Tree Trimming

Got some major tree trimming completed on #8 at Live Oak. Should be a major improvement in playability. Come out and take a look.

Divot Repair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS4wbbtvyU4&sns=em

Frost Delay

Today we will have a frost delay until at least 8:15.

Thank you
The GCM Team

Snow

Yesterday and last night we got a little snow. With temperatures down to 27 degrees and the snow - We are delaying the start today until at least 11:00am.
Thank you
GCM Team

Ball Marks

Here is another informational video on ball mark repairs.


Please click link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myOTf1wuZoA&sns=em

Frost Delay Info

As the colder months begin: Here is some helpful information about frost and why courses delay start times.
Click the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/zkoWWrHzuAg

Fescue area

Some have noticed the area behind #2 Green at Live Oak. We have planted some Tall Fescue under the trees to see if we can maintain a more favorable playing area. It is coming along well. Next time you are out - check out our new area.

Yaupon Cart Path

We plan on coming off the path on Tuesday(11/14/17) at Yaupon-- Weather permitting
Thanks,
GCM Staff

Cart Path Only

We will be Cart Path Only for a few weeks due to overseeding. This is because we have some extremely wet areas and seed still on the ground. We will try to get out and mow next week in the afternoons when it dries and we will not track seed into the rough. If you would please help spread  this message.
Thank you,
The GCM Staff

Live Oak #4

We repaired the big bump on the cart path by #4 tee Live Oak.

Ants

We started our initial ant bait treatment today at Yaupon. We will do the same treatment at Live Oak tomorrow afternoon.

Mowing Live Oak

Today we got a few fairways mowed before the rain.  We will continue mowing them this week during the afternoons. There will be some clippings and debris until we can start mowing regularly. After we get two good mowings on them we will evaluate the cart path only rule.

Rock work at Yaupon

We got the washout by the cart path on #3 at Yaupon repaired with some rock work.

 

Overseeding update

We had a good week putting out the ryegrass at Live Oak. We seeded all the fairways and the Par 3 tees. The fairways we seeded and stopped about 25 yards short of the greens. Now we are going to wait and see how the seed comes up because as many of you have seen we had 2 big rain events after the seed was put out.  In the coming weeks we may have to add seed to certain areas that might have washed. The course reopens tomorrow(Saturday) to cart path only. The cart path only will remain for at least a week. The rain also brought up plenty of ants and mounds. Starting Monday we will put out ant bait in the afternoons when it is dry.

Rain totals for the week-- @4.50" 

Yaupon will be Cart Path Only Saturday as well 

Ants

Please watch out for ants. The rain yesterday has brought them up to the surface. We are going to get ant bait out when it is dry. 

Overseeding Live Oak

Next week we will overseed the Live Oak golf course. We are seeding fairways and par 3 tees this year. We will update on Monday or Tuesday will pictures of the process. The greens will be verticut, topdressed, brushed, and mowed while we are closed during the week. The course will reopen Saturday 9/30 to Cart Path Only for a period of time.

Brushing Greens

Today at Yaupon we ran brushes over the greens in numerous directions. We followed that by mowing the grass that was standing up from the brushing. This process helps reduce the top growth and helps with grain reduction. Next Monday we will verticut the greens two directions follow that with a dry mowing.

Wet Areas

At Yaupon we are working through a hydraulic irrigation problem. The main holes affected are #14 and #15. You will noticed around sprinkler heads are wet because of the hydraulic line that is losing pressure. We are working on trying to locate a leak in the small hydraulic line but this is difficult to locate due to the small amount of water in that line. We will continue to work on this problem and keep you informed as we work through this.

Thank you,
The GCM Staff

Live Oak update

Aerification is going well. We still have a lot of cleanup, dragging, and rolling to do. The grass at both Course is growing fast with the rain. We will do our best trying to keep up with mowing and blowing the excess grass clippings.

Tee Markers

We were able to paint all the tee rocks at both courses and stain all the combo tee posts. First day we got them back out at Live Oak the white and red markers were stolen on #9. We need to get new ones painted for that hole.
Yaupon reopens this Thursday 8/24/17. Live oak will close for aerification on Monday 8/28 and scheduled to reopen Friday 9/8/17

Wasps Friend or Foe??

Here is a link from the USGA about the ground wasps we have around the course. We have or have had these especially on #8 Live Oak in the mound by the bathroom.
Copy and paste the link below:

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/regional-updates/central-region/2017/cicada-killer-wasp-friend-or-foe.html

Fairway Aerification

We finished the aerification process on the fairways at Yaupon. We also did roughs on the cart path side of the fairways and the walk ups to greens and tees.
Here are some pictures of the process:

After dragging:

After mowing:

Yaupon aerification update

We got all the tees and collars aerified and mowed out. We also did the first round of verticutting of the greens. The fairways are also being aerified and mowed this week. The greens aerification went very well and are sanded and rolled.

Greens Aerification

Yaupon started aerification today. We are going to reopen for play next Thursday 8/24. During our closure we are going to aerify greens, tees, fwys, and collars. We will also verticut greens numerous times, fertilize fwys and continue spot spraying.
Here are some pics of the greens aerification:

Rainfall

We had around 3" of rain today. We are going to be cart path only today and tomorrow.
Thanks,
GCM Staff

Live Oak

Today we double verticut and mowed greens. We are making some head way- minimal scalping, mainly around the cleanup pass. Now we are going to start bringing the HOC down.

After Verticutting:

After Mowing:

Verticutting Yaupon

We double verticut the greens at Yaupon today and mowed behind that. We are going to continue to remove material on the greens before we aerify in a few weeks. We also got fertilizer out on 2,4,5,6, 11,12, and 14 fairways. We are going to fertilize tees and collars tomorrow.  Then it would be nice to get some of this so called rain they are calling for.

Sod at Live Oak.

Sod is down on tees #3, #12, #13, and #4 Yaupon.

New Equipment

We received on new toro workman with the topdresser attachment last week. We were able to verticut greens today at Yaupon and then topdress with the new piece. It worked great. We also fertilized fairways at Yaupon.

Sod Prep at Live Oak

Today we started prepping areas for sod. We are going to start sodding a few tee boxes at Live Oak. The tees getting some sod are #3 blue, #3 white, #12 gold, #12 back of white tee, and #13 back of red/white tee. The 419 sod will be installed next Thursday.  We would also like to thank some of the Hills GCM team for there help with the prep work.

Yaupon Update

Today we verticut the greens two directions and mowed them after. We also fertilized the fairways, tees, and collars. Now we hope we get a little rain today- looks like the last chance for a while. We will continue spraying the goosegrass this week. I started last week spot spraying the tee tops and the collars (#16 - #4 are done).

Work at Live Oak

Today we got a lot of good work done at Live Oak. We verticut all the greens 3 directions and mowed them after.  We were also able to get all the goosegrass sprayed around the greens, tee boxes, and roughs. The verticutting will continue on Thursday's closed day going forward. I'm providing a link from the USGA talking about verticutting greens:  http://www.usga.org/course-care/2013/05/the-how-and-why-of-vertical-mowing-greens-21474855829.html

Granular at Live Oak

Today we were able to get out a 21-0-0 granular fertilizer application on the fairways. We are really trying to push the growth on fairways and tees. The rain this week has also help in the process.

Fertilizer at Live Oak

Today we were able to get fertilizer out on all the tee boxes at Live Oak. We also sprayed the front 9 fairways with a liquid fertilizer.  We will spray the back 9 fairways as soon as possible - then we are going to get a granular application out to keep pushing the Bermuda grass. 

New Assistant Superintendent

We are happy to announce that our new Assistant Superintendent started Wednesday. He is mainly going to be at Live Oak. So please help me welcome Ryan Olson to our GCM team. He is going to be a great addition to the staff.

Transition Time

We are experiencing the transition from overseeded turf to the Bermuda grass. Now and in the coming weeks you are going to notice areas that are off color and thin(especially tees and fairways). We are running the Fertigation system at Live Oak and will also begin adding extra fertilizer applications at both courses. This will help promote the growth of the Bermuda grass fairways and tees. The transition is happening all at once this year due to mild temps in May and hot temperatures in June with limited rainfall. We will be updating the blog as we continue working through this transition time.
Thanks and come out and play,
The GCM Team

Yaupon Reopens

Yaupon reopens tomorrow, Friday. We were able to aerify, verticiut, and topdress all the greens. Everything went well. We are seeing the winter ryegrass transition out and you will notice areas than are thin on the greens, collars and fairways. We will continue to hand water areas and add extra fertilizer apps to help push the Bermudagrass. Also it will be wet around some of the greens as we are working on watering in sand and fertilizer from the aerification. This should improve over the coming week.
Thanks you,
GCM Staff

13 Approach

Some of you have noticed we are expanding the front approach on #13 at Live Oak. We mowed it out on Monday and as we continue to mow it - the condition and look will improve.