture and is basically sitting in a pocket where moisture collects. By adding fresh sand the drainage off the green surface will improve as will the firmness. While I know nobody likes aerification on greens we felt like the early spring allowed us some extra time to accomplish some improvement in the green. This is the only green that will receive this procedure this spring. 

Another project we finished this week was repairing the entrance to the bridge going from the proshop area to the first hole. The blacktop at the bridge entrance had settled over time creating a speed bump effect. We removed the blacktop, installed new gravel and poured fresh concrete. The bridge path has been closed but will reopen Saturday the 7th for cart traffic. We will be also be repairing the bridge entrance on the 9th hole in the next week or two.   

Today we received an 80 yard load of mulch to use on the golf course, the clubhouse grounds, the cobblestone house and the entrance ways. The volume of the load and the size of the delivery truck dictates that we must use the far corner of the parking lot to store the mulch temporarily until we can get it wittled down to a more manageable size. At that point we will move the remaining mulch out of the parking lot. We will begin work on that next week.

Pictures below are from the 7th fairway where we are stripping the sod in some of the irrigation lines that have settled over the years. The sod is replaced after topsoil has been added and then these areas will be roped off to protect them from cart traffic. We are concentrating on the lines that are perpendicular to your travel down the fairway first. Lines that cross the entire fairway will be done in halves to prevent roping all the way across the fairway. Hopefully this will make for a smoother cart ride on #7 this year.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have set up 9 holes for walkers only. I am trying to let the 3rd green dry out a little more before we open it, so we have put pins in on the following holes: 1,2,9,10,11,12,13,14,18. This setup also allows you to play a shorter loop that will keep you around the clubhouse.  This setup will remain in place through the weekend and into the beginning of next week. The greens are not growing yet so we have not mowed them. The driving range and chipping area will remain closed until we start to see some growth in the turf. We will monitor conditions and get the carts out as soon as possible.