As The Seasons Change...

We finally made it through the long dog days of summer and have emerged into autumn, albeit, a little tired and weary. With the temperatures on their gradual decline, we get a chance to catch our breath around here and cruise through fall taking advantage of what a beautiful place The Legacy Course becomes when the leaves begin to change.  Below are just a few select scenes from around the course. 

Fall colors provide a nice backdrop to Number 3 green.



Looking down on Number 17.



Left:  Looking from the fairway bunkers to number 5 green

Right:  A view of Number 18 and The Legacy Golf House in the distance

Ketch enjoying the view on Number 4 tee.

A frosty early morning at The Legacy



Above are photos of Number 14 on the left and Number 11 on the right.

The ryegrass is coming in nicely on the practice range.

However, as we wish it would stay "Octember" all year, the leaves do eventually fall off the trees and we do our best at keeping the course clean for play.  We use a combination of pull-behind turbine debris blowers and a tractor driven Rake-O-Vac to try and keep up with the falling leaves.

Turbine blowers rounding up leaves on Number 16 tee.

 

The Rake-O-Vac in action on Number 16.

FROST!

We received our first frost of the season on October 21.  This is about average for this part of the state.  Please be sure to read through the Frost Delays tab on the blog for information on how frost and freezing temperatures affect the golf course.  Below is a photo of a frosty wonderland out on Number 5 tee.





Post Aerification Update II

The greens are healing well from aerification.  They are still soft to hit in to, only rolling about 8 1/2, and a little bumpy, but they are decent to play on.  We have begun working the height of cut back down and should be back to the height that we were at prior to aerification by next weekend.  I have included a couple of pictures from this morning below.

Post Aerification Update

The greens were mowed Wednesday for the first time since aerification.  The height of cut was raised .025" from where we left off prior to aerification to minimize, as much as possible, the mowers getting into the topdressing sand.  We will work the height back down as they heal.

Yesterday we vented the greens with bayonet tines.  We did this to create deeper channels for root growth in the greens profile. We achieved approximately 4 1/2 inches of depth with the bayonet tines in comparison to 3 inches with the coring tines last week.  Also, this along with rolling immediately afterwards, helps smooth out any light ruts created during the topdressing and brushing process following core aerification.  I have included a picture below of the bayonets in action.

The greens were mowed again today.  The picture below was taken following today's cut.  Even though we are closed, we will be mowing this weekend to continue grooming them for when we open back up on Monday.

Fall Greens Aerification

We completed our fall greens aerification on Thursday.  We removed approximately 3.93% of the surface area of the greens by using .5" inside diameter tines on a 2" x 2.5" spacing.  We aerified to a depth of 3".  Following aerification, we cleaned the cores off of the greens, applied topdressing sand, and brushed the sand into the aerification holes.  We will brush the greens one more time, roll them, and then let them be until they are ready to be mowed early next week.  We are scheduled to reopen on Monday, September 26th.  We will provide updates throughout the healing process.

Still Alive

We have been very busy since our last update!  This summer seems like it just does not want to end!  Despite that the greens are hanging in there fine.  The guys watering greens, on the other hand, are ready for a break!  We are looking forward to greens aerification in 2 weeks on the 15th!  I have added some pictures below of some of the cultural practices that we have completed over the past month.

Aerification and topdressing of approaches

Slicing of fairways with Aerway

Aerification and topdressing of tees

Verticutting of fairways (multiple times)

"Coach" getting the traditional treatment on his last day