Spring Time is Here

This has been one of the longest winters I have ever seen. We had over 45 inches of rain last fall and winter, a tornado that took out 125 trees and it has been the coldest I can remember. We had the greens covered for 10 consecutive days this winter. Some winter in the past we have not even touched the covers. And it gets better, last Friday and Saturday were absolutely beautiful, it looked like it was going to be a great start to the spring. Then on Sunday it snowed, I can't remember it ever snowing this late in March. This hopefully puts an end to a fall and winter we would all like to forget.

SDS

16 approach
17 approach

Spring Dead spot is first evident in the spring after the grass starts breaking dormancy and begins to green up. This is one of the fungal diseases that we battle every year and this year it has won. The severity of this disease is dependent on the severity and length of winter dormancy. The longer the grass is dormant and the colder the temperatures, the more severe the disease will be. And this year we have endured a very long, hard winter. We now have to wait until the grass starts actively growing so we can grow these areas over. This is simply because the dead spots you see now all began in the fall of last year. That is why this disease is so hard to control, you have to treat these areas when the grass is green and healthy looking. We do three things to fight this disease: spray the proper fungicides, aerify, and vertical mow our mapped areas. Mississippi State University is researching ways to put a stop to this disease that effects bermudagrass in cool regions. So I think in the near future we will have better methods on controlling this disease.

Native Areas

New Broomsedge #11

#1 before planting


#1 after planting


#9 before broomsedge

#9 after Broomsedge

Much of the beauty of our golf course lies in the native areas. The course has approximately 50 acres of native areas consiting of 90% broomsedge and 10% bluestem. We mow these areas once a year to help with weed control and to remove senesced leaf material to stimulate new growth. During the winter, we plant broomsedge in areas that have become thin because of the bermudagrass and centipedegrass encroachment (1,7,8,9,11,13,15,17). Centipedegrass was planted alongside the cartpaths during contruction to help stop erosion. Little did we know that centipedegrass produces a natural herbicide that is alleliopathic towards broomsedge. Centipedegrass is very well adapted to our acidic well drained soils and has spread rapidly. If you notice, broomsedge is almost non-existent in areas that have been infested with centipedegrass. We have tried for multiple years to find a herbicide that will selectively remove the centipedgrass without killing the broomsedge, but we have not been successful so far. This year we planted some of the native grasses on bunker faces (1,9,11,13,15,17). I really believe this will make these hole more visually pleasing and intimidating, yet it will not make any of these holes more penal.

Everything is Peachy!

David and Ricky making sure the trees are aligned

David inspecting the planting process

Squire Creek's newest development is quickly taking shape. 'The Orchards at Squire Creek' is located on 300+ acres directly across Hwy 820 from the main Squire Creek entrance. Ruston has long been famous for peaches, and we thought it was appropriate to make this the central theme throughout the landscape of the new development. After much planning and preparation, we have just completed planting four acres of fruit trees at the entrance. Currently, the orchard has 300 peaches, 50 nectarines, and 5 plums. We will be adding a few Mayhaws soon. We will keep you updated as the season progresses.

Winter Maintenance

The hydroject has lost itself over the years because of the amount of time it takes to operate. This machine injects ten-millisecond pulses of highly pressurized water deep into the turf to alleviate compaction and flush harmful minerals through the compaction layer without disrupting the surface. It increases percolation, improves gas exchange, and enhances the turfs overall health. It is a very timely process that takes three days to finish all 18 of our greens. With that being said, we find this machine to be an outstanding tool and try to use whenever we have the opportunity.

Bunker Work

As you all know the bunkers at Squire Creek are a penalty for the golfer but also a penalty for the grounds crew. We recently have started to redo the bunker in front of 3 green. Over the years the bunker has washed so many times that is has created large amounts of silt and organic matter build up in the bottom of the bunker. This creates a drainage nightmare, the silt settles on the gravel layer over the drainage pipe and it becomes very slow to drain. We have now taken out all the old sand and gravel. We cleaned the pipe, replaced the gravel, and are going back with a liner over the whole bunker. Then we will adding Premier White bunker sand. This sand is a very course sand, it is actually crushed quartz. So it has an extremely high percolation rate, which is great for us.

Introduction

Good Afternoon! We have started this blog site to educate and inform our membership on upcoming projects and events. Please, if you have any questions or comments, please contact us at nickcauley@squirecreek.com or 318-768-7005.