As some of you who are reading this may already know, Nemadji came through the winter months as unscathed as I have ever seen working in this area. Pretty much no lasting damage of any kind to golf course turf. We would gladly take dry and warm over cold and wet for the golf course over the winter months-though I do not necessarily think that this has been a good thing for the area in general with lake levels that are still low even after these rains. But I will take it. Just like Bentley takes issue with the following picture:
Driving Range Tee May 1, 2024
Nice to see our practice tee so busy. We will get along with the overseeding/topdressing process on this tee as soon as we get into some warmer weather patterns. What assists us in the upkeep of the practice tee is cooperation from players. On the above picture I can count a solid dozen range baskets just left on the tee after being emptied. The considerate action for players would be for them to return their empty baskets to the storage box next to the range dispenser. This will leave the range in a much more usable state for other players and will free up our own labor to do other things to make Nemadji the best that it can be. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
In the spirit of cooperation, I would also like to share a quick link that explains the fundamentals about what the “90 Degree Rule” is with a cart path ruling. At Nemadji we have two main rules that we use regarding cart path usage with golf carts. One is “Cart Path Only” which means, simply, do not leave the cart path or you will likely damage turf and sometimes, on slopes, endanger yourself or those around you. The 90 Degree Rule is what we want all players to follow when the course is not Cart Path Only. Please follow the attached link to learn about what the 90 Degree Rule is.
Golf’s 90-Degree Rule Explained in Simple Terms Golflink.com
Moving on to some of the actual work we have been performing on the golf course of late, we have been busy this spring continuing projects started last fall-one of which is the renovation of a problematic area to the right side of 15 West green.
Curlex Erosion Control Mat 5-15-2024
We did what we could to improve the soils in this area last fall and then finish graded and seeded the area this week. Much like other renovations we have done at Nemadji, we used an erosion control blanket to assist in germination and establishment. This year we used a product called Curlex which was new to me. The material is different than Futerra blanket which we have used with great success in the past, but we had to try Curlex because Futerra is not available anywhere nearby. Supply chains can still get a little wonky sometimes. We will see how well this product works but either way, we should have that area grown in by the end of June. Also looking good are the new trees being planted at Nemadji this spring.
We did what we could to improve the soils in this area last fall and then finish graded and seeded the area this week. Much like other renovations we have done at Nemadji, we used an erosion control blanket to assist in germination and establishment. This year we used a product called Curlex which was new to me. The material is different than Futerra blanket which we have used with great success in the past, but we had to try Curlex because Futerra is not available anywhere nearby. Supply chains can still get a little wonky sometimes. We will see how well this product works but either way, we should have that area grown in by the end of June. Also looking good are the new trees being planted at Nemadji this spring.
New Trees Nemadji 5-8-2024
Much attention has been given to the number of dead trees removed at Nemadji and rightfully so because it has been a great deal of work. The crew here at Nemadji, however, does more than just remove dead stuff. We are, and have been, planting new material every year to help replenish these losses, being careful to use different species to help avoid mass planting failures. The picture above shows the seventeen new trees that we will plant on the golf course over the next week or so. We plan on doing this pretty much every year well into the future (time and funding permitting). Nobody told us to do this-we do this because it is the right thing to do. Just as deep tining greens in the fall is the right thing to do.
11 South Green May 3, 2024
This picture, taken less than two weeks ago, shows some aggressive, deep rooting on one of the 90+ year-old putting greens on the “old course”. Our deep tining program over the past few years is starting to pay off big-time in the form of better plant health. Note the deep driving roots in the center of the plug following the deep tine hole to a deeper depth. This is one of the reasons that we perform the deep tining operation late in the year. Doing the work as we are now doing it also results in less player disruption from aerified greens as we no longer really need to aerify greens in August/September which nobody likes. Just like I do not like fixing leaks.
We began to power up the West Course irrigation system this morning and we have a winner in the leak category:
18 West 5-16-2024
These sorts of issues are not uncommon in the golf course world but at Nemadji the frequency of these sorts of occurrences is very uncommon. At the other golf courses I have worked at in my career (7 including Nemadji), the average number of leaks/repairs we might have had over an entire year might be 10-12. Some places a little higher, some lower. At Nemadji, the average over the past 4 years has been close to 54 leaks/repairs per year. We fix things and move on with the hope that this will be a thing of the past soon enough.
In the meantime, please be on the alert as you play and notify us if you see something like the picture above-or any other kind of suspicious behavior of water. We cannot fix something if we do not know about it and players can assist us by being an additional set of eyes.
Thank you in advance and see you on the golf course, Vince