Well we were able to finish up greens aerification on Weiskopf this week.  I know this is an unpopular cultural practice, but it is one that is necessary.  We were able to remove approximately 12% of the material from the greens.  We topdressed with a 70/30 blend of USGA Spec sand and Dakota Peat.  This peat is a very important component.  Peat allows the greens to have something in the profile to hold on to water and nutrients.  Because the Weiskopf greens are still relatively new and young, it is important for us to use as much "Organic" fertilizers and amendments as possible.  Again, the reason for this is to build active biology in the upper rootzone which will allow us to hold more moisture and nutrients.  Straight sand flushes both of these things below the rootzone giving you a green that percolates at a super high rate and also always give the appearance of hungry.  So what does all this Geek Grass talk mean.  Our philosophy of greens nutrition and water management will be all about building the active biology and retaining water.  What does this mean for you?  More consistent putting surfaces with a healthy plant. 

We are making our way through repairing all Weiskopf collars.  Thank you for your patience as we must close the hole we are working to expedite this process.  We are removing all areas that are thin or slow to recover from the winter as well as lowering some areas to allow water to properly sheet flow off these greens.  Water standing on greens after heavy irrigation or a rain event is begging for disease or thin turf.  If the collar is higher than the green on an exit point, this is called a collar dam.  We will work very diligently to remove all collar dams and repair these areas as quickly as we can.  I think you will be much happier with the finished product.

Miller greens were cut for the first time since sprigging.  It has been 2 weeks and we put our first cut on all holes except New Putting Green, #4, and #13.  These greens were planted a week later so I would anticipate cutting all greens by next Friday.  Overall the Miller course is progressing right along.  Under the direction of Scott Miller, our fairway contours have changed significantly.  Next time you drive out there you will notice how much wider and longer they have become.  It is an interesting look for sure.  Our biggest project that we will work on the week of June 26th is root pruning.  The beautiful majestic pines are beautiful but their root zone extends way out into our turf robbing nutrients from the grass.  As you may have guessed I am a grass guy, so I want all nutrients applied to our grass to be for the grass.  We will prune all areas around Miller and Grand Pines.  I hope you find this blog informative, if there is anything you would ever want to ask, please feel free to email me at dlatham@bentwaterclub.com or post a comment and I will do my best to answer.  Thank you all for being a member!

Donny Latham

Just another update.

We have quite a bit of grass starting to poke through on Miller greens from the sprigs.  Water is still actively flying but we will start to back off in the coming days.  #4 Miller and #13 Miller are now ready for sprigs, and we are actively working on the new Putting Green to have it ready for sprigs.  We will be planting on Friday June 16th.  These greens will then receive the abundant watering to promote germination. 

Monday June 19th, we will be aerifying the Weiskopf greens and fairways.  We will complete the greens in one day and open back up on Tuesday.  You should expect to see sand on these greens as we heal up from the much needed aerification process.  We will aerify as many of the fairways as we can on Monday.  The fairways we were not able to complete, we will finish up the following Monday.  With as much traffic as Weiskopf is getting with Miller being closed and with limited pairing up by players, aerifying the fairways is a must.  We will work to get another fairway aerification later in the summer.  Thank you all for your support and patience as we try and improve the courses for your enjoyment.

Donny Latham

Hello everyone, wanted to take a moment to update you on things that are going on around all the courses.

Miller:  All greens have been sprigged except for 4,13 and the new Putting Green.  These greens are being completely rebuilt so we expect to have those 3 greens sprigged later in the week.  The other 15 greens have been sprigged and we have been watering heavily to promote new root germination that will enable us to establish the TifEagle.  After 48 hours from planting we have solid root growth.  We will continue to frequently water these greens for the next 3-4 days to promote more healthy roots.  We will then start to back the watering off and push the fertility to rapidly establish these greens.  The rough shaping of bunkers has begun and many of you have probably noticed the white sand that is in the construction site.  This Arkansas White bunker sand will play very well once we open.  However, as with all new bunkers, they will be soft.  We will work diligently to plate compact the sand, but I want everyone to know these will play soft for a few months. 

Weiskopf:  Nothing major to report.  We will be verticutting the greens on our closed Monday.  This will be a slightly more aggressive verticut than our routine grooming.  June 19th we are scheduled to aerify all 19 greens.  This aerification will be necessary to alleviate compaction levels, promote gas exchange in the root zone and allow us to apply important organic amendments to the root zone.  We will also try and aerify as many fairways as we can in the one day we are closed.  What fairways we are unable to aerify, we will complete the following week.

Grand Pines:  I have been asked why the pond is so low.  Currently we are awaiting our pump contractor to deliver the transfer pump from Lake Conroe, which should be installed in the next couple of days.  Once that is in place, we will accept bids for the larger well replacement and put this in place.  Fortunately we have caught a few showers that has kept the golf courses fairly green during this lack of water.  As soon as we have water back in our ponds, we will be applying fertilizer to the entire course to speed up the recovery from aerification.

As always, please feel free to email with any questions about things that I may not have covered at dlatham@bentwaterclub.com

Donny Latham

We received 2.75" of rainfall over the last couple of days that unfortunately made the turf too wet to allow carts off the paths.  Starting tomorrow we will make a few minor changes to our set up on Weiskopf.  Going forward we will institute these changes.  We will remove all 150 yard barber poles from the fairways.  In my opinion, these are good targets to aim at, but they detract from the beauty of the property.  The 150 yard plates will remain in the turf, but we will be removing the poles.  Of course, our irrigation heads are marked with yardage as well.  Secondly, we will start picking up all broken tees on the tee daily, as well as sanding divots.  Our setup man will have this responsibility.  The par 3 tees have sand boxes, that also are not being used enough to keep on the tees.  I feel that once we have these divots sanded, we can keep up with daily play.  I would still love to see the members using their divot mix on tees and fairways, but the boxes are easily broken and not the right look for our beautiful golf courses.  Which brings up a touchy subject.  The white tees are easily the most played tee boxes on the Weiskopf, starting tomorrow we will begin using the entire tee front to back depending on the wear pattern.  Too often, I notice these tee markers in the same worn out areas, please allow us to put these markers in better turf which may make the hole play longer and/or shorter.  Understand that the forward and backward movement will even out and the course will still play the same yardage over the course of time.  I want you as members playing on the best tee surface we can provide you, but if we never move these tee markers more than 1-2 yards forward and backwards, we will continue to have worn turf.  Our cart path edger attachment finally arrived and we will start edging all paths on all 3 courses monthly to give you the precise edging that you deserve. 

Miller Renovation

We are planning to plant sprigs on the 15 greens that are ready to plant in the coming days.  There will be a large amount of water running to properly establish our putting green surfaces.  Understand that there may be water standing in areas around the greens complexes, but when you plant springs, there are no roots for the plant to survive without constantly adding water.  What looks like a large amount of water is actually necessary.  After the greens complexes are sprigged, the construction team will then move on to grading tees and planting sod on these tee complexes.  Of course, once you lay sod you must also water heavily to establish these.  I would ask that if you are driving on the Miller course, you keep your carts on the paths at all times.  This will allow us to really grow in this course for your enjoyment.  I am excited to see how good we can get this course before opening.  As always, Thank You for being a Member and if you ever have any questions please feel free to email me at dlatham@bentwaterclub.com

Donny Latham