Glen Eagle Maintenance (5/9/25)

I wish I had rain to report but another week of missed opportunities. Our lake levels continue to get lower and are 8” below the lowest point I have measured in my almost 6 years at GE. The area is now under and extreme drought which the news is reporting as the worst in 24 years.

A front moves this way early next week giving us the most promising look at rain in a really long time. I will be waiting watching and rain dancing.

The course is looking pretty good all things considered.

Something to point out in the last picture, you notice the shinny, less green area near the perimeter of the fairway? It is caused by the seed heads of Common Bermudagrass. You can see the Celebration next to it is a much greener color and smoother texture. Celebration is a hybrid of Common Bermuda that has not seeds and exhibits a finer turf which is better suited to play golf on.

I am looking forward to the first closed Monday of the summer. We will be verticutting, topdressing and fertilizing greens amongst other maintenance tasks.

With the recent slow down in afternoon play, it did allow us to solid tine aerify the greens this past Monday and Tuesday. The greens were what we call sealed off where buildups of salt and bicarbonates in the soil prevent water from penetrating the root zone. This dries out the turf so creating channels with aerificaiton opens that soil up allowing water to reach the roots again.

 

Of course the team was out doing a lot of edging this week.

 Greens…

Bulkheads…

And bunkers…

One note to mention, we will be removing the ficus along GE blvd behind Montclair and Provincetown starting as early as Friday 5/9.

We are removing the ficus now to allow a full summer of full growth for the back planting without competition with the existing ficus. The ficus has been a part of GE for a very long time so there will be a considerable visual change when the ficus is removed. But as with any change, the new look will become the new norm very quickly and will provide an updated look for years to come.

I’ll try the rain turtles again next week and let’s hope they work this time 😁

I look forward to seeing everyone on the course, and as always, if you have any questions, flag me down or shoot me an email. I always enjoy talking turf and turtles!