4 Key Autumn Golf Course Maintenance Tips
Sunday, October 4th is National Golf Lover’s Day. Valley Green has several customers that are superintendents at local golf courses. We sell several golf course maintenance products as well as seed. If the weather permits, golf courses can often remain open through November. This means that regular maintenance should go on up to the course closing for the winter. Fall is actually a great time for golf; you can actually read about it in one of our blogs from last year. To celebrate National Golf Lover’s Day, our article this week will be on 4 key autumn golf course maintenance tips.
4 Key Autumn Golf Course Maintenance Tips
Take time to make repairs on the course and clubhouse.
With the course traffic slower in autumn, staff can take the time to make repairs. This doesn’t all have to be on the course itself. Many superintendents take the time to repair things such as maintenance equipment and broken items in the course buildings. Many crews spend a day in early fall walking around taking note of each thing that needs to be repaired. Making these repairs makes the course look good to those late-season golfers. Autumn is also a good time to thoroughly inspect golf carts for any damage from summer that may need repair.
Practice regular leaf removal.
Raking and Leaf Removal is a huge part of autumn golf course maintenance. Golfers hate having to deal with leaves blowing around while they’re trying to hit their ball. Total leaf removal is next to impossible but leaf blowers and rakes can keep the course playable and nice to look at. If you have a daily leaf removal schedule, try to perform the removal when the course is quiet. Leaf blowers and rakes may interrupt golfers. You can even post a leaf removal schedule in the clubhouse so customers are aware of when the removal maintenance occurs.
Winterize your golf course irrigation system.
One of the most important autumn golf course maintenance items is to winterize your irrigation system. Forgetting to do so may result in a very costly mistake. Not to mention a hectic start to the spring season. Golf course irrigation systems must be completely purged of water in order to prevent freezing over the winter. If the water in the irrigation system does freeze, it can damage the pipes. The purging process often takes a few days to complete so make sure you plan out the timing accordingly.
Control traffic around the course.
Autumn golfers can also help keep the course looking great throughout the season. Controlling traffic on the course is very important as divots, ball marks, and heavy traffic can damage turf. Grass grows more slowly in the colder season so it is important to get golfers to avoid wear and tear on the course as much as possible. Carts should also be restricted to paths more frequently because turf that is going dormant is much more susceptible to damage.