Bunker Work

We still have our winter crew which makes us carefully pick and choose which projects we start this spring. Working I between storms and clean up has been a chore. We are behind schedule on many projects that I would have liked to see get done this winter. A smaller staff, no mechanic and the clean up of the recent ice storm has made us push projects back repeatedly.

With the season beginning and aerification only weeks away, we have been just trying to get the course ready for our membership. Spring cleaning is the main focus as we come into season. The bunkers are one of those maintenance items that must be taken care of every year.
In previous years we have added sand to the bunkers as the sand has sloughed off of the sides. Between the rain and the trap rake the sand has all collected at the bottom of the bunkers. Over the season this has created a large lip that is rather unsightly.

This year we did not order any more sand to add to the sides because there is plenty of sand in the bottom of the bunkers. Although time consuming, we have started pushing the sand back up onto the sides after we edge the bunkers. Our goal is to keep a two inch lip around the bunker.

What does that mean to our members you ask?
The sand along these edges are going to be relatively soft until the rains can help pack the sand. We do some packing with the rakes and sand pro but, the sand will remain soft enough to plug your ball into. After a few weeks the bunkers will begin to firm up and return to releasing the ball to the bottom of the bunker. Hopefully you will bear with us as we make efforts to increase playability and presentation of the golf course this season.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Cart Path Extensions

The storm damage clean up has taken its toll on areas of the golf course. We have worked on trying to clean up most of the damage. In the case of hole 2, we have made the decision to extend the cart path out to avoid the extremely wet area next to the lake.

We decided to do this work because the areas was already torn up from the tractor needing access to the trees along this hole. The turf was completely torn up. We just had to remove a few inches of the torn up turf to allow for concrete installation.

 
If you notice in the picture of the new concrete installation we began to turn the cart path to run along the fence. The overall goal is to get most of the cart paths extended or completed to have the ability to run carts throughout the winter on cart paths only when the weather makes the course wet enough to not allow cart traffic.

If you have any questions or comments about the cart path work please contact me.
Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Spring is In The Air

The week ended well with a good dose of vitamin D. The grass is starting to grow a little quicker on the golf course. We are trying to get the golf course ready for the Masters Tournament that will be played in a couple weeks.

The greens are doing well but we are going to be patient with and height of cut changes until the weather warms up a little more. (Although the greens were surprisingly fast, last Thursday.) We are still experiencing frost any morning it is not raining. If we get to impatient it could hurt us coming into aerification.
Here are a few recent pictures of the course.

If you have any question please feel free to contact me,
Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
Justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Spring Sting

Believe it or not the first day of spring was today. I know it was hard to tell with the snow mixed with rain. Although yesterday it was sunny while the snow fell. So that has to be the sign that spring is here. Well another good barometer for judging the arrival of spring is the germination of annual plants. Stinging Nettle is one that we have a lot of during the season along the border of the golf course.

Stinging Nettle seems to be everywhere. The plant is apparent in fertile soils that have been recently disturbed. Makes pretty good sense. When the golf course was built there was some good amount of disturbance along the border of the golf course along along the wooded areas. It seems to be like a wall of Nettles in some places. Since we have done a lot of storm clean up along the border of the course, the additional disturbance I felt would produce a generous crop of the nettles.

This spring we are trying to act while the plant is young and control the weed with a selective herbicide to give us some relief. If the plant rubs against your skin most people feel a stinging sensation that becomes very itchy later. This is not an ideal situation for a golfer that would like to look for a shot that rolls just off the border of the turf. We are trying to act early to catch the plant young and also avoid the time at which new leaves begin to start on the shadowing trees.

If you have any questions about our weed control strategy or if you have any comments about the course please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

Justinr@indiansummergolf.com