Hello
Everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the
spring.
Within
the past month the bunkers were edged and topped off with additional bunker
sand. A detailed map was created of each
bunker diagramming the depth of the sand before the project. Our goal is to have 4-6 inches of sand
throughout the bunker.
#6
fairway was also topdressed during May.
Currently, we have around 2” of sand capping the fairway. We will continue these topdressing
applications throughout the year and the coming years at monthly intervals to
increase the sand cap to our desired 4-6”.
I am sure you will all agree the fairway has improved dramatically over
the last couple of years and the topdressing program has played a big part in
the fairway’s improvement.
The
rough left of 4 fairway is close to being able to play out of. The cold spring has really slowed down the
grow-in process, so thank you for your patience.
Every
spring we receive a number “comments” about the rough. Even though it seems we are growing U.S. Open
style rough, we are not. We actually are
maintaining it at the same height that we do throughout the year. It just grows very rapidly with the spring
rains and when the grass flowers it gets very tough to play out of.
Yes,
I did say the grass flowers. It isn’t as
pretty as the flowers we think of initially, but every spring some turfgrass produces seeds on a stalk and it
is referred to as inflorescence. This is
especially true with the grass species Chikaming has on its property. Normally grasses produce this inflorescence
when they have not been mowed, but Poa
annua or Annual Bluegrass (our dominant grass species) produces seed even
at greens height. This explains the
“white-ish” blotches on the greens, tees, fairways and in the rough.
The
Grounds Staff and I look forward to seeing you all through the year and, as
always, please repair your ballmarks, rake the bunkers and replace your
divots. With your help, we can continue
to make Chikaming a great place to play.
Thank you!!
Eric
Rank
Director
of Grounds
