I know it's 80 degrees now, but....

Accuweather is forecasting a nasty winter for the Chicago area.  It's calling for colder than average temperatures and above average snowfall.  So if this does come true, just remember that snow cover protects the turf from the cold and dry winds.  As long as we don't get any snow mold disease, which we treat the turf for in late fall, the turf should be stronger in the spring. 

Enough about that, lets enjoy this weather we are having for the next week!

Today's greens aerification and topdressing went very well so we will have all 18 holes open for play tomorrow morning.  The grounds staff worked very hard to make sure that we got it all done in one day for the members to be able to enjoy the golf course during this great weather coming up this week.  Most of the work is totally complete, there are just a few greens that need a little more sand to fill the holes and some minor cleanup work that can all be done during play.  If you come out and play tomorrow, I believe that you will be as happy with the final result as I am.  The greens are rolling suprisingly smooth and they still have good speed.

Here is today's process in pictures

Jesus coring the green using 3/8" coring tines.

Alfredo and Paul using the core harvester to pick up the plugs.

Adam applies and sand which is left to dry.

Dave uses the brush to drag as much sand into the holes as possible.

Blowers are used to move the sand around and help fill in the holes.

The green is rolled to give us the final product.

The final product.

As you can see, all this works ends up with a nice final product.  We know that this is a disruptive process, especially when the weather is nice and the greens are rolling well, so we do everything in our power to minimize the disruption and still have the process be effective in benefiting the greens.