Junior Golf and Red, White and Blue Family Picnic

Scott and Dewey have been working with the kids to improve their game.  Here, the girls made a team par on #2.

Hit me with your best shot.  Guy Liptack was the first to take the plunge on Saturday night.

25 minutes of fireworks highlighted the evening.  I would like to thank all of our sponsors that made this possible.

Lilies are in full bloom in front of the clubhouse.

A Little Rain

We finally got rain on Saturday night.  1.1 inches brought the month total to 1.2.  We also got a little rain on Friday.  It gave us a break from hand watering.  We are keeping up with watering of greens, tees and fairways, but as you can see the banks and rough are starting to go dormant.  We are limiting cutting of the deep rough until we get more rain.  The irrigation has been working well.  I've pumped almost as much as the entire 2011season.  The lake level is starting to go down.  The next week should also be dry, but temps should be cooler.

This week, we are preparing for the fireworks on Saturday.  Many vendors and members have donated money to make this possible.  Thank You!



Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to introduce you to my staff.  Above is Juan.  He works from mid March until Thanksgiving.  He's been on the staff since 2008 and does a variety of jobs including greens, tees, fairways, rough, bunkers and hand watering.

We Need Rain

There's a chance of rain on Monday.  We could use an inch over a 24 hour period.  We've been irrigating nightly.  We get our water from the spring fed lake.  I'm sure a lot of course are having a hard time keeping up.  

We've developed some isolated dry spots on fairways #4 and #5.  We are using wetting agents and watering heavily to help the problem.

Scott was able to use his stump grinder last week on the willow stump on #8.  We will finish cleaning and then add soil and seed.  A replacement tree will be added in the fall.

Flowers and Ash Trees

We finished up planting all of the annuals this week.  Steve Mayerak delivered all flowers while the grounds staff planted them.  Alex, a new member of the staff, was busy keeping flowers and new trees watered.  The .65 inches of rain on Thursday was perfect.  It soaked in nicely.  The logo bed at #2 is nearly complete as we ran a couple of stones short on the border.

This is a green ash.  As you can see, the emerald ash borer has arrived.  We removed a couple last year, but it's taking out several more this year.  With the help of Guy Lipack, we have started planted a variety of new trees.  I'm also looking into the cost and effectiveness of insecticides, but since only a couple of our ashes are in key locations removal is probably the best option..

Jose spent a couple of days cleaning up the ditch line work.  He stock piled the spoils that will be moved to another location when we have access to a dump truck.

On another note, we had our 4000th view of the blog today.  Besides Lansing CC members, I've had hits from Russia, France and many other countries.  I follow many other blogs to see what the other superintendents are doing and getting ideas to make the blog better.

It's Cotton Time

The guys have to keep equipment extra clean for the next couple of weeks.  We need to blow out filters and radiators a couple of times a day so the equiment stays cool.  Cotton also affects height of cut as it sticks to rollers.

Lansing CC escaped most of the rain Sunday night with only .25 inches.  It looks dry this week with gradually warming temps.  This week we are preparing for the Memorial Day weekend.  We will pay special attention to details.

Hill Seeded Today

I was finally able to seed the hill under the power lines today.  Burris Equipment let us demo a great seeder.  Burris supplies us with many equipment parts.  The machine aerified and seeded at the same time.  I wouldn't have been able to this without the use of their machine.  I sprayed the weeds a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully we can establish a healthy turf.

Here is the finished product.  We used a fescue mix because of drought tolerence.  The area is not irrigated.  When it matures, it should look great.  We also planted a small area with wild flowers.  You will be able to see them from the clubhouse.  Everything should germinate in the next couple of weeks and fill in over the summer.

Rain and Storm Clean Up

The overnight storm toppled our willow tree on #7.  As you can see, the tree has been rotting for awhile.  Jose and the crew spent the morning cleaning it up.  Jose should have the truck finished by Tuesday.

We will played some trees in the near future.  They will be donated by Steve Mayerak.  The overnight rain total was 1.4 inches.  That equalled the total for the month of April.  The course is closed for carts and will be reevaluated on Tuesday.