Hello November; Out with the old and in with the cold. It is time to start shutting things down for the season. Mowing will cease on tees, fairways, and approaches for the year however, we will still continue to mow and roll greens.

Preemergents are out and should last us until my next spray in February. I have 2 last applications to go on greens and my program for the year will be complete. It has been a wild year with a lot of rain. As of October 26th, we are at 59.55” of rainfall for the year. This is about 10 to 12 inches above the normal the yearly average, an increase that has caused us to be wet in areas for extended periods of time. Hopefully next year will get back to normal and we can get these areas to dry up.

I have been hearing some complaints about the green tees. This was a CMGA project, that because of delays into the busy part of the growing season, I did not have the time to do anything but fertilize and water. We have gotten sand down to help level out some areas that were washed out before the sod was installed. It will take time to work the sand into the profile. I am not putting too much sand down, and the grass will also not grow through the sand until it begins to grow more aggressively next season. The tee box on #’s 4 and 18 will take some work throughout the winter to level out and help the grass for next season. Number 14 will take quite a bit more work as it had to be resodded 2 weeks after the others were done. It was also sodded with squares and not big rolls, requiring more sand to put down to fill in seams. This is usually done by the sod company, but obviously was not, therefore is has been left to us to take care of. Now that mowing and everyday tasks are slowing down, we will have the time to do more for these tee boxes.

We are looking at a new equipment lease for next year. If all comes to fruition, we will have a new greens mower with some new features that will allow me to get a better cut on greens for next year. The new mower and having an extra set of reels for greens will allow for more topdressing. This will firm the greens up and increase ball speed next season. For those wondering why we did not verticut more this season, that was a recommendation from Buddy Smith of Modern Turf. He is the cultivator and grower of our turf, as well as being the one who did the installation on #’s 1,9, and 15 when they were redone years ago. He suggested to me and Randy Barefoot that we needed to verticut less, and topdress more. This will change slightly for next season, as I will be able to do more with better equipment.

I am once again looking to hire a part time person for my staff, so if anyone knows of someone please let me know. I need 1 more person to allow my guys to get days off, and not be pushed to the limit throughout the winter. These guys work hard and deserve to have their time as well. I could not do this without my staff, and thank each of them for their dedication to our Turf Team.

I look forward to the upcoming holiday season and thank our members and staff for all they do to make Coharie the best it can be.

Sincerely,

Kevin McCamy, GCS