3 minute read
GOLFCOURSEMAINTENANCE
Course Maintenance
David Franks
April was a busy month, and we should only get busier with longer days and more turf grass growth on the horizon As I always do, I want to offer a friendly reminder to repair ball marks, sand divots, avoid trash dropping on the courses, and adhere to the blue stake rule and all stake and ropes on the course We are not quite into full grass growing conditions yet, and giving our turf any help we can give it goes along way in its recovery when we do start growing grass I know a lot of you all do this already and we truly thank you for your help
Our agronomy staff is growing I am happy to announce that we have added four full-time employees to our roster in the month of April We hope to add a few more in May if possible
We fertilized all turf areas of both courses this month with a granular fertilizer coated in a pre-emergent herbicide The fertilizer will give the turf an immediate boost in growth and color, as well as a slow release of growth over the next several weeks The pre-emergent herbicide will help protect us from late spring and early summer weeds All greens, collars, approaches, fairways, and tees received an insecticide application to prevent mole crickets and all ants for the remainder of the year
We have ramped up our mowing frequencies on all surfaces and this will continue with the approaching summer ahead All bunkers were detailed out, flymowed, edged, and grass runners handpicked from the sand All bunker edges and fingers were treated with a foliar spray to prevent growth and an insecticide for ants Greens were treated with a preemergent granular herbicide to prevent late spring and summer weeds We finished out the month by prepping a few areas around the courses for sod (new grass)
Moving forward to May, more mowing and detail work on all areas will continue We will also top dress the greens with sand to keep surfaces smooth and firm I feel we will see our first vertical mowing of greens surfaces this month as well We will forward those dates out to the Golf Pro Shop so you can plan accordingly around those applications More sodding of needed areas around the course are planned Using our Shockwave aerifier on hard compacted areas around both courses will continue
I will have another maintenance update at May's month end, so stay tuned My email address is dfranks@blackhorsegolfclub com and feel free to contact me with any questions Thank you for your membership and dedication to BlackHorse Golf Club
Golf
Head Golf Professional
If you have not played in Powerball this year yet, the time to start is now The Powerball pot is up to $760 and growing You just never know when your luck day will be so why leave it to chance!
Thank you again to those that have been pairing up in your golf carts. Many of you have seen me and my team riding around and pairing you up on the course if we don't get paired up at the tee We will continue to do that and would appreciate it if you would get paired up prior to getting on the course
You may have seen on our social media channels, but I am putting my money on the line with our members with the ProDown Challenge! Here is how it works: I made the first challenge, calling out 2022 Club Champion Keith Rodriguez. Keith will have to put up $50 (which he gets back in shop credit regardless of outcome) and we will play a one-hole match If he beats me, I will double his money and he will take home $100 in shop credit. If I win, he just gets his $50 Oh and if we tie, it counts as a win for me because, well, it's my money! After this first ProDown Challenge with Keith, he will get to nominate any member to see if they have what it takes to take the ProDown! You can follow us on Facebook or Instagram to watch all the ProDown Challenges and see who gets called out next! It is going to be exciting
Something else you may have noticed was the edition of the sandbox on South #13 This has been built and place in order to allow you to refill your sand bottles during the round so that you can keep filling in your divots. We chose the par-3 holes because you are more likely to make a divot there as well that will need filling Our goal is to continue adding these until we have them on all the par-3 holes
Ifyouarealadygolferandnotyetplayingwithour BlackHorseLadies'GolfAssociation,youaremissingout Theyhavesomuchfuneveryweekoutonthecourseand wouldloveitifyoujoinedthem YoucanreachouttoGwen Graham(President)orSarahPyles(TournamentDirector)for moreinformation Theyarebothveryknowledgeableabout thegameandassociation,andequallyaswelcomingtoall playersofvariousskilltypes.Itdoesnotmatterifyouarea beginneroraseasonedveteran,theBHLGAwouldbea greatfitforallwomenatBlackHorse
RemainingBHLGA2023Events
May3rd-AceofAces-LowNet
May9th-PickYourPoison
May17th-CrissCross
May23rd-AcesWild
May30th-Stableford
June6th-PresidentsCupRound1
June13th-PresidentsCupRound1
June20th-AceofAces-LowNet
June27th-MiddleNine
July11th-AceofAces-LowNet
July18th-PickYourPoison
July25th-T'sandF's
August1st-AceofAces-LowNet
August8th-O-N-E-S
August15th-OddHoles
August22nd-3'sand5'sNet
August29th-EasyPeasy(Nineeasiestholes)
September5th-Aceofaces-LowNet
September12th-Stableford
September19th-ClubChampionshipRound1
September26th-ClubChampionshipRound2
October3rd-AceofAces-LowNet
October10th-EvenHoles
October17th-NineBlindHoles
October25th-DoubleYourPleasure
October31st-HalloweenGame
November7th-AceofAces-LowNet
November14th-OddHoles
November21st-AllPar4's
November28th-TurkeyShoot
December5th-AceofAces-Tournament
December12th-ChristmasLuncheon
