Turf Newsletter - May
02 MAY 2025
Turf Newsletter- MAY 2025
Well, as I write this, our 26th opening day is in the books! I'm sure most of you have been out for your first and second rounds by now and have been enjoying some nice conditions. The spring so far has been quite up and down with the weather. 24 degree days followed by 5 degree days. We had a bit of drought followed by some nice warm rains. Inconsistent is an understatement. Our blue grass roughs have woken up a bit and we have been able to cut most of our grass.
Our fine turfs (greens, tees and fairways) continue to be a bit behind as soil temperatures are still much lower than what we want. Greens were deep tined 5 weeks ago and are just starting to fill in…here comes some better ball roll!! We are diligently working at testing and maintaining our irrigation system. We try to have this 100% tested by the end of May to get ready for the droughts in the summer months.
We were able to finish up the new tee on #8 Copperhead prior to opening and it looks great. Laser graded and sodded, and it’s perfectly level! The new Blue tee should be sodded early next week and ready for play in another two weeks.
I would like to gently remind all of you about some course care.
BALL MARKS - Please repair any ball mark you see and always you own! We are expecting lots of rain next week and the greens will be much softer than normal. This means more dents in our greens!
FAIRWAY DIVOTS - Our carts are outfitted with soil and seed and we do have small bottles if you are walking. When I play and I always encourage others to do the same, I try to empty one of the cart sand and seeds after nine holes and refill so I have a second bottle for the back nine. Doing this goes such a long way for our course care.
BUNKERS - Please make sure to rake any evidence of your play from using a bunker. Never enter or exit from a steep slope as this disturbs the face and will create plugged lies for other players.
Please leave our courses better than when you were here. Respect the course, the maintenance turf team and the players behind you.
With thanks, Bill McAllister
Super-Intendent, RattleSnake Point