April Showers

As we say good bye to April and all the rain, we look forward to some sunny skies. We have received over 11 inches of rain in April. This spring has been cold and rainy and not great for playing golf. It has been decent weather for winter damage recover. Different than last spring which was very warm and quite dry, this spring  has allowed us to grow in the majority if the damage we incurred over the winter.
We look forward to a great year on the course with several projects slated including a drainage installation on 11, removing the slag cart behind the range tee and finishing the installation of rocks around the pond at 8.
We are focused to produce great conditions on a daily basis all season long.
Enjoy your club.

Cold April

As we all await warmer temperatures, we have been very busy on the course. We have completed our early season greens aerification on April 14. We have received over 2 inches of rain since the 14'th, including a snowfall of almost 3 inches. Despite the cold and wet weather, we have applied our summer annual weed prevention application in the rough and fairways. We have also made our bluegrass seed head reduction application on greens. Stumps have been ground out and the cleanup of the entire course continues. We have had several days of sustained winds over 25 mph. The winds brought down many limbs, however we have not lost anything major to date. The tees have received a heavy divot/sand/seed application and the irrigation system is ready to go after a long winter rest. Planning for a drainage project on 11 is in progress and the flower plan is being put together for this seasons landscapes.
The long range forecast shows temperatures increasing in the next 10 days. Lets hope so.

Assistant Golf Course Superintendent

Lakelands has a new Assistant Golf Course Superintendent.  Shaun Maher has his turf degree from Penn State University. He grew up on golf courses with his father, a course Superintendent himself.  His previous work history includes the City of Livonia golf courses at Whispering Willows . He also has private club experience at Green Hills Country Club in Milbrae California. Shaun grew up in South Lyon. He played high school golf and has played many rounds here at Lakelands GCC. We look forward to have him on board. 

We have been busy getting the golf course in shape for the 2011 season.  If you have had the opportunity to play this spring, you have seen that Lakelands looks far better than it did last year at this time. There are a few greens which  have handled winter tougher than others. After close observations  and a visit from Dr. Kevin Frank from  Michigan State University, we are confident we will make a full recovery.  We have taken numerous turf samples this past week. The irrigation system is up and running. Our summer annual pre emergent weed application is being applied this week.  The golf maintenance staff will not be back to full strength until May 1. We are in the planning phase of a large drainage system for number 11 with installation to be complete by the end of April.

Member Help Day

"Help others and give something back...It's greatest reward is enrichment and the new meaning it will bring to your own life." Arnold Schwarzenegger

Tomorrow is member help day.  It is a great opportunity to come out and make a difference in one of your assets, Lakelands. We will begin at 10 am.  Even if you are only able to give an hour, we would greatly appreciate your help.
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Saturday April 9.

"Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something." Author Unknown

Course is Open

So the calender says it spring but we are still waiting to officially believe it!
On a positive note the golf course is OPEN for play. It's great to have some of our maintenance team back to work.  There are several new faces and some returning team members.  I will be posting with our staff bios shortly.
So far the weather has not been kind with temperatures averaging 10 degrees below normal.  Yet, we are looking forward to getting the course in top shape for a great golf season. We look forward to seeing you soon!
( Pressley sure is happy to be back out chasing down squirrels!)

Spring

I am sure I am not the only one who loves to see the sunshine and feel some warmer weather.  It is officially spring but will the weather hold?   

Due to the warming temperatures we pulled the covers on the greens Friday and Saturday.  As you can clearly  see in the pictures below, the greens that were covered look GREAT!  I am certain we are all happy to see this after the winter damage we suffered last year. In contrast to last year this time, we are certainly looking better  At this point we are cautiously optimistic.  As we know Spring weather can still be quite volatile. ( In fact the forecast calls for ice and snow over night) We will keep with the same practices we have been following all winter, not to allow snow or ice build up. 

So you may be asking why we don't cover entire greens or all of our greens?
I will begin with saying that we found these covers under the white pines behind the maintenance facility.  They are very old technology ( a felt type cover) .  An average green cover cost $1200.  Ideally we would like to cover as many of our greens as we could.  However, our budget simply does not allow for it.  Although a bit pessimistic about these old covers we found, we figured they would allow for decent protection.  Our only option was to cover our most winter sensitive areas on greens, specifically those hardest hit during past winters.
The immediate forecast for the next 36 hours calls for an accumulation of 1/4 inch of ice/sleet. I have made the decision to recover the lower half of the putting green, 1,2,the right half of 5 and all of 13. Stay tuned  as mother nature plays her game of "Spring in Michigan."

Snow and Ice removal

As the forcast calls for warming trends we clear snow to reduce the amount of standing water on the greens. The key here is to get all the water off the putting surface before the temperatures drop below freezing., therefore reducing the chance for ice damage. As you can see, there is standing water on the greens. We utilize squeegees to remove the water. It is important to remove snow from the surrounding banks. If not done, the snow will melt back down onto the greens.