Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Off the Beaten Path

We have 70 golf carts in our fleet at Wakonda. These carts can create compaction, worn areas and simply bad playing conditions when not driven properly. Please respect your course when navigating the grounds by following these simple rules.

1. Stay on the cart path when ever possible
2. When leaving the cart path please scatter - this will decrease the compaction in certain areas.


3. We suggest you drive in the secondary rough and not in the NEW first cut

4. When entering the fairway, please use the 90 degree rule.
5. Finally, please keep carts at least 30 yards away from the green and tee complexes

Thanks for your help!
The Grounds Team

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Aerification Underway.

Spring Aerification has begun. We start the process by topdressing with sand.
Next, we aerate using a 1/2 inch diameter solid tine which creates a hole 9 inches deep.
The third step in the process is to brush the sand into the holes.
Finally, we blow the sand across the green two times. This process incorporates more of the sand into the holes and removes the excess sand from the putting surface.

The end result is pictured above. The vast majority of holes are filled to the surface with sand. This helps the green heal faster and improves green health. There are approximately 20 holes per square foot- over 3 million holes throughout all the greens. We require 3 semi truck loads of sand to complete the project.

Aerification has been completed on the front nine fairways. We will continue aerifying the back nine fairways, all the tees, and collars in the coming week.

Other current activities include: irrigation system maintenance and drainage repairs.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Spring Progress

It has been a productive week for the Wakonda grounds staff. Inclement weather slowed progress on the course but allowed us to complete other tasks here in the shop. We have hand- raked sticks from the entire west side of the course including holes 1, 2, 3, 4, 17, and 18. The greens are rolling at a pace of over 10 feet as measured by the Stimp Meter on Friday afternoon. Here are some pictures of the drainage work you will encounter on hole #7.The old clay tile has collapsed and broken in several places plugging the tile in some areas and causing sink holes in other areas. These repairs should improve playing conditions on holes 7 and 13.

Monday, April 5, 2010

The Crew Has Arrived!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our seasonal grounds maintenance staff. The majority of the staff arrived on Thursday, April 1st. The current focus for the seasonal staff is the general cleanup of the golf course. We have cleaned and chipped the majority of the downed tree branches and are now hand- raking smaller sticks. The turf is growing rapidly with the warmer than normal daytime temperatures we have experienced so far this spring.
Members of our staff have begun planting pansies around the clubhouse.
The driving range has been open since Wednesday and the tee has been cut two times. Other activities include: checking the irrigation system, repairing drainage on holes 7 & 13, and aerifying fairways.