Tye Heidbreder – Superintendent

• Lines on the Greens – Last week you may have noticed very light lines appearing on the greens. This is a result of a process called “verti-cutting.” As the grass begins growing on the greens many of the blades remain flat on the surface. This is a normal occurrence resulting from winter’s freeze/thaw as well as foot traffic. The process of mowing greens and cutting individual blades creates (facilitates) growth. “Verti-cutting” also helps develop overall growth by cutting those blades that are laying flat. An additional benefit is that the process makes the greens surface smoother and of course benefits putting.
• Tees & Fairway Bunker on Five – We will continue to prepare the new tees and the fairway bunker on hole five for sod in the next week or so.
• Just When the Greens are Perfect – We intend to seriously mess them up next Monday and Tuesday. To maintain a consistent putting surface through-out the golfing season we utilize a maintenance procedure each spring called greens aeration and topdressing. Aeration is achieved with a machine that pulls soil cores out of the greens. The cores are one-half inch in diameter and approximately three-four inches in depth. After these plugs are pulled and removed from the greens, a very heavy top-dressing of sand is applied. The overall process is important to the health of each green. Without the introduction of more oxygen through regular aeration and topdressing the root systems would eventually suffocate. Because our existing root systems are healthy and deeper than the cores taken, the greens will return to a suitable putting surface within two or three weeks.