Turf Talk By: Geoff Sheffield

It has been a very interesting year so far in terms of changing weather conditions and the climate. The golf course is considerably dryer than most years as our water storage reservoirs are still not quite full, depleted from drought conditions over the past two years and less winter rains. We seem to go in and out of an early spring into cold weather and course closures. Let’s hope that we are close to seeing spring soon. 

The Highland Pacific maintenance crew is working diligently to get all of the equipment and maintenance tools into top condition. You will see new and improved divot boxes on the course. Our long time member Larry Doerges has built two new boxes and has refurbished the existing two boxes which gives golfers more opportunity to fill their sand bottles and keep divots filled which will improve the overall conditions of the golf course. We appreciate it and know that your efforts help keep our facility up to the standards that everyone likes.

Shortly after fairway aeration you will see new yardage plates freshly painted and installed at the 100, 150 and 200 yard marks. We will also be adding some more new sets of tee markers for better separation of the white/blue and white/green tee’s. 

One of the maintenance department’s most exciting items that will be added this year is the addition of 3 more applications of wetting agent to the fairways, tees and now the driving range. Last year was the first year of using this on the fairways with four applications. We saw a great improvement of the quality of turf and will add additional applications for even better fairway conditions. We are also adding the driving range to this wetting agent and fairway plant health program. The range has been our largest single maintenance labor cost in the winter due to muddy non turfed areas. Now we want to keep it growing during the hot summer months. 

You may ask, “what is a wetting agent?”. Think of it as a skin moisturizer for grass. It basically works the same way. Only time will tell just how well it works.

The other projects that we will be doing soon are:

• Drainage on pacific #4 from 200 yards in.
• Leveling of some tee’s
• Removing some collar dam’s
• Greens aeration

Thanks again for your support in helping to maintain the best course in Victoria.

Good Golfing

The Crew @ Highland Pacific Golf