Course Update - Late September

Aeration - All the short turf areas have been aerified with greens, tees, and approaches completed in-house and Fredco Golf completing the fairways during our 3 day shut down of the course. Sand topdressing was applied to fill the holes on the greens and a topdressing of sand was applied to the approaches and tees to dilute thatch material. The greens have been brushed and rolled 4 times working the sand into the holes and smoothing the surface. Mowing will begin as the turf grows through the sand, the first few cuts will be at higher height of cut followed by the gradual lowering of the heights until our normal height is reached. The greens will be sandy and bumpy this weekend.

Oak Trees - We have 3 oak trees (1 on 3 and 2 on 5) that tested positive for Bacterial Leaf Scorch. Symptoms include marginal discoloration or scorch of leaves in late summer or early fall, often with a yellow or dark band on the inside edge of the discolored area. Symptoms are similar to those caused by drought or root issues that interfere with flow of water and nutrients. Plants may not develop symptoms for a year or two after infection, but then thinning of branches occurs and trees die within 5 to 8 years.  We will monitor these trees, prune this winter and plan for their ultimate demise down the road with replacements.

Symptoms of the Bacteria

Weather - New Jersey saw the warmest August on record in 2016 although we did have an average amount of rainfall in August, September has been very dry and also very warm. We have had temperatures consistently in the 80's along with a few in the 90's this month which is much above normal, although I am not sure there is a normal any longer. For the second fall in a row we are struggling with drought conditions and the 10-day forecast doesn't show any relief. Thankfully we received .70 inches of rain on Monday September 19th which was great for the course but forced the cancellation of the NJPGA Assistant Match Play event. 

The routine morning water show