Lets Go Royals!!

As a baseball fan I have enjoyed watching the Royals this year and was lucky enough to have gone to a few games.  As a turf grower, I always like to see what kind of pattern the baseball fields will be mowed, and am always amazed at how they do it.  Since the Royals are in the World Series for the first time in 29 years I thought it would be fun to attempt dressing up the range tee with the KC symbol. Much respect for the Grounds Crew at Kaufman Stadium because mowing artistic designs is not easy.  The photo above is what the tee looked like after our attempt. Lets Go Royals!!

October Thunderstorm

This tree got my attention while driving the course after one of several storms rolled through the area today. Looks like lightning buzzed the side of it. Pretty amazing!

Maintaining Footgolf Holes

Footgolf is in full swing and it has been a great addition to Heart of America.  Since opening May 1st there has been a lot of play, creating some compaction and wear around the holes.  This past week we used a small pedestrian aerifier and pulled some plugs to relieve some compaction.  After raking up the plugs we topdressed around the holes to smooth out any rough spots. Finally, we fertilized the turf to promote growth.

I imagine this is what its like maintaining a soccer field where the goalie stands for 90 minutes. Ha. Photos below are of the process.  

Zoysia Winter Kill

If you have been around lately, you may have noticed some "not so green tees and fairways" especially on the Rock Nine.  This is the result of an extremely harsh winter we faced.  Zoysia is a warm season turf and though it does winter hardy better than any other warm season grass, the winter of 2013-14 was just too much for some of the turf to survive.  The bulk of the damage is along the base of the bluff where it receives little or no sun.  Our game plan is to remove the dead turf with the sod cutter and replace with healthy zoysia. We are stealing some sod from #7 fairway on the River Nine to fix some of the damage on the Rock Nine.  Below are photos of what we have accomplished so far.  

Dead Zoysia

After we removed the dead turf

Snatching #7fairway healthy zoysia

The finished #8 Rock Tee

Rock Nine Pond....Grass Carp??

 The Heart of Americas Rock Nine in my opinion is one of the best par 3 courses out there.  However every year around this time the pond that is located in the middle of the course begins to turn UGLY!!  Every kind of aquatic plant (weed) seems to be growing in this shallow pond.  There are several products/chemicals out there that claim to cure all, and I have tried a few of them with no luck. So, this year I am taking a different approach.  Grass Carp!!  From what I have researched Grass Carp are the most common and effective biological control for aquatic weeds.  Because they are so dominant they are outlawed in several states. Lucky for us they are legal in the state of Missouri.  Grass Carp will not be an instant cure as I am told the extent of control often does not become apparent until 18-24 months. So, we will not see immediate results but once they have time I hope to never purchase an aquatic chemical again. We have just under 2 acres and the recommended rate is 10-12 fish per acre which is why 20 Carp were put in the pond.  The fish were 10-12 inches in size and purchased from a local fishery.    I am hopeful that next year we will have an after picture of a clean pond. Below are photos of the fish and our ugly water.

FootGolf Cups in the ground

The Heart of America Golf Academy will be the first in the state of Missouri to have an 18 hole FootGolf Course. Footgolf is played just like golf only with a soccer ball.  On average Par 3's range from 50-100yds, par 4's 100-160yds, and par 5's 160-215yds.  The course will be played on the Rock 9 and is scheduled to open Saturday May 3rd.  The Photos below are of us putting the 22" cups in the ground.  

FootGolf???

Coming very soon to the Heart of America Golf Academy...FootGolf

Winter Watering

Up until Tuesday February 4th the winter has been warm, windy, and dry.  Which is the perfect ingredient for desiccation damage in cool-season turf (Putting Greens and Rough).  Desiccation occurs when the roots cannot supply enough water to the semi-dormant/dormant plant to keep up with the amount of water lost through the leaves and crowns.  All of our putting greens are 90% sand, and sandy soils have a very low water holding capacity.  Because, the irrigation system is blown out in the winter to prevent pipes from freezing we cannot simply turn on the sprinklers. So, in attempt to prevent our greens from desiccating we were able to rig a hose to the end of our sprayer and pump water to the putting greens 150 gallons at a time.  We successfully watered all the greens just in time for 10" of insulation (snow).  Hopefully, if Spring ever comes we will have some healthy Greens to putt on.