Last Week Open for Play and Final Preparations for Sand



The cutting blades on the flail that removes the turf and sweeps the area clean

This past week has been very busy and productive and we meet our goal of scalping down the fairways, and preparing for sand topdressing that starts Labor Day Monday.  It has been inconvenient for golf and I apologize for that, however when the course is back into shape we will all have some stories to tell about the dust bowl of 2012 that hit La Rinconada.

After the first pass with the flail unit

 

In the past week we have removed hundreds of yards of grass off the fairways.  Instead of paying to have the material taken off site, it will be re-cycled on the golf course.  This is a financial savings and is better for the environment. 

 

This week is all about getting off to a good start laying down the sand.  The processes that follows the sand is applying granular organic fertilizer, dragging the sand to smooth the surface, and then the hydro-seed.  The hydro-seed starts Wednesday, which gives the sand spreading operation a 2 day head start.

Also planned this week is the removal of sod around greens. When the round up was sprayed a 36 inch buffer was left around the edges to lessen the chance that the herbicide would be tracked onto the greens.  These areas will be leveled when the sod is removed to improve the playability and surface drainage.  You may have noticed the different colored paint around the greens in preparation for this work.