Great End To Summer With Look Into Fall Activities

The summer closed off with a fantastic hot, dry long weekend, perfect for golf and lakeside activities.  A little rain received during the weekend was received during the night-time not to interfere with anyone's plans.

The Winners of the 2015 Mixed Invitational “Black & White” Tournament held on Sunday were Tanner Kidd & Joseph Feldman (absent from photo) & Kate McConnell and Josh Marlowe. The trophy is presented by Debbie & Tim Hogan with Jordan Nathan.

Yesterday the greens received a light topdressing of sand to help smooth them after the heavy traffic received over the last busy part of the summer golf season.  This light sand application will help further true up the greens for this weekend's Men's Invitational Event starting with the Thursday practice round and Friday, Saturday rounds later in the week.

The recent hot and dry stretch came to an end yesterday with a good rainfall in the afternoon and overnight accumulating over 42mm of much needed moisture to recharge the soil profile.  The dry stretch leading up to yesterday, provided some firm, fast and fun conditions for golfer's enjoyment during the closing weeks of summer.

Next week we lead into a break in the golf schedule where some green and tee aerification are on the calendar.  With the continued cultural program employed at Muskoka Lakes, we are in a luxury position to not have to do anything drastic as far as the cultural management of the greens this month.

The annual programs of frequent topdressing and verticutting, and June coring we do has maintained the thatch and compaction to minimal levels.  Therefore next weeks greens aerification will striclty be a 3/8" solid tyne that will achieve our necessary goal without sacrificing playability later next week during the Director's Day held on Friday September 18th and through the final closing tournament events the week after.

Unlike the greens, the tees have been less frequently managed and haven't received the same intensity of cultural inputs.  Therefore next week the tees will be core aerated to remove thatch buildup.  The core size will be moderate however, with the use of 3/8" tynes  for ease of cleanup and less disruptive hole size for golfers.