Course Update

Well the past few mornings have been great for the turf, the crew and myself, a nice break from the heat and humidity although that weather pattern returns on Friday. The cooler weather has allowed for some recovery of the turf and an opportunity to apply some granular fertilizer to the stressed areas on fairways along with the 5th green and 6th tee. The long stretch of hot, humid and wet weather led to some wet wilt on the fairways and general thining on the 5th green although all the areas look better responding to the fertilizer application. We also took advantage and brush-mowed the greens to help stand up the turf gaining a better cut resulting in smoother greens following the dry-ject aeration.

Tan line on left of tape measure is the Profile material from Dry-Ject

Brushes on Greensmowers

Sunrise is becoming later and later 

Aeration

The greens were dry-ject aerified yesterday similar to the past 4 seasons where a machine uses pressurized water to inject material into the greens on a 3 x 3 inch spacing. In years past we used straight sand this season we opted to inject over 9,000 pounds of Profile into the soil. Profile is an inorganic soil amendment proven on thousands of greens across the country to resist compaction, eliminate localized dry spot, promote drainage and facilitate healthy root systems that leave turf less prone to disease and other maintenance problems. A Profile particle is 74% pore space with 39% capillary (water) pores and 35% non-capillary (air) pores. Profile Porous Ceramics improve water- and nutrient-holding capabilities, increase oxygen levels at the root zone, and facilitate drainage when soils are saturated. The particles also hold water and release it as needed to the plant, delaying the need for irrigation.

The roots on the greens have shortened with the past few weeks of hot and wet weather. The past 5 days especially have not been conducive for growing good turf and the course is showing some wear in areas. Temperatures over 70 at night prevent the turf from recovering from the days hot temperatures which have been hovering around 90 degrees. We have reduced our mowing and rolling on the greens and have shorten our application schedules to give the turf the best chance to recover from the heat.

Root Depth of 3 inches Mid-August

9th Hole

All phases of construction have been completed on the 9th hole and the new bunker complex is open for play. Please follow the cart signs and obey ropes when returning to the 1st tee.

9th Hole Completed

Before and After

Before and After