News for the week

Happy spring again, Potowomut golfers!!

First, we have a correction. A few weeks ago, we reported an incorrect figure regarding gallons of water pumped this year. As of July 21, we have applied 4,100,000 gallons. The Excel spreadsheet was set up incorrectly by yours truly before that blog posting. Last year at this point, we had applied 8,100,000 gallons of irrigation water. Since April 1st, 17.55 inches of rainfall has fallen on our golf course. That is almost a foot and a half of precipitation!!

Fairway extensions are in place. We have not shortened the golf course, but we have shortened the distance from tees to fairways by around 225 yards. Hopefully, the golf course will be more fun to play for everyone. The irrigation system has been adapted to irrigate these extensions as fairway. In the fall, we will complete the project, aerating and adding more fescue and bentgrass plants via overseeding, then lowering the height of cut to fairway length.

Dead and ugly turf present on the 9th fairway was caused from a hydraulic hose failure from a fairway mower. The fairway area was sodded from our turf nursery, and the rough area will be aerated and seeded soon.

Grub control programs have begun. Grubs are small, white colored worm like creatures that feast on turfgrass roots. They begin feeding between August 10th and 20th. An untreated golf course in our climate would be devastated by both grub damage itself, and by skunks digging up turf looking for the grubs. 100% of our golf course and rough area will be treated within the next two weeks.

The hoses are back!! Crew members will be out the next few weeks cooling off the greens on hot and sunny days. If you encounter us "hosers" while playing, please be patient, as each green takes less than 5 minutes to complete. Thanks!!

Thanks also for everyone's wonderful compliments of our golf course's condition. 2009 has provided different challenges than previous years, and we have been lucky to stay on top of most of them...so far.