Greens drainage underway...

John Paquette, Indian Hills Country Club, Northport, NY:

"Our Greens Drainage program started right on time yesterday. Golf Preservations from Kentucky is currently wrapping up work on #1. To say their work is meticulous is not giving them enough credit.

The greens are first surveyed to be certain of the flow of water. Sod is stripped off the green, carefully laid to the side to be replaced exactly where it came from. The material is then trenched out of the green onto plywood and removed from the site. New, clean properly-draining material or greensmix is then added to the 15" trench after a 2" diameter pipe has been installed in the bottom of the trench. The material is packed, the sod re-installed and tamped. Green will be open again once all trenches are completed and the green is clean and ready for play.

Visit John's blog at ihccgrass.blogspot.com/

And the winner is...

Frank Tichenor, Forest Hill Field Club, Bloomfield, NJ:

"It was a tough call but Emmanuel "The Laser" Martinez takes the first of our monthly straightest mowing lines contest. Contestants were judged on direction, straight-ness, and consistency of width.

Fernando Ulloa came in a close second with his work on the first green but "The Laser" got the nod due to his perfect stripes on third green. Incidentally, Fernando originally taught Manny to mow greens so he can take pride in his protege. Manny earned extra points due to #3 green being two-tiered. All the contestants did their best on a morning that was absent of dew, which put added pressure to the event.

For his fine work Emmanuel wins a $20 gift certificate to Franks Pizza and more importantly, bragging rights for the month. Congratulations, Manny!"

Visit Frank's blog at fhfcgreendepartment.blogspot.com.

Our newest owlets...

Brian Boyer, Cinnabar Hills Golf Club, San Jose, CA:

Our resident bird expert, Lee Pauser, stopped by yesterday to check on the barn owls and he found a hen sitting with four owlets. In his estimation, the oldest appears to be one week old.

Gophers that we had trapped were placed in the box on Tuesday and they have already been consumed. We will continue to feed the owlets into maturity and look forward to our fine feathered friends arrival!"

Visit Brian's blog at cinnabarhills.blogspot.com.

Great News! We Punched Greens!!!

Joel Kachmarek, Tacoma Country and Golf Club, Lakewood, WA:

"Now it's pouring down rain, which is perfect. This will wash all the sand in very nicely. Most of you are not thinking that us punching greens this past Monday is "great news". As always the greens were just getting really good. At least that's what everyone seems to say the day before we punch greens. But really, punching greens this past Monday is great news because it's a week before our scheduled date, and that means they will be healed up a week earlier. Essentially you get an extra week of great greens this spring.

Here's Kevan putting the first roll on the greens after the sand has been drug in. This always makes them roll so nice.

Here's Joe dragging the greens again yesterday which we followed up with the first mowing, which basically just picks up extra sand and as you can imagine it dulls the mowers big time. This final drag was really critical because it filled up any remaining holes, packed sand in all the holes, and allowed us to equally distribute the extra sand. In the spring we don't always get a chance to get this final drag in because it rains so often. Dragging sand on greens is only possible if the surface is dry. Yesterday morning the rain had not moved in yet and there was a steady breeze so by 9 am we were dragging and mowing. Again, this almost never happens so I would have to say we had the best spring weather I've ever seen for greens aerification and so you can imagine the process went as good as I've ever seen it.

So like I said, yesterday morning the rain was still holding off so we decided to get out our brand new TORO 864 and punch some fairways. We did indeed punch fairways 10 and 12 before the rain hit and they turned out great. Looks like we will get a chance to sand them next Monday.

To the right is Tim on #12 fairway with our new fairway puncher.

Click on the video and watch how smooth this thing is in action."

Visit Joel's blog at www.tacomaturf.com/

Bunker work...

Justin Ruiz, CGCS MG, Indian Summer Golf & Country Club, Olympia, WA:

"With the season beginning and aerification only weeks away, we have been just trying to get the course ready for our membership. Spring cleaning is the main focus as we come into season. The bunkers are one of those maintenance items that must be taken care of every year.

In previous years we have added sand to the bunkers as the sand has sloughed off of the sides. Between the rain and the trap rake the sand has all collected at the bottom of the bunkers. Over the season this has created a large lip that is rather unsightly.

This year we did not order any more sand to add to the sides because there is plenty of sand in the bottom of the bunkers. Although time consuming, we have started pushing the sand back up onto the sides after we edge the bunkers. Our goal is to keep a two inch lip around the bunker.

What does that mean to our members, you ask? The sand along these edges are going to be relatively soft until the rains can help pack the sand. We do some packing with the rakes and sand pro but, the sand will remain soft enough to plug your ball into. After a few weeks the bunkers will begin to firm up and return to releasing the ball to the bottom of the bunker. Hopefully you will bear with us as we make efforts to increase playability and presentation of the golf course this season."

Visit Justin's blog at indiansummergolf.blogspot.com.

Exterior decorating...

Craig DeJong, Hendersonville Country Club, Hendersonville, NC:

"This morning we put our our new tee markers. We are very excited about the new look, and I'll hand it to my staff for doing a wonderful job on them. We hope the addition of two new sets of tees and colors does not confuse anyone for long. The initial feedback has been very positive!"

Visit Craig's blog at hccgcgd.blogspot.com.

Coming in handy already...

Joel Purpur, CGCS, Park Ridge Country Club, Park Ridge, IL:

"This week we had a portion of clay tile collapse near the cart path in front of seven ladies tee. We were able to clean the line with the help of our new hydro-jet. This piece of equipment uses water at a high psi to move through drainage tile and clear out any debris that is in the way. When dealing with older drainage lines, this is an excellent piece of equipment to help clear the way for water movement.

Visit Joel's blog at parkridgeccgrounds.blogspot.com.