Llanerch Golf Course and External Activities

This weekend was one windy one! We spent the days watering as much as possible without giving up our goal of firm and fast. After a very wet May, June has been just as dry. The forecast is calling for some rain towards the end of the week. We will be adding sand to tees, fairways and greens to help keep the surfaces smooth and true during the early part of the week.

Today, we spent the morning "grooming" greens. It is process where we use motorized circular knives to cut lightly through the turf canopy. It helps "stand up" the turf. We than mow the "standing" turf. This make the surface more smooth and consistent. Afterward, we apply a dusting of sand to fill the grooves in. As you can see in the above picture, the grooves are very thin and almost hard to see.

After verticutting the fairways, we started the process of adding topdress sand to the fairways. The sand helps firm up the fairways, improve drainage and smooth out the surface. This is a long process that will take up to 10 days if the weather is reasonable.

If you have played in the last few days, you will see "lines" in the fairways. They are very shallow cuts made into the turf canopy to "stand up" the turf. By doing this, we remove the "chunky" part of the turf plant. It helps reduce the incidence of turf disease and improves the lie of the ball.  

As you can see in this picture from Monday, we are installing lights along the Clubhouse leading to the Fitness Center. They were just completed yesterday and are working just great! As for the golf course, we have carts today. We are still wet from all the rain over the past few days but more firm today. Hope to see you "on the course"!

As you can see in this picture of 11 tee complex, we are irrigating. The rain that has been in the forecast earlier in the week has not come our way. With the exception of last Saturday morning, we have not had a big rain in weeks. We might have some rain tonight but it looks we have a better chance on Sunday. Unseasonable cold temperatures should end over the weekend. 

Yesterday's aerification went as well as could be planned. Today, we have spent time spreading more sand on the greens to smooth them out. This picture was taken right after we applied topdress. The sand was then blown into the aerification hole and into the grass canopy. This will make the greens heal faster and putt better. The hole size is only half the size that we use in the fall.