Course Conditions
Current conditions are good on all three courses. The major
tournaments this month went well and the greens are looking and performing
great. Finally received two inches of rain last week, which is always welcomed.
USGA Site Visit
On Sept. 16th we had the second part of our full
day visit by the USGA. Todd Lowe was on property and was pleased to see the
great improvement on the greens at White Wing. His report will be posted on the
Blog and I have attached it to this report as well.
This is from the golf
communicator two weeks ago
“Last week we
discovered a leak behind the #8 green at Legacy Hills which happens to run
under Del Webb Blvd. The line that runs underneath the road is part of our
main-line irrigation loop and by shutting it down we lose the ability to water
at maximum pressure. We had Dig Test come out and identify all of the utilities
that we will have to work around and we have begun digging to try and locate
the source of the leak. Normally any irrigation ran beneath a road is put in a
sleeve in case something like this happens, if this is the case the repair
should go relatively smooth (famous last words). So in the meantime everything
being watered at Legacy Hills right now has to be done manually from the
control boxes and in smaller sections rather than a larger “blanket” watering
that we get when we run the irrigation cycles from the system at night.”
Update on the
communicator above
As stated above “famous last words” we could not locate a
sleeve and have reached the limits of our scope of work. We are now working
with an outside contractor to complete the repairs to this line. We will be
using the existing 10” line as a sleeve for a new 8” line to run under the
road. We have worked with the irrigation designer that designed the systems for
all three courses at Sun City and he is comfortable that the amount of pressure
loss will be minimal.
Pre-Emerge
This month and the beginning of October we will be applying
our “wall to wall” pre-emerge herbicide on all three courses. This is done to
prevent the germination of winter weeds, especially poa annua. The greens will
be pre-emerged this year with a product that will help control the poa annua
problem that experienced on the greens at White Wing last winter.
Mowing Height
With the winter months moving closer it’s time for us to
start moving the mowing heights up on the greens. This helps the turf by
providing more leaf tissue, which in turn also promotes a healthier root
system, and relieves stress on the plant from the lower cutting heights. By
raising the cutting heights the greens will not roll as quickly as they would
during peak times but with continued rolling and topdressing they will remain
smooth and roll true. As we move further into winter green speeds will increase
due to the lack of growth.
White Wing Fairway
aerification
The aerfication of the fairways at White Wing has been
completed on the front nine and we continue to work on completing the back
nine. The method used to clean up the aerification plugs knocked the fairways a
little off color but they are already starting to green back up, especially
after the rain. The fairway aerifications for this season will be complete once
White Wing is finished.
Fertility
We have all three courses continuing to use liquid
fertigation for the fairways, roughs and tees. This allows us to fertilize as
we irrigate the golf courses.
We continue to fertilize greens at all three courses with
liquid fertilizers.
Audubon Certification
All three courses are now working on their site maps. We are
also identifying areas on the courses for the installation of bird houses.
GCSAA Certification
This month I completed a webinar for Continuing Education
Units, “Today’s Turf Is- UltraDwarf Bermuda Grass”
