It has been a LONG time since I've done a blog post, sorry, there is only so much time in the day; priorities. Before I get into it, I just want to express my gratitude to the membership, Board of Governors and my coworkers for recognizing my 20th year at Bass Rocks; thank you.
It has been a very busy season with lots of golf being played, loads of events and many projects coming to completion. The Ladies Invitational is in the rearview window and the Men's Michael J. Burke Invitational is on tap next week. This season is FLYING! We will begin aeration the week after the Burke and get right back into an extremely busy September schedule. The weather has been more manageable here on Cape Ann this summer. While other people are getting inundated with inches of rain at a time we are getting "spared" with an inch here and a half inch there; just what we are looking for. More of the same for the rest of the season please, Mother Nature kind of owes us! Don't mind this plug for fixing your ballmarks, they are very bad and numerous; PLEASE FIX YOUR BALLMARKS.
Here are some great photos taken by Patrick Koenig, a photographer/golf enthusiast that is trying to play 500 rounds in 365 days. He was here last week to play Bass Rocks. Follow him on Twitter/X @patrickjkoenig or on Instagram @pjkoenig
As you know, both of our projects have been completed. Irrigation installation was complete just before Memorial Day and Tanto completed removal of the old system about 2 weeks later. The 2nd hole has been growing in since early spring and is doing very well for such a juvenile green. We are currently working on closing out both DEP files and hope to obtain our Certificates of Compliance at next week's Conservation meeting. Both projects finished up on time and under budget. We are currently working on getting a permit to manage the cattails in our three ponds while we are trying to close out the other projects. They have really taken off since last season, I suspect it has a lot to do with the low pond levels we experienced last summer and fall due to the drought.
We have been able to get the 2nd hole open sparingly this month for some events and regular play. The green should take great strides this fall if the cooler weather arrives in September and should mature well in the next two years. We used plugs from existing greens and some seed to fill in the gaps; this will allow the green to look and play more like all of the others in a couple seasons. It will also help since most of the other turf we have on property is more adapted to the high salt content we often get in our irrigation water. Right now the thatch and mat layer in the green is very nominal which makes recovery from ballmarks and high traffic very slow. It also won't allow for a very close mow; we are currently using a separate walk mower for this green which has a less aggressive front roller and a slightly higher height of cut at 0.120 inches which is still below 1/8 but noticeably higher than the rest of the course. I would expect it to be able to manage a similar setup as the others by next spring; time will tell.
We will begin aeration of greens, tees, collars and approaches on August 21st following the MJB. We are hoping the weather cooperates and rain holds off. Rain will create problems as it makes it impossible to put sand out and work it into the holes; this is essential for the quickest possible healing time. I wouldn't expect much upon returning to the course from the greens. Once they are done being worked they will be left to grow through any extra topdressing; we don't want to spend $10,000 on sand just to pick it up and dull the mowers. They will be getting a solid shot of nitrogen to speed recovery but this will also cause the turf growth to increase dramatically. They will be maintained at a higher height and much less "true" for at least a week so if you are planning on impressing your friends by bringing them as guests I would say waiting until September would be a good call.
Finally, we will be knocking out some more paving while the course is closed for a few days. We will be replacing some existing areas that are well past their usable life and need addressing. Right now we are planning on doing work on holes 1 by the tee and holes 12 and 13. These areas are also relatively easy to access for the paving company; the only thing that would create an issue for them is the weather.
