Survived the Grind
Not the ideal forecast for most this holiday weekend, but for us grass growers, it looks pretty dreamy. Hopefully the next four days will bring some much-needed relief to what has been a historically dry spring. Currently watching the radar!
It’s hard to believe we’re already gaining on June. This spring feels like it has moved at record speed, but this week somehow managed to feel a little longer. Temperatures in the mid-90s combined with continued dry conditions kept our crews moving all week long. Ironically, this is the heat we’ve been wishing for, and we are finally starting to see the bermudagrass respond and take off from these warm conditions… finally. Honestly, it kind of feels like that reliable golf buddy who is always a trunk slammer — sliding into the parking lot five minutes before the tee time and sprinting to the first tee somehow fully ready to go.
That bottom pond is getting low!
Our crew battled through the heat to aerify nearly 100 acres of short grass this week. That cultural work, combined with some sustained heat and hopefully a little rain, should have us sprinting into Member-Guest week.
Aerification weeks inevitably pull manpower away from some of our normal conditioning efforts simply because of the scale of the work involved, but the boys and girls still found ways to make major progress on irrigation repairs, staff training, and bunker detail work.
We also spent some time this week going through our Thor Guard lightning detection system to make sure everything is operating properly heading into the busy summer season. We did uncover a few issues that are currently being addressed, but almost the entire system is now back online and functioning correctly. We are just waiting on a few parts for one remaining horn to get the system back to 100%.
Next week we’ll begin some large-acreage fertility applications to really capitalize on what should be ideal growing conditions. Mowing heights will gradually start coming down, surfaces will continue tightening up, and conditions should progressively improve as we head deeper into the season.