It is hard to believe it is already time for the Rock - LedgeRock's big member guest tournament. The weather this year is just about perfect, with cool mornings and high skys and temperatures in the the low to mid 70s all week. I can't argue with the weather but it has been extremely dry for most of the last month; thankfully the temperatures are not crazy so the turf is holding up well.
I've been slow in updating the blog since aeration as we have been busy making sure the course is ready for The Rock. Mother Nature really taken care of the course this year with a nicely timed rain after aeration so the course healed quickly - even considering the amount of work that was done to it. Within two weeks of starting, the holes were fully healed and the height of cut was being lowered back to normal. Within three weeks they were fully back to normal. Which brought us to last week. Although the greens looked perfect, they needed another light topdressing so the height of cut could be lowered further; therefore making sure that they would be perfect for the Rock and the remainder of the season. This had to be squeezed in around some damp days and a number of outings. This delayed us a week in getting them up to speed, but it is worth it as the greens now are perfect!
Light topdressing on 8
The topdressing was gone almost immediately; the sand smoothed all the remaining imperfections and the greens were rolling smoother and faster with a day
You may have noticed that the fairways have been striped since aeration, rather than 'block' or 'half and half' cut. This was to make the most of the verticutting after aeration and to help comb some of the grain out of the fairways and tees. Since it takes about a third longer to mow fairways we will be switching back to the half and half look soon. I'll cover the reasons for this in another post.
No mater how well you prepare, there are times when something happens that frustrates. The picture below is a prime example. One of the greens mowers picked up a twig and scraped across 1 green. Thankfully the operator noticed it after one pass but the damage was done. We repaired what we could with a ball mark repair tool and the rest was spread out using a cup cutter which makes the damage smaller so it heals quicker. It will fill in over time and although it looks bad, thankfully it doesn't effect ball roll.
Cody repairing the scratch on 1 green
Other than that, the maintenance team have been busy with regular maintenance and ensuring the course is ready for the rest of the season. Most of the outing and tournaments during the year have late morning/early afternoon shotguns but the Rock is an early morning shotgun. This means that the crew have to perform their tasks in the dark which can be a challenge, but nothing out of the ordinary for events from early tee times to Tour championships. To give you an idea of what is involved, the following is a timeline of a Superintendents tournament morning.
2:45am Alarm goes off
2:50 Wife yells that alarm is going off!
2:50:09 Out of bed
3:16 ready to hit the road
3:22 Dunkin Donuts to pick up 'crew fuel' - You would be amazed at how busy a DD is at 3:30am
3:32 Arrive at work
3:35 The barn is open and the equipment is started to be set up for when the crew arrive
3:40 leave the barn to bring out spot lights
3:41 Return to barn - forgot generator......
3:59 The first spotlights are on
4:19 The second set are on, along with the Clubhouse, Parking Lot and Locker Room lights to provide as much light as possible in that area.
4:15 The greens mowers are loaded and ready to go
4:26 The rest of the equipment is ready to go
4:33 The third spot light is on 3 green
4:47 The crew start to arrive
4:51 The light tower is placed and turned on behind 1 green and it conveniently lights up 2 green also
4:52 The Gator dies as the battery is drained from using all it's spot lights at once.....
4:56 The Gator is running again
5:00 The crew head out to the course
5:17 Number 16 approach has been cut, the bunkers are being raked and the green is being cut
5:22 Over half of 1 green is cut
5:51 The first sign of the dawn
5:55 The guys are well into their second greens and dawn is arriving quickly
6:13 The lights are off and it is bright enough to see, from here on it is easy!
6:25 It is officially daytime!
6:36 The roller operator is really happy the sun is up by the time he gets to 2 as he can see a lot easier.
7:29 The mist has burned off and it is the beginning of a beautiful day
8:26 The crew are finishing up on 15 and only have #17 and 18 fairway to finish
8:52 The crew finish up the bunkers on 18 and head back to the barn
9:00 The tournament starts
9:02 Breakfast!
9:45 Staff safety meeting
10:30 The maintenance staff have gone for the day.
Luckily everything is completed in the morning so there is no need for the crew to return in the afternoon.
So that is a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes of a tournament.
Lastly a big thank you the maintenance team. Thanks to their dedication everything went to plan and ran smoothly so we were done on time. Their hard work makes this job look easy!
Lastly a big thank you the maintenance team. Thanks to their dedication everything went to plan and ran smoothly so we were done on time. Their hard work makes this job look easy!
As always email me with any questions or comments: alan@ledgerockgolf.com
