Welcome to the Maintenance Blog for Radrick Farms Golf Course. Visit this blog to view pictures and other information about golf course projects and maintenance practices on the golf course.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

16 Tee Renovation Update


Since the last update in late August, the bed has been graded and shaped, drainage has been installed, and the pea stone and mix profiles have been installed. The final steps are laying the teeing surface sod, installing irrigation, and laying the tee bank sod.

The conditions have been wet, then dry, cold and then warm throughout this process which makes some of these steps tough  to complete in a timely manner.  The Team, which has included some guest Team members from UMGC, has done a great job adapting to these conditions!


 BED PREP


             



DRAINAGE SYSTEM INSTALL

         


                                                  PEA STONE LAYER INSTALL



                               







                                         




MIX LAYER INSTALL


                                                          



Friday, November 7, 2014

2014 Greens Aeration Summary

The greens are in great shape going into winter thanks to the 2014 aerification process.

Looking back, we had great weather for this season's greens aeration. The golf course was open for play with a progressive number of temporary greens each day of this three day process. We decided to try this "course-open-during-aeration" experiment for a few reasons. We wanted our customers to see our Team in action as we tackled this important undertaking. Plus, we needed more time as we decided to add an important step to our fall greens aeration process.

Deep tine machine.
This year we incorporated a deep tine aeration into our traditional hollow core aeration. By doing both processes at the same time we only disrupted the putting surface once. We were able to create a deeper channel (depths of 10") for air, water ,and sand to improve drainage deeper than the traditional 4" depth of the core aeration. This depth also allows rooting to go deeper into the profile.

We monitor and test the physical make-up of the green profile bi-annually to determine the best cultural practices. We are seeing great results using the 1/2" tines. We will continue to monitor our current program and do whats in the best long term interest of the greens' health.

Thanks to our golfers for their patience during this important process. And thanks to our Team for doing a great job!