Course Update

Following one of the most difficult weeks of my superintendent career the weather as given us a small break. Last week the golf course took a real beating will temperatures and humidity at their highest levels so far for the 2013 season. During extreme weather periods like the past 10 days we are in a defensive mode of action including raising mowing heights, reduce mowings, diligent water management, and preventative plant protectant sprays but sometimes that is just not enough and the turf suffers. I have switched gears now that we have a small break in the weather implementing practices to help the turf recover. Monday the greens were vented on the tightest spacing followed by a soil spray containing a wetting agent, nitrogen, calcium, potassium, and manganese to help drive away the sodium from our irrigation and feed the roots. Our defensive mowing practices will remain in place until the greens have recovered. The fairways were also sprayed with a balanced fertilizer and a wetting agent helping drive growth of the remaining plants to fill in the struggling areas following the venting. Tuesday the fairways will be vented in certain areas were large sections of turf have died including the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth fairways. These practices should begin the recovery process if the weather stays in the normal summertime range of mid 80's with some rain. The sixth men's tee will also be vented and seeded.

The picture below is an ugly patch of Poa in the fairway but look at the the green dots in the lines across the area. A good sign that aeration on the fairways is working but remember that we didn't aerate the fairways for two seasons returning back to aeration on fairways just this spring. The budget reductions of years past have showed up in a big way with last weeks soaring temperatures but looking forward we have budget for both spring and fall core aerations of the fairways for 2013 and will make it a priority for 2014.