Putting Green update

 We pulled the cover from the putting green this morning after almost 3 weeks of cover. While the green itself still is showing significant winter damage I'm encouraged by the seed beginning to germinate in the channels. The green was mowed this morning and will be fertilized tomorrow. For now the green will remain roped off and closed to give the new seed a chance to establish. We're also doing this to limit the amount of foot traffic on the surface, I will evaluate it again in 7-10 days and I'm hopeful it will be open in 2-3 weeks but we're going to continue to play it safe. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Winter Damage

 The golf course came through Winter in relatively good condition except for a few areas, most notably the putting green. The putting green suffered extensive winter injury to the annual bluegrass. The strange thing was once the snow melted the surface looked good and then started to go downhill in the following weeks. I reached out to our regional agronomist, Adam Moeller, and he provided me with guidance in speeding up recovery. I sprayed a combination of liquid fert on Tuesday, we then seeded the putting green with a more desirable species of bentgrass in two directions using our TriWave 45 seeder this morning, and finally covered the area. The cover will help promote germination, raise soil temps while keeping moisture in the soil. The green will remain covered for a few weeks. While this isn't an ideal situation we are fortunate that it's only the putting green. Below are some pics of the process as well as a link to the USGA letter on winter damage.

USGA Letter

Winter Play

 We've decided to try something new this winter in an effort to protect all fine turf areas (tees, fairways, approaches).  A big issue we've had in the past is unfilled divots when the golf season starts from all the winter golf.  Seed takes forever to germinate in the spring due to low soil temps.  So, we purchased 9 small hitting mats that players can use and carry around while they play.  The mats are laid out on the clubhouse porch, please use one if you intend to play during the winter and return it to the porch when you're finished with your round.  Thank you.

Irrigation Blowout

 Yesterday we blew out the irrigation system effectively putting an end to the 2020 season.  It was a pretty crazy year but thankfully we made it through healthy with only some minor bumps and bruises to the course.  The club saw record numbers in terms of play and the course showed it near the end of the season, definitely some tired turf out there.  Fairways will be core aerified on Monday, November 23rd and we will also be getting a few pallets of sod to repair weak/high traffic areas on a few greens and also repairing the greens nursery.  The putting surfaces are being topdressed weekly to protect the crown of the plant going into winter.   I want to thank my crew for their hard work and dedication, they came to work each day ready and willing to put out the best possible product.  Enjoy the rest of the year, see you next season.

Course Update

 With the cooler temperatures we've been seeing the past week the course along with the maintenance staff has finally been able to catch their breath.  This summer will go down in the record books as the hottest summer since 1895 as well as the 15th wettest on record.  Couple that with the fact that we had two employees quit the 3rd of July without any notice and I was pulling out what little hair I have left.  My assistant Bob and our lone remaining employee, Luis, more than picked up the slack and I thank them for that.  We have since hired one replacement, Tyler who is our assistant superintendent's son.  He's done a great job so far and we are very happy to have him.  Needless to say it was a very difficult summer and we're not out of the woods yet but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Cooler nights and shorter days make a huge difference.  We completed greens aeration Monday, August 10th, followed by an 0-0-12 granular fert along with seed.  The greens have healed up very nicely and should be completely healed by early next week.  The 5th and 6th greens definitely took some bumps and bruises during July but have begun to bounce back after aeration.  We need to continue to work on the mat layer that has built up in these greens, this isn't due to anything we've done but rather how the sod comes from the farm.  Our plan going forward is to continue to dilute this thatch layer through verti-cutting, topdressing, core aerifying, and hopefully being able to borrow a sand inject graden.  All of these practices will improve turf quality and playability going forward.  Next on the horizon will be dryject aerification on greens September 28th and tee and fairway aerification in October.  We will also be putting a lot of hours on our triwave seeder, focusing on weak areas of greens, fairways, and the roughs.  As always please continue to replace all divots and fix all ball marks on greens.

Course Update

The course is very healthy heading into the summer months, all of the cultural practices performed this Spring have led to healthy turf and solid roots.  I am very pleased with the 5th and 6th greens, they look good and both have very dense root masses as you can see in the pics below.  We continue to lower the heights on both and are currently at .115" while the other greens are at .100", so they're getting closer.  This time of year is all about proper water management.  We've been trying to keep everything as dry as possible which has led to fast and firm conditions.  We continue to hand water greens and tees during the day.  If you see myself or my assistant watering a green please do not hit into us, you wouldn't do that if a member was putting so please show us the same respect.  We will be off the green as quickly as possible.  We've also noticed an increasing amount of unrepaired ball marks on greens, so please do your part and fix them.  Enjoy the weather.

Poa Suppression

I've been asked a lot about the "brown patches" in the fairways.  This is a result of high rates of growth regulator that targets the Poa.  Also, the very cold night time temps we experienced a few weeks back definitely exacerbated the situation.  In doing this we give the more desirable bent a chance to run a little and hopefully fill in the areas.  While it's not the best to look at right now it won't even be noticeable in the next few weeks with warmer temps moving in.  On closer inspection of the turf there is a lot of healthy new shoots growing within the Poa.  Below are some pics showing the bronzing of the turf.