Big Dead Tree on #11

A few weeks ago we took the chance to remove a large dead tree on hole #11.  When I say large, I mean very large!  The diameter of the tree measured 5 feet across!  This Oak tree had been on this property for at least 100 years, but almost all the leaves were gone and it was starting to shed some large branches which have become a danger.

You can see from this picture the old tree has seen better days.  Due to concerns about safety we decided to remove the tree and clean up the area.

This golf cart is 4 feet wide.  The tree trunk measured 5 feet wide!

A crane was needed to help the tree crew remove the large branches and trunk.

All the branches are gone now!  Just the massive trunk is left, and it was quite a job to get it all cut up!  Took some pretty large chainsaws and large equipment to complete the task.

Here is a video of all the equipment working at one time to cut down the tree.  Pretty cool to see all the equipment work, and to see what can be accomplished with nice equipment!  It took the company about 5 hours complete this job start to finish!  We counted around 100 rings on the tree stump, so this tree had definitely seen some interesting stuff, both good and bad tee shots on hole #11!

Greens recovering quickly!

Aerification has come and gone, and now the greens have been trying to battle the extended summer heat.  The hot weather has actually been a huge help on the greens as it provides great growing weather for the grass to fill in the holes.  During this recovery process we have to water more than we would typically like because the holes can cause the greens to dry out more rapidly.  The water does however help the grass to grow more vigorously by not allowing stressful periods to occur.  It has only been 3 weeks since we punched the greens, but the holes are almost fully recovered! 

Here is a picture looking straight down on the green the day after we aerified on September 5th.  You can see there is quite a bit of sand on the surface, and almost all the holes are full of fresh new sand we added before we punched the holes.  

Here is a picture from September 12th, one week after the photo above and one week after punching!  See how much recovery can happen in just 1 week!  The holes are still visible but have started to grow over.  The sand has worked itself into the greens profile and the grass has grown through.  It just takes a little bit of patience during these times but the grass will come back stronger than before!

One week later on the 19th, just a little over 2 weeks after aerification, and the greens are almost fully healed!  Holes are now much harder to see, and the grass has grown back to create a much better putting surface.  The greens are still not all the way recovered, but putting on the greens is much improved!  Once we start to have some continuous night time temperatures in the low 60's or 50's we will start to see even more improvement.  For only 3 weeks after aerification we are in a great spot and the greens are very healthy!  We will have a great Fall golf season, we just need some rain!!!