First frost

Last week, for three days in a row, we had a very heavy frost.  Definitely the heaviest first frost that I have seen in a long time.  Normally, we are worked into dormancy pretty easy.  This year, the bermudagrass was hit hard with the first cold night and it's not taking it too well.  There is a lot of "zebra striping" in the rough.  The lower cut turf will hang around for a little while longer before it goes dormant.

Last week we also started moving along on our Turf Care Facility.  Curb and gutter has gone in, along with all of the storm drains.  The pad for the building has been staked and the foundation is ready to be started.  Hopefully, we will be in the building early this spring!

  

Aerification

We successfully wrapped up aerification on Wednesday afternoon.  Greens have all been topdressed with sand to fill the holes.  Nutrients and soil amendments have also been applied to aid in the healing process.  The new greens will heal a little quicker because there wasn't a need to pull any material out of them.  With these greens being less than a year old, there hasn't been much build-up of organic material to remove.  We did use 1/2" solid tines on them to allow for proper gas exchange and to introduce nutrients into the profile.  We received just over 1/2" of rain last night and the temperatures seem to be cooling off.  The weather looks great coming up so the greens should be back to normal in a couple of weeks.  

5/8" hollow tines after 60 hours

1/2" solid tines after 48 hours

While we were closed we were also able to make a lime application to the entire golf course.  We make an annual lime application of about one ton per acre.  Soil samples are taken annually to tell us what applications are necessary for the upcoming year.  These tests let us know where we stand with nutrients in the soil and the pH of the soil.  Because we are located in Chesterfield County, we have a lot of work ahead to correct the soils.    

Course update

After a month, our driving range has re-opened from our renovation.  The sprigs have had a couple of fertilizer applications and have really taken off.  You may see some water running from time to time.  This is just to ensure that the young sprigs keep moving.  By the end of the summer the range will be 100% bermudagrass.  

For the last two weeks we have been adding sand to the bunkers on the original nine holes.  The addition of the new sand is allowing us to machine rake these bunkers.  All of the new bunkers were constructed in a way that this could be done, now we are just working on the old ones.  We spend a tremendous amount of time hand raking and repairing bunkers.  Using a mechanical rake will save us time that we can devote to other items.

We have also started deep tine aerifying and topdressing fairways.  The front nine will be finished this week and we will continue on the back nine after club championship.  Our soils become similar to concrete this time of year and the aerification will help alleviate some of the compaction and help get water into the root zone and not just wash into a drain.

The course is in great shape heading into the second half of the summer.  Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate for the rest of the year and we can finish strong.  

Range sprigging

The range closed on Tuesday so we could sprig the landing area.  We finished the sprigging process Wednesday and it will be closed for about another month.  We are having great bermuda growing weather right now and this should make for a pretty quick renovation.  Because construction took a little longer than expected last summer, we weren't able to sprig then.  We seeded it with rye grass and it looked great over the fall, winter and this spring.  In the southern transition zone, rye is not a realistic option.  There are far too many necessary inputs (water, fertilizer, pesticides, ect.).

The rest of the course is looking great.  The new holes are now almost completely grown in and being maintained just like the older holes.  There are a couple of areas that we are going to have to continue pushing this summer, but overall, I am happy with where we are right now.

 #2 tee

 #4 approach

 #5 approach

 #7 approach

#9 tee

We have had to spend a tremendous amount of time over the last 10-14 days on bunker repairs.  The heavy rains that have come through have wreaked havoc on them.  Most of the new bunkers held up pretty well, but I can't say the same for the older bunkers.  We have also found a couple of clogged drains that we are in the process of repairing.

As always, let us know if you have any questions or concerns.  See you on the course!

Grand Opening!!!

Last Friday we had a very successful grand opening at Magnolia Green.  It was an all around fun event.  We had an exhibition by "Chuck the Hitman", the food was great and the course was in great shape.  We even made the CBS broadcast!

 Getting ready for the event!

 Unfortunately, I didn't win the Harley

The Magnolia Green turf care team has worked extremely hard over the last two months and this event wouldn't have been the success that it was without them!  Thank you to all of the guys on my team!

Winter damage

Many areas in the Mid-Atlantic have been hit pretty hard with winter kill on bemudagrass playing surfaces.  Damage has been seen in Virginia and the Carolina's.  We did not escape winter damage on our newly sprigged areas on the front nine.  The existing ten holes look pretty good, with no major issues.  The areas on the front nine that we sodded last fall look good as well. The areas that were hit the hardest were areas that had prolonged shade and saturated soils.

Last year's mild summer, this year's extremely cold winter, and another cold spring were not a good recipe for a newly established golf course.  In an effort to get the course open quickly, our ownership has decided to invest in sodding the areas that have been damaged.  Sod has been ordered and it will be installed as soon as possible.  

Thanks for your continued patience and support.  

Aerification was a success!

Aerification was a success!! We had a couple of minor equipment issues, but the results were great.  A couple of members have let us know that the greens are rolling great, especially, this soon after the aerification.  This is a frustrating, but necessary process.  Aerification helps to remove unwanted organic material and allows us to create new channels of sand for water, oxygen and nutrients.  This helps us get through the season with consistent, healthy putting surfaces.  

On another note, both happy and sad, Chad Karr will be leaving us at the end of next week.  He has accepted the Superintendent position Hermitage Country Club and will be overseeing the Manakin course during his tenure.  Chad has been with us for the last three years and we wouldn't be the course we are now without him.  I truly appreciate everything that he has done and his absence will not go unnoticed.  If you see Chad this weekend or next week, make sure to wish him luck on his next adventure.  I know that he will make a great Superintendent.

Spring is here! Maybe...

It looks like we have finally seen the beginning of Spring.  Other than the wet conditions, this has been a great week.  Hopefully, we will continue to have these warm temperatures and see some green up in the bermudagrass.

We were able to mow greens twice this week, already.  The greens look better and are rolling great. This winter, the greens went almost completely dormant.  I can't remember a winter when greens got as brown as ours, except for when I was maintaining bermudagrass greens.  Once we start mowing on a regular basis, the wind burned, dormant leaf will be mowed off and we will begin to see more green grass.

Very little green in this green

While we are waiting for our green up, we have a long list of project work to be completed this Spring.  We are in the process of cleaning up and beautifying our tee beds.  We also have a lot to do on the new nine holes in preparation of the grand opening!  We will keep everyone updated on the progress we make throughout the Spring.  Have a great weekend and we hope to see everyone on the course!

We are going away from the pavers to a more natural looking stone

Magnolia Green Golf Club

Bunker project

Over the last couple of weeks we have been busy repairing some of the bunkers on the existing holes. The construction on most of these bunkers were not up to our standards.  Since we have opened, some of the bunkers have had the gravel that is used in drainage ditches begin to float to the top of the sand.  This gravel is then hit out of the bunkers and onto the greens.  Obviously, that's not ideal for the greens or the golfers.  

We have taken the worst bunkers and started repairing them.  Below are some pictures of the process.

First step is getting the sand out of them.

Once the sand is out, we've had to repair and replace the drainage.  Liner is added next, followed by new sand.

This bunker has had about 2" of sand that has built up on the face over the last 4.5 years.

Once we are finished with these bunkers, they will be pretty soft for about six months.  We will continue tamping them to get them to firm up as quickly as possible.