A lot is going on in the field at MGC.  Our staff level are dwindling as guys leave for school but the work must go on.  

Heritage fairways are getting solid tined and so are the last of the Greywalls fairways.  

Our Fairway fertilizer applications are being made to promote plant health before the turfgrass hardens off for winter.  The Nitrogen will also helps the plants grow out of two fungal pathogens that we currently have; red thread and dollar spot.      

Our Toro HydroJect 3000 is going to get a workout on the Heritage greens this fall.  I took it out on the Nursery green this week to prepare it for a fall workout.  

The tiny holes seen here are HydroJect holes.  The machine blasts water burst 8"+ deep into the soil profile.  It is a very low disruptive form of deep aerification.  

We never lay off our greens sand topdressing program.  It is the backbone to our very successful green management program.  

Heritage grounds crew master 'Super Dave' Mowen hosted a fun filled day at his 'hidden camp' in the rock hills between Negaunee and Big Bay.  Those lucky enough to find the location were treated to a cookout and golf down a cliff!  Those of us who could not find it missed out and we can not wait until he hosts another events.  Thank You Dave for all that you do!!

Super Dave himself!

Good times!!

Andy ready for a power shot!

Morgan can you even swing with those muscles in your way?

Great view!

Clayton and Morgan enjoying themselves

The sunrise at MGC is something I will never get tired of.  No matter how tired I may be, nothing inspires me more than the absolute beauty of Mother Nature and the landscape that we live in.

DR trailer

We made a simple woodtop modification to a mower trailer to haul around our new DR field and Brush mower.  The DR has been a valuable tool added to our fleet.  

Night putting

Our Toro reps. from Reinders came up last week and set up their new night putting system for us to demo and enjoy. The LED cups are battery operated and last 8 hours.  The perimeter lighting is hard wired with permenant plug ports to insert the light posts in when used.  

This is a great system which would be a nice addition to the clubhouse putting green during evening events.  

Walkers

Yes people do walk Greywalls; Always good to see and appreciated from a golf purest point of view! 

After holding off on applications of several different products (during our winter recovery) we are now back on track.  

Paclobutrazol application result on the Greywalls greens.  

I use this plant growth regulator product to severely suppress poa annua growing on the Greywalls greens.  You can easily see how damaged the Poa is and how healthy the bentgrass looks.  

Below is the effects of a contact Herbicide application called Quicksiler on the Greywalls greens

Quicksilver bleaches out and severely weakens Pearlwort growing on the surface.  

Quicksilver also damages silvery-thread moss.  

Multiple apications per year are needed of this product to keep these two weeds knocked down; which gives the competitive advantage to the desirable creeping bentgrass plants on the putting surfaces.  

Crew cookout

We had our annual crew cookout a couple weeks ago.  Always a good time to fire up the grill and say thanks to the staff before our summer college guys leave for school.  Good eats was followed by football and baseball toss plus a hockey shootout (complete with paper plates in the corners of the net).  

Amazing how the summer comes and goes.  It seems as soon as we train-in the staff we are saying our well wishes and goodbyes.  

We are down three staff members now and three more will be moving on in a couple more weeks.  The core staff and I will then focus on the basics as manpower will be greatly reduced.  

Low water levels remain on the Heritage as we have not seen any real measurable rain since July 12th.  

Number 17 in early May

Number 17 in early July

Number 17 on August 8th

Recovery of the putting greens and approaches on 16 and 17 Greywalls is going very well.  Walk mowing, increased fertility and a higher mowing height continues.  While the rest of the greens have been rolling a smooth 9.5 these two greens have been steady at an 8 on the stimp meter.  

We did vertical mow and lower the height slightly on these two greens this weekend; by doing so we gained another 6 inches of roll.  

Our current plan is to get these two greens at the same height of cut (0.125") following our green sand topdressing taking place during our maintenance day tomorrow.  

You can easily see the thin turf on the left.  Thin areas like this still remain on these two putting surfaces but enough plants are growing in these areas that recover has been rapid the last few weeks.  

As always Busy times around the shop and in the field.  

Cleaning and reprinting the fuel tanks, mid-season reel grinding, regular maintenance on equipment and repairs to equipment that has failed during its heavy summer use.  A lot happens and a lot goes wrong this time of year.  It is our goal to deal with the situation in such a manner that it is not noticeable to our golfing friends.