We have concluded the 2024 golf season here at Oakfield. A fantastic season by all accounts. A major thank you to the turf crew. While the weather was kinder this year, it was the staff in maintenance that manicured the property to the high standard we expect. Throughout the season both myself and the crew have had countless positive interactions as the members were enjoying the golf and we were enjoying seeing the fruits of our labor. Thank you to the members.
Fall has been unusually dry. The last few years we have gotten accustomed to hurricane threats and other tropical activity that would bring substantial rainfall has been noticeably absent this year. We were under 100mm for September and after counting up October we ended up with approximately 61mm. Average rainfall for October here over the last 6 years is approximately 130mm. A shortfall of that amount in summer equates to a lot of irrigation use and a lot of stressed turf. Shorter days and cooler nights allows the turf to handle this environment quite well. Saturated rootzones inhibit extensive root development. A dry fall has provided an opportunity to gain large amounts of root mass; a great thing at any time, is certainly a benefit going into winter.
Aeration recovery has gone as expected. There is still some visual signs of the aeration holes and some sand for the turf to grow through. Turf growth potential has reduced dramatically with some frosty conditions in the past couple weeks. More sand will be put down prior to tarping the greens for the winter. The greens have been aerated annually since 2015 and previous to that was twice a year since the greens renovation 25 years ago. We have been doing soil testing annually for years to measure among other things, percentage of organic matter in the soil. A fine balance of having some, to provide and retain nutrients and hold moisture, but not so much to impact adequate gas exchange and drainage. These factors determine what cultural practices we complete or avoid.
The end of the season has brought with it the beginning of the next phase of our bunker renovation. We have rented a mini excavator, and Geoff has begun shaping the greenside bunkers on 16 and 8 (left side).
The bunker on 16 had several aspects that we want improvement on: The lip of the bunker was eroding. Where we would aim for a lip of a 4-6 inches the lip here was 8-12" and was eroding the soil against the lip after a couple decades of washouts. Beyond aesthetics and playability, an eventual safety issue was going to take place as someone walking along the top edge of the bunker could fall through the undermined turf.
The new bunker reallocates its square footage overall closer in proximity to the green surface as opposed to the tongue that reached well away from the green. The entry point for the bunker was very tired and unsightly; years of sand being raked out of that entry/exit point had obscured the original grading of the bunker. The new trap extends further along the left side of the green.
The overall size and shape of the new bunker will not change very much. The goal is to bring down the grass face, freshen up the look and install our sod liner. After completing the new right side bunker this spring it will be nice to match the features up to have a uniform theme.
These two traps are some low hanging fruit as they are renovating existing bunkers and while there is a lot of shaping to be done, it is easier than building a bunker from scratch. The bunkers are being shaped in the theme of what has already been completed. By bringing the face of the bunkers down it creates a much better trap to maintain. The new bunkers drain much better and do not wash out like the high flashing of sand we see in the old bunkers. This reduces silt contamination immensely, creating a uniform surface to play out of. Opting out of synthetic bunker liners in favor of sod has shown no issues to this point. The organic layer of material has prevented any rock migration to the surface. We expect these two bunkers to be sodded before the end of the season. We will attempt to make progress in other areas as we progress through fall. We also intend to contract out an aspect of this phase to manage some of the areas that require larger equipment and have a larger area of impact. Stay tuned.
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