A few random things for the week

I have a few good pics to go through here so I thought I would start with the golf course stuff first.

 Sand Topdressing the Practice Green

The Practice Green buried

Our greens here at Blackhawk Trace are built on 'native soil', meaning whatever soils exist here.  They require extensive modification to provide the best playing conditions and soil characteristics.  I buried this practice green in approximately 1/4" of sand on the 17th of March.  

The same green on 3/21/2011

You can see that after a little more than .5" of precipitation the sand has almost completely worked its way into the turf canopy.  Further, the surface has begun to green significantly.

This is the same green on 3/22 2011

Again, after .75" of additional rainfall the sand has completely worked itself in to the canopy and even more striking is the green up.  The reason behind the green up is that the sand at the surface will absorb solar radiation (sunlight) and the increase in temperature will accelerate the spring green-up.  Also, because there has been no mechanical clipping removal (mowing) the increased temperatures will spur a little growth and the longer the grass, the greener it will get.

THE Big Z

I learned that Zoltan Payerli, our amazing Assistant Manager in the Front Office will be leaving us soon to become the Front Office Manager of the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, Florida.  I have enjoyed working with the Big Z since he's been with us and I will miss his wardrobe and his undying positivity towards the Chicago Cubs.  Z was great to work with and all of us in the Grounds Department wish him the best in his new endeavor.

 Tom doing his best to be good...it can be hard.

Our kids, Molly and Tom, enjoying a (rare) moment of happiness and quiet

One of the more popular components of the old weekly update was the pictures I included of my son, Tom.  Tom is now 3 and the size of a 5 or 6 year old in many ways.  My wife, Tina, and I welcomed our daughter Molly Michelle Barber on 11/22/2010 and it's been a wild ride ever since.  We are lucky to have two healthy, happy kids....Except when they don't let us sleep....

What I've been doing on my days off...

I will return to the office on 3/28/2011.  Thanks for reading and reviewing.  Click on the 'follow' tab if you want to automatic updates as I update the blog.  I will look forward to Tweeting a little bit here and there as the season progresses as well as updating from my phone once in a while from the field.  Have a great weekend.