 As I write this month's article, most members have either left Tonto Verde or are in the process of leaving for the summer months. I wish you safe travels and enjoy your time away in a cooler climate. On the bunker front, one change that I have implemented is bunker rake placement. And yes,  from what I have heard, the placement of the rakes has changed often over the years. What I proposed to the Greens Committee and started doing was to put half the rakes in the bunkers at a 50 degree angle with the handles sticking out. This makes it easier for mowers to get around the bunkers. The details around the bunkers also look more complete with this placement. As we rake the bunkers in the morning, we place the rakes in this manner near the access points of each bunker, thus doing away with the blue dots. As part of the summer maintenance of the golf courses, I have listed the closures of each course through overseeding. These closures allow us to perform some pretty aggressive cultural practices without disrupting play. The most disruptive practice would be aerification of greens, tees and fairways. We also plan on working on a few bunkers on each course by adding new sand. | May 11-17 | Ranch Closed | | May 18 - June 12 | Peaks Closed | | June 15 -July 12 | Ranch Closed | | July 13 - August 2 | Peaks Closed | | August 3 - 23 | Ranch Closed | | August 24 - Sept. 6 | Peaks Closed | | Sept. 7 - 20 | Ranch Closed | | | |
Overseed September 21 - October 11 Peaks October 12 - November 1 Ranch Both courses will be opened November 2nd with carts on paths for 3 - 4 weeks depending on turf conditions/weather. This past week, Landscapes Unlimited started swapping out the fairway irrigation heads on the Peaks course. At the pace they are going, I would anticipate them being done around the 1st week in June. This project will greatly improve the irrigation efficiency by ensuring each head is the same type and configured correctly. As of now, there are several different types of heads and nozzle configurations that either put out too much water, or throw water beyond the target. We are also going to look at performing a nozzle audit on the remaining rough heads to ensure better uniformity. On a productivity/accounting front, I have added a new digital job board to the Golf Course Maintenance facility. This allows us to schedule tasks for the crew using any device that has internet connectivity. We can make changes as we see them in the field. It also allows us the ability to track expenses for each task and area of the golf course. So in a year's time, I will be able to run reports on the true cost of golf course maintenance 
operations. For example and past experience: we schedule 3 associates to rake bunkers per course per day. This system will track those hours along with each associates wage to return the true cost of how much it cost to rake bunkers per year. And believe me, that number is surprising being that the bunkers are a hazard. Until next season following overseeding, I look forward to everyone's return after a busy and productive summer for Golf Course Maintenance. Keep it in the short grass, Travis Blamires Golf Course Superintendent | 
