Finally a Nice Break in the Weather!

 

        It's nice to see the weather change for the good once in a while and to get the temperatures we are getting now in the middle of July, I don't think anyone can complain.  We have received just over 3 inches of rain in week with some pretty unbearable humidity.  The course overall held up well and we got some much needed rain out of the storms that swept across the Mid-Atlantic states.  Along with the rain came some very cool unseasonal temperatures that allowed us to get some much needed work done.  The weeds in the rough have been a priority of mine for a long time but until last year there wasn't a product on the market to allow me to spray the tough to kill weeds like nimblewill and dallisgrass that I wanted too, and we needed some cooler weather and moisture in the ground to alleviate any injury to our grass in the rough.  Now we are going full speed in trying to "weed out" the roughs.  We were also able to get a light topdressing on the greens this week to help smooth the surface out a bit.  The venting process has continued to occur on the tee box on 14 and the practice green.  With the amount of rain and humidity we encountered the aerifier was sent out to solid tine the new tee and practice green on 1.5 inch centers.  You will have to look close to see the holes but I promise they are there.  The red rock path leading to the back patio had some work done as well.  The second step leading to the back patio was leaning causing a trip hazard so we dug it up and leveled it.  The the red rocks were raked back up that were washed down from the heavy rains we have had.

 

During the heat and lack of rain when the grass wasn't growing as much we started bunker edging a few weeks ago.  It is a long process but the end product looks great!  We will continue to keep knocking them off one by one until we get them all finished.



Safety first!  Here we are touching up the yellow caution stripes on the steps leading to the back patio.  Our first concern is that everyone is always safe at Montgomery Country Club.

Here we are venting the practice green with a 8 mm solid tine that goes down about 3 inches.  We aerified the  green in a 1.5" x 2" spacing to create lots of little holes for good oxygen exchange.  Since this green is not sand based like the others on the course and does not have any internal drainage installed it is important the we create air channels to promote this oxygen exchange to create a healthier plant.

 

This tree on hole 7 will be probably taken down in the fall of this year.  The reason is it creates a double hazard from the fairway bunker which is unfair.  Knowing that this locust tree will continue to get bigger and be more penal in the future it will have to be removed.  Not only knowing what kind of trees to plant but also where to plant them is just as important.