GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT
NEWS LETTER
OCTOBER 2020
Dear Member / Property Owner,
Following on from the Golf Course Superintendent’s News Letter sent to you in August, which was designed to keep you up to date with all of the important maintenance procedures which were scheduled to take place on The Indiana Course, we are pleased to be able to give you an update on the works carried out and to inform you of the schedule of works which shall take place in October 2020.
SEPTEMBER COURSE MAINTENANCE UPDATE
Cleaning of Desert & Tee Areas
The area around the Professional & Men’s Tee on hole 3, the roadside area and creek behind green 17 and the dry creek on hole 9, have all been cleared of unwanted weeds and cleaned.
Hollow Coring of Greens
The hollow coring, verticutting and topdressing of the golf course greens, practice area and the nursery has been completed, and all have recovered extremely well.
The process involved the removal of material from the greens by making thousands of small holes then filling them with sand. The benefits of this greens maintenance process are essential to keeping the greens healthy and firm. The most important of these benefits are; improved drainage, oxygen to root zone and the removal of organic material.
OCTOBER COURSE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME
Cleaning of Desert & Tee Areas
Designated areas of the desert and tee complexes will be cleaned of unwanted weeds, old plant material and if needed new planting will be added.
Golf Course Grass Conversion – Phase 2
Following on from the works completed to convert the turfgrass of the tees, fairways and driving range to Pure Dynasty Paspalum, now that we have the appropriate climatic conditions, we will enter the scheduled second phase of the course grass conversion, the seeding of the ‘Tall Fescue’ variety 4th Millennium in the course roughs and greens surround.
Fescue is a very hardy cool season grass that is a perfect compliment to the paspalum fairways. The key to a successful conversion is in the elimination of any unwanted grass species. Once this is accomplished, we will continue with the seeding of the Fescue. For more detailed information on the schedule please Click Here.
Overseeding of the Fairways
Being a warm season grass, the paspalum will go dormant or semi-dormant in wintertime, turning a brown or semi-brown colour. Although playing conditions of dormant paspalum grass are perfectly acceptable, its colour is not. To ensure the aesthetics of green grass throughout the winter period, we will overseed the paspalum with ryegrass.
In spring, once the paspalum ‘wakes-up’ with the warmer weather, it will dominate the rye grass and will make a smooth unnoticeable transition back to paspalum.
You will be able to keep up to date with the full tournament and social calendar, format and any additions, information of how to enter, and much more, by visiting either our official website www.desertspringsresort.es or by contacting the resort reception at Desert Springs.
We and the staff at Desert Springs are looking forward to seeing you on The Indiana course in the near future.
Kind regards,
Zachary LaPorte
Golf Course Superintendent
