The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.
Robert Frost
First Steps
Course clean-up has commenced and the crew is putting a good dent in it. The weather conditions will dictate how much and where we can work on the course. Primary tasks to complete by Mother's Day are as follows.
13 Green
As the sod farms are open we'll be sodding the banks here and closing the project. In the mean time, bunker sand will be installed, compacted, and raked into position.
5 Tee
The arborvitae's that were shading the tee were removed. Erected in their place is a small privacy berm to separate the cartpath on 14 from 5 tee. This will be raised 2 feet and planted to meadow fescues and ornamental grasses. The effect will be similar to the new berms right of 9 green. Any un-level areas will be corrected and irrigation heads relocated to better positions.
14 and 15 rough
The intense shading of the rough along 14 and 15 created no grass cover in these areas. These areas will be kept ground under repair until they're re-grown and grass is thick enough to support carts.
Obey the ropes.
Water Study
Since last fall Tuscarora has been part of study by a team of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry seniors.
The partnership looks at how water behaves entering and leaving our property and how to best utilize it as a resource. We're hoping to get a recommendation on use issues such as irrigation, pond quality, and flood control. We'll have more news as their project comes to a close.
Spring Pruning
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| (white) Oak |
We're embarking on a project to "limb-up" the trees that line the fairways and greens. Tuscarora has trees numbering in the thousands. It gives that 'park-style' feel to the property and that handsome look we like. When these trees were small, they went relatively unpruned as it likely made them seem bigger. Today many are excessively low and wide and impeding golf swings and our own mowers. We'll be removing select branches, here and there, to open up the lower canopy and make room underneath for (of all things) golf.
The effect will be a more open 'taller' look to the trees. It's a long process and you may see a branch or two down on the holes we're working on. We hope to have the entire course completed by MG.
