Tree trimming opening up the play line on 3W

Its good to see the nice weather bringing out the golfers again and the forecast looks good.  We have been busy this week doing some tree trimming using a travel tower.  We only had the truck on site for two days so really haven't even scratched the surface of what could be done but numerous dangerous limbs have been removed as well as a few play lines opened up.  Nothing yet around the bunkers though as just some trimming will really achieve little.  It is a difficult operation on a number of fronts with the safety of the contractors paramount which means we need to try and avoid play as much as possible but with the number of players out there that is nigh on impossible.  I also like to get as much done as possible while the machine is on site so that's why there is a lot of tree limbs still down on the ground.  The branches qualify as "piled for removal" so relief is available if your ball is amongst them.

The West greens are due for their renovation next week and already you can hear the cry of "they are putting great - why touch them?" however the renovation is critical for the green's health.  If we go any later in the year it is too hot and the risk of losing turf is too great as the greens dry very quickly when they have been opened up.  Speaking of dry and I don't think I have seen the West greens as firm as they have been over the past few weeks which is great for speed and surface but no good for the aerating machine next week.  I actually had to give them a solid tyne aerate to open them up to let some water penetrate so that we can operate the aerator successfully next week or "pull a plug" as they say in the trade.  That basically means that the hollow tyne aerating machine can actually extract a core from the green.  Irrigation on the greens will be increased over the week end to ensure that we can indeed pull a plug.

West greens solid tyned this week