Finally some rain, colder next week
After a few beautiful days this week we have finally seen some much needed rain come out of the sky. The days continue to get shorter and we even saw some patches of frost last weekend. Soil temperatures will continue to fall as more cold air comes in next week. Cold air sitting on top of still warmer (60's) soil temperatures produces the morning fog.
All the greens fans came in this week for the off season. This is the first time we have brought in all 19 fans for the winter. This fan on 12 Sabot will get moved towards the back of the green a bit this spring as we modify the low area on the left side of this green with the upcoming project.
The fans are hauled in slowly on the back of a progator with their own respective pallet and mount. Our five older fans from the Sabot will finally be replaced with the newer, quieter, and more efficient direct drive (no belt) fans next year.
This is also the first time that these fans will spend the off season under cover thanks to our new open front structure at the Maintenance Facility. These fans are a major backbone for our success on the greens so it is nice to be able to take care of them properly!
Our winter herbicide went down on the back nine if the Sabot this week. Three different products were used to take out any Poa annua that has already emerged as well as any that would try to emerge over the winter. The GPS sprayers make the application a breeze, automatically filling in the map as we drive over an area. The two different colors of coverage are from two different sprayers and operators. The machines talk to each other so that everything gets covered and there are no overlaps.
An everyday occurrence for fall now is leaf, pine straw and acorn cleanup. In areas that mainly pine straw is falling on the turf, we use our sweepers to suck it up and then transport it to a thinner pine straw bed. A novel concept I'm sure but harvesting your own straw instead of paying for it is a pretty gratifying process!
Enjoy the beautiful weekend, you may even see the bermuda green up a bit before we deal with some more frost next week!