Good Afternoon, and thank you for visiting the blog. I will use today's post to give you an update on the rain, course conditions, and a few small projects that we have been working on. Before we get started, I would like to take a moment to congratulate John Derrick for winning the championship flight of the Odis Beck Memorial Club Championship this past Sunday. This Mr. Derrick's 6th victory!
Rainfall
According to weather.com, Waco received 7.3" of total rainfall for October - over 3" above normal totals. The rain has been extremely beneficial and the lake has risen over three feet since my last post. See pictures below. However, even with all the recent rain the lake is still just over four feet low. We desperately need more rain in order to fill the lake up before spring.
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| Intake on 8.26.13 |
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| Intake on 11.1.13 |
Course Conditions
The recent rains have helped many drought stressed areas recover from the summer, and we look to be in good shape heading into the winter months. The wet weather has definitely brought an influx of fire ant mounds to the fairways and roughs. Fire ants are expensive and difficult to control over large areas, but we are working to treat as many places as possible. Fall is prime time for bentgrass greens, and as the temperatures drop we have gradually been able to increase putting speed and firmness. We have delayed our last major
planet air procedure due to weather and multiple course events. We have tentatively re-scheduled this important practice for Monday, November 11th.
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| Hole 13 on 11.2.13 |
Other Course Happenings
We have been busy working on several areas of the course. All of the driving range tees have been over-seeded and are now open for play.
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| The lower driving range tee on 11.1.13 |
On the 21st of October we re-sodded the damaged areas around the putting green. The new sod is doing well and we will gradually lower the mowing height to match that of the putting green.
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| Joe Nava and Sergio Zapata installing the new sod |
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| Sod installed on the putting green |
We have also been working to re-establish tall fescue in many shaded areas on the course. Tall fescue does best when seed is planted in the fall, and can survive all year if given enough water and traffic is limited. Most of the seeded areas are roped off - please avoid driving in these areas.
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| Tall fescue planted behind 8 green |
Tomorrow we will planting several shaded areas on holes 16 and 17 to zoysia grass. The grass has been generously given to the club by Jeff Mathis of C&M Golf and Grounds. We will use combination of zoysia sod and tall fescue seed in order get better turf coverage in these areas.
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| Area prepped for sod in front of 16 green |
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| Area between 15 and 17 ready for sod (Ruby and Roxy in the background) |
Finally, we are working to change out all of the annual flowers around the club. Assistant Superintendent Duane Kemp has been busy selecting flowers, picking locations, and making sure all the flowers are planted correctly.
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| David Nava, Patrick Evans, and Montana Chick plant winter annuals in front of the club. |
