BUNKER WORK

Blowing sand from the bunkers has always been a pain at Ballyneal.  We do a lot of extra work to minimize the topdressing the blow sand does to the in play areas.  We have found that trying to force the bunkers to be what we want them to be is like trying to force golfers to fix ball marks and replace divots. We have let the bunkers find a happy medium which has stopped almost all sand topdressing from the bunkers.

One of the bunkers that has evolved and has ultimately affected the playability of the course is the bunker in front of the #6 tee.  In the winter it blows the sand 50 yards down the fairway and in the summer back toward the tees.  It had evened out to a point and it had ruined the aesthetics of the tee shot.  The summer winds had created a huge "eyebrow" on the tee side of the bunker and you could not see the gap of fairway which gave golfers a good aiming point.   Check out the before and after pics.  When we started the bunker you could not see the top of the mini-excavator.  

Au Naturale Precipitation

We have finally received some much needed moisture and life is good at the moment.  We ended with around 7" of snow and when melted down gave us around .5" of high quality water.   

It is a nice blanket but there was a little wind with it and the grass on the humps is already poking through.  With temperatures expected to reach the 60's this weekend this snow won't last for long.

Recycling Program

In 2009 one of our old Assistants, Eric Bode, put together a recycling program for Ballyneal that has been a screaming success.  We have recycled thousands of water bottles with the help of our members, guests and employees.  Every year the program gains momentum.  Below is a newsletter describing the program.

Rain Dance

We are anxiously awaiting the forecasted storm that is to arrive Saturday and bring rain and snow.  Yes rain! I can't remember it ever raining in Colorado in February.  It did rain in Holyoke a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately the chop hills kept it north and we were missed.

Last week we put a little water on the course because we started hearing that dormant "crunch" when walking on the turf.  We have reached that point in the winter when our minds begin questioning the condition of the turf and get the itch to see green grass.  

THREE MONTHS BEHIND

Time flies during the golf season and I just realized it has been over 3 months since my last post.  Due to record setting temps we have been in "hang on" mode from the beginning of June.  As for now we have backed off of our greens maintenance and you may notice green speeds are slower, but still fun.  This is a must do until we catch a break from the heat.  A bunch has happened since March so I will recap with pictures.  

In April my wife and I welcomed our baby girl Luella to the world.  Needless to say I have a new prospective on life.

This is what welcomed us with our first load of topdressing sand.  

Replace all divots.  They can grow back!

This guy has 100 or so years left.  He may cross #8 fairway 10,000 times in his life. 

The long healthy roots from our deep tine aerification.

Bug spray damage on #9 putting green.  See the footprints?  It is better to spray yourself at the clubhouse or in the rough.  Most of the time Superintendents see this on the first tee.

On one our 100 degree days with the wind blowing 30 mph we saw four baby antelope seeking relief on the cool turf.  This one walked right up to our intern Kyle and almost hopped in his lap.  He got some shade from our cart and drank a little water out of a bowl and carried on his business.

SPRING IS "SPRUNGING"

With the recent heat wave we are beginning to see areas of the golf course starting to wake up.  Greens are far enough along that we may mow them later this week.  Greens are waking up earlier than fairways due to a heavy topdressing of sand which heats up the canopy faster increasing soil temperatures and helped protect the plant from desiccation during the winter.  You can see in the picture below of #8 that the mounds are a bit behind but we are glad to report that we have zero turf loss on greens.  Fairways and tees still have a couple of weeks until they are showing their true colors.  We are anxious to see how they come out of the winter because we weren't able to put a late season or dormant application of fertilizer out.  They finished the year with .4 lbs of Nitrogen.        

Along with the warm temperatures we have seen some serious winds.  We won't remove our bunker protection from winter until the second week of April due to the spring winds.  Yesterday we had a wind storm that was relentless.  You can see in the picture below of #12 fairway where the sand topdressed the turf.  This winter was the driest we have had at BN and our bunkers did some weird migrating this year.  Several irrigation heads and pipe have been exposed along the edges of the bunkers.  

On a side note...Ballyneal was sold last week and we are under new ownership.  Things look great so far and I can't wait to see what 2012 brings.  Information on the auction can be read here at Charlie Mulligans blog.

Hoar Frost

We have had some beautiful mornings lately because of the hoar fog that rolls in at night.