Zoysia Conversion on 13 fairway

About a month ago, we were able to purchase 1000 square yards of zoysia sod from Topeka Sod farm to strip in our only existing cool-season fairway. The process used a skid-steer with 2 cutters on the front that proceeded to cut 7 inch strips on 18 inch centers. The 7 inch stripes were loaded into workmen beds and dumped off site. It will take around 3-4 years for the whole fairway to fill in.

Before sod installation

After Sod Installation

1 month later

 

Vandalism on 8 green

On July 11^th we had a car enter our facility through the fence on 115^th street and proceeded to drive onto 8 green and do donuts on the green surface before leaving the property. We went through the process of rolling the green 4 times, aerified, topdressed, fertilized, and watered it. See below before and after pictures.

 

 

Bunker Removal #10

For anyone that has played Minor Park Golf Course, you may have noticed that the course was blessed with one bunker by 10 green. I am pleased to inform all golfers that on this day Minor Park officially has ZERO bunkers to maintain.

Bunker with sand removed.

 

 

 Grading the bunker down

Rough Grade

 

Mr. Bertels putting down seed



Dragging in the seed for proper seed to soil contact

David packing down seed with tractor tires

Finished Product

final grade and seeded

 

As you can see from the final picture it no longer looks like a bunker was there. We decided to seed this due to the fact that we were able to flatten it out so much and also save on budget that could be used elsewhere on the course.

Aerification

Well its that time of the year again... Aerification!!!. Here at Minor Park Golf Course we have started the process of punching holes and picking up plugs! We are hoping that the weather will cooperate with us so we can get this done within the next couple of days and get Minor Park back open for play. This morning we were able to double verticut greens and then starting at 4:00 tonight we are in the process of punching holes. Here are a few pictures of the process:

Double verticuting to help eliminate some unwanted thatch

David (My Assistant) running the Procore

Picking up plugs with the core harvester

Vandalism at Minor Park

We had some vandalism overnight on a few of our greens and tee boxes.  The putting green and tee box #4 got the worse of it.  We had to strip out a spot on the putting green and replace it with sod from our Nursery green. The black marks where they decided to burn out on the green have been left for now to see what the turf does in these areas.

Damage on Putting Green

Turf removed and replaced from nusery green

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frost Damage

As we begin to get later into December and the start of the new year we will begin to see a lot more frost mornings.  I just wanted to post a picture of what frost damage does to the grass if you walk out on it. I know frost in the morning is an inconvenience and not many people like to wait for it to clear so they can play. But if we can stay off of it until the maintenance staff can give the all clear, we hope to see less of these pictures in the future.

Time To Put The Zoysia To Bed!

As I sit here writing this, I look out my shop window and see a nice blanket of frost throughout the course.  With Temperatures getting low enough for frost and the highs just cracking the 60's and 70's the warm season Zoysia will start to shut down and proceeded into dormancy for the winter.  About Mid- September we applied a fertilizer application of 5-10-31 to harden the zoysia off.  About a week later we mowed our fairways and tees for the last time.  If you have played lately you probably notice that they are getting tall.  We do this to help protect the crown of the plant so when it goes through the brutal Missouri winters ( the ones we usually get unlike last winter) it will be protected and allow for less winter kill of Zoysia when it comes out in the Spring.

 

The Month of September was greatly welcomed in by myself and my hard working staff. I would like to thank everyone on my staff for the hard work they showed during the hottest and driest summer in quite some time.  With the cooler temperatures we have received over the last month, we were able to get out 2000 pounds of tall fescue seed into our rough that was badly hit with the no rain, high temperatures and lack of irrigation coverage.

 

Now is the perfect time to get out and enjoy these nice days and perfect course conditions at Minor Park Golf Course. I look forward to seeing you on the Golf Course.