Bunkers, Trees and Greens

I started blogging at Highlands GC about 10 years ago and continued it consistently here at The Royal Mayfair. This season I have not communicated through this medium in a timely manner. I have used twitter more often but still not often enough. Instead the Turf Care Department has notified the Golf Shop about daily activities so that they could talk to the members as they greeted them at the first tee. This technique is not 100% foolproof and doesn't allow for detailed messages to be conveyed. Without a monthly newsletter I find myself in a quandary. How do we get our messages out to you the members? The answer is back to more blogging, twitter posts and email blasts. I am also out on the course throughout the day so please feel free to flag me down to answer any questions you may have.

Let me explain why the bunkers have seen a delay in edging and sand adjustment. The construction at our front entrance resulted in a delay for sand delivery from Idaho. They only deliver sand with long belly dump trailer trucks . There was no way those trucks could enter until the curbing was finished. The first load arrived 12 days ago and the second arrived last Wednesday. There was enough sand in our inventory to complete the green side bunkers a few weeks ago, had some sand left over to start fairway bunkers and  were finally able to order more sand. Unfortunately with the wind storm the fairway bunkers had to wait while we tasked labor to course cleanup for a week. We have many large fairway bunkers and there are only so many hours in a workday. However we are almost finished, with bunkers on 6,7,10 and 12 to be adjusted.

Many of you have seen that huge poplar that fell Saturday evening on hole 18. When they are on the ground it is easier to appreciate how big they are and how extensive  the cleanup is. By my estimate it will be 8 hours of chainsaw work and 16 hours of labor (4 staff x 4 hours) just to remove the debris and stumps. On top of that will be disposal of the branches and wood. We will chip what branches we can but there is no room in our area for any debris. It will need to be put into 35 cubic yard roll off bins and hauled away. The stump area will need to be ground down and then sodded. Right now I would make a rough estimate of $2500 to $3000 for cleanup. That's just one large polar. Daunting to say the least.

The greens are almost healed with the 14th green being the last to come around. The bentgrass that filled most of the damaged areas will eventually become fine bladed and shorter as we lower the mowing heights and continue with verticutting, brushing and topdressing. We've also had to fertilize each green depending on its health. Some have received more nitrogen than others (to speed recovery) which has made it difficult to maintain consistency across the golf course. Sodded areas have been cut higher but we are slowly bringing those areas down to the same mowing height of cut as all other greens. The sod on 15 is looking great and we will continue to cautiously bring it "up to speed". It is slow but still a very smooth putting surface.

To say it has been a challenge so far would be an understatement. Thankfully our fairways, tees and approaches are in great condition. Lets hope for continued warm sunny weather.