Hello Bentwater members and other guests following the blog.  I wanted to take a moment and apologize for not updating the blog before now.  I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!  We have made some much needed improvements over all three courses in 2017 and I am anxious to get back to work once the weather starts to cooperate.  A few things to note, I will be closing all 3 courses tomorrow, Tuesday January 16th due to weather.  We will spend most of Monday really watering the unprotected greens to help prevent from any winterkill.  It is our goal to start 2018 strong and come out of the gates in spring with a healthy golf course.  Some projects we are working on is as follows.

Weiskopf:  We will be making our way through the courses preparing worn out turf edges for sod and mulch.  Many of our trees that are in play create such a shad problem that without removing the tree, a healthy stand of Bermuda grass is all but impossible.  So, we will cut the soil out and put down mulch.  This is a much cleaner look and also, if your ball does come to rest in the mulch bed, you will have a more predictable lie than you would now.  Now you may be in a thin weak stand of grass or you may be on bare soil.  We will also be prepping for sod.  This will require us to remove soil from bare areas so that when we can get sod it will lay down flush with existing grade.  My goal is to have all these bare areas covered with sod prior to March 1 as well as having all designated mulch areas covered with a 3 inch layer of mulch.  Also, I will be painting new fairway mow lines.  The Weiskopf course is as close to a links style course as we have here, so I feel wider mow lines would allow us to give you the linkstyle feel.  This will also include wider mown areas around the greens.  This would allow you to play new and interesting shots if you miss the green with your approach shot.  You would have new options, putt it up the approach, hybrid bump it but some new options.  We will start cutting these areas out over the next few weeks. 

Miller:  With the renovation completed we did a lot of work to these courses.  We will install a truck load of pine straw monthly over 2018 and really work to keep these areas weed free with fresh straw.  This process will be ongoing throughout the year.  There are several small tees that are still Bermuda grass that I feel would be better suited for Zeon Zoysia.  Zoysia is a much tougher grass and can withstand not only the traffic, but shade as well.  We converted many tees over to zoysia during the renovation, but left many as Bermuda, and I feel the zoysia is a better teeing surface, so this will begin happening starting in March.

Grand Pines:  The bunkers are currently being renovated and I know you all will enjoy having this much needed improvement.  It is our goal to have this project completed in early April. Also, starting in February and into March we will also be converting over half of the tee boxes to Zoysia.   Following the same explanation from the Miller paragraph, it is imperative to convert many of these tee boxes that sit in deep shade to zoysia.  Also, we are currently underbrushing many of the holes landing areas.  This will allow an errant tee shot that just runs out of the corridors of the hole to be hit back in play.  I don't anticipate to grow a turf grass under this dense canopy of trees but at least it will be straw and cleaned out to where you can find your golf ball and advance back in play. 

Overall lots of great things coming for Bentwater Turf in 2018.  I look forward to hearing any feedback about the changes as we strive to provide you with the best golf courses we can for your enjoyment.  As always, please don't hesitate to contact me at DLatham@bentwaterclub.com with any questions or comments.

Regards,

Donny Latham