Page 12 - 01-01-19 Trailblazer

J O N C H R I S T E N S O N What is in store for the winter months for course maintenance?
GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT and

The end goal
ON THE GREENS for out the
evaluate needs for

It is so hard to believe that I am typing a New Year article for the the beginning the
newsletter already. Since my arrival at Spanish Trail on October the goosegrass control
23rd, 2017, time has flown by. The list of items I wanted to tackle this weed. also
when I first stepped foot on the property seemed never ending, the greens performing

but that list today continues to grow. At the same time, our list of flushing.
what we have been able to accomplish also grows.
As you can see, the winter months are also filled with busy projects for
We were able to keep turf on all greens, increase our stand of the maintenance crew. Over the past year we have been fortunate to
Bermuda on all areas of the course, work on keeping assemble a great staff. Please take a moment to give them thanks for
maintenance on all of the golf course areas consistent, and work their efforts while you see them on the course. Lastly, I do want to send

on the landscape areas, just to name a few. out a HUGE thanks to our membership for the support. Here's to a
GREAT 2019.
The overseed process appears to have been a success in some
areas, and not so much in other areas. We will assess the how HAPPY NEW YEAR!
and why of these areas and try to make those necessary changes

for the overseed of 2019. The fairway and tee areas fared well ,
while some of the thicker Bermuda rough areas struggled
through the process. We had some very good weather in the
early and middle stages of overseed, but the latter stages have

been very cold. November 2018 was 5 degrees cooler than last
year in both high and low temperatures, while December is
trending to be the exact same way through the 20th. The
overseeded Ryegrass is fine with these temperatures but that

means there is no growth to keep filling in areas. The greens also
tend to stop growing, which means ball marks will be evident for
the next couple of months until the grass starts to grow again.

We have been applying fertilizer to the fairways and tees to keep
them nice and green during the cool weather, and now that the

Bermuda is dormant, we will begin to spray out the cool season
weeds and grass starting to grow in the Canyon rough.