Well the last month or so has been a whirlwind per our typical Richmond summer. A typical summer to me means to expect anything and everything. Between a drought, a heat wave and now frequent severe storms, we have been living a little on edge to say the least. The sprigs have loved the heat and the rest of the golf course has handled the weather decently. Not great, not bad. Greens 3, 4, 10, and 13 were core aerated today to help speed the recovery of stressed, thin turf on the edges of these greens. Very small tines (.25") were used. Soil moisture and high heat combined to stress these areas but to date, no disease has been present. We take these situations very seriously and are doing everything possible to protect the new putting surfaces. The greens are recovering and the past week of good weather has helped tremendously. Tomorrow and Wednesday look to be scorching hot again but at least the course is closed. The weather forecast after Wednesday looks very favorable. A few new cultural practices will be implemented this fall and next spring to help these areas drain better and dry out faster. This will help prevent stress in the future. We look forward to cooler temperatures when we can again provide better putting conditions. In the short run, we will remain conservative.
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| Kevin core aerated a few greens this morning that are showing signs of stress. This process will help the greens dry out and speed recovery. |
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| This large Willow Oak on #12 suffered a huge lightning strike last night. Large segments of bark were as far as 60 feet from this tree. Unfortunately, we will most likely lose this tree. This will be the third tree in a vicinity of about 50 yards that has been lost to lightning during my tenure. |
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| The damage from the strike spirals around the tree starting about 25 feet above the base. |
The next few days, our team will focus on projects including sod between 12 and 14, sod to the left of #9, the edging of all irrigation components and bunkers, and fairway
topdressing and
solid tine aeration. The tees, fairways, and green surrounds are being solid tined while the collars are being core aerated for the second time this year. Topdressing is applied before the solid tine and after the core aeration. These surfaces will all be fertilized following these cultural practices. While these areas looked great, these practices will allow them to continue to thrive in the future.
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| 550 tons of sand have been brought in to topdress fairways, tees, approaches, and collars. |
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| Harmon Turf Services performs the solid tine aeration of tees, fairways, and approaches. Our team core aerates the collars and does all of the topdressing. |
Have a great day,
Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org
