PC Closed for Aerification

      The Players Club was closed on Monday through Thursday of last week. The main reason for closing was to aerify the greens. We typically schedule other projects to complete during this closed window. The total list of items we completed this week are listed below.

• Aerified the greens. This was our priority for the closed week. We aerified, cleaned and completely topdressed the greens on Monday.
• Verticut the greens. We verticut in four directions to a depth of 1/8. This helps to reduce thatch and promotes new lateral growth.
• Aerified collars. We continue our effort to level the green to collar interface. The aerfication reduces the bulk density of the mounded areas. We then followed with an industrial style roller to help soften the severity of the mounds. Here is a link to our project last year.
• Spray insecticide wall to wall. This application is for grub and mole cricket control. We spray nearly 90 acres and this process took two people all of Thursday.
• Mowed the bunker faces. 
• Repaired cart paths. We were able to contract out and have cart path sections repaired on #9, 11, 13 and 14.
• Re-painted foot traffic areas on bridges. The ladies tee on six and seven were re-coated with anti-skid paint to prevent slipping and falling near the bride tees.

       We opened Friday with the greens still a little bumpy and off color, the collars were still stunted and the fairways and tees were showing weaknesses where the ryegrass once occupied. 

       We applied a slow release fertilizer to the greens on Thursday. No results could be seen until Sunday. Once the fertilizer began to release, the color returned to the greens and the holes began filling in. We expect a complete recovery within five to seven days.

        The week before we closed we sprayed herbicide onto the ryegrass to expedite elimination. The bare areas on the collars, fairways and tees are spots where the ryegrass once dominated and the bermudagrass has yet to fill in. We fertilized these areas extensively and will continue to do so until all the turf is filled in and uniform.