Good news, Bad News and Decent News

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Good News The report has come back from the university disease diagnosis lab clean.  "There was no evidence of Pythium root root or any other disease...Your recent fungicide applications have apparently cleaned up the problem.  Be aware that turfgrass with damaged roots can continue to show symptoms of stress until the plants begin to recover some root growth.  Do what you can to alleviate stress on the sites."  We will be rolling more, mowing less and going off of the normal pin rotation to reduce stress.  We will continue...

Read More

WOCC Golf Course Greens: Adverse Effects of Extreme Weather

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I apologize for my absence from the blog this weekend.  I have been busy but really I wanted to wait until a good communication came out from the green committee addressing the situation.  As I am sure you have noticed, the greens are very stressed.  Extreme temperatures have been the obvious cause of decline but other factors have contributed.  Early in July we received heavy rains exceeding 5 inches of water.  These rains were followed by aggressive greens venting and drying measures but the greens remained wet. ...

Read More

Heat Advisory

Friday, July 22, 2011

EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING Valid from July 22, 2011 5:52 a.m. EDT until July 23, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. This is the message I woke up to this morning from the NBC 12 Weather app on my phone.  It really is a great way to wake up.  When I got in my car at 5:00 a.m. the temperature was already 82 °F.  Not only are these temperatures brutal for our staff, they are very, very tough on the turf.  We are thoroughly adjusting greens moisture with hand watering this morning to help the turf survive...

Read More

Sprigged Areas, One Week Update

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The Sprigs at #6 and #13 were planted a week ago.  There is a dramatic difference between the sodded cartpath edges and the sprigs but I am very happy to report that we have a tremendous amount of growth in these sprigged areas.  We will continue to water and fertilize these new areas until they are fully grown in.  We applied a pre-emergent herbicide to the areas before the sprigs were planted.  I would be shocked if we do not see some weeds in these areas as this is bare ground...

Read More

Fresh Sharp Cut = Lots of Clippings

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

I apologize for the large amount of grass clippings in the fairways this morning.  We are currently blowing the fairways to remove them.  The clippings are a result of sending out freshly sharpened mowers this morning.  The other mowers have been dulled as a result of fairway topdressing.  This is one negative side affect of the process.  The sand is abrasive and dulls the reels very quickly.  The sharp mowers are cutting a lot more grass with a great quality of cut...

Read More

A very relevant article from the USGA Mid-Atlantic Green Section

Saturday, July 16, 2011

We have experienced a very sporadically wet spring and summer.  The 5+ inches of rain we had last week does not just affect the bunkers and cart path rulings.  There are some benefits to the wet week; the quarry is full of water and the TifSport is very strong.  The negatives have been bunker conditions and the greens have been a bit soft and slower than they were earlier in the year.  This has led us to change some maintenance practices and has made us thankful for all of the topdressing and aeration we do to prevent major...

Read More

Three Busy, Successful Closed Days

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

We are currently wrapping up a few projects on the golf course and are on schedule to finish all of our goals for these closed days.  Our staff vented and topdressed greens on Monday.  We also finished all tee, approach and fairway topdressing as well as tee, approach, bunker complex, and fairway fertilizer applications.  We edged yardage markers, bunkers, sprinkler heads and worked on liner in two bunkers.  Harmon Turf Services completed the solid tine aerification of the tees,...

Read More

Finishing Fairway Aeration and Topdressing

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

 Harmon Turf Services is finishing up the solid tine aerification of the last few fairways.  We contract their services out every year in order to maximize efficiency and because we do not have the equipment necessary to perform the task.  Harmon brings in 4 large tractors with PTO driven aerifiers to knock this project out as quickly as possible. Our team is finishing up the fairway topdressing project as I speak.  The new tractor and topdresser (pictured) have already paid...

Read More

Pictures From this Morning

Monday, July 11, 2011

Our New Assistant, Bobby Williams.  Bobby has come to us from Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro, NC. Venting Greens The end product of Venting Greens Solid Tine Aerification of Fairways, Tees, Approaches. Topdressing Fairways Topdressing Fairways with Newly Purchased Equipment Topdressing Greens behind Venti...

Read More

2.5 Inches of Rain Followed by Another Day in the Bunkers

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Last night the course received 2.5 inches of rain. Added to the totals from earlier this week, we have received 5 inches of rain in the last five days!! Water is draining from the course, and will continue to drain throughout the day. Our focus for today will be repairing bunkers, for the third time this week. As I am writing this post, seven people have been working in the bunkers on #1 for two hours, and they still have one more bunker to repair on that hole. We will work in bunkers until there...

Read More

Managing Bentgrass Greens During High Heat and Humidity

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

You may have noticed that our greens are showing some signs of heat stress as we get into the hottest time of the year. Greens are not as smooth as several weeks ago because of the high heat and they do not recover as quickly from heavy golfer traffic. Temperatures in the 90's and above can be harmful to our A1/A4/G3 bentgrass greens and different management techniques are put in place during the summer to limit the adverse effects of high heat and humidity as much as possible. Here are some things we do to sustain the health of...

Read More