GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT
NEWS LETTER
SEPTEMBER 2020
Dear Member / Property Owner,
Following on from the Golf Course Superintendent’s News Letter sent to you in July, 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 September 2020.
AUGUST COURSE MAINTENANCE UPDATE
Verticut and Topdressing Greens
The greens have been verticut and then heavily topdressed twice to promote a more vertical growth and remove grain from the greens. This results in improved ball roll, speed and firmness of the green.
Golf Course Grass Conversion Works
Work has been completed with the conversion of the ryegrass to paspalum Pure Dynasty with videos of the work carried out posted on our official social media sites.
Weekly foliar fertilizer applications that contain several bio-stimulants that are very beneficial to the plant’s health and growth have been applied.
Several applications of herbicides have been applied to the weeds that invaded the grass areas during the grow-in of the paspalum.
The Indiana ‘Course Grass Conversion’ presentation evening with Golf Course Superintendent, Zach LaPorte and Director of Golf Simon Coaker took place on 18th August with a mixture of Owners and Members in attendance.
The evening comprised a walk-about on selected areas of the course to allow Zach to identify elements and areas of concern that members may have identified whilst playing and provide explanations to their existence and what is to be expected to improve in agronomist terms and importantly by when.
For those of you that were not in a position to attend, the presentation was recorded and is available to be view on our official YouTube channel by simply clicking HERE.
We sincerely hope that you will find the video presentation informative and that it provides you with peace of mind that the grass conversion is in the safe hands of Zach and his dedicated course maintenance team and improving daily.
Hole Two
Several days of work has been completed on the second hole. The tee area has been cleaned, the bunkers edged, the dry creek cleaned, and the hard line of the grass desert areas both defined and reintroduced.
SEPTEMBER COURSE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME
Cleaning of Desert & Tee Areas
Designated areas of the desert and tee complexes will be cleaned of old plant material and if needed, new planting will be introduced.
Hollow Coring of Greens
Starting on the 15th of September the greens will be aerated using hollow tines. This is the process of removing material from the greens by making thousands of small holes then filling the holes with sand. Recovery from this process is relatively quick and the benefits of this process is essential to keeping the greens healthy and firm. The most important of these benefits are:
- Better drainage
- Oxygen to root zone
- Removal of organic material
The process comprises the following;
- Greens double verticut two directions
- Cut greens
- Aerate greens using 14mm tines
- Apply gypsum to help flush salts from soil profile
- Apply amendments such as zeolites and fertilizers
- Heavy topdressing to fill in holes
- Brush sand in
- Irrigate heavily to flush greens and help the sand settle
- The next day lightly topdress where needed
2020 Greens Hollow Coring Dates
In the knowledge that all Property Owners and Members need to have as much notice as possible concerning particular aspects of the golf course maintenance schedule that may temporarily affect the playing conditions of the green’s surface, thus enabling them to plan particular holidays accordingly, please see below the hollow coring dates in 2020.
- Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th September
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 golf 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
