First Day of Summer.....Where has the time gone???

Hole #7 

It is hard to believe that tomorrow we start to lose minutes of daylight. This season feels like it has gone by quicker than any other in my time on a golf course. I think I can attribute that to my increased role at the club as the Superintendent as well as the General Manager. I have had no choice but to improve my time management skills, but that is still a work in progress. A few things have had to be put on the back burner, with this blog being one of them. Andrew Smith, our Assistant Superintendent will start to contribute to this blog to keep it current, and now that I am feeling much more comfortable with my new role, I hope to add posts more regularly as well.

The course came out of winter in good shape, with virtually no damage to putting greens, and minor snow mold damage to all other playing surfaces. Our tees and fairways continue to recover, but the lack of warm temperatures has definitely slowed down their recovery. We core aerated, overseeded, and topdressed our tee decks last week, with a solid tine aeration on fairways planned for the near future.

Andrew Venting Greens 

This season we will pick away at a few course improvement projects, such as improving drainage on the back nine, and working to clean up some of our ugly areas around the property. With virtually no spring project work to repair the course from winter damage, our team is in summer mode, focusing on keeping up with daily maintenance practices.

Turf Care Team Enjoying a Friday BBQ

 Our greens management plan is in full swing with regular verticutting,venting, and topdressing. We have made some changes to our fertility program as well and I am happy with the results we have seen thus far. We have also applied an organic fertilizer to our soil based front nine greens to help control earth worms and their castings that affect ball roll. The product was very effective for a few weeks, but I have started to see the castings return to the greens.

The start of the 2014 season for the DTGCC Turf Care team has been a great one and we hope to carry that momentum right through to the end. Personally I am happy with the way everything is progressing. It has been a huge learning curve for myself, but I have a great team of leaders in all departments which makes my life easier. I probably spent too much time at the course, but as I feel more comfortable with the position, I hope to get that balance back in my life. I am lucky to have such an understanding wife that allows me to pursue my goals and supports me in everything I do.

Thanks
Mitch Davidson