5.25.26

We got the chance to welcome Ryan Montgomery Photography to Shadow Hawk this month for a photo shoot and he provided us with some stunning aerials and photographs of our property.

We'll be using his work for some upcoming updates to our website, social media, and promotional pieces for the club. With the help of some timely rains in May, hard work by the maintenance crew, and some spectacular sunrises and sunsets, the course really shined and looked great.

It was a pleasure working with Ryan and we absolutely loved his work!

I really enjoyed seeing the way Ryan moved around the property to get the shots at the different times of the day.

Here is a link to his gallery on his website:

https://www.montyaerialproductions.com/golf-course-photo-gallery

We got some heavy rain falls in May, including one event that delivered approximately 4 inches and another that dropped nearly 6 inches over the week leading up to Memorial Day. After these rains, as we repair the bunkers, we probe and try to find areas where we have heavy pockets of sand and thin areas.

This spot in the picture above was in the left greenside bunker on #3. We dug into the sand where we had deeper pockets and shoveled it to where it was thinner.

Sand is constantly moving, especially after wash outs and spots where we get a lot of play, so it's important work to find these areas and keep them maintained properly.

Here on #18 greenside bunker, we found some heavy pockets of sand further away from the green so we shoveled it into our cart, transported it, and dumped it on top of thin areas.

These heavy rains events are always tricky to navigate. Cleanup is extensive, it's difficult to get staff and equipment around, and we're trying to balance playability of the golf course while not causing damage to the turf when we're so soft from all the precipitation.

We appreciate your patience and understanding when we get into weather patterns.

We had a tree crew out this month to trim up the Magnolia trees and Pecan trees down the right side of #14 tee, towards the fairway. Once we had the lower limbs cut off by the tee box, we reestablished the old landscaping bed, extended it, and sodded some eroded areas towards Oyster Creek.

You can see the before and after pictures above. Justin Bruntz our Superintendent (right) and Jorge Maradiaga our new Assistant Superintendent (left) took the lead on the project.

Our next goal here is to make some improvements to the irrigation in this bed and to add some flowers / plants between the Magnolia trees.

Much of the overseeded annual ryegrass to the right of #13 fairway has met the end of the its life cycle with the warmer temperatures in May so it was a good opportunity to mow down the grass and spray our pre-emerge and post-emerge herbicide mix.

The goal in the summertime in this area is to keep it clean and maintained. We will overseed it again this Fall with annual ryegrass.

We recently selected some of our softest tee boxes to get down our process for summer maintenance on our zoysia grass in these areas.

The tractor above is equipped with special vertical blades that cut down into the turf canopy, removing excess thatch and organic matter.

These tee boxes were then topdressed and we used a specialized brush to drag the sand into the canopy.

The goal of these practices is to help firm up the turf and help minimize scalping from our mowers.

The Driving Range tee box, which we overseeded with Perennial Ryegrass this past Fall, has been transitioning nicely back to our Tif Tuff bermudagrass.

In areas near the pine straw and fence line where we have a lot of shade, we've lost some of the Tif Tuff bermudagrass in the transition and these spots will require some sod work.

We've been fertilizing the tee and chipping area weekly to encourage growth of the bermuda. The practice areas have seen a lot of use over the last six months since we've been open so we're being proactive trying to keep up with the demand.

One technique we'll use on our greens from time to time is performing a dry mow, usually after 11am or so. Doing our mowing practices later, once the dew is burned off, helps get a better quality of cut since the grass is standing more upright and is more rigid.

As we get into summertime, we'll increase our frequencies of brushing, verticutting, and topdressing to help keep our putting greens performing correctly.

I wanted to end this post by saying congratulations to Juan Torres, our maintenance employee of quarter. Thanks for your dedication and attention to detail in all that you do Juan.

Thanks for reading and for being a member.

Willie Hoppe, GCSAA Class A

Director of Agronomy