Oak Meadow Chiropractor Rolla MO

Good afternoon Oak Meadow members,

I hope you are enjoying your course. The greens are doing well. We are going to Verti-cut the greens today. We try to Verti-cut the greens every two weeks during temperate seasons. Mother nature often thwarts our efforts. From June to August the crew must lay off this process. Few courses Verti-cut during the extreme heat of Midwest summers.

Our greens mowers are fitted with heads which have blades that are thin and tightly spaced. The blades cut down vertically into the turf at 0.125”. After Verti-cutting, the green is mowed again with regular blades.

The process removes excess leaf growth that makes our greens spongy and bumpy. Verti-cutting opens grooves so we can brush in top dressing sand. It promotes upright growth of the turf blade by removing horizontal growing structures. It removes Poa annua seed heads. This totals up to a higher quality cut when the green is mown daily.  

To the contrary, Verti-cutting does not speed up our greens, it initially slows them down. The process is vital to improve the consistency and speed of the green.

Our Zoysia fairways have had a tough spring. The rain did not allow us to mow them, so they went to seed. The seed-stems are very fibrous, they do not go through the reel mowers. They clog the reels and lay over the grass. The reel mowers do a fantastic job on blades of grass, they are no match for the stick-like seed-stems. The white on the fairways is billions of seed-stems. With time we will get rid of them; your patience is appreciated.

We plan on fixing #8 fairways drainage this winter. The ditch to the left of the fairway will be enhanced and drainage may be added. We have several months to plan and we are open to everyone’s thoughts and ideas. 

The practice green received a ton of rain right after it was seeded. Fear not, we have plenty of seed. We use probes to let us know its Ph and moisture level. When the time is appropriate we will add more seed, fertilizer, and aerate.

The new green is fascinating. Built to exact USGA specs it is a different beast than any of our push-up greens. When mature it should be firm, fast and easy to take care of. Its size will allow competitive golfers the opportunity to practice lag-putting that is needed on larger greens.

Our soil chemistry was good but the rain diluted and washed away some chemicals, we are getting more soil samples taken. We will adjust our chemical plan accordingly.

A word on ball washers; I was asked where did they all go? In 2003 the course added Tee-signs that were equipped with plastic ball washers. Plastic doesn’t hold up well over 17 years. Many cracked and would not hold water.

A year ago the signs were refurbished, thanks to Mike Lorey. At this time, the crew took all the ball washers off the course. Ball washers that were workable were fixed and put back on the Tee-signs. Washers that were not repairable and would not hold water were discarded.

So if anyone would like to donate or help raise funds to replace them I am open to your help. My suggestion is we only use aluminum Par-aide ball washers. They cost $220. They last a life time. Being metal they hold up well over the years and the parts in-side are replaceable.

The next green committee meeting June 10th at 6:30. Feel free to attend.

See you in the fairways,

David J. Moreland

Green chair    We understand that this post isn't chiropractic related but my patients that are members and patients have asked that I post my updates here so they can read them if they get kicked off of the oak Meadow site.

As always we do provide high quality chiropractic care in Rolla Mo. Moreland Chiropractic Clinic.