As we reach the middle of October beneficial rainfall has made its way to Northern California. We have received 0.56 inches of rain so far this month. More rain is forecasted for the upcoming week. Because of that, the irrigation contractors plan to work on Sunday this weekend. They intend to finish and backfill the areas they are working on before the rain arrives.
The irrigation contractors are moving along. The following is a list of work in completed and in progress:
- Completed main line installation on holes,5,6,7,12, and a majority of 13.
- Started main line installation on holes 4 and 15.
- Installed new wet well at maintenance facility for new pump station.
- Installing intake line across #3 fairway to pond.
- Received all materials for new installation.
Since all the materials have arrived, they will start pulling lateral lines off the main piping and install the new irrigation rotors (sprinklers). The lateral crew will come in behind the main line crews to finish up the holes.
Along with the irrigation project the following items were performed by our staff:
- Aerated, removed cores, top-dressed, and fertilized 21 greens.
- Aerated driving range tees, chipping areas, seeded, and fertilized.
- Aerated, overseeded north landing area of driving range.
- Finished aerating fairways. (11,12,13,15,16)
- Aerated tees, seeded, and fertilized on all 18 holes.
We were planning to start removing sod and leveling the I & II tees at #8 today. However, with the weather expected Monday, we need to start getting the course ready to open for play on Saturday. We do not want to open the site unless we can finish it before any rain event. Therefore, we will perform that procedure after the weather.
Please feel free to wave me down or send me a email if you have any questions about the project or maintenance in general.
Yours in turf,
Stacy L. Wallace, Class A Golf Course Superintendent
Sonoma Agronomy 