Golf Course Update
Water
The rains in June definitely helped boost our water budget. In June we used 72% less water for irrigation compared to our historical average usage. We are on track to record similar savings for July. In addition, Lake Waco is back to its normal level for the first time in years. Even with all the rain it is important to note that 63% of the state is still experiencing drought conditions. We are however in much better shape than this time last year when 99.7% of the state was experiencing drought conditions. McLennan County currently falls into the "Moderate Drought" level. The bottom line is that the golf course has benefited from recent precipitation and our "water budget" is in good shape - however we still need considerably more rain to break the ongoing drought. For more information on drought conditions click the following link: United States Drought Monitor
Bunker Maintenance and Etiquette
Jacob Heppell hand watering the greenside bunker on #2 |
We have been working hard to make the bunkers smoother and firmer. We feel that we have some success by using the following practices:
- Hand watering in conjunction with using a mechanical bunker every one to two weeks to aid in compaction in the bottoms of the bunkers
- Using the back side (smooth side) of the rake to smooth the surface of the faces
- Only raking footprints and smoothing rough or uneven areas several days a week, rather than raking the entire bunker every day before play
- Only smoothing footprints in fairway bunkers all of the time
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ALWAYS enter and exit bunkers from the low side |
Greens Update
Root depth on 17 Green on July 10th |
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15 Green showing symptoms of Summer Patch |
No Mow Areas
View from 15 Tee with deep rough mowed at 5" |
Other Course Happenings
New Uniforms - Troy Petty shows off the new bright orange shirts while mowing 14 green |
- Uniforms - All employees received new uniforms earlier this month. Our hope is that new uniforms help golfers better see our crew members while maintaining a more professional image. Our student workers and part time employees wear the orange shirts, while our full time staff is provided with blue button up shirts and khaki pants.
- Civitas Trial - We are currently testing a new product on fairways 10 and 18 called Civitas. The product is essentially a mineral oil combined with a pigment that is supposed to provide a variety of plant health benefits including substantial water savings. I will post more on this topic later.
- Basketball Court - We are in the final stages of preparing the old basketball court for re-grassing
- Maintenance Facility - Plans and cost for the proposed renovations at the maintenance facility have been received.
- #11 Erosion - We are working to develop a plan to better control drainage and erosion to the right of the 11th fairway and green.
- Driving Range - The artificial turf was installed on July 1st. We are currently working with Colligan Design to develop long term improvements to the entire range