Happy Thanksgiving

The Golf Course Staff at Quail Hollow wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving, especially from the special assistant to the director, Moose Austin

Tee leveling

We have begun the process of leveling the crowned tees.  4 silver tee  4 silver tee in process 4 silver tee completed

Range tee aerification

This week we took an aggressive approach to the aerification of both driving range tees. We pulled cores on each tee and then heavily topdressed them after seed and fertilizer were applied. Closing the grass tees and moving to "mats only" has afforded us the luxury to be so pro-active. We are confident that this process will result in a much better teeing ground for next season. We plan on aerifying the final two practice greens this week. I have received mostly positive feedback from members and guest regarding how the Weiskopf greens have bounced back and how nicely the Devlin greens are progressing. I am confident that we will have the same success on the final greens of the year.

Native areas

​As many may have noticed, we have been working the last week or so to cut down our native areas on both courses. The first major reason for mowing these areas down is to prevent all of the fall leaves from being caught up in these areas. This gives us the ability to blow leaves through these areas with ease. The second major reason for doing this is for weed control. As these areas grow long and wispy like we all love to see, it also gives many weeds and trees the ability to grow to their full potential and become unsightly. And lastly mowing down native areas is beneficial for the overall health of the plant as well as the surrounding areas. 8 green Weiskopf 

Aerification

As Labor Day passes, we look forward to beginning the process of alleviating a season's worth of stress. We do this in part with the process of aeration. Please check out the link below from the USGA as they have put together a very informative graphic on the benefits of this process.  Thank you, Jeff Austin http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/galleries/infographic--the-ins-and-outs-of-aeration.html#expanded

Yardage to marsh 13 Weiskopf

"We have added a post in front of the wetlands on #13 Weiskopf to better help members and guests accurately judge yardage."

Seed and Sod work

We have sodded some areas on the golf course. These areas were in some cases where we had cut down trees over the winter. We have also seeded multiple areas on the course. Please do not drive through these areas along with freshly seeded areas. All of these areas have either ropes and stakes.  #9 Weiskopf  #15 Weiskopf  The remaining tree stumps will be ground out and repaired soon. 

Greens speeds

Green speeds

Appearance of greens

We have been asked is there something wrong with the greens. The appearance of the greens is normal for the type of weather conditions we have been experiencing over the course of the last month and a half. We have had cool temperatures and abundant amounts of rain. I have attached a photo of 1 Weiskopf green below.  The above picture shows the purplish color of the turf. These are different cultivars of bentgrass that have appeared over time. These cultivars react differently to the weather. In the article attached it explains the reason for the appearance being off. Again, We want to reinterate there is nothing wrong with the greens. If you have any questions please feel free to correct reach out to Jeff, James or Justin for further explanation. 

Repairing Split-rail Fencing

We have repaired the split-rail fences between 18 Devlin tee and 17 Devlin green. The bottoms of the posts rotted out and gave way. While installing new posts we also installed new rails where there were rotted ones.  We continued by repairing the fence on 18 Weiskopf by the lake on 17 Devlin. We replaced posts and rails rhat were rotted. A special thanks goes to Mike Baglia and Bob Austin for the job well done.  We also went out to 11 Weiskopf and installed a new fence to match the existing fences on 4 and 6.  The new fence is located where the culvert goes across at the blue tee.  There have been 4 stakes and rope for the longest time.              New fence on 11 Weiskopf 

First mow of the year

We have gotten Mother Nature to cooperate and have mowed greens for the first time this year. We will mow them again and apply a plant protection spray.         #3 Weiskopf                 #9 Weiskopf 

New Addition to Turf Staff

  Quail Hollow Membership, Please let me welcome a new addition to our turf staff at Quail Hollow Country Club. Justin Horvat has accepted and as of this week begun the role of Devlin Course Superintendent. Justin comes to us from Signature of Solon Country Club where he was an assistant superintendent. Before Signature of Solon, Justin had worked at Aurora Golf Club and Barrington Golf Club. Justin comes highly recommended and has proven himself to be a great leader and team member throughout his career. He graduated from The Ohio State University (Agricultural Technical Institute) and has developed strong agronomy principles that will help Quail Hollow continue to improve. With Justin as Devlin Course Superintendent and James Dobbins as Weiskopf Course Superintendent, I am confident that we have put in place a group that will succeed in meeting and exceeding membership expectations at Quail Hollow Country Club. Thank you and I look forward to a great season. Best wishes,   Jeff Austin Director of Golf Course Maintenance Quail Hollow Country Club  

Tree Damage from high winds

We had some very strong winds roll through the golf courses on Wednesday with gusts over 60 mph. On the course ride this morning we found 10 trees down on Weiskopf and 3 on Devlin.  While over the course of the winter wind has knocked down over 25 trees on both courses. We have cleaned up the trees that have come down. 

Inside work

Late last week with the cold and snow we received we were able to get the office cleaned and painted.  Before  After. 

Course cleanup.

We have had beautiful weather for the last few days. We have been cleaning up around the courses with leaves and sticks from trees that we have cut down.  We topdressed all the greens with a light application of sand. While in the short term will impact golf but long term effects of soil conditioning.  The sand application assists in removal of thatch, smoothing the putting surface and protecting the crown of the plant.   1 Weiskopf green after topdressing Going to 8 Devlin

Cold weather

With some cold weather upon us, we have been doing some things inside.  Have built a box to keep the wood chips from blowing all over the truck while chipping.  Cleaning and maintenance on the equipment continues.   We have got all our bays, tools and irrigation room organized to be able to hit the ground running when the weather breaks. 

Continuing winter work

We have continued with tree removal in select locations and have went through Weiskopf and chipped brush on 9 and 15 where quite a bit of work has been done.             Left side fairway15 before and after Chipping brush on 9

9 Weiskopf tree removal

We have completed removing the trees from the right side of the approach and the big Pin Oak from the corner of the cart path.                        Before tree removal                     After tree removal This will allow use to better utilize the teeing surface by placing the markers on the right with all pin locations. While improving the turf quality where these trees were at. 

Tree work

We had a few trees fall over the last week due to the high winds at the beginning of the week. We have cleaned them up and just need to remove the logs.                  Behind 12 Weiskopf green.            See how dead this was at the base.