In preparation for the colder temperatures coming this winter we have applied our second application of pigment to the Live Oak fairways. This colorant and iron helps keep the plant darker green going into the dormant season. We will make applications monthly probably through February to help with fairway definition. Here are a couple of pictures from the application….
It has been a busy week before Thanksgiving. The crew was able to fertilize all the overseed at Yaupon and get the second fall preemerge application out at Live Oak. Both courses might be a little damp because both of these scheduled applications need to be watered in good. The GCM crew wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and we look forward to seeing out at the courses.
Today we are mowing the tees and greens as it dries out with No baskets on the mowers. The fairways, collars, and approaches will be mowed starting on Monday afternoon after the turf dries out. This weekend we suggest playing the ball up because of the length of the grass and wet areas in the non mowed areas. As for next week we will continue to mow all seeded areas in the afternoons so we don’t track seed to unintended areas.
** November we are returning to Mondays closed at Yaupon and Thursdays closed at Live Oak.
Overseeding is almost complete. We have little more to finish up on Monday and then the watering will start heavily. We are scheduled to open up next Friday and it will be Cart Path Only for couple of weeks as seed germinates.
Thank you
Please be aware that curb stops have been installed at The Live Oak driving range parking lot. Please pull up to the stops without hitting them with your car or carts.
Thank you,
The GCM Staff.
Finished aerification at Yaupon. We were able to aerify, heavy multidirectional vertical cutting, heavy top dressing, and mowed. The greens have lots of sand and some scalped areas from the vertical mowing. The areas will heal up as we grow out of the aerification. We also ran the planet air aerifier on all tee boxes and Driving range tee. The mats were also removed on the driving range to pour a concrete slab for the new turf hound mats that are coming in soon. Busy week but we will open back up tomorrow 9/2/21.
Day 2. Roll, topdress, double vertical mow, and drag. Everything going well for opening back up on Thursday.
Aerification day 1 in the books for Live Oak. Greens aerified, plugs vertical mowed, and blown off the greens. We also started vertical mowing fairways and mowing them off. Tomorrow we are topdressing, rolling, verticutting, and dragging greens. We also running the planet air on tees followed by mowing. It will be a busy few more days before we open back up on Thursday.
Today at Yaupon we were able to back track vertical mow greens. We were able to remove a lot of material in the upper profile. There was some scalping as we mowed the greens but mainly around the cleanup pass. Look forward to aerification at Yaupon at the end of August. Just a reminder aerification starts at Live Oak this coming Monday. Here are a few pics from today’s vertical mowing:
We are working hard to get caught up on mowing. The recent rains has made it hard to consistently mow roughs, fairways, and tees... with this being said we are pushing hard to get caught up. The clippings are going to be thick until we can get areas blown off. Another side effect of skipping some mowings is that the quality of cut goes down since the mowers are cutting so much grass at once. We hope to get caught up this week and will also look to apply a growth regulator to slow down the growth. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we work on getting everything mowed back down.
Thanks,
The GCM Staff
We were able to get the new cups, flagsticks, and tournament flags out at both courses. We utilize the tournament flags for all big tournaments that use a Pinsheet made up by the Proshop.
Today was a busy day for the guys. At Live Oak we topdressed, vertical mowed, brushed, and mowed greens. We were also able to get fairways and tees mowed. Few pics from the greens work....
Yaupon gold tee players- some good news. We were able to get some tree trimming done on 12 for you guys on the back tees. Hard to tell in the pics but good improvement- Really opens up the fairway view.
The GCM Staff continues to push the Bermuda both greens and fairways to help with winter grass transition.
Before and after pics....
Today at Yaupon we were able to get a healthy fertilizer application down on the fairways. As the transition from winter rye starts heading out we will need to push the Bermuda grass. This will continue until we get fairways back where we want them. We also got a granular application down on some greens today and will finish them tomorrow. This is the same transition process as the fairways. The transition this year is coming on fast as we had a wet cool May- now the heat is on. The guys will keep working hard to get the course where we want it.
Today the crew got a lot accomplished. We top dressed greens, mowed the range, Unirake on the fairways, mowed fairways behind, and then got them all blown off. Thanks to all the guys for putting in a long day.
Yaupon aerification went well. With the rains and having to water greens it is extremely wet around the greens. As aerification heals up we will try to get it dried out. We are starting to see transition from the overseed on the greens- could need to patch a few of the areas now that the heat is on. We are going to give it a week or so to see what will recover before we start patching some areas.
Live Oak update- today we got a good sand topdressing, lot of rough mower, and ant bait put out. Lots of good work by 5he guys this week even with the rains from earlier in the week.
Good job by the crew.
Day one is in the books for the first aerification at Live Oak. Today weather cooperated- so let’s hope tomorrow does too. Here are few pics from day one:
https://twitter.com/usgagrnsection/status/1388855796797161473?s=21
Here is a good message from the USGA about how to help maintain the Driving range and practice facilities.
The GCM Staff
Today in the cool wet weather we took advantage of a closed day at Live Oak. We were able to continue working on the Live Oak greens. We ran the triplex spiker and dusted them with a light topdressing. This is going to be done frequently to help keep the areas open so they can get air down to the root zone. The light topdressing will be watered in to not disrupt any runners starting to spread. We are also pushing them with granular fertilizer applications weekly. Next week weather is looking better for some growth. The crew will continue pressing to get the greens back to the level we all expect.
Thank you
The GCM staff
Looking like the weather may finally warm up some this coming week. The cold mornings and cool cloudy days is doing us no favors. This week we were able to make another nematode application, foliar fertilizer application, and a granular quick release fertilizer application. Next week we plan to spike the greens and lightly topdress the greens at Live Oak. We will also repeat the fertilization plan of foliar and a granular application. Both courses continue to get a lot of play and we appreciate everyone following the weekly cart path rules. I also want to thank everyone for filling divots- seeing a lot of filled divots on the live oak fairways making for more enjoyable lies for everyone.
Looks like the weekend weather is good so come out and enjoy the day at the club.
The GCM Staff.
As the temperatures finally warm enough to start growing some grass, we are still dealing with the effects of the winter storms. Lots of cleanup and the removal of some dead plant materials is still ongoing. Our area is not suited to have those kinds of temperatures and for that length of time in a row.
Yaupon:
● Yaupon has handled the rebound from the winter storms the best. The overseeded turf (cool season grass) has continued to look and play very well, as we get the warm temperatures. With that being said we are entering aerification season - Yaupon starts aerification next Tuesday - Thursday. When we are closed next week we are planning on getting greens, collars, and tees aerified. We will also continue to apply granular fertilizer to recover and to push weaker areas to fill in on greens and tees.
Live Oak:
● Greens - We are regularly venting the greens to get air down to the root zone. We have rotated between granular fertilizers and liquid foliar fertilizers to continue to push new growth. As we continue to push the greens recovery we will start light topdressings and apply additional organic fertilizers to the weaker areas. The greens that are further behind are greens that have heavy shade issues. We have also made a nematode application with the second application scheduled for 4/19- this will help the roots and recovery.
● Collars and approaches - Before the winter weather we fought to remove the Poa Anna in the collars. So now as temperatures start to warm we are pushing for growth with weekly granular fertilizer applications
● Tees and Fairways - Last week we were able to fertilize and pre emerge the fairways, tees, and rough. We also added additional fertilizer on the tees to help with winter recovery. The fairways have also been vertical mowed(twice) and heights of cut have been lowered. We appreciate everyone’s help filling divots as the fairways are looking very good.
As we move into golf season let’s continue to root for warm sunny weather as we recover from the challenging winter. The golf course Maintenance team appreciates everyone’s efforts into filling divots and repairing your ball marks.
Tyler Easterwood
Lakeway CC Superintendent
Thursday we were able to get out the fertilizer/pre emerge on fairways, rough, and tees. We also go first application of weed control on the collars.
With the upcoming busy spring and summer golf season here is a good article from the USGA - please give it a read...
Might take a few clicks to get to the article.
The GCM Staff
This Thursday we will be venting the greens at Live Oak. This will be a continuous practice this year to help relieve compaction and get air down to the root zone. We tested the machine out on the PG and the 2 greens on the driving range area. Here are a couple of pictures from the green by tennis courts:
Yesterday we started vertical mowing the fairways here at Live Oak. Today (Thursday) play will start off #10 so we can complete the front 9. Starting the vertical mowing earlier this year to remove winter grass clippings and also stand up the Bermuda grass as it starts greening up. Everyday the course is getting little greener after this winter’s harsh weather.
So get out and enjoy the warm breezy weather today,
The GCM Staff
Please be on the lookout for the new Cart Path Only signs. The new rule is even holes one week then the following week odd holes. We will rotate the signs on Mondays- please follow the rule as we try to reduce traffic and compaction on our fairways and roughs.
Thank you,
The GCM Staff.
Today we were able to get out our first application of pre-emerge on fertilizer - Sorry for the inconvenience of Cart Path Only during the morning hours. Live Oak is scheduled to make their application on Thursday 3/25.
We were able to safely remove some honey bees that had found a home in the wall of the old shop at Live Oak GCM. Thanks to the local bee wrangler - the bees will be relocated off the property
