New Toro Irrigation System Part of Renovation at Poppy Hills

Here is an interesting article from Toro on the new irrigation system going in at Poppy Hills GC on the Monterey Peninsula.  The new system will allow them to reduce the amount of irrigated turf, use moisture sensors to monitor soil moisture, and utilize the latest technology in control systems.

At the end of the article there is also a link to the Poppy Hills Renovation Blog, which features interviews and insight into the course renovation process.

2013/03/20/poppy-hills-picks-toro-irrigation-for-major-renovation

                                A new sign of the good things to come!

How Somebody Left A Bunker

Click to enlarge photo


This kind of thing frustrates me as a Superintendent.  We just finished raking this bunker, and a player came along and made no attempt to rake up his mess.  If I didn't go and fix it myself, it would have stayed this way all weekend.  I would hope most players would be more courteous to the players who follow.  Proper course etiquette is simply part of playing the game!

Fairway & Rough Fertilizer Spraying

We're spraying liquid fertilizer on the fairways and roughs this week.  It is a mixture of urea nitrogen and ferrous sulfate.  This is a foliar feeding of the turf in preparation for the US Intercollegiate event coming in two weeks.  This light feeding helps the turf, but has little potential to run-off if we do happen to get rainfall.

A soap foam marker is used to mark the edge of the spray pattern.  You may see little clumps of foam dotting the fairways.  The foam marks stay visible for about 30 minutes, then quickly disappear.

I found this creative sign posted along the course, have you seen it?