Opening day on the horizon?

This time of year always brings the lengthy list of things to do. We’ve been busy trying to stay ahead of the weather and keep up with golf course. It always seems that we wake up one morning and it’s the middle of June already.

Specifically, we have had more staff start full time for the season. This includes some returning university students, as well as a couple of new faces. We have 16 tarped greens that we usually pull off during warm days to let the greens vent as well as to cut and water them. We have cut the greens twice already this spring and as you can see, the green-up has already started.

The areas that surround the greens are also starting to show signs of recovery from winter. It is glaringly obvious how strong disease pressure was this winter, and how effective the fungicide treatments in the fall are. The green areas are treated with fungicide and meet the grey-brown areas at sharp angles where the sprayer boom shuts off. This is just one example of the effects that proper use of fungicide can have.

Some of the recent golf course construction is also obvious this spring. Ten fairway is new Kentucky bluegrass sod as you get closer to the green. This line divides the Kentucky bluegrass on the left from the old annual bluegrass on the right. You can clearly see a significant difference as you look across ten fairway towards the west.

Just like getting up early is something we tend to enjoy, playing hide and seek with one of the resident Pileated Woodpeckers is also a highlight to our day.