October Snow Storm Tree Replacement

Many of our ornamental trees were damaged in the October snow storm. We have started the process of replacing the damaged trees on 16, 11, the clubhouse parking lot, and pool house. With good weather the replacement project should be completed by next week.

Unloading Dogwood for the 16th tee area

Chinese Elm replacement for 16 rough

Digging the hole for the elm

Adding the finishing touches

Golf Course Work Schedule for the week of March 26th

Greens Aerification

In addition to our normal cutting schedule, the following work is scheduled for the week of March 26^th, weather permitting:

Green and tee aerification, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Annual bluegrass weevil preventive spray, greens, tees, fairways

Green and tee fungicide spray

Bunker cleanup and edging

Soil and seeding of stump holes from winter tree work

Soil and prep work for hydro-seeding and sod 11th hole left rough.

Prep work for spring conditioning of the tennis courts.

Golf Course Update March 20th

Happy Spring!!

The weather continues to be unseasonably warm and the golf course is slowly greening. The playing surfaces are dry and firm. The greens have been mowed three times and tees, collars and fairways have been mowed twice.

The weather for the next week looks favorable so I am planning to open greens and tees this Wednesday March 21, the second earliest opening ,(by 2 days), in my 35 years at Silver Spring. This is 10 days earlier than our traditional date of April 1^st. Looks like Mother Nature has given us some bonus golf to start the 2012 season. We hope to have golf carts by the end of the week as well as the driving range. The opening of the range will depend on the completion of a project on the range mats scheduled for Thursday. Play will be restricted to Mats only.  The short game area will remain closed until there is sufficient growth for recovery.

The golf and grounds crew continues our spring cleanup and work has started on edging and raking bunkers. Work has also started on our irrigation system and tennis courts. Our crew has been busy.

There can still be some cold and rainy weather in store for us this spring. Any prolonged cold and wet conditions could force us to close the course for a short period of time.

We are continuing to monitor insect activity and soil temperatures. Our initial applications will probably move up in the schedule by 7 to 10 days. As soon as our irrigation system has been fully activated aerification of our greens and tees will take place. Tentatively we have scheduled aerification of greens the week of March 26^th.

I will keep the membership informed of our aerification dates through email, and the dates will be posted on this blog.

Peter Rappoccio, CGCS

 The tire marks shown in this picture show the damage that can be done to turf when frost is present. The staff followed the tracks and this player not only caused damage to several fairways but also played greens and tee that were closed and had frost on them.

 This picture shows the damage that can occur to a green that is played on when frost is present. The paper foot prints represent the tracks that a single foursome leave on a green. Imagine the damage several groups can cause.
Please follow the posted time for play when frost is present. Waiting a few extra minutes can save the course from unnecessary damage.

This picture shows the difference in color response to turf that is covered versus turf that is not covered over the winter months.Turf covers are used to protect greens and tees that are in the open and susceptible to wind damage throughout the winter. Covers are also used to help moderate temperatures under the covers to help those areas that are sheltered get a jump on spring.
Can you identify which green this is??

Golf Course Update

The warm winter weather has given the golf and grounds crew the opportunity to complete several outdoor projects that would not be the case during a normal snowy cold winter. The bad news is that our normal indoor activities of refurbishing our golf accessories are behind schedule. We should be able to catch up on this work with a few rainy days.

A complete cleanup of remaining debris from both tropical storm Irene and the October snow storm has been completed. Branches and small trees damaged from the storms on perimeter wood lines have been cut and chipped. Rough areas on 1, 2, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 18 have been cleaned out to promote air flow during the growing season.

All the removals and stump grinding associated with the capital tree project on 11 has been completed. The remaining work of adding soil and seeding and sodding will take place in the early spring.

Our normal winter tree work has also been completed. The golf and grounds crew is in the process of cleaning up the remaining stump grinding debris from that project.

The cleanup of our dump areas is almost complete. The screening of the topsoil and fill in those dumps is still to be completed. Warmer and drier weather is necessary for that work to be done.

The golf and grounds crew are monitoring the greens that we have covered. The warmer temps can cause some problems with turf that has protected covers for the winter. To date the turf under the covers looks good without any flush growth. We will continue to monitor these areas and remove the covers when the weather remains above freezing. Removal of the covers too early can work against us if there is a sudden cold snap too soon after the covers is removed.

The biggest question facing turf managers this spring is what effect the warmer winter weather and the above normal March weather will have on the life cycles of the Annual Bluegrass weevil, (ABW),  as well as the timing of pre-emerge chemical applications for crabgrass. We have already installed our insect pit fall traps to track the movement of ABW adults. When the adults appear implementation of our ABW program will begin. An earlier than usual appearance of these pests could effect the treatment schedules throughout the growing season.

The staff has already started to monitor soil temperatures. When the temperatures reach the target levels pre-emerge crabgrass applications will take place.

The warmer weather could work to our advantage accelerating our spring aerification schedule for greens and tees. Aerification scheduled for April on greens could be moved to late March if the weather continues to improve and the greens firm enough to withstand the use of the aerification equipment. We will continue to keep the membership informed on any aerification activity on the course.

Traditionally we target the first week of April to open our greens and tees. If the temperatures continue to stay above normal and there are no significant rain events the opening of the course could be moved up as early as a week to the last week of March.

Let’s hope Mother Nature cooperates and we can get a jump on the golf season.