Native Area Burning

We were able to get most of our natives burned with the assistance of the Kansas City Parks burn crew.  The areas on 12, 17, 14, and 15 where we battled weeds last year are all completed.  We still have some smaller areas to finish, but have gotten off to a great start.  This is the first time in 8 years we've been able to get the burn accomplished.

Area between 17 tees and fairway.

Another view of the area in front of 17 tees and the right side of 12.

Area between 14 tees and 15 green.

This area that is between 12 and 17 is a ball magnet.

New Senior Tees

We have added an additional set of tee markers to accommodate the wide range of golfers we have at Swope Memorial.  These tees are intended for seniors and people new to the game of golf.  They will play a little bit longer then our current red tees, but not near as far as the white tees.  All holes should be much easier to get on the green in regulation and therefore hopefully provide a more enjoyable round of golf.

Course Staying Wet

                            

Here is an example of just how wet the course continues to be.  We had to resort to push mowing sections of 9 fairway.

Greens All Healed Up From Aerification

Greens aerification was completed last Tuesday and they are about 90% healed up after 10 days.  We topdressed with sand on Wednesday to fill in areas where sand had settled down into the holes.  After rolling them again Thursday and then mowing them today, they seem to be almost back to normal.  We are ready now to lower our height of cut just a little bit to get back to where we normally are.  My guess is in the next few days they will be rolling as good as pre-aerification.  

We will also be allowing carts back into the fairways on Saturday, April 10.  After a mild winter with no extended snow cover, our zoysia looks like it has come out pretty well.  I know it is frustrating to stay on the path for the winter, but we will now reap the rewards of the great fairways we are lucky to have at Swope.

Spring Warm Up

What a relief the last few days have been from the frigid temperatures we have had most of the winter.  The golf course was opened up last Friday, and has been busy every since.  It has been great to get out on the course for some of our early spring duties.  We have sprayed all of our zoysia tees and fairways with pre-emergent and roundup to kill any poa annua that has popped up.  The roundup does not harm the zoysia since it is still dormant.  Yesterday we were able to mow greens for the first time since early last December.  I was amazed at how much grass we actually cut off since we have been so cold the last couple of months.  It really smoothed them out as well.  Today we got the roller out for the first time, and smoothed the greens out even more.  What a difference this machine makes, especially this time of year.  We will continue to clean up the course from the winter this week and will soon be mowing rough.