This past week was great. I had Monday off for a public holiday and then worked through the weekend. The Hills uses a unique working scheme that is fair to everyone. The work week is 5 days long and once every three weeks you work a weekend, but then get Monday and Tuesday off. Then a 3 day week before getting the weekend off. On average we work only 5 days a week. Pretty nice. This past week the other Americans arrived in from Michigan and winterizing their irrigation system. Both are doing Penn State online Turf degrees. Nice to be able to interact with a few of my fellow country men. 

View From 18th Tee

When we were out together with a few guys from work and Sam, our other roommate from England, the difference in cultures was being thrown around. Sports are one of the biggest differences and some jawing was going on in anticipation for the Rugby match between the NZ All Blacks and the US Eagles. We did not do so well, but Rugby got great coverage in the US.

An argument was brought up on the subject of Aluminum or Aluminium, both are considered correct spellings, but like most things in the US the rest of the world has accepted a common form and we have not. Due to the different spellings the pronunciation of the words are different. We had some great fun debating the correct saying of the words. 

For course topics the course is getting in shape following the winter months even though the weather has not been the greatest. The greens, which were sprayed with a chemical called Amitrole to control Poa annua a few weeks before I arrived, have started to grow out of the bleaching of the leaf blades. Amitrole is an abrasive herbicide that does not harm the Colonial Bentgrass, but is great control for Poa annua. One draw back is the the dosage needs to be just correct or the Colonial Bent can be killed. With the application and the greens renovation the grass really needed some warm weather, but we have not had some warm days until this week. Now the greens seem to be coming back, but I will have to watch the greens closely to see how they respond to the weather. 

Greens Recovering