TURF TALK Let's Talk Turf Winter on the golf course is great time to get some work done. Thankfully, not all of that work is outside. We take this time of year to refurbish equipment, work on the maintenance shop, as well as get some projects done on the course. Even if you haven’t been out on the golf course, you can see some of the progress from Oxford Road. The rotted, wooden retaining wall and stairs on 10 tee have been removed and reconstructed out of landscaping blocks. The masons did excellent work. Unfortunately the tree roots under the cart path near the work site had weakened the asphalt to a point it could not stand up to the work traffic. We will be repaving that small area in the coming weeks. As soon as weather permits, the retaining wall on #5 tee box will be replaced in a similar fashion. We do not expect damage to the cart path during that installation. Please bear with us during the construction process. We will do our best to get the work completed with as little disruption to golf play as possible. One project, which might not be visible from the anywhere on the course, is the addition of a heated and cooled breakroom for the golf maintenance staff. The building we work from has undergone some renovations and additions over the years, but at its core it is still the original building from 1966. We have never had a heated and cooled area for our guys to eat lunch, keep their outerwear, or take a quick break. This winter we are adding on a small room, furnished with lockers, tables, chairs, and most importantly heating and air conditioning. With labor in short supply, we are doing everything we can to recruit, motivate, and retain good employees. The weather this time of year has been up and down. It is wreaking havoc with completing projects as well as greens speeds. In past newsletters I talked about preparing turf for winter. We raised the height of cut on greens, fairways, and rough going into the fall. Then we got thrown a curveball over the holidays. Between Christmas day and January 1st we had an extremely unusual spike in temperature. Our greens saw a spike in growth and a significant reduction in speed. We did cut the greens during this time, but green speeds were still quite slow. With the cold weather ahead we were not willing to lower the height of cut to summer norms as this could negatively affect turf health. We will continue to cut and roll greens over the next few weeks, with the intention of bringing speeds back to a winter norm. As we cut and roll you should see some firmness and speed return to the greens. The bad news is we cut off all of the paint applied last month. When the greens go dormant again, you can expect to see us applying color to them once more. We can prepare as much as possible, but when nature is unpredictable, sometimes we are left to react. Unfortunately this time we were left to react with a skeleton crew, as many of our employees took vacation during the holidays. When Mother Nature allows, we will continue work on hole 13, as well as some other areas that need drainage work. Until then, stay warm, stay dry, and get out to play some golf as soon as you can. We’ll be working behind the scenes to make your golfing experience the best that it can be. Until next time, I’ll see you on the course! Buckley Brockmann Brook Valley Superintendant
THE VALLEY VOICE
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